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The union that attempted to rescue coal miners inside a Soreng district colliery in Pakistan last week has strongly criticised government indifference of the 20 March tragedy. ICEM-affiliated Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) held an angry protest on 22 March in front of the Quetta press club, demanding two resignations and calling for a judicial enquiry from the Balochistan High Court. 
 
Fifty-two miners died instantly 1,200 metres underground after three methane gas blasts occurred in a mine operated by an unregistered contractor. The mine is state-owned by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC). 
 
Only two weeks earlier, PCMLF and concerned people in the Soreng area, 35 kilometres east of Quetta, demanded closure of the colliery because of high methane gas levels. 
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Sultan Muhammad at Quetta Press Club Rally
It took government rescue teams and emergency medical services eight hours to respond to the mine blasts. Miners of PCMLF first entered the mine in the aftermath of the explosions and dug with shovels and bare hands in hopes of finding survivors. What they found and brought to the surface were 12 mangled bodies. A 25-year-old miner who spent much of Sunday, 20 March, on the rescue described high levels of gas fumes and wood support structures that had crumbled, leaving massive debris blocking passageways. 
 
When mine safety officials did arrive, they blocked further efforts of miners to enter. &ldquo;Directly and indirectly, many people and many family members are affected by this disaster,&rdquo; PCMLF General Secretary Sultan Muhammad told the ICEM. &ldquo;We are helping the families of victims as best we can with our union&rsquo;s limited resources.&rdquo; One family reportedly lost seven members in the 20 March tragedy. 
 
&ldquo;It is a difficult job because miners and their families know they have to go five to seven thousand feet deep inside the mine,&rdquo; said PCMLF President Bakht Nawab Yousfzai. &ldquo;Nobody ever knows if they are going on their last journey.&rdquo; 
 
Efforts to correctly identify the deceased miners were made difficult because the contractor had kept no visible employee roster. 
 
At the Quetta manifestation last Tuesday, PCMLF demanded that PMDC pay one million rupees each (&euro;8,300) to the families of the dead miners. They also demanded the sacking of Baluchistan Mines and Minerals Minister Mushtaq Raisani and Chief Mines Inspector Iftikhar Ahmed. 
 
PCMLF seeks involvement in a tri-partite panel to investigate the blasts. The union also pointed to a number of threatening safety hazards at the same mine in recent months, but reporting of those incidents went unheeded. 
 
In a 22 March letter to PCMLF, ICEM Mining Sector Chairman Andrew Vickers of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia said: &ldquo;I offer my personal and our collective condolences to the families and friends of miners killed in this latest inexcusable disaster in the coal mining industry. Your suffering is understood and shared by us who have lost too many sons, brothers, and fathers to inexcusable disasters in our mining industry.&rdquo;

Pakistan Mine Blast Kills 52; ICEM Affiliate PCMLF in Strong Protest

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In Turkey, the ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş seeks to pre-empt an auto-parts rubber manufacturer from challenging a majority of workers in their right to collective bargaining. Standard Profil, a maker of rubber weather-sealing devices, met a public campaign last week by the union in the northern Anatolian city of D&uuml;zce, where the company operates its biggest factory. 
 
The public message was simple: Petrol-İş has succeeded in gaining well over 50% of Standard Profil&rsquo;s 2,300 Turkish workers seeking union representation, the Labour Ministry has deemed Standard a part of the oil, chemicals, and rubber sector, so the company must forego any appeal and begin good faith social dialogue with Petrol-İş. 
 
It is common in Turkey for employers to thwart union recognition drives with frivolous appeals in order to block workers&rsquo; their legitimate workplace rights. Such appeals can take up to two years. By taking the Standard Profil appeal public, Petrol-İş, with a strong presence in D&uuml;zce and other manufacturing zones of Turkey, is initiating a unique pro-active strategy inside Turkey intended to deflect company resistance to union rights. 
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Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin (right) at News Conference, with Nimetullah S&ouml;zen, Petrol-İş&nbsp;Organising Secretary
At a press conference in D&uuml;zce on 21 March that the ICEM participated in, Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin stated, &ldquo;We want to sit down at the negotiations table with Standard Profil and conduct a peaceful process of mutual understanding.&rdquo; Labour relations, he added should &ldquo;start with mutual good and consideration of mutual interests.&rdquo; 
 
On 19 March, Turkey&rsquo;s Labour and Social Security Ministry did formally confirm that Standard Profil staff work in Petrol-İş sectors. The company has 15 days to contest that verification and the message is that they do not. The governmental process is now underway to certify the union with majority interest from workers and that will likely be affirmed in a matter of weeks. Again, the message in D&uuml;zce and along Standard Profil&rsquo;s supply chain is meet Petrol-İş at the bargaining table. 
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Union justification that Standard Profil not challenge unionisation at its 1,850-worker D&uuml;zce plant and a smaller but growing plant in the city of Bursa is furthered by the fact that the company has positively addressed freedom of association and given workplace rights training inside the plants. 
 
