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ExxonMobil is not going to escape the fact that it has to answer for Indonesian human rights crimes occurring in the 1990s. That decision came from a US Appeals Court on 17 January, after the world&rsquo;s biggest energy company attempted to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 11 Indonesian citizens. 
 
The alleged crimes came when Mobil was opening the Arun gas fields in joint development with the Suharto government. At the time, Suharto&rsquo;s regime was deploying brutal methods to put down a separatist movement in the Aceh region on the northern tip of the Sumatra Island. 
 
The lawsuit contends that Suharto agreed to provide army troops during the development, and that Mobil provided logistical and material support to the troops. Troops used the company&rsquo;s facilities and equipment to &ldquo;interrogate, torture and murder Acehnese civilians suspected of engaging in separatist activities,&rdquo; the lawsuit states. Following Suharto&rsquo;s forced leave from office, independent investigation teams did find several mass graves connected with the human rights atrocities. 
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The lawsuit is legitimate in US courts because of the Alien Tort Claims Act, a 216-year-old American statute that allows persons from other countries to hold accountable, either American citizens or US-based corporations, when violations of international law are committed outside of the US. 
 
ExxonMobil filed a review of the case in the US Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, after a US Federal District Court denied a prior request for dismissal. 
 
This American court case has special significance inside Indonesia. Under a negotiated autonomy agreement implemented last year for Aceh, the Indonesian government has pledged to establish a special court by July 2007 to hear the thousands of human rights cases that have been pending after 30 years of regional strife on Sumatra.

ExxonMobil in Dock for Indonesian Human Rights Crimes

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French unions held successful manifestations on 22 January at Shell France refineries over possible the possible sale of three facilities. FCE-CFDT, FO, CGT, CFE-CGC, and CFTC joined as one to call on the Anglo-Dutch company to assure full employment and maintain all social rights of workers in the event of divestiture. 
 
On 11 January, Shell France confirmed reports from late last year that three French refineries, as well as a petrochemical refinery in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, were up for &ldquo;strategic review.&rdquo; The French sites include the large Berre-l&rsquo;Etang solvents refinery, and refineries at Petit-Couronne and Reichstett-Vendenheim. Some 2,500 of Shell France&rsquo;s 3,600 workers would be affected by asset sales of the three refineries. 
The unions held a press conference at Berre after presenting management with a petition calling for respect and honest social dialogue with workers before any sale occurs. Some 1,500 workers are employed there. Similar petitions were handed to Shell management at Petit-Couronne and Reichstett, where 550 and 240 workers are employed. 
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&ldquo;We request from any potential buyer a clear plan for the facility,&rdquo; FCE-CFDT Union Representative Jean-Luc Bildstein told Agence France Presse. &ldquo;For now, we do not see a strike occurring but if Shell does not hear our demands, other actions will be considered.&rdquo; 
 
The one-day manifestations were considered a success since the vast majority of Shell workers at each site turned out for the protests.

French Unions Mobilise as Shell Prepares to Sell Refineries

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Polish mining unions stood their ground with the country&rsquo;s Economic Ministry over total privatisation of two coal mining companies, as well as the sale of several mines of Europe&rsquo;s largest coal producer, Kompania Weglowa (KW). A compromise agreement was reached late on 22 January between 12 miners&rsquo; unions and Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak, an agreement which halted a planned 24-hour warning strike, scheduled to start on 24 January. 
 
Coal miners balloted to strike on 18 January after 62% of the country&rsquo;s 122,000 affected miners voted by 97% in favour of industrial action. A general strike was to follow the warning strike on 1 February if the privatisations and a plan to link miners&rsquo; salaries with production were not reached. 
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The compromised consensus agreement states that the privatisation of mines will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and on condition that the government retain a majority stake in the coal sector. The Economic Ministry last September proposed the sale of state-run companies Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), as well as selling some of KW&rsquo;s 17 pits, as part of the government&rsquo;s mining sector reorganisation strategy for the years 2007 to 2015. 
 
The trade unions, including the ICEM affiliate Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers&rsquo; Section of Solidarnosc, have been critical of the government&rsquo;s minimum investment programme for coal mining, and feel that partial privatisation or management buy-ups of some mines could inject the necessary capital. 
 
The issue of the remuneration-to-productivity ratio is still unresolved, and the mineworkers&rsquo; unions are hopeful that continued dialogue with the government will solve this important issue.

Strike Threat Curbs Polish Government’s Privatisation of Coal Sector

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The general strike that has paralysed the West African nation of Guinea since 10 January ended 27 January. The country&rsquo;s unions, including ICEM mining affiliate SYNAMIC/ONSLG, reached a compromise with beleaguered President Lansana Cont&eacute; to cede some of his near absolute powers. 
 
