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Coal mining deaths, as well as recorded tragedies happening in iron ore and clay mining, shot up over the past month in China. Chinese authorities continue to be vigilant on mine managers and others when mining deaths occur. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) is quick to say that deaths are down this year over each of the past few years, with gas-control utilization procedures the reason. 
 
The statistics, however, may point more to the fact that the Chinese government, as well as several coal-producing provinces, have embarked on an ambitious plan to close small-scale coal mines. China is in the process of closing 10,000 of 14,500 small mines. Indeed, For each one million tonnes of coal mined, the death rate at smaller mines is eight times the rate of state-owned mines or mines where multinationals are involved.
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Overall, the death rate in the first half of 2008 fell to 1.05 for each one million tonnes of coal mined, compared to 1.485 in 2007, and 3.08 in 2005. 
 
But since mid-June, and certainly coincidental to China then placing a cap on coal price increases to steady supplies, thus to avoid blackouts during the Olympic games, a rash of mining accidents have happened across several provinces. The biggest mine disaster of 2008 occurred on 13 June, when 34 miners perished at the Anxin mine in Shanxi Province, and the latest happened on 10 July when bolting sheered on an elevator, causing it to collapse with 11 miners aboard. That occurred at Jiyuan Mining Industries Co. in the central province of Henan. 
 
The Anxin disaster near the Shanxi city of Xiaoyi occurred because of a major underground explosion caused by home-made explosives igniting inside a mine shaft. Fifty-eight miners were inside shafts at the time of the blast, nearly double the number that were supposed to be inside the mine. Anxin was working an area that was off-limits to mining. 
 
Although Anxin is a licensed enterprise with authority to mine 90,000-tonnes-per-year, it was found that its annual coal output was estimated at 300,000 tonnes. 
 
Chinese authorities arrested the mine owner, the mine&rsquo;s legal representative, and two workers charged with responsibility for the explosives. Six municipal and township officials, all representatives of the local Communist Party committee, were also sacked due to their lack of oversight.
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On 5 July, 21 miners died in the coal-rich Datong City area of Shanxi Province when a methane gas explosion struck. The owner of the colliery, Wujiu Coal Mine, was detained at the 150,000-tonne-per-year colliery. And four days earlier, on 1 July, 18 miners died when a shaft collapsed at state-owned Huisen Liangshuijing coal mine in Shaanxi Province. Sixteen workers died immediately, and two other miners died later from gas inhalation after being rescued. 
 
From the mid-point of June, besides the major Anxin tragedy, at least 20 other coal miners died in recorded accidents, while multiple deaths occurred in two iron-ore mines, and in one clay mining operation. 
 
On 17 June, at the Laojunmiao Coal Mine in Mulei County, part of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, five persons died and three were seriously injured in a mine cave-in. On 12 June in Hubei Province at the Tuya Coal Mine, seven miners died 700 metres underground when a gas explosion occurred. And on 13 June, flooding of mine shafts caused the deaths of eight workers employed underground by Yutian Coal Mining Ltd. in Ningwu County, Shanxi Province. 
 
Freak accidents occurred in the iron-ore pits. On 25 June, 12 farmers were working an abandoned mine owned by Taochong Mining Co., part of the massive Ma&rsquo;anshan Steel Group, when heavy rain caused the mine to collapse. This occurred in Fanchang, eastern Anhui Province. The illegal entrepreneur who was supervising the small-scale mining venture fled the area before he could be arrested. 
 
On 17 June, in Guyang County of the Inter Mongolia Autonomous Region, seven miners died during a mine collapse at the mined-out iron ore pit of Julong Mining Co. 
 
The disaster at the clay mine happened on 18 June near the Zhejiang Province capital city of Hangzhou, when six miners died due to flooding. Lax safety operating procedures was pinned as cause. 
 
