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Semsi Denizer, President of the Turkish miners' union Genel Maden-Is, was shot dead outside his home last Friday evening. 
 
The union, which is based in the mining town of Zonguldak, was in the middle of its three-day Congress. Semsi Denizer was murdered a few hours after addressing the opening day's session. He was shot six times in the head. Police arrested a man immediately afterwards. 
 
Denizer was also General Secretary of the Turkish labour confederation T&uuml;rk-Is. Recently, he had been leading a broadly based campaign against government proposals to raise the age of retirement in Turkey. This plan, strongly opposed by Turkish workers, is part of the government's response to demands by the International Monetary Fund for tougher austerity measures. 
 
The motives for last Friday's shooting are unclear. A T&uuml;rk-Is spokesman told ICEM UPDATE this morning that the unions were insisting on a full police investigation, and would reserve further comment until all the facts are known. 
 
Semsi Denizer will best be remembered for leading 50,000 striking miners in an epic protest march from Zonguldak to Ankara in 1991. This dramatic demonstration helped to prevent mine closures in the region and to improve pay and conditions. 
 
Semsi Denizer was on the Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which Genel Maden-Is is affiliated. The ICEM has expressed its profound condolences to his family and his union. In a tribute, the ICEM described Semsi Denizer's death as &quot;a great blow to the Turkish miners whom he led to victory in 1991 and to the international trade union movement as a whole.&quot;

Turkish Miners&#039; Leader Murdered

Sixteen unjustly imprisoned Colombian trade unionists were released on Friday following representations by a visiting mission of the 20 million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The sixteen, all members of the oilworkers' federation USO, were held without charge for several years, before being arraigned on a series of vaguely formulated terrorism charges. 
 
They were to have been defended by prominent human rights lawyer Dr. Umana Mendoza. But just after he agreed to take on their case, Dr. Umana was murdered. 
 
When the sixteen were brought to trial, two key witnesses for the prosecution testified anonymously and wearing masks, under Colombia's &quot;faceless justice&quot; system. Two other prosecution witnesses - members of the Colombian military special services - testified by name, but were subsequently found to have perjured themselves. Further checks revealed that the two &quot;faceless&quot; witnesses were, in fact, the same two perjurers all over again. 
 
The judge in the case was suspended for three months for his misconduct of the trial. The special prosecutor was also relieved of his duties. 
 
After all this, the authorities at first tried to renew the oilworkers' imprisonment - arguing that, since a gross miscarriage of justice had taken place, time was now needed to organise a proper trial! 
 
But strong lobbying by the ICEM mission secured the workers' release. Taking part in the mission were the ICEM's Vice-President Fred Higgs, General Secretary Vic Thorpe and the international's Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, Roque da Silva. 
 
The mission met the detainees immediately after they were freed. They were, Thorpe said, &quot;in good health, considering the circumstances.&quot; 
 
The sending of the special mission was mandated by the ICEM Executive, amidst growing alarm over anti-union repression in Colombia. Thousands of Colombian trade unionists and other social activists have been murdered in recent years. Many others have been seriously assaulted and so, in some cases, have their families. Oil, mining and electricity unions are among those often targeted by &quot;death squads&quot; and other assassins. More than 120 Colombian oil union leaders and members have been murdered over the past decade. 
 
The ICEM mission held talks with a wide range of Colombian trade unionists and public authorities, including the Labour Minister, the Deputy Minister of Energy (who is in charge of electric power), the State Prosecutor and the Procurator Fiscal. 
 
The Colombian authorities must create the conditions for the free exercise of trade union rights, the mission insisted. Denouncing the cycle of violence perpetuated by paramilitaries, guerillas, drug barons and others, the ICEM mission emphasised the positive role of trade unions in the building of a democratic society. A number of Colombian officials privately agreed with this view. Such is the climate of terror in the country, however, that few officers of government or of justice are prepared to go on the record in support of trade unionism. 
 
The mission did receive an assurance from the Labour Minister that any proven violations of the right to organise and the right to bargain would be investigated and those responsible would be punished. 
 
The ICEM representatives also emphasised the international's deep concern over the way in which Colombian electricity is being privatised. In a flagrant breach of existing collective agreements, electricity workers and their unions have not been properly consulted about the privatisation process.

ICEM Mission Secures Trade Unionists&#039; Release - Colombian Oilworkers Freed

The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 11, has announced that it will be issuing a second complaint against Continental General Tire, the US subsidiary of global tyremaker Continental. 
 