That came late in 2008 and early 2009 after Petrol-İş and its national labour centre, T&uuml;rk-İş, lodged a complaint with the World Bank&rsquo;s International Financial Corporation (IFC). The IFC and the accompanying Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) loaned the company development money, and criteria under that loan requires the company live up to social and environment standards. 
 
After assessment, a compliance office for IFC/MIGA determined that managers must undertake awareness and education efforts regarding labour rights and work conditions. At last week&rsquo;s news conference, &Ouml;ztaşkin reminded of that, emphasizing that the union stands ready and willing to make Standard Profil a quality, reliable, and globally-preferred supplier of automotive sealing systems. 
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Union Organisers at Standard Profil, &Uuml;nal Akbulut and Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak
The point was reinforced by letters presented at the press conference on behalf of the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/In%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-IS%20Workers%20at%20Standard%20Profil%20in%20Turkey%2018%20March%202011.pdf">International Metalworkers Federation</a> (IMF), the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/UAW%20Statement%20of%20Support%20.pdf ">United Auto Workers</a> (UAW) of the US, the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2011-03-18_09-37-04.pdf">Volkswagen Works Council</a> in Germany, and ICEM German affiliate <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/vl_160311_solistandardprofil.pdf ">IGBCE</a>. In the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/19.%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-Is%20on%20organizing%20efforts%20at%20Standard%20Profil.pdf ">ICEM&rsquo;s letter</a>, General Secretary Manfred Warda called on Standard Profil to embark on a &ldquo;peaceful and constructive labour relations atmosphere at your workplaces which will result in enhanced business performance.&rdquo; 
 
Leaders of several textile, metal, and other regional trade unions also attended the news conference, lending their support to the Petrol-İş message. Standard Profil, owned by London-based Bancroft Private Equity LLP whose investments mostly are in Central Europe, supplies door, boot, engine cover, and other rubber seals to a number of auto firms. Its larger customers are General Motors, Volkswagen/Audi, Fiat, Ford, and Honda.

Petrol-İş Demands Immediate Recognition at Standard Profil in Turkey

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Showcasing unions fighting back against austerity cuts will be featured in the line-up for the Global Labour Film Shorts in 2011. Affiliates are invited to submit their films for possible inclusion in the one hour line-up of the best short films from around the world by April 1. 
 
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, trade unions internationally have denounced its fast and increasing negative impact on workers. Some of this action has been captured on film, an essential platform for communication in many union campaigns and actions today. 
 
Over the last four years, the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival has taken place in downtown Geneva enabling unions and working people worldwide to share their stories. This year, in order to reach a wider international audience, the festival is refocusing to an on-line and DVD presentation that will be submitted to over 36 labour related film festivals around the world. The line-up will also be available on DVD for affiliates of all Global Union Federations and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to use in their own events and activities. 
 
The one-hour DVD will focus on short films that are excellent examples of communicating labour stories and messages and the selection will include a range of different films from different parts of the world. The launch of the Global Labour Film Shorts 2011 will take place at the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) &ldquo;Unions in Motion&rdquo; film festival, coming up on June 10-11 at Landschaftspark Nord in Duisburg, Germany. 
 
Please send copies of your films on DVD with a short paragraph describing the film, why it was produced and how it was used. The IMF, coordinating the work, will need unfettered rights to show the film and publish it online, of course with full acknowledgement of who created the material. Due to resource constraints for interpretation, the IMF is only able to accept films in English language or with English subtitles. 
 
We need to receive copies of all possible films by April 1, 2011. 
 
Please send to: 
Cherisse Fredricks 
International Metalworkers' Federation 
Case Postale 1516 
CH1227 Geneva 
Switerland

Fight Back on Film!

