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Corporate leaders of US-based Massey Energy Co., including CEO Don Blankenship, came under harsh fire in Richmond, Virginia, on 18 May at the company&rsquo;s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting came just six weeks after a methane gas explosion at Massey&rsquo;s non-union Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia killed 29 miners, the worst mining tragedy in 40 years in the US. 
 
The closed and highly-secured meeting saw hundreds of protesters from US trade unions, environmental groups, and health and safety advocates march from Monroe Park to the historic and posh Jefferson Hotel, the venue for the AGM. They sang songs, waved placards, and chanted slogans that Blankenship belonged in jail, not running a publicly-traded company for his arrogant abuse of mine safety and environmental stewardship in America&rsquo;s Appalachia Mountains. 

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Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) West Virginia Local 69 officers Charlie Rittenhouse and Bryan Ash joined AGM protests against Massey Energy
A corporate governance proposal put before Massey shareholders by a US labour federation&rsquo;s investment arm called for three of the Richmond-based company&rsquo;s directors to be dropped from the board. Despite the fact that there were no alternative candidates, the three &ndash; Richard Gabrys, Dan Moore, and Massey President Baxter Phillips Jr. &ndash; won with just over 50% of the vote. 
 
That constituted a near majority of institutional shareholders who have no-confidence in these directors, and caused United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts to say to a news outlet, &ldquo;They got clobbered, considering the fact that they didn&rsquo;t have anybody running against them. They ran unopposed and almost lost.&rdquo; 
 
The AGM was brief and over with in less than one hour. Reporters were sequestered in another room of the hotel and when the question-and-answer period came, the video and audio feed into that room was cut off. Two protesters were arrested inside the hotel&rsquo;s ballroom, after unfurling a banner that read, &ldquo;Massey: Stop Putting Profits Over People.&rdquo; 

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UMWA President Cecil Roberts
The Upper Big Branch tragedy of 5 April has caused the US Congress to conduct an unprecedented number of hearings. There have been three since the tragedy. At a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on 20 May, Roberts said Massey has seen 52 miners die inside its mines in the past ten years. Blankenship testified at the same hearing that federal mine safety recommendations on ventilation upgrades actually make mines less safe. 
 
&ldquo;We opposed the changes because our engineers believed they made the ventilation less effective,&rdquo; he said, adding the company does not know if ventilation played a role in the 5 April blast. Blankenship said he thought Massey&rsquo;s safety and casualty rate in the US was &ldquo;about average,&rdquo; to which Roberts, who had both his grandfathers killed in mine accidents, said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t come up with another coal company that&rsquo;s had 23 miners in ten years die.&rdquo; 
 
At a subsequent US House Education and labor Committee hearing that was held near Upper Big Branch in Beckley, West Virginia, on 24 May, one miner who was fortunate to escape stated, &ldquo;we never had proper air on that longwall.&rdquo; Relatives of the deceased called Upper Big Branch &ldquo;a ticking time bomb.&rdquo; 

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Environmentalists from Rising Tide delivered a message from inside the meeting
The father of a 21-year-old victim, Adam Morgan, testified: &ldquo; &hellip; about every shift he had to do some kind of ventilation repairs and some &hellip; he had to do on his own.&rdquo; Steve Morgan said that when his son complained to supervisors on ventilation problems, he was told to find a different line of work if he was &ldquo;scared.&rdquo; 
 
An uncle of Adam Morgan also testified. Eddie Cook, a miner at a UMWA-represented colliery in West Virginia, made the point that with a union, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. At Massey, he said, &ldquo;if you refuse, they tell you to get your bucket and go home. They know if they were union that these people wouldn&rsquo;t work like they wanted them to.&rdquo; 
 
According to Massey&rsquo;s US federal regulatory filings, just 1.3% of its 6,000 US employees are members of the UMWA. And of that small portion, all work in coal preparation plants, not in underground mines.

