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Two life-taking industrial accidents over the past two weeks can be blamed on unsafe work practices of contract labour. On 9 September inside a copper mine near Kure, northern Turkey, a gas leak was ignited by a welding torch that killed 19 workers and injured scores of others. 
The mine had been privatized in February 2004 by Turkish state mining enterprise Etibank, which then shifted all work to Turkish construction firm STFA. Family members of those killed and injured by the torrid fire said many miners lacked oxygen masks and other safety equipment. (The other fatalities occurred at a Sasol chemical plant in South Africa: See Recent Blast at Sasol in South Africa Kills Seven.)

Recent Turkish Safety Fatalities Fault of Contract Labour

The ICEM&rsquo;s first thematic conference will be held this week, 16-17 September in Brussels. In-depth discussion will originate around a thorough working paper that will be presented on contract and agency labour across the world. The conference will develop future campaign activities for the ICEM on the subject of contract and agency labour. Some 140 trade unionists of ICEM affiliates are registered to attend.

Contract and Agency Labour Workshops to he held in Brussels

Progress was made 10 September in negotiations between the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) and Debswana, the diamond mining operation in the southern African nation. The two sides agreed to a 10% wage hike for 6,000 miners that is retroactive to 1 April 2004, plus a maximum 10% production bonus for 2004-05 with a minimum of BWP 3,500 (US$790). 
In a separate and thornier issue&mdash;the fate of some 500 strikers&mdash; Debswana has agreed to reinstate 100 and continue dialogue on the remaining. BMWU Gen. Sec. Donald Lebotse termed this second set of face-to-face negotiations in the six-week dispute &ldquo;positive engagement&rdquo; and said the firm, a joint venture between DeBeers and the government, has agreed to void the housing eviction notices for all those who were fired while the dialogue continues.

Botswana’s Mining Union Hopes Debswana Dialogue Will Continue

Placer Dome, the world's third-biggest gold miner, faces a global trade union campaign over its retrenchment of 2,895 South African workers. 
 
South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will table a resolution to that effect during the World Gold Forum in Durban on 28 October. 
 
At the global level, the NUM is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ICEM is organising the World Gold Forum, which will bring together representatives of gold industry unions and companies and of gold consumers. Together, they will examine the future of the sector and propose action to safeguard it. 
 
The forum precedes the ICEM World Congress (Durban, 3-5 November), which will be mapping out a trade union response to globalisation. 
 
Through the ICEM, the NUM is already receiving pledges of support from unions in other countries where Placer Dome operates. This will include picketing in Australia to coincide with an NUM rally in South Africa on 31 October. 
 
&quot;Placer Dome is a transnational,&quot; commented NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe in Johannesburg today, &quot;so we in the unions cannot fight separate battles. We can win only if we campaign globally. The problem facing us today is a problem for our colleagues in the unions of all countries where Placer Dome operates. That's why, at the World Gold Forum, we will be asking the ICEM to declare a global campaign on Placer Dome.&quot; 
 
Placer Dome, which also produces significant quantities of copper and silver, has operating mines in Australia, Canada, Chile, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. 
 
In recent years, it has been involved in a number of environmentally controversial projects. These include planned operations in Central and South America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Venezuela), as well as mines in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. 
 
The Marcopper mine, a Philippines site part-owned by Placer Dome, discharged tons of toxic mill tailings into the Boac river in 1996. Since then, the mine has ceased to operate. ICEM Philippines affiliate the National Mines and Allied Workers' Union (NAMAWU) carried out a study on the social impact of this disaster, which was widely publicised in the country. The study, which highlighted the plight of the communities affected by the accident, was sponsored by the ICEM with the support of donor organisations. 
 
In South Africa, the NUM is organising a rally on 31 October to protest against Placer Dome's sackings. The rally will be held at Western Areas, the site near Johannesburg where Placer Dome operates. 
 
Placer Dome originally argued that the South African sackings were necessary because of the low gold price. Since the recent massive recovery in the price of gold, the multinational has changed its story and is now blaming the retrenchments on the NUM's refusal to accept the introduction of full calendar operations (FULCO) on the company's own terms. 
 
Job losses on this scale are a potentially explosive issue in South Africa, which has an unemployment rate of over 30 percent. 
 
&quot;Our South African brothers and sisters are right to oppose these retrenchments,&quot; said ICEM Vice-President John Maitland in Sydney today. He is National Secretary of ICEM Australian affiliate the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). 
 
&quot;I will certainly address the NUM rally and bring to it a message of solidarity from workers in Australia and worldwide,&quot; Maitland said. &quot;The CFMEU will also organise a picket of Placer Dome offices in Australia on the morning of 1 November - just a few hours after the South African rally.&quot; 
 
&quot;The ICEM has considerable experience of coordinating global campaigns against irresponsible multinationals,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels. &quot;We shall not hesitate to use that expertise in the case of Placer Dome if needed.&quot; 
 
&quot;Placer Dome must live up to its global social and environmental responsibilities,&quot; NUM President James Motlatsi insisted. He is ICEM Vice-President and President of the ICEM's African region. 
 