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A wage strike broke out last week in Argentina&rsquo;s Zarate-Campana petrochemical complex when members of the Zarate branch of the Federation of Chemical and Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Unions (FESTIQyPRA) walked out at six companies. Workers and their unions are seeking 2011 wage hikes over a series of instalments that will keep pace with the country&rsquo;s high inflation rate. 
 
The companies affected include Petrobras, Bunge, Rohm and Haas, Lanxess, Atanor, and Dow. At the Petrobras petrochemical plant, production stopped on 5 March due to the company seeking a safe and orderly shutdown. FESTIQyPRA Zarate is negotiating with the Chamber of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry (CIQyP), and the sides are now in mediation that is being conducted by the Argentina&rsquo;s Ministry of Work. 
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FESTIQyPRA&rsquo;s Nelson Palacios said workers are justified in asking for a general 25% pay rise, with minimum wage workers expected to gain more. FESTIQyPRA Zarate also seeks a fixed remuneration sum of ARS 2,463 (&euro;437, US$611) added to the base wage between May 2011 and February 2012. 
 
Palacios said the union&rsquo;s proposal calls for 30% of the total to be awarded in May 2011, with other increments to follow in October, December, and in February 2012. Several collective agreements in Argentina are on the brink of dispute, including ones in metals, oil and gas, and in service industries. CGT General Secretary Hugo Moyano has stated that a 2011 increase of 28% is in line for workers to meet the rampant run-up in Argentina&rsquo;s inflation rate. 
 
FESTIQyPRA is affiliated to CGT. The Zarate-Campana petrochemical plants are in northeast Argentina, in Buenos Aires province and situated on the Paran&aacute; River.

FESTIQyPRA Zarate Branch in Argentina Strikes 6 Chemical Companies

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Elefsina, an industrial town on the outskirts of Athens, was the venue for the 38th Congress of ICEM &ndash; affiliated trade union, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries and Chemical Industry. ICEM Energy Officer, Jim Catterson represented the ICEM at the Congress which brought together several hundred delegates together with guests from the across the political spectrum of Greek political parties as well as international trade union guests from Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
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The world economic crisis and its effects on the Greek economy with the imposition by government of a severe austerity package was subject to extensive and lively debate, including the messages from both political and international guests who also discussed the RETUN-SEE network of Energy Unions, the future role of Greece as a transit country for gas and petroleum supplies to European Union countries as well as the changing economics and structures of European petroleum refining. 
 
The Congress elected a Presidium to guide the union&rsquo;s work in the next Congress period. It will elect the President and other leading officials of the union at its first meeting. 
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Prior to the Congress the union arranged a first meeting between ICEM and senior management of Hellenic Petroleum, a significant multinational involved in Petroleum refining and distribution throughout the Balkans, as well as exploration in both Macedonia and Egypt. Jim Catterson was able to describe ICEM priorities in the industry including Global Framework Agreements as well as discuss in general the challenges facing the industry, ranging from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to the present turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

Petroleum, Energy Workers of Greece Celebrate 38th Congress

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The 28 affiliates of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Slovakia (KOZ) have the antidote for centre-right coalition government intent on imposing dreaded labour laws reforms in the Central European country. KOZ and its trade unions have launched a petition drive to change the eight-hour work day to one of seven and a 25-hour work week, with no reduction in salaries. 
 
The campaign already has the necessary 350,000 signatures needed to put an initiative up for vote under Slovakia&rsquo;s referendum law. But the unions will continue collecting signatures, in part, to galvanise support against Prime Minister Iveta Radicova&rsquo;s labour code revisions to cut worker protections. 
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KOZ has drawn up a draft referendum that poses three questions to Slovak citizens: Do you want to preserve the current system of worker protections? Do you agree that overtime work should be limited to 80 hours per year? Do you want working time shortened to 35 hours per week? 
 
Leaders in the ruling coalition parties claim that if accepted, employers will reduce costs by furloughing workers. But union leaders argue that reducing the number of work hours can produce jobs if fair and socially correct policies are enacted by the government. 
 
The labour-friendly Smer-Social Democracy Party is the one political party supporting KOZ&rsquo;s campaign. 
 
In order for a plebiscite to become effective in the Slovak Republic, at least 50% of voting-age people must turn out for the referendum vote. Since 1993, the country has held seven such plebiscites and only once has achieved the necessary 50% &ndash; in 2003 when Slovakian citizens voted to join the EU.