Annual Massey Energy Meeting in US Brings Protest, Discontent

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Members of one of ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish mining affiliates, Genel Maden-İş, staged one-hour strikes across several collieries in the coal-rich Zonguldak region on 26 March in protest to government inaction over unsafe conditions in mining, as well as to government treatment of 12,000 of TEKEL, the former state tobacco company that was privatised. 
 
The one-hour strike actions, more specifically, were aimed at the horrid working conditions that caused the tragedy inside the Karadon mine, where 30 contract workers were killed on 17 May. The mine is owned by the Turkish Anthracite Coal Foundation and operated by Yapitek Construction. 
 
Genel Maden-İş, or the General Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey, which represents miners in the Zonguldak region, carried out stop-work actions for one-hour periods in each of three shifts on 26 May in scores of collieries in the Black Sea region of Zonguldak. Some 10,000 miners participated. The ICEM Executive Committee, meeting in Geneva, endorsed the strikes, calling the downing of tools a fitting response to the government of Turkey&rsquo;s non-response to repeated calls to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 

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Announcing the 26 May strikes, (center) T&Uuml;RK-İŞ President Mustafa Kumlu and Genel Maden-İş President Rasim Muslu 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&Uuml;RK-İŞ) and an ICEM Executive Committee member, said the mining industry is indispensible in Turkey, and it is the responsibility of employers and the government to reduce the risks to a very low minimum. 
 
Genel Maden-İş General President Rasim Muslu said adoption of the 2004 Mining Law in Turkey set safety in mines back, since the law opened up the mining sector to increased privaitisation. Introduction of flexible work conditions has led to inadequate training of unskilled workers, and lax safety inspections, many of which are never done on-site. The law also has brought an increase in temporary and part-time contract miners. 
 
At the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee meeting, the president of another Turkish mining affiliate, T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş President Ismail Aslan, a substitute ICEM Executive member, said obstacles inside Turkey to effectively organise workers into unions also contribute to unsafe conditions inside mines. He said it is unheard of for sub-contract employees to be affiliated to a union. 
 
The explosion at the Karadon mine, a colliery whose operations were privatised in 2006, could have been caused by dynamiting new sectors some 540 metres underground. The blast collapsed walls and support structures. Rescue efforts did manage to free eight miners. 
 
Emotions in the mining community were set aflame upon the visit on 19 May by Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Speaking at the mine gates, Erdogan callously declared that mine deaths had become the &ldquo;fate&rdquo; of mining communities, with people of the Zonguldak region &ldquo;quite used to events like these.&rdquo; 
 
The remarks triggered clashes between distraught relatives, protesters, and police.

Turkish Miners Conduct Hour-Long Strikes in Wake of Zonguldak Mine Catastrophe

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Following 168 days of bargaining, management at the Pampilla refinery, in the Ventanilla district on the Western edge of capital Lima, continues to refuse to bargain in good faith. 
 
The refinery is a subsidiary of the Spanish multinational Repsol. With a daily capacity of 102,000 barrels, La Pampilla is responsible for over half the refining capacity of Peru. 
 
Fenupetrol, the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union in Peru, has found Repsol to behave very differently than the image that the company portrays &ndash; one of being an ethical company, with high regard for corporate social responsibility. 
 
Moises Ochoa, National Secretary of International Relations at Fenupetrol, reports that following management&rsquo;s failure to offer anything reasonable to the bargaining committee since negotiations began on 15 December 2009, the union has moved to request legal arbitration for bargaining. 

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As collective bargaining at the company enters its second stage, Fenupetrol reiterate its demands in light of recent large company profits and following five years with no increase in workers&rsquo; salaries. The Pampilla employees now earn 33% less than oil workers elsewhere in the country, for instance at Petroperu. Sales for the rest of 2010 are projected to be very high. The bargaining committee now seeks 25-30% rise in base salaries, improvements in the profit bonus and shift bonus, as well as a significant increase in the food allowance for workers. 
 
The Pampilla refinery reported revenues of US$802 million during the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 68.4% over last year. 
 