Coal powers nearly 75% of all of China&rsquo;s energy needs. Coal prices in China have risen 70% over the first six months of 2008. The price increases are not extraordinary when compared to the overall global spike in coal price levels this year. But in China, with low inventories and insufficient supplies, the National Development and Reform Commission decided on 19 June to put a temporary cap on spot coal prices through the end of the end to prevent power blackouts. What effect this will have on safety in China&rsquo;s notoriously deadly coal mines is anybody&rsquo;s guess

Mine Deaths Accelerate in China Over the Past Month

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Unlike last summer, ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa is reaching settlement with employer groups in several industrial sectors. A strike by 5,500 furniture workers who have taken industrial action is the only exception to date. The union is, or has been in recent months, bargaining on behalf of 40,000 workers in some 11 industrial sectors. 
 
Last summer, nearly all of the union&rsquo;s sectors, ranging from petroleum, plastics, industrial chemicals, to paper, packaging, and wood products took strike actions. So far, in bargaining that started in April with employers&rsquo; associations, agreements have been reached in petroleum, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, paper packaging, and plastics. 
 
The agreements exceed, or at least match, South Africa&rsquo;s current inflation rate of 10.5%. CEPPWAWU General Secretary Welile Nolingo said, &ldquo;If there are to be further strikes, it will not exceed more that two or three sectors.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img height="154" src="" width="180" alt="" />
CEPPWAWU Gen. Sec. Welile Nolingo&nbsp;
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s furniture-making members, employed at some six factories of Steinhoff International subsidiaries and spin-off companies now owned by ABSA Capital, struck on 1 July in a wage reopener. The union filed the necessary 48-hour strike notice with South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA), but the employers&rsquo; association is challenging that as an illegal strike. CEPPWAWU is refuting that through the legal process. 
 
Employers are offering only 8%, and are seeking major pension changes, and restrictions on union leave. 
 
In the Tissue and Allied sector, the stalemate can be seen as differences between the two major companies in that sector, Nampac and Kimberly-Clark. Nampac is willing to offer a pay increase matching the inflation rate of 10.5%, but US-based Kimberly-Clark refuses to move beyond 9%. Some 2,000 CEPPWAWU members are employed in Tissue and Allied. 
 
In the glass sector, an agreement appears imminent for 2,500 workers for a 2008 pay increase of 11%. The major employers there include Consol, Nampak Wiegand Glass, and Glass of Africa.
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In the Industrial Chemicals sector, union leadership was waiting last week for a mandate from chemical workers for the next step. Some 13,000 workers are employed at plants of Sasol, Dow Chemical, PetroSA, and others. The union and employers&rsquo; association are close on wages at 12%. CEPPWAWU also is seeking the collective agreement to be extended to workers of labour agencies, with all temporary and casual workers to be made permanent employees after working 45 days in a three-year cycle. 
 
Agreements are not in place for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector, Sasol Mines, and the Sawmilling and Fibre and Particle Board Sectors. 
 
In agreements that have been concluded, some 6,000 paperworkers, primarily employed at Sappi and Mondi mills, agreed to 12% wage increases on 27 June. CEPPWAWU and the Pulp and Paper Employers&rsquo; Association also agreed to minimum salary levels of R4,660-per-month, and a shift allowance of 6% above basic pay. 
 
In Paper Packaging, wage increases of 11.5% took effect 1 July. Paper converting workers also won three-month maternity leave language, as well as an annual bonus of 4.33% of basic pay, and study leave of ten days per annum. A severance formula of two weeks pay for each year of work service also was achieved. CEPPWAWU covers 3,000 workers in this sector, with Nampak and Mondi Packaging serving as the major employers. 
 
In the Petroleum sector, agreement was also reached for salaries to increase by 12%. Employers include BP, Sasol, Chevron&rsquo;s Caltex, and PetroSA. Some 3,000 workers are covered in that sector. In Plastics, a 10.4% increase was won across the board with employers Consol Plastics, Nampak Plastics, and Transpeco. 
 
In the Pharmaceutical sector, where 3,000 workers are employed by such companies as Pfizer, Aspen, and Adcock Ingram, a 12% increase was gained. 
 