&quot;If the company does not shoulder its responsibilities,&quot; Motlatsi warned, &quot;then the ICEM together with its affiliates in Placer Dome mines worldwide will apply global pressure.&quot;

Placer Dome Faces World Union Campaign Over South African Sackings

Imerys, the ceramics and construction materials multinational, has just given itself a new name and a new image. But it already risks seeing them tarnished by an international dispute over its anti-union stance in the USA. 
 
Known until recently as Imetal, the company claims to be the world leader in refractory raw materials, paper pigments, white pigments and high-purity graphite. 
 
Imerys is headquartered in France, and trade unionists there have pledged their support to American workers who are resisting the company's attempts to destroy their union. 
 
The US Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers union (PACE) is fighting deunionisation campaigns by Imerys at its plants in Georgia and Alabama. At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Last week in France, PACE and the ICEM met with Pierre Gaudin of the ICEM-affiliated chemical and energy union FCE-CFDT; Josette Mehat, National Secretary of the construction and wood workers' FNCB-CFDT; and Eliane Petit, chief shop steward at Imerys for the ICEM-affiliated mining union FGMM-CFDT. They promised active support for an international campaign on the issue, to be coordinated by the ICEM. 
 
&quot;Imerys has changed from a company which once sought stable relations with PACE to one which appears dead-set on destroying unions in the US,&quot; said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. &quot;We are informing European unions about the company's actions.&quot; 
 
Imerys withdrew union recognition of PACE at its plant in Sylacauga, Alabama, after the company acquired English China Clays (ECC) and merged its Georgia Marble plant with a much larger non-union ECC plant, which stands next to the Georgia Marble facility. The company's withdrawal of union recognition was based on former ECC non-union workers' outnumbering union members at the combined plant. 
 
PACE offered to hold a new election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at the combined plant, provided Imerys would be neutral in the election and let workers decide without company interference. The company rejected the union's offer, and instead has launched a union-busting campaign aimed mainly at non-union ECC workers, who outnumber union workers at the Georgian Marble plant by a 2 to 1 margin. 
 
The union charges that Imerys, through its hired union-buster, is: 
 
Showing unionised workers anti-union films at mandatory meetings 
Arranging for its supervisors to meet individually with workers, in order to discourage support for the union 
Recruiting higher-paid workers to carry its anti-union message 
Using scare tactics by associating union membership with plant closings, strikes, violence, and union dues in order to keep workers from supporting the union. 
 
PACE has filed several charges with the NLRB alleging illegal activity by the company. 
 
PACE believes Imerys has laid off all but 5 of its union workers at it Jeffersonville, Georgia plant and moved production to its non-union operations as part of its campaign to destroy the union. The union contract [collective agreement] at the Jeffersonville plant expires in mid-November. 
 
PACE attributes much of the anti-union actions to Dennis Redeker, former CEO of ECC and an American, who was offered over 1.2 million US dollars for his ECC stock and was given a board seat and top-level job with Imerys. Redeker has a history of conducting union-busting campaigns in the US to prevent unionisation of ECC plants. 
 
&quot;Our European union colleagues have been shocked by the barbarism of Imerys's actions, since these things just don't happen in Europe,&quot; said Drexler. &quot;European trade unionists understand that being a union member should be an individual decision and should not require an act of courage.&quot; 
 
PACE has approximately 600 members at three Imerys plants in Alabama and Georgia. The union is also making other contacts with trade unionists in Britain and Canada. 
 
&quot;Imerys has got off to a bad start with its new identity,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;We hope that justice and common sense will prevail and that the company will abandon in the USA an attitude that it would not dare to adopt in France. The ICEM has considerable experience of mobilising global campaigns against anti-union multinationals. In the case of Imerys, we would prefer not to use that experience, but we will do so if necessary.&quot;

Imerys Faces Global Labour Action Over US Union-Busting

Japan's electricity companies have now sent more than 500 specialised workers to the Tokaimura nuclear fuel processing plant to deal with the aftermath of yesterday's serious accident there, the Japanese Federation of Electric Power Workers' Unions (Denryokusoren) reports. 
 
The union federation today called for urgent safety measures to protect the clean-up workers. It also said that it should not have been possible for yesterday's &quot;criticality accident&quot; to happen. 
 
Following is a full translation of the statement issued this afternoon by Kiyoshi Hamano, General Secretary of Denryokusoren: 
 
A critical nuclear accident has occurred at the JCO nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokaimura, Ibaragi Prefecture. 
 
As a result of this serious accident, many workers at the site and others have been exposed to radiation, and the surrounding area has been polluted. 
 