Guinea&rsquo;s trade unions, backed by some 14 opposition parties, forced Cont&eacute; to concede authority to a yet-to-be-named prime minister, who will run the government. The ending of the strike also produced a pledge from Cont&eacute; to immediately reduce fuel and food prices. 
The ICEM reached SYNAMIC General Secretary Yamodou Tour&eacute; last week, after he had been twice jailed by police and gendarmerie during the strike. Tour&eacute; said he was among some 20 leaders who negotiated with Cont&eacute; until late in the evening of 25 January. Earlier that day, a commission that included government officials, union leaders, and civil society representatives met to work out the new powers for the prime minister. 
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The 72-year-old Cont&eacute; sacked former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo in April 2006. The strike started after Cont&eacute;, in December, released one of Guinea&rsquo;s wealthiest men, employers&rsquo; association leader Mamadou Sylla, and former minister Fode Soumah from prison. The two, both close associates of the reclusive president, had been imprisoned on corruption charges. 
 
The peaceful general strike was met with heavy-handed force by Guinea&rsquo;s riot police. At least 59 demonstrators were killed during the 18-day strike, including more than 30 on 22 January when police sprayed automatic weapons fire into a citizens&rsquo; protest in the capital city of Conakry. 
 
Tour&eacute; was among a handful of labour leaders arrested on 17 January as they led a group of some 200 demonstrators on a march to the National Parliament. The leaders were released later that day following negotiations led by National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Sompare. Tour&eacute; also serves as secretary general for the Organisation Nationale des Syndicats Libres de Guin&eacute;e (ONSLG), one of the main national labour centres in Guinea. 
He was arrested again five days later, on 22 January, the bloodiest day of the strike, when a presidential guard led by the president&rsquo;s son, Ousmane Cont&eacute;, stormed a union meeting. Some 30 trade union leaders were then taken to Cont&eacute;&rsquo;s home on the Samory military grounds near Conakry. They were released in the early morning hours of the next day. 
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Ironically, it was those arrests and late night meeting with Cont&eacute; that set the stage for last week&rsquo;s negotiated end to the general strike. 
 
The strike brought Guinea, one of the world&rsquo;s most impoverished countries, to a standstill. It crippled exports of bauxite, the country&rsquo;s major cash source, after miners at one of the country&rsquo;s bauxite mines, Sangaredi, downed tools. 
 
Workers of the Christian miners&rsquo; union, FSAMCA, also played a key role in the strike, after they were told by their union to join the strike on 19 January. Miners belonging to all unions at the country&rsquo;s national bauxite company, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guin&eacute;e (CBG), effectively brought the company to a halt. 
 
CBG is operated by Alcoa World Alumina, through its Halco joint venture with Canada&rsquo;s Alcan, with the two North American companies owning 51% of the enterprise, and Guinea&rsquo;s government the remainder. Russia&rsquo;s giant aluminium producer Rusal also has substantial holdings in the country. 
 
Guinea is the world&rsquo;s leading producer of bauxite.

Unions in Guinea End General Strike

Two recent and separate attacks by lawless militia groupings in Iraq have incensed the ICEM, the Global Union Federation for the energy sector. Both attacks, one random, on 16 January,&nbsp;in which a dedicated trade unionist was slain, the other, on 11 January,&nbsp;a targeted slaying of oil engineers in route to a union&rsquo;s press conference, &ldquo;reflect the failures of both the occupation forces and of the al-Maliki government,&rdquo; according to ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
The ICEM was appalled to learn of the death of Mohammed Hameed, a dedicated trade union organiser of the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). He was among a group of 15 civilians who were randomly gunned down in an open marketplace in southern Baghdad near his home. Hameed had been out on a walk when he was caught in a hail of gunfire.
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&nbsp;Manfred Warda&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Falah Alwan&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&ldquo;It hurts tremendously when a trade unionist is killed in a situation like this,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;Brother Hameed was a person who had the vision and fortitude to help build a just and decent civil society inside Iraq.&rdquo; Hameed, who was in his 30s, scored several advances last summer for oil industry workers in the Baghdad area, who constantly attempt to escape poverty conditions in the strife-ridden area. 
 
He is survived by his wife, who is an active trade unionist herself inside the service sector side of the&nbsp;FWCUI, and two children. 
 
The second incident occurred five days earlier, when militia gunmen abducted eight engineers of the Iraqi Oil Ministry as they were travelling in a vehicle to a FWCUI press conference on fuel price increases. Four of the kidnapped victims were released. One engineer, Abdukareem Mahdi, was later found dead, after being tortured. The other three, Nazar Fattah, Adil Yahia and Ahmed Maulood, remain missing and are presumed dead.
&ldquo;We are disappointed with the response from the government and the lack of information given us by the authorities on these heinous crimes,&rdquo; said Falah Alwan, the president of FWCUI. &ldquo;The Iraqi government must take responsibility for the lawlessness that has become so prevalent in the oil industry, as well as for the obvious security deficiencies that has allowed ordinary workers to be killed every day.&rdquo;
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The ICEM also calls on the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to fully investigate the abductions and killings on 11 January, and to make serious efforts to apprehend the drive-by gunmen responsible for the random killings on 16 January.