All of CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s one-year sector agreements expired on 1 July, with the exception of the furniture one, a three-year accord with wage reopeners each year.

CEPPWAWU Resolving Some Sector Agreements in South Africa; Furniture Workers on Strike

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A four-day strike by 10,000 workers of the Petroleum Tank-Truck Drivers&rsquo; Branch of ICEM affiliate NUPENG in Nigeria was suspended this morning, 14 July, for two weeks. A memorandum of understanding was reached in a four-hour meeting Saturday between the union and Ministry of Petroleum, calling on all parties to meet tomorrow, 15 July, in Abuja in efforts to resolve a range of issues. 
 
NUPENG President Peter Akpatason said if the talks beginning Tuesday are not successful, the union will not hesitate to renew the strike on 28 July. &ldquo;This is a matter of drivers&rsquo; welfare,&rdquo; said Akpatason. &ldquo;We will not tolerate high petrol prices, inadequate roads and access to and from refineries and depots, and a continuation of the low salaries that drivers receive.&rdquo;
<img height="120" src="" width="160" alt="" />
&nbsp;NUPENG President Peter Akpatason
The ICEM is supportive of the drivers&rsquo; demands, and urges the various government ministries, as well as the handful of employers&rsquo; groups to accede to NUPENG&rsquo;s agenda tomorrow to bring safety and security to Nigeria&rsquo;s roads and fair pay to petroleum tank-truck drivers. 
 
On Saturday, the Ministry of Petroleum agreed to begin the process to reduce the price of diesel fuel, just one of several issues that brought on the 10 July strike. NUPENG had given two separate ultimatums to resolve issues, a 21-day one at the end of May and a seven-day one on 3 July.
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Tomorrow&rsquo;s meeting is expected to include officials from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Ministry of Work and Housing, and the State Security Services, as well as road police senior officers. It will also include top officials from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), independent fuel-oil marketers, and other transporters. 
 
According to Saturday&rsquo;s memorandum, the meeting is intended to set guidelines on lowering diesel fuel and kerosene prices. Discussion is also expected to establish a firm timetable to improve highways and access roads around refineries and duel depots. 
 
The issue of salaries will also be heard. NUPENG&rsquo;s three-year collective agreement with NARTO expired in May and average pay for drivers has been stuck at NGN 10,500-per-month (US$100) since 2005. With overwhelming inflation in the country, NUPENG is seeking an increase in salaries to between NGN 30,000 and 40,000 per month. 
 
NUPENG contends that the deplorable state of roads has caused accidents, deaths, and horrendous losses of productivity and time away from families. The high cost of fuel has made petroleum product distribution unprofitable, with severe hardships placed on small businesses and citizens alike. NUPENG is calling on NNPC and the government to halt the sale of petrol products to middle-men and other dealers, who increase products to retail outlets by as much as 300%.

NUPENG Suspends Tank-Truck Drivers’ Strike for Multi-Party Talks to Take Hold

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	Union members, affiliated to Unite the Union in the UK, rejected 5 March a redundancy proposal from Austrian packaging company Mayr-Melnhof that would have ended a 19-day lockout at a plant in Merseyside, near Liverpool. Workers rejected it 138-1 largely because management still insists on its own discretionary powers in disbursing redundancy packages to 49 workers.

	Unite has escalated a campaign against the Vienna-based paper carton and packaging company primarily because Mayr-Melnhof has retracted and reduced buy-out terms in this set of talks, and has substantially broken from redundancy pay-outs and terms commonly established in past consultations.

	In talks on 29 February and again on 3 March, the company proposed a social fund to bridge the difference paid in its 2008 and 2010 layoffs, with lesser packages offered now. But the social fund would be discretionary, based on subjective criteria unilaterally set by the company, which underscores Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s bargaining posture throughout this set of 2012 talks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 160px;height: 97px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Workers at the Bootle, Merseyside, plant began lawful industrial actions on 10 February over Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s intransigence with six-hour &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; &nbsp;Walkouts rotated from 06h to noon, and from noon to 18h. On 18 February, managers locked workers out and began manoeuvring to move equipment and product out of the factory.