For many years, Denryokusoren has been working to achieve nuclear safety, as well as to secure public trust in nuclear generation. 
 
Denryokusoren believes that it should not have been possible for this criticality accident to occur, and regrets the fact that the accident took place. 
 
This accident happened at a site where Denryokusoren is not directly active. However, Denryokusoren believes that the safety of the general public, as well as full confidence in nuclear generation, is essential, and that the use of nuclear generation must be based on a national consensus. 
 
Therefore, Denryokusoren will demand that the relevant parties and authorities conduct a thorough investigation of the causes of the accident, and will continue to act for the achievement of a mature safety culture within the Japanese nuclear industry. 
 
Furthermore, the electric power companies in Japan, in response to an urgent request from the Japanese Natural Resource and Energy Agency, have sent their specialised technical workforce, together with material assistance, to the accident site. 
 
Denryokusoren believes that full cooperation with this assistance is necessary. But the safety of the more than 500 electric power workers sent to the site of the accident is essential. 
 
Therefore, Denryokusoren has today, through the Japanese Electric Power Industry Association, requested the electric power companies to ensure the complete safety of our fellow-workers who are now working at the accident site. 
 
[end of statement] 
 
At the global level, Denryokusoren is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

Japanese Nuclear Accident : More Than 500 Clean-Up Workers Now At Site

New oil-to-chemicals giant TotalFina-Elf must &quot;put jobs back at the centre of its industrial plans,&quot; French chemical and energy workers' union FCE-CFDT insists. 
 
Agreement on a merger between the Franco-Belgian group TotalFina and French-based Elf-Aquitaine was announced yesterday. The new group will be the world's fourth-biggest oil concern, with some 150,000 employees and a market capitalisation of 95.48 billion Euro. 
 
The FCE-CFDT notes that the talks between the two groups ended in &quot;a friendly rapprochement rather than a costly stockholder and legal battle whose outcome would have been uncertain.&quot; 
 
But the union says that &quot;questions about the synergies expected need to be answered now by the new chairman.&quot; In particular, &quot;becoming the world's fourth-biggest oil producer must not mean forgetting concerns about the future of industrial plant, exploration, production and refining, and about the level and location of employment in this sector, notably on the research side and as regards headquarters and commercial services.&quot; 
 
Recalling that France does not have surplus refining capacity, the FCE-CFDT says the merger will be &quot;an opportunity to modernise French industrial plant as a whole and prepare it for the introduction of new environmental standards.&quot; 
 
As to the merged group's production of fine and specialty chemicals, the union insists that this &quot;must not be sacrificed to the financing operation for development in the oil sector.&quot; The new corporation should, the FCE-CFDT says, draw on analyses made by CFDT unionists within the two groups, favouring an &quot;integrated&quot; chemicals operation. &quot;For example, the future of the chlorine chemistry and fertiliser branches calls for clarifications and commitments, which the FCE-CFDT intends to obtain in both the industrial and the social spheres.&quot; The union also calls for guarantees on the further development of subsidiary Sanofi-Synthe-Labo. 
 
The new group should rapidly open a social dialogue &quot;on the future of employment, on the introduction of new work organisation and on work times and patterns,&quot; the union urges. &quot;The FCE-CFDT will do everything possible to ensure that the merger of the two groups is accompanied by strong guarantees for workers and jobs, and we will be requesting a meeting with the new chairman in order to put our views on the group's industrial and social plans.&quot; 
 
At the global level, the FCE-CFDT is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

TotalFina-Elf Merger: Union Calls For Job Guarantees

Venezuela's new emergency decree has been roundly condemned by twelve labour internationals representing more than 120 million workers worldwide. 
 
Measures in the decree adopted by the Venezuelan National Constituent Assembly include: 
 
 
- the complete dissolution of national and regional trade union confederations and federations 
 
- the annulment of trade union leaders' mandates 
 
- a ban on union leaders' travelling abroad 
 
- a 90-day suspension of election processes within all labour-related bodies 
 
- the seizure of trade union property and assets. 
 
 
In a joint statement issued in Panama on 16 August, the union internationals stress that the measures are a flagrant violation of the Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) and also breach UN and Interamerican treaties on basic human rights. As the unions point out, the decree &quot;contradicts in every respect&quot; the &quot;great transformations that the Venezuelan government plans to undertake in order to steer the country's destiny back towards the paths of Democracy, Justice, Transparency and Freedom.&quot; 
 
The union internationals demand that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and National Assembly chairman Luis Miquelena should: 
 
- revoke the decree 
 
- relaunch national dialogue between the Venezuelan trade union movement and the government 
 
- fully guarantee the free exercise of trade union activity in Venezuela. 
 
Signing the unions' joint statement were the regional representatives of the International Federation of Building and Woodworkers (IFBWW), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical and Technical Employees (FIET), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Graphical Federation (IGF), the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International (PTTI) and Public Services International (PSI).