Slovak Trade Unions Campaign for 7-Hour Work Day

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ICEM-affiliated mineworkers&rsquo; unions know the difficulties in dealing with Rio Tinto, whether it is collective agreements or the charades the company plays to deny legitimate rights for train drivers in western Australia&rsquo;s rich iron ore region. Now an Australian union has set as goal organizing the unorganized plants of Rio Tinto Alcan, the mining giant&rsquo;s aluminum smelting subsidiary there. 
 
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is currently ramping up a recruiting drive at Alcan factories in Tasmania, Queensland, and the Northern Territory and without surprise, is meeting fierce resistance by Rio&rsquo;s managers. 
 
AWU kicked off its union campaign to deliver better wages and benefits to all workers at Alcan plants last month at its National Delegates Conference. The union intends to do that by recruiting wall-to-wall, or every worker at smelting facilities in Bell Bay, Tasmania, and Yarwun and Boyne Island, Queensland, that does not carry a union card. 
 
AWU began the drive in earnest last week by placing advertisements in Tasmanian newspapers alerting the public and workers at Alcan&rsquo;s Bell Bay smelter that Tassie staff are paid far less than at two union-represented smelters of Alcoa in Victoria. The ads, titled &ldquo;Tassie Workers Deserve Better: Fair Go &ndash; Rio Tinto,&rdquo; reveal that Alcoa operators earn up to A$20,000 more per year than operators at Bell Bay. 
<img alt="" src="" width="188" height="251" />
AWU Newspaper advert 
Photo: AWU 
It was at Bell Bay, in northern Tasmania, in late February where the AWU won a health and safety victory for the 550 workers there. Late in February, a state Justice Department of Justice secretary issued a definitive ruling that AWU representatives must be allowed access to break areas of the plant to consult with union members over safety and work issues. The company had appealed a Tasmania Supreme Court judgment giving the AWU right-of-entry. 
 
Alcan managers at Bell Bay have undertaken vigorous litigation to block access by attempting to restrict union consultation with workers to outside conference rooms, areas where such meetings are in full view of managers. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4195-Court-Tosses-Rio’s-Australian-Appeal-on-Safety-‘Right-of-Access’">ICEM InBrief report</a>.) Right-of-entry to lunch rooms is seen by Aussie unions as a pivotal point under Fair Work Australia in order to rid fear and intimidation as factors in workers choosing union membership. 
 
Alcan &ndash; and Rio Tinto &ndash; resistance to unionization was also seen recently at an Alcan facility called Gove Alumina in the Northern Territory. There, members of the Australia Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) have since 2008 rejected three times in enterprise bargaining a demand from Alcan to change roster scheduling at the 403-worker refinery. 
 
Despite enterprise bargaining talks still in effect, last week a leaked e-mail surfaced revealing that Alcan management had advised that the next set of talks not include the designated AMWU representatives. Such an attempt to circumvent the union is a serious breach of Australian federal labour law. 
 
The anti-union bias pattern that Rio&rsquo;s Alcan managers use is best summarized by a labour leader in central Queensland, where AWU is seeking worker power and workplace gains at Yarwun and Boyne Island, both sites that have low union membership. The Gladstone Branch president of the Queensland Council of Trade Unions, Craig Giddens, described the difference between construction of the Yarwun facility and commencement of production, a point when Alcan installed security cameras and heavy locked gates. &ldquo;Whenever we go&rdquo; to meet with workers, Giddens told newspaper reporters, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re locked in an office at the front (and) there&rsquo;s a security camera at the front so management can watch who comes down.&rdquo;

Australian Union Seeks ‘Wall-to-Wall’ Recruitment at Rio Tinto Alcan

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In April, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will begin searching for union members in the metals and engineering sector who retired between 1980 and 2001. The reason is that NUMSA last month won a long-running battle through arbitration with South Africa&rsquo;s Steel and Engineering Industry Federation. 
 
The arbitrated judgement is an award for R20 billion (&euro;209 million, US$290 million) in surplus pension funds that had been withheld by the employers&rsquo; federation for decades. 
 