	Workers then entered the factory and staged a shop-floor sit-in to prevent removal. Despite several sets of talks since, Mayr-Melnhof has steadfastly resisted any workable compromise proposed by Unite, and the lockout has continued.

	The union has brought the dispute to Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s Packaging Division workers in Germany, and the ICEM has issued a call for <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4918-Packaging-Workers-Need-Support-">Solidarity Action</a>, which can be viewed and acted upon here. Trade unionists inside the company&rsquo;s Karton Division, led by Austrian affiliate PRO-GE, have brought attention to the company&rsquo;s hostile UK labour relations inside Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s eight European paper mills, and PRO-GE has also protested loudly to CEO Wilhelm Hoermansedar.

	Unite, meanwhile, is preparing an industrial ballot at Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s other UK packaging plant, in Deeside, North Wales, on grounds that the company is worsening redundancy terms and conditions from previously agreed. The Bootle plant produces food packaging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to pet food packaging, with Kellogg&rsquo;s the plant&rsquo;s biggest customer.

Mayr-Melnhof Lockout Continues at UK Packaging Plant

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	The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is demanding that labour and regulatory law in the province of Ontario be toughened in the wake of the social calamity perpetrated by Caterpillar Inc. in the recent lockout/closure of a rail electric diesel factory in the south-western provincial city of London.

	With that nearly all labour law in Canada is governed by the provinces, CAW demanded in a 29 February letter to Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey that Ontario toughen its labour statutes as remedy to lax investment regulations. Specifically, the CAW demands that more powers be granted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to stamp out bad-faith bargaining strategies.

	The CAW is campaigning for a stronger and more modernized labour code in Ontario because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, blackmailing workers and a community in choosing between non-liveable wages and a major plant closure. (See prior <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 145px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	In the letter, CAW President Ken Lewenza said, &ldquo;The company&rsquo;s unjustifiable behaviour &ndash; and the resulting devastation now being brought to bear on workers and the community &ndash; has touched a nerve with Canadians and triggered broad public support.&rdquo;

	The CAW is proposing powers of expedited interest arbitration in pitched labour disputes, as well as new provisions to prevent employers from evading collective agreements by using a lockout.

	Also put forward is a ban on scab replacement workers during a dispute, and restoring workers&rsquo; plant closing rights to negotiate adjustment plans. The CAW also says fairness demands the lengthening of time for giving plant closing notice, and a minimum two weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service, with elimination of the five-year service tie-in.

	The CAW letter also calls for an Industrial Inquiry Commission, as stipulated in Section 37, Ontario Labour Relations Act, in order to investigate Caterpillar carnage on workers in the province and the city of London.

	&ldquo;The Caterpillar debacle demonstrates all too well the ease with which an employer can stall out the negotiation process, bargain in bad faith with impunity and manufacture a dispute in an attempt to evade contractual obligations,&rdquo; Lewenza stated.

	&ldquo;Caterpillar did not misjudge or misinterpret Ontario&rsquo;s labour laws; rather, they understood them all too well, and exploited the laws&rsquo; weaknesses as a key part of their overall strategy.&rdquo;

Update Labour Laws, CAW Tells Ontario in Caterpillar Aftermath

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	If anyone needs further proof to Vale&rsquo;s global social neglect, it comes in a pair of dirty deeds committed by the Brazilian mining company in and after the bitter 2009-10 strike at a major nickel and copper operation in Sudbury, Ontario.

	One involves circumstances surrounding two deaths inside Vale&rsquo;s Frood-Stobie Mine on 8 June 2011 and the other is added legal proof that Vale&rsquo;s strong-arm tactics in firing union activists during the United Steelworkers (USW) strike was meant to hinder legal collective bargaining.