World Labour Condemns Venezuelan Union Ban

In a signal victory for Australian miners' union the CFMEU, workers from the closed-down Oakdale mine are now to receive the A$6.3 million owed to them in entitlements. Reached on Tuesday night, this decision follows a 24-hour nationwide coal strike last Friday over the Oakdale case. 
 
The pay-out marks a major about-face by Australia's right-wing federal government. The money is to come from the industry's existing centralised long-service leave fund. The government had been intending to abolish this fund and hand all the money in it back to the employers. This policy was part of its plan to make all such provisions &quot;enterprise-based&quot;, and therefore dependent on employer patronage. 
 
Oakdale closed in June after its owner was declared insolvent. Entitlements owed to the miners there included accrued sick leave, annual leave and redundancy pay. In such situations, Australian employees are regarded as unsecured creditors. Often, they receive only a few cents in the dollar after all assets have been sold and secured creditors paid. 
 
Following the outcome of the Oakdale case, there are now proposals for some kind of national scheme - perhaps insurance-based - to stop the same thing happening to other workers in other industries. 
 
Overall, this is a major victory for the labour movement, and a particularly big win for the CFMEU, which at the global level is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The biggest loser is Peter Reith, Australia's union-bashing Minister for Workplace Relations. The strike forced him into a very public climbdown, and his conservative colleagues now feel that his anti-union crusade has substantially damaged the government's standing with the electorate. 
 
As Kim Beazley, leader of the opposition Labor Party, pointed out, it took a strike costing A$33 million in lost output to convince the government to allow miners access to 6.3 million dollars' worth of owed entitlements.

Australian Miners&#039; Victory: Strike Forces Debt Pay-Off

Eight thousand Indonesian oil rig workers ended a six-week strike on August 7, after winning many of their demands. 
 
The strikers are members of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI). They are employed in central Sumatra by PT Tripatra, a contractor for Caltex Petroleum, which is a joint venture between oil giants Chevron and Texaco. 
 
The workers had gone on strike on June 21, following PT Tripatra's failure to follow an Indonesian Ministry of Manpower directive to pay the workers compensation and make them permanent employees. PT Tripatra responded by firing all the strikers on July 6 and using the Indonesian security forces to harass and intimidate the strikers. In a July 23 incident, the security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of strikers, shooting one in the head, and assaulting several others. 
 
The SBSI took its case to the Indonesian parliament, the National Commission on Human Rights and the US embassy in Jakarta on July 29, decrying the company's actions and its use of the Indonesian military to try to break the strike. 
 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) mobilised protests by its oil worker affiliates around the world. Among those who took action were two ICEM Vice Presidents - Robert Wages of the US union PACE and Fred Higgs of the British TGWU - who immediately lodged protests with Chevron and Texaco. In addition, the ICEM and the the US labour federation AFL-CIO organised a demonstration of 150 people at Texaco's Washington offices. This drew media attention both in the USA and in Indonesia. 
 
As a result of the pressure in Indonesia and internationally, Caltex and PT Tripatra did an about-face. In an August 6 settlement mediated by a committee of the Indonesian parliament, the union agreed to end the strike and the company agreed to reinstate all the strikers. Although the workers did not win the severance payment they wanted, PT Tripatra did agree that when its five-year contract with Caltex expires in 2003, the workers will have permanent status and will receive the full compensation under the law. 
 
Muchtar Pakpahan, General Chairman of the SBSI, today thanked the ICEM, the AFL-CIO and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity for their efforts in support of the oil strikers. Together with the union's lobbying effort at the Indonesian parliament, he said, &quot;this work helped bring the strike to a just conclusion.&quot; 
 
&quot;As a result,&quot; Pakpahan said, &quot;the 8,000 workers at PT Tripatra will work under fairer and more secure conditions.&quot; 
 
&quot;We are gratified that a settlement could be reached that reinstates all the strikers with some measure of justice,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;We will remain vigilant to ensure that PT Tripatra and Caltex live up to their obligations to these workers.&quot;

Indonesian Oilworkers Win Strike With World Union Support

Archive

Recent Turkish Safety Fatalities Fault of Contract Labour

Contract and Agency Labour Workshops to he held in Brussels

Botswana’s Mining Union Hopes Debswana Dialogue Will Continue

Placer Dome Faces World Union Campaign Over South African Sackings

Imerys Faces Global Labour Action Over US Union-Busting

Japanese Nuclear Accident : More Than 500 Clean-Up Workers Now At Site

TotalFina-Elf Merger: Union Calls For Job Guarantees

World Labour Condemns Venezuelan Union Ban

Australian Miners' Victory: Strike Forces Debt Pay-Off

Indonesian Oilworkers Win Strike With World Union Support

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