The ICEM calls on Repsol and the local Pampilla management to bargain in good faith, and come to terms with wages deficiencies incurred over the last five years.

Repsol Subsidiary in Peru Hinders Collective Negotiations with Oil Workers

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State-run electric power utility Eskom got a court intervention last week preventing South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from striking. The order came on the eve of a mass demonstration by NUM at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in MegaWatt Park, Johannesburg, on 26 May. 
 
The strike by NUM&rsquo;s 16,000 members at Eskom was supposed to begin that same day. The company has reneged on an agreement reached last summer that increased housing allowances would be put into effect by late in 2009. Eskom also has recanted over installing full-time safety representatives. A further demand by NUM is that shop stewards be given training and allowed to represent workers on issues before South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
Meanwhile, the utility dumped salt in the wounds of utility workers in the final round of a three-session set of 2010 wage talks. On Friday, 28 May, Eskom offered workers a paltry 3.5% wage increase, far below South Africa&rsquo;s inflation index. 
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The proposed increase was intended as part of a three-year labour agreement. &ldquo;This is a serious insult to workers who are classified as essential but treated like dirt,&rdquo; stated NUM Energy Sector Coordinator Job Matsepe. 
 
A South African labour court ruled late on 25 May that &ldquo;Eskom is an essential service and employees of an organisation classified as such are prohibited from taking part in industrial action.&rdquo; 
 
A strike was averted last year when Eskom, the NUM, and two other unions agreed to refer the housing allowance to a task team that would meet and make the increase by 1 December 2009. That did not happen. All three unions seek a R5,000 (US$654) housing allowance. &ldquo;We have discovered that referring matters to a task team is an Eskom delay tactic,&rdquo; said Num spokesman Lesibo Seshoka. 
 
At NUM&rsquo;s National Central Committee meeting early in May, leadership came out strongly against privatisation of any portion of power generating plants or other state-owned assets.

South African Court Blocks NUM from Striking Electric Utility Eskom

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A wage agreement will likely will be signed today giving 5,800 miners and metalworkers in Georgia a minimum 15% pay increase, backdated to 1 May. For those working shifts at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and Georgian Manganese mines, a further 7% was won on top of the 15%. 
 
That was assured on Friday, 28 May, when one of the Georgian shareholders of the two enterprises signed off on the increase. The managing directors of the manganese processing plant and mines are expected to sign the wage portion of the contract today in Zestafoni with leaders of the ICEM affiliate, Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, Imereti Region branch. 
 
A further agreement covering paid holiday leave, sick leave, a joint contributory pension plan, and other workplace conditions is expected to be consummated in the very near future. The union, with valuable assistance from the national labour centre, Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), as well through ICEM intervention, won recognition in mid-May after strikes and public activities in the previous weeks. (See earlier ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3777-Free-Trade-Union-Recognised-for-Miners-Metalworkers-of-Georgia">here</a>.) 
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The boost to salaries is fair and just, since pay at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and manganese mines in Chiatura is extremely low. Miners had earned an average monthly wage of GEL (lari) 450, or US$238, &euro;192. The average monthly salary inside the ferroalloy plant, where 2,200 of the 5,800 workers are employed, is GEL 562, or US$298, &euro;240. 
 
As often happens when such struggles for democratic trade union representation and workplace improvements become public and are successful, industrial workers in other Georgian enterprises also are seeking representation. Both GTUC and the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia are currently working with employees in steel and other industrial enterprises for recognition, wage improvements, and workplace rights. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the federation and its Georgian trade union affiliate on its accomplishments at Zestafoni and Chiatura, and pledges continued resources and a global presence as the unions better the working lives of all Georgian industrial workers.

Georgian Miners, Metalworkers Get Long Overdue Pay Rises

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The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago, will hold a colourful afternoon event this Thursday, 11 March, in honour of International Women&rsquo;s Day. Entitled &ldquo;From One to Many: Techno-Politics, Revolution, and the Art of the Possible,&rdquo; the forum will be hosted by the university&rsquo;s Institute of Gender and Development Studies. 
 