	An extensive report issued 29 February by the USW over the June 2011 deaths of Jordan Fram, 26, an equipment operator, and Jason Chenier, 35, a supervisor, was done because Vale refused the offer of the USW to investigate the accident jointly. USW blames negligent water drainage maintenance directly tied to lax and &ldquo;little experience or training&rdquo; of front-line supervisors.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 347px;height: 138px" width="390">&nbsp;

	USW Local 6500 Union Meeting

	Fram and Chenier were buried 900 metres underground by an overflow of muck, a term for an avalanche of wet rock, gravel, sand, water washing down a mine shaft. Even though USW Local 6500 is the legitimate bargaining representative, the report notes, &ldquo;Vale officials refused to be interviewed by members of the USW team&rdquo; even though union members &ldquo;cooperated fully in management&rsquo;s investigation.&rdquo;

	The <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/exectsum.pdf">Executive Summary</a> and the full 207-page <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/dfinvest.doc">USW Report</a> are here.

	The week before USW issued the report, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) ruled that Vale violated provincial labour law by maintaining a &ldquo;patently unreasonable&rdquo; stance over nine workers Vale fired for strike activity. The OLRB agreed with the USW that the nine trade unionists were denied rights to third-party arbitration by the company, and further cited Vale for &ldquo;troubling&rdquo; labour relations conduct across several areas.

	In January, the OLRB <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4838-Ontario-Labour-Board-Rules-Discharged-USW-Sudbury-Leader-has-Worksite-Access">cited Vale with union interference</a> for denying entry onto company property for one of the nine discharged workers is the elected head of Local 6500&rsquo;s Grievance Committee. The USW is now confident that arbitrated decisions will prevail and the nine workers will return to their rightful jobs.

	The USW District Director for Ontario and the Atlantic Region, Wayne Fraser, said the OLRB&rsquo;s 24 February ruling &ldquo;should give Vale pause to consider the hardship inflicted on families,&rdquo; adding that the unlawful conduct &ldquo;prolonged the suffering and uncertainty for families in our community.&rdquo;

	Vale&rsquo;s safety record in Canada was tarnished again on 29 January 2012 when 47-year-old Stephen Perry, an explosives worker, was crushed to death when a rock face collapsed on him while he was working in a lift basket. This death occurred 1,300 metres inside Vale&rsquo;s Coleman nickel mine near Sudbury.

	A fourth Canadian Vale death in 2011 occurred on 19 October when 51-year-old scooptram operator Greg Leason was killed when his machine fell 40 metres into a cavern inside the T-3 Mine in Thompson, Manitoba.

	Historically, the four 2011 deaths at Vale in Canada are atypical because the USW is a vigilant proponent of joint labour-management process safety procedures that prevent workplace accidents. But with Vale&rsquo;s hostile labour relations still simmering some 20 months after the strike, no cooperation with the union over health and safety issues is proving detrimental to workplace safety.

Safety, Union Busting Haunts Vale inside Sudbury, Canada, Mines

USW Local 9700, one of the first unions to respond at the time of the 30 December lockout and representing Alcoa ABI workers at B&eacute;cancour, Qu&eacute;bec, voted unanimously to draw C$25-per-week from their paychecks, donating C$25,000 weekly to Local 9490.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 68px" width="390" />

	Locked-out members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos &nbsp;d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, the United Steelworkers (USW), took their fight against Rio Tinto Alcan to Qu&eacute;bec&rsquo;s largest city, last Friday, 17 February, where Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; was part of a spurious forum on youth in employment, sponsored by the Board of Trade Metropolitan Montr&eacute;al.

	Some 200 of 780 metalworkers from Alcan&rsquo;s Alma aluminium smelter in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region, Qu&eacute;bec, boarded buses and travelled 460 kilometres to Montr&eacute;al for a noisy protest at this business luncheon, their first manifestation away from the 488,000-tonne-per-year smelter. They were joined by another 100 steelworkers from Montr&eacute;al, and some 100 college students who joined the USW rally in mocking protest to a future&nbsp;youth theme that now sees business teaming with the Liberal provincial government of Qu&eacute;bec to raise their university tuition fees.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 248px;height: 161px" width="390" />

	17 February Manifestation, Montr&eacute;al

	This &ldquo;Hot Issues@Lunch&rdquo; theme was billed to &ldquo;foster the success of the next generation of Qu&eacute;becers.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma found deep irony in Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; participating, since Alcan in Alma is using a lock-out to replace C$36-an-hour permanent jobs with outsourced and presumably younger workers at C$16-an-hour.