ICEM Condemns Killings Within Iraq’s Oil Industry

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Last month, North American ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) negotiated the biggest pay and benefit increase in the US coal industry since 1974, winning a 32% wage and pension increase over a five-year period. The union negotiated the agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), which will establish the pattern for several US coal operators in the coming months. 
 
UMWA membership of some 20,000 miners ratified the contract with 80% approval on 21 December. The contract took effect for 3,200 actives miners and 10,000 retirees in six US states at Consol Energy Inc. on 1 January. It includes a 20% across-the-board wage increase over the five-year period, and a future retiree benefit hike of $10-per-month for every year of service. In addition, UMWA&rsquo;s members at Consol received a US$1,000 bonus at the first of the year. 
 
&ldquo;There are no concessions, no givebacks in this agreement,&rdquo; stated UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;There are only gains for current members, retirees, and their families.&rdquo; 
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&ldquo;This is the largest wage increase we&rsquo;ve negotiated since 1974. Over the life of the agreement, a miner working at the top rate will see over US$32,000 more in his paycheck for just working straight time,&rdquo; said Roberts in a statement. A mineworker represented by the UMWA had been averaging US$20.42-per-hour prior to this contract taking effect. 
 
Coupled with funds guaranteed through the US government&rsquo;s renewal of the federal Abandoned Mine Land Fund, the new contract assures that health care coverage, with all benefits included, will be maintained with no cost increases to workers for co-payments. Roberts said that other coal companies will be bound to the new BCOA contract&rsquo;s pension provisions, since they are part of the UMWA&rsquo;s 1974 Pension Fund.

UMWA in US Negotiates Highest Gains with Coal Companies since 1994

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A 4 January pipeline leak of some 4.5 tonnes of the chemical hexamethylene diamine (HMDA) at a BASF nylon intermediates plant near Bellingham, Teesside UK, was termed a &ldquo;major incident,&rdquo; causing injuries to 37 workers, including one worker still in serious condition at a North-East UK hospital. 
 
Two other workers had been hospitalised up until late last week. One of the two underwent plastic surgery for burns to the face. Hexamethylene diamine is a component in the manufacture of synthetic material nylons, and is a corrosive substance which causes chemical burns when contact with the skin and eyes is made. It also causes damage if breathed into the lungs. 
 
The incident injured both BASF staff and contract workers employed at the chemical plant. 
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ICEM UK affiliate GMB, which represents some workers at the plant, said it will involve itself fully in investigations now underway by the UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive and the Environmental Agency. &ldquo;When there is an accident of this nature, we always have questions about safety and why it happened,&rdquo; GMB Regional Secretary Tom Brennan told a local newspaper, the Northern Echo. &ldquo;I can assure you, there will be questions raised over safety procedures, equipment, and machinery. There will be a complete review.&rdquo; 
 
Twenty of the workers were decontaminated at the worksite, but 17 others were rushed to hospitals. 
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BASF, the world&rsquo;s largest chemical concern, has had two other serious health and safety occurrences in recent years at this operational site. The German company&rsquo;s previous site, in Wilton, a town close to Bellingham, was struck by a massive fire in 1995. And four years later, a worker who inhaled cyanide fumes died. BASF was fined ₤20,000 in 2002 for that workplace death. 
 
BASF bought the nylon intermediate plant on Seal Sands Road in Bellingham in 1985.

Chemical Leak at BASF in UK Injures 37, One Seriously

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Nigeria&rsquo;s two oil workers&rsquo; unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, expressed dismay that no representative from either state or federal government institutions attended last month&rsquo;s funeral of PENGASSAN trade union leader Nelson Ujeya. Ujeya, who was murdered on 20 August 2006, when government forces engaged in a shootout with militants at the time he was to be released, was buried on 16 December in his home town of Uhgelli, Delta State. 
 