NUMSA fought in court and through negotiation channels for the right to disburse the surplus entitlement funds. The money was accumulated in both the Engineering Industries Pension Fund and the Metal Industries Provident Fund since the 1950s. 
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The surplus was accumulated and held when worker contributions to the funds were never paid out to staff who had not reached the vesting scale of ten years employment, or when NUMSA members failed to claim pensions when they retired or resigned. ICEM-affiliated NUMSA began battling for disbursement in 2001, but the case was not resolved because employers imposed many legal entanglements to block any disbursement. 
 
The Steel and Engineering Industry Federation insisted that South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act (LRA) apply in settling the issue. NUMSA and the Financial Services Board argued that surplus monies should come under the Pension Fund Act because the LRA had no provision for addressing pension issues. Finally, in 2008, the LRA was amended to address pensions and the two sides began negotiations. It was resolved in February through arbitration in the union&rsquo;s favour. 
 
Some 1.5 million former and current NUMSA members will now benefit. A total of R11 billion (&euro;115 million, US$160 million) will be paid out to former or retired members, while R9 billion (&euro;94 million, US$130 million) will go into existing funds to buoy those funds for the benefit of current NUMSA members. 
 
Said NUMSA National Benefits Coordinator Samuel Tsiane, &ldquo;Now it becomes our task to locate former members to deliver what belongs to them.&rdquo; Tsiane said a small part of the pay-out will go to the union to achieve this and in April, NUMSA will utilise 450 people to conduct an initial ten-day blitz to identify retired or former metal or engineering staff. The pay-outs are expected to start being made in September.

NUMSA Wins 20-Billion-Rand Surplus Pension Case

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A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation&rsquo;s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa. 
 
The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case. 
 
The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa&rsquo;s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (&euro;1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold&rsquo;s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995. 
 
The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi&rsquo;s claim of R2.6 million (&euro;271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa&rsquo;s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="142" />
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 
But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court &ldquo;had erred in concluding&rdquo; the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent. 
 
&ldquo;If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi&rsquo;s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position &hellip; would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,&rdquo; Khampepe wrote, adding, &ldquo;Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country&rsquo;s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.&rdquo; 
 
Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, &ldquo;AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.&rdquo; 
 
Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children. 
 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court&rsquo;s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. &ldquo;For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,&rdquo; said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain &ldquo;at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.&rdquo;

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

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The Con-Dem coalition government in the United Kingdom is forging ahead on a raft of cuts to public spending which threatens to cause permanent damage throughout the welfare state. Under the argument of reducing the public financial deficit within four years, the right-wing Cameron government is using the cuts as a cover to fundamentally weaken the active state system of fairness and equality. 
 
Under serious threat are public services, the education system, pensions, and the National Health Service (NHS). 
 
Unions are fighting back. An alliance of unions and social groups will march to London&rsquo;s Hyde Park on 26 March, under the banner: &ldquo;March for the Alternative, Cuts are not the Cure&rdquo;. The March is organised by the British Trade Union Congress (TUC), and was announced by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber last October.
<img alt="" src="" width="214" height="150" />
Alternative measures to Cameron&rsquo;s cuts are a crackdown on tax avoidance, a Robin Hood tax on banks and finance, and policies and time to let economic growth and full employment raise the tax that will close the deficit. 
 
Debate continues within the movement on the best policy combination alternative to the damaging cuts, but what is undisputed is that the cuts must be stopped. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote in a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18.ICEM.March%20against%20Cuts.London.14March.pdf">letter to the TUC and ICEM&rsquo;s UK affiliates</a>, &ldquo;As the trade union movement of the UK manifests on 26 March against the cuts, we want your members and all British people to know that they have the support and solidarity of 20 million union members across the world, trade unionists that the ICEM is proud to represent&rdquo;. 
 
The movement against the cuts is gathering momentum. Thousands of workers, students and anti-cuts campaigners marched through Cardiff on Saturday 5 March as the Welsh voted to increase devolved power of the Welsh Assembly, responding to Westminster&rsquo;s imposition of cuts throughout the UK. 
<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="184" />
Tag line: 5 March Demonstration against Cuts, Cardiff
10,000 protestors descended on Sheffield last week for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. Party leader Nick Clegg has betrayed the electorate by changing policy on University tuition fees and is being targeted now to not allow the sale of the NHS, after Lib Dem members at the Conference voted to reject the government&rsquo;s reforms. 
 
Join the London March. Assembly at 11:00am, Victoria Embankment, and march to a rally in Hyde Park.

London Demonstration against Tory Attack on Welfare State

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