	C&ocirc;t&eacute; was not expected to address the lockout at the hot-plate lunch, but when pressed by reporters on the sidelines, she called the dispute a &ldquo;regional issue&rdquo; and &ldquo;it will be settled in Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean&rdquo; by managers who &ldquo;have my full confidence.&rdquo;

	Earlier last week, when the lockout entered week seven and with the remote mining and manufacturing region starting to feel the economic effects of a lost wage base, one such manager told Reuters he &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t put a timeline to (talks restarting) right now because nothing is scheduled.&rdquo;

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 199px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Dan Roy and Marc Maltais

	foto: France Paradis/Le-Lac-St-Jean

	With aluminium prices hovering now at very low, the Alma lockout serves as a convenient strategy to restrict supply to lift prices. It also fits Rio Tinto&rsquo;s strategy of divesting and devaluing Alcan by C$8.9 billion in view of its US$39 billion purchase of the Canadian company in 2007, although the modern and high-tech tooled Alma smelter, with its low-cost hydroelectric supply, will not likely be jettisoned.

	Perhaps this should have been a more apt business theme to the Board of Trade elite last week, and it certainly best explains the anger of metalworkers and students alike gathered on the other side of the barricades. In this vein &ndash; with Rio Tinto&rsquo;s share price dropping &ndash; it is worth mentioning that C&ocirc;t&eacute; herself exhibited a timely corporate mentality last week by shedding 3,671 shares of Rio Tinto to pocket US$213,500, money not likely to find its way to Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean.

	USW District Five Director Daniel Roy addressed the disparity between full-time, family-supporting jobs in the region to the sub-contract and lower-wage jobs that Rio Tinto is trying create with the. &ldquo;Accepting this would cause a dramatic downward spiral not only for the workers but for members of the community, which would see income, local business sales and tax revenues drop precipitously.&rdquo;

	USW Local 9490 President Marc Maltais added, &ldquo;By using subcontractors to do the work of union members, we are asked to concede on behalf of future generations. This is an attack on our children and grandchildren.&rdquo;

	The buses departed Montr&eacute;al late on Friday afternoon for the return trip to Alma, but first stopped at a plant-gate demonstration in Sorel, Qu&eacute;bec, where workers and members of ICEM-affiliated FIM-CSN (Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux) at a Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium metal powders plant lent their support. This stop again depicts the long-erected barriers between Canadian trade unions that Local 9490 is erasing inside this lockout.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 114px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Rio Tinto Alcan CEO, Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute;

	With Canada currently undergoing an unprecedented rash of corporate hostility, it is notable to witness trade unions and other groups galvanising behind victimised union workers.

	Last week, members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2301 at a Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter in Kitimat, British Colombia, voted to take C$1-an-hour of their pay and donate it to &nbsp;Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490. That represents C$60,000 per month.

	On 8 February, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada contributed C$25,000 to the Alma metalworkers, and a day later the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) contributed C$10,000. USW Local 9700, one of the first unions to respond at the time of the 30 December lockout and representing Alcoa ABI workers at B&eacute;cancour, Qu&eacute;bec, voted unanimously to draw C$25-per-week from their paychecks, donating C$25,000 weekly to Local 9490.

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s&nbsp; journey to Montr&eacute;al to confront Rio Tinto Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; is just the first sally outward. This week Local 9490 leaders will visit Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in California, where members of ICEM affiliate International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 defended themselves courageously in a Rio Tinto-imposed lockout. And they&rsquo;ll follow that solidarity visit with to Australia to meet with unions represented Rio Tinto there.