It will feature three lectures, the final one &ndash; by Dr. Alexis DeVeaux of the US&rsquo;s University of Buffalo at SUNY &ndash; to be followed by a question and answer session. Dr. DeVeaux will speak on &ldquo;Audre Lorde and the Longing for Home(land).&rdquo; 

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Preceding her will be Dr. Gabrielle Jamela Hosein speaking on &ldquo;A Revolution is a Way of Life,&rdquo; and Sonitha Krishnan on &ldquo;Impassioned by Silence: Where Do I Begin.&rdquo; 
 
The forum has the support and endorsement of the ICEM affiliate on the Caribbean nation-islands, the Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU).

Women’s Symposium to be Held in Trinidad and Tobago, 11 March

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The mining and maritime unions, under the umbrella of the Mining and Maritime Initiative, met in Los Angeles, California 16-17 February, to discuss ongoing global campaigns in the sector. The ICEM plays a central role in the initiative, with seven ICEM affiliates in attendance: CFMEU (Australia), ILWU, USW (USA), NUM, NUMSA, CEPPWAWU (South Africa), and Maden (Turkey). The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) also attended. 
 
Meeting delegates discussed the struggles at <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3607-Rio-Tinto-Engaged-in-Savage-Union-Busting-at-California-Borates-Mine">Rio Tinto in Boron California</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3608-Cananea-Miners-Reject-Grupo-México-Severance;-Strike-Continues ">Grupo Mexico</a>, and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3589-Talks-Prove-Futile-in-Ending-Vale’s-Eastern-Canada-Mine-Strike ">Vale Inco</a>, and the global campaigns around these disputes, led in part by the ICEM, as each conflict involves ICEM affiliates. 

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The meeting issued a statement on the violations of worker rights in Boron California by Rio Tinto and by Grupo Mexico and the Mexican Government. View the statement here. Many of the unions involved in Mining and Maritime have had conflicts with Rio Tinto in the past, and stand in strong solidarity with the members of ILWU 30, who have been locked out by the company, as they refuse an extremely concessionary contract. The unions present pledged to &ldquo;escalate the campaigns in defence of workers at Rio Tinto and Grupo Mexico immediately, dramatically and strategically to make them global battles&rdquo;. 
 
A Campaign Committee was created, which includes ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Joe Drexler. 

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Meeting delegates then attended a large march and rally in support of the Rio Tinto miners in Boron. The participation of Maden, the main mining union in Turkey, was of special significance, since Rio Tinto uses the state-owned Turkish mining company as a supplier to its customers. Maden is a strong supporter of the Boron strikers.

Mining, Maritime Unions Meet

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The Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union announced last Thursday 4 March that they will launch a general strike on 16 March, in response to the company&rsquo;s announcement of a massive layoff plan, which saw 1,200, of the total 5,000, workers receive redundancy notices. 
 
The 1,200 workers to lose their jobs were told they will be laid off on 2 April under the restructuring plan; however the management has said that 1,000 of those will be rehired by outsourced contractors, at the factories in Gwangju. 
 
The parent company of Kumho Tyres, Kumho Asiana Group, is close to bankruptcy due to the failure of their subsidiary Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. which they purchased in 2006. These economic conditions will be used to the advantage of Kumho Tyres, as they seek to outsource their workforce to precarious employment, and move production to China where production costs are lower. 

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The Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union, which is through the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU), affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), sought to negotiate with management to avoid job losses. The union leaders offered management the chance to reduce salaries and bonuses, with management refusing the offer. 
 
A state arbitrator has stepped in to negotiate a settlement. If either of the two parties refuses the final settlement of this committee, workers are legally permitted to strike. The Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union has pledged its willingness to negotiate with management to find a solution, but has said that it is ready to fight should management continue its unreasonable stance. 
 
The KCTU has pledged its full support to the Kumho Tyre workers.