Comrade Ujeya was abducted by youth militia on 8 August 2006 in Letugnene, Bayelsa State, and while in the company of senior state authorities. A community liaison officer of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Ujeya and the state officials were inspecting a community development project in Letugnene at the time. 
The circumstances of the kidnapping and murder remain clouded. These circumstances were just one issue in a strike by NUPENG and PENGASSAN last September, a strike that was suspended after two days when, among other promises, the government pledged to conduct a full inquiry into Ujeya&rsquo;s kidnapping and murder. Such an investigation has not yet commenced. 
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PENGASSAN President Peter Esele
&ldquo;We are very sad there were no representatives from the government, especially the Bayelsa State government, at the burial,&rdquo; said PENGASSAN President Peter Esele in a published report. &ldquo;It confirms our long-held argument that our government does not care about us, the ordinary citizens.&rdquo; 
 
Esele added that leaders of the two unions were surprised that not a single representative from either the petroleum or labour ministry paid their respects to Comrade Ujeya. Such absence, Esele continued, reflects the true feelings of top-level governmental officials regarding the promises made to end the September strike. 
Esele did recognise the respect given by SPDC during the aftermath of the murder, in which 10 others were killed, as well as at the funeral. &ldquo;SPDC has provided a lot of assistance, financially, morally, and otherwise to the family to ensure that things are all right,&rdquo; Esele said. &ldquo;So, to SPDC, we appreciate what they have done, but to the government of Bayelsa in whose delegation he was with when abducted and eventually killed, we are very disappointed.&rdquo; 
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Esele delivered a moving eulogy at Comrade Ujeya&rsquo;s funeral: &ldquo;You were, indeed, courageous both in your official duties as a Shell staff member and as a vibrant PENGASSAN activist. Who will ever forget your contributions to the contract staff unionisation and benefits enhancement struggle? Under thick and thin, and under unfriendly and hostile elements, you stood firm with other comrades in 2001 at the height of the contract staff struggle until success was achieved. Today, the lives of contract staff have been improved as a result of the struggle for which you stood firm.&rdquo; 
 
Comrade Ujeye was a Pengassan committee member during a six-week strike that began on 10 May 2001. The strike gave contract staff for SPDC regularised employment with full and vested benefits.

Nigerian Government Ignores Funeral of Nelson Ujeya

Finland&rsquo;s national trade union centre, SAK, has given the issue of contract and agency labour top priority in the nation&rsquo;s parliamentary elections, and promises it will be a primary topic in parliamentary discussions on the opening of labour markets following the 18 March elections. 
 
A SAK task force has already worked out proposals to protect workers employed under fixed-term contracts or by agencies, a phenomenon that has increased dramatically in the Nordic nation in recent years. Finland legalised agency labour over a decade ago. Legislation, however, has not kept pace and offers little in the way of protections for contract workers. 
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One proposal by SAK would be to make agency workers regular employees of the job agencies, a remedy which would guarantee them certain salaries even during periods when their agencies are unable to find them work. SAK believes adoption of such a proposal would limit redundancies of regular workers in favour of contract workers. 
 
Another proposition by the task force is to give shop stewards the right to represent contract workers or agency labourers at their worksites. This would also include the right of shop stewards to have full information on the pay, benefits, and working terms of contract or agency labour. 
<img height="102" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" />
SAK&rsquo;s agenda is not one to eliminate the use of contract or agency labour. &ldquo;For some people, such as students, fixed-term employment and agency labour may be proper,&rdquo; states SAK&rsquo;s Nikolas Elomaa, the confederation&rsquo;s expert on working conditions. &ldquo;However, the rapid growth of agency-hired work and its expansion to industries it was not meant to be applied to is worrying.&rdquo; 
 
SAK estimates that 2005 revenues of labour agencies doing business in Finland topped &euro;650 million.

Finnish Labour Prioritises Contract Labour Issue on National Agenda

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The Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) recently organised a major workers protest against fuel price hikes, on 27 December, in Basra at the Petrochemical State Company. On 12 January, the union also participated in a successful demonstration against corruption in the electrical industry of Karbalā, a city some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. 
 
The strike at the massive petrochemicals plants in Basra last month was marked by slogan-wearing workers denouncing an Iraqi government policy. The government is increasing costs on all commodities, a move aimed at facilitating privatisation. FWCUI is adamant that rising production costs &ndash; mainly coming through fuel increases &ndash; will render the Basra&rsquo;s state refineries complex, where some 5,000 Iraqi workers are employed, uncompetitive, thus ripe for privatisation. Such a scenario is certain to produce job cuts. 
<img height="192" alt="" src="" width="300" />
Strike at Iraq's Petrochemical State Co., 27 December 
&ldquo;Under the pretext of a lack of production profits, layoffs of thousands of workers will come,&rdquo; said FWCUI President Falah Alwan. Throughout the country, millions of Iraqis are suffering severe economic harm, as price increases have far outpaced pay and salary increases. The lifting of fuel subsidies, with another one due to be scrapped in March, will only make matters worse. 
 
At the successful secular protest in Karbalā this weekend, multi-sector FWCUI was a major participant. The protest saw workers from many sectors, Shia and Sunni alike, march and protest against rampant corruption inside the regional authority&rsquo;s electric administration. 
 
FWCUI has called for the end to the military occupation in Iraq, and believes it necessary that workers take a real and active role in determining the structures, labour laws, and constitution of the Iraqi government.

Iraqi Trade Union FWCUI Condemns Fuel Price Hikes, Corruption with Protest

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