	On March 31, a day after the ICEM North American region meets in Alma, a manifestation will occur there with scores of global trade union leaders attending. And on 1 April, a workshop will occur in Alma to verse an exact fightback strategy against Rio Tinto on the global level.&nbsp;

Locked-out Alcan Workers Take Dispute to Canadian Business Doorstep

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 68px" width="390" />

	&nbsp;

	Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, 11-12 February, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.

	The trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri, including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Pivat, in concert with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), set an agenda of wage moderation, instead focusing on winning excellent and precedent-setting job preservation protections such as training, seniority, and reduced work hours at full pay for both old and young workers.

	This industrial social accord now establishes the parameters for other work sectors. The agreement will run from 1 March 2012 to 1 March 2014. The national industrial agreement did establish minimum wage guideposts, but exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements.

	The framework agreement grants training at full pay with business downturns and when reductions in work time occur, and it also allows older workers to reduce their working time within five years of retirement by continuing their income levels through salaries and partial pension benefits. Workers will also have the option to tap into current pension plans as a supplement to salaries.

	A key element in the new agreement is an additional &euro;.05-per-hour worked will be added to the national Industrial Training fund.

	Employee discretion in taking training options increases from two weeks to six weeks, in some cases, and full seniority is granted to workers when they are called back from lay-offs within nine months. Previously, it was six months. As well, paid sick leave occurs after six months on a job rather than the previous nine months.

	The new pact is also kinder to lower-income earners and gives better pay-outs when such workers are laid off. Parental leave was made more flexible and added pension accrual was put in place for weekend, holiday or extra work performed.

	The recommended minimum wage increase is &euro;.18-per-hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year.

	The bargaining, which began in early January, nearly reached dispute when HK/Privat , the Commercial and Clerical Workers&rsquo; Union, sought to drop the 50% benchmark regarding number of staff needed before a collective agreement takes effect. A compromise was struck that gives employers the opportunity to sign labour agreements without the 50% threshold and HK/Privat coverage also was expanded to include administrative staff working as trainees and college students.

	The agreement was widely praised in Denmark as the necessary building block to restore some 80,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the country since the onset of the financial crisis.

Enlightened Industrial Labour Pact Set in Place in Denmark for 240,000 Workers

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	The ICEM &ndash; along with the European Mine, Chemical, Energy, Federation (EMCEF) &ndash; will march in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, tomorrow, 16 November, in support of 5,200 British workers who are seriously threatened by Unilever with closure of a final salary pension scheme. The ICEM and EMCEF will join European workers of the world&rsquo;s third largest consumer goods company in protest at the company&rsquo;s Rotterdam headquarters.

	The message &ndash; Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits &ndash; will specifically target Unilever CEO Paul Polman for his 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out of &euro;8 million. Unilever is out to slash between 20-40% of pension earnings to UK workers represented by trade unions Unite the Union, GMB and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers&rsquo; (USDAW).

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	Jennie Formby

	&ldquo;Executive greed and compensation must be challenged,&rdquo; stated United National Officer Jennie Formby. Polman saw a 50% increase in his total earnings from 2010 to 2011, some 285 times that of the average Unilever worker.

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	The three British unions have engaged in two rounds of industrial actions against Unilever at 11 plants, the latest coming with 11 days of rolling strike actions that ended on 28 January. Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

	Unilever instead intends to implement a pension scheme based on career average earnings. Formby said Polman&rsquo;s vision of doubling Unilever&rsquo;s revenue stream over the next ten years and creating &ldquo;sustainable living&rdquo; is disingenuous in view of cutting workers&rsquo; pensions.

	Tomorrow&rsquo;s manifestation will begin at 12h00 at Unilever&rsquo;s offices at Weena 455, Rotterdam. The ICEM also will raise concerns over the 5 February closure due to a labour dispute at Unilever&rsquo;s Basamadi, Nepal, factory. The dispute at that facility, which produces Lux and Lifebuoy soaps and Pepsodent and Close-Up toothpastes, is close to a resolve this week after intervention from the Nepalese government.

Unilever Rotterdam Protest Pits Corporate Compensation vs. Workers’ Pension Cuts

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 77, February 2012

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