Korean Tyre Workers Plan General Strike in Reaction to Job Cuts

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ICEM&rsquo;s Spanish affiliates in the Chemicals industry have agreed a renewal of the&nbsp;collective agreement for the sector. The previous agreement expired in December 2009. The agreement, signed 9 February by ICEM affiliates FITEQA-CC.OO. and FIA-UGT, was described by CC.OO.&rsquo;s Communications Officer Fernando Lezcano, as a model to be followed by others in overcoming the financial crisis. 
 
The Agreement will be valid for three years, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012. 
 
The economic and financial crisis caused the loss of 1.5 million jobs in Spain over the last 18 months, making negotiations between business and trade unions more significant. Spain is now in its seventh consecutive quarter of recession and unemployment is at 4 million for the first time in Spain&rsquo;s history. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="131" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="155" height="126" />
The unions accepted the limitations of what could be achieved in the negotiations, but prioritised commitments on job stability and changes that would stop the rise of precarious work. The new agreement recommends that local collective agreements place emphasis on permanent jobs and a reduction of temporary work. Also equal opportunities for women and young people must be prioritised. These issues will be continually negotiated on during the period of the agreement, in the newly-created Follow-up Committee. 
 
Factors such as re-distribution of work, shorter working hours, and a program of partial retirement along with replacement contracts, are seen as important tools to avoid redundancies. 
 
Wage policies for the next three years were agreed by the trade unions and employers&rsquo; organizations, raising salaries by 2.5% over the three years of the agreement.

Spain: Renewed Collective Agreement for the Chemicals Sector

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The Third Ordinary Congress of UILCEM took place in Iglesias, Sardegna Island, on 2-4 February under the motto, &quot;Our History, Our Future.&rdquo; The Congress was attended by the General Secretary of UIL Confederation Luigi Angeletti, General Secretary of FEMCA-CISL Sergio Gigli together with Dario Ilossi, National Secretaries of FILCEM-CGIL and FLAEI-CISL (Electricity Workers' Union), a number of representatives of employers&rsquo; federations and individual companies. 
 
Also in attendance were Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer of the ICEM, and Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Renucci, General Secretary-elect of the French union FCE-CFDT. 
 
As one of the three ICEM Italian affiliated trade unions, UILCEM (Chemical, Energy and Manufacturing Workers' Union) is part of the UIL (Italian Workers' Union) national centre. It brings together workers of the chemical, pharmaceutical, mining, energy, oil, engineering, manufacturing, rubber and plastics, glass, lamps, ceramics, tiles, electricity, water, and gas sectors. 

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Augusto Pascucci, General Secretary of UILCEM
Augusto Pascucci, General Secretary of UILCEM and a Vice President of the ICEM, reported on the effects of the global economic crisis in Italy. Pascucci explained the significance of the Congress being held in Iglesias, near a mine under threat of closure due to the financial downturn. The mine supports the livelihoods of 2,000 workers in the area. Pascucci called for a government reform package that would see Italy intervene in moments of crisis. 
 
The General Secretary of UIL underlined the current trade union agenda items in Italy and gave particular attention to job creation, the securing of industrial production, and an increase in the minimum wage. ICEM's &Ouml;zkan, in his speech, covered globalisation, the economic crisis, changes in the employment relationship toward more precarious work, sustainable development, and climate change. 
 
The final declaration of the Congress laid out the union&rsquo;s objectives for the upcoming period. That agenda includes: More trade union training; a new &quot;architecture&quot; of the financial system; elimination of discrimination against women, creation of an open society for everyone, and specific financing for women&rsquo;s activities; and an escalation of support and solidarity with international and European federations 
 
The Congress unanimously re-elected Augusto Pascucci as General Secretary of UILCEM. 
 
Another ICEM Italian affiliate, FILCEM, will merge with FILTEA, the Textile Workers&rsquo; Union. The name of the new union is FILCTEM, and will represent 250,000 members, with 27 national-level collective agreements in the relevant sectors. FILCTEM will hold its First Congress soon.

Third Ordinary Congress of Italy’s UILCEM Held

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