The new complaint will allege that the company engaged in further unlawful conduct during negotiations which led to the strike at Continental's site in Charlotte, North Carolina. That strike is now in its tenth month. 
 
Continental has faced worldwide trade union protests this week over its conduct of the Charlotte dispute. The action is being coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Charlotte workers' union, the USWA, is affiliated at the global level. 
 
Action this week includes: 
 
- A sympathy strike by Continental's South African workers yesterday 
 
- Australian trade unionists' picket of the German consulate in Sydney today - Continental's world headquarters is in Germany 
 
- Protests at Ford Motor Co. dealerships in 61 US cities - Ford fits General tyres as original equipment on several of its models in the US 
 
- Protests at German consulates in several US cities 
 
- Protests by the ICEM-affiliated Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale/Algemene Centrale, the union representing Continental's Belgian workers, and in France by ICEM affiliate the FCE-CFDT, which organises Continental workers there. 
 
The ICEM and the USWA recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte. 
 
In the US, the NLRB had already issued a complaint against Continental General Tire this April, alleging that the company had violated the National Labor Relations Act by failing to provide five items of information necessary for the union to bargain on behalf of its members. 
 
The NLRB will now issue a second complaint alleging that the Company further violated the Act by: 
 
- failing to provide five additional items of information necessary to bargaining 
 
- engaging in unlawful surveillance of the striking employees' lawful union activities. 
 
The NLRB will also allege that all of these unfair labour practices were a motivating reason for the strike and that the strike has therefore been an unfair labour practice strike from its inception. As a result, the NLRB will also allege that the Company violated the Act by: 
 
- threatening to permanently replace striking employees 
 
- following through on this unlawful threat by &quot;permanently replacing&quot; striking employees (900 of them, on the company's estimation). 
 
By this ruling, the NLRB has made it clear that the company's hiring of &quot;permanent replacements&quot; and its continued insistence on keeping these replacements after the end of the strike is unlawful. The Company will now have to choose between bringing back all striking employees at the end of the strike or being in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

Continental Tyres Campaign: Continental Tyres Faces New US Charges Of Law-Breaking

That accident was on the agenda and received discussion at the founding conference of the International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Union Network (INWUN) at ICEM in Brussels 25-26 August. The independent network adopted a fees structure, passed bylaws and statutes, and elected officers. Those elected were Dave Shier, Power Workers Union of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (PWU-CUPE), president; Irina Micu, Energy Trade Union, Romania; executive vice president; Paul Reece, PWU-CUPE, general secretary; and Roland Glibert, Belgian Confederation of Executives and Management Staff at Belgonucleaire, Belgium, treasurer.

Independent Nuclear Network Elects Officers

A fifth Japanese worker died 25 August of severe burns incurred at the 9 August accident at the Kansai Electric Power nuclear site in Mihama. Another five workers are still hospitalized following the rupture of a steam pipe. Workers killed or injured were on the job as employees of Kiuchi Keisoku, a subcontractor doing preparation work on the plant&rsquo;s reactors. Public prosecutors are reviewing the accident to determine whether or not Kansai will be held accountable for Japan&rsquo;s worst nuclear plant accident ever.

Worst Japanese Nuclear Accident Claims Fifth Life

In Nigeria, legislation called the Labour Reform Bill that would severely weaken the labour movement continues to be pushed by the government in Senate hearings. The bill, which would impose restrictions on union membership and union operations, is seen as revenge on the Nigerian Labour Congress for its role in strikes and near strikes over fuel price increases. In vowing that the legislation will not get a reading in the National Assembly, PENGASSAN President Louis Brown Ogbeifun told trade publication Upstream, &ldquo;The government would be shooting itself in the foot if it pushed through measures to decimate organized labour, and I think they&rsquo;ll soon understand this fact.&rdquo;

Nigerian Labour Opposes Workplace Reform Legislation

A bitter diamond-mining strike in Botswana erupted last week when workers angered by a company take-it-or-leave-it pay offer defied union leadership and struck Debswana, the Botswana diamond monopoly run as a joint venture between DeBeers and the government of the southern African nation. 
ICEM affiliate Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) was pushed to the defensive as the company used a prior legal ruling to suspend union matters by charging 32 branch and national officers with contempt of court. Some 2,000 workers among 6,000 miners at four highly profitable Debswana operations struck 23 August over a pay and bonus offer that fell far inferior to one given supervisors. 
According to the BMWU, the workers walked because the inferior pay/bonus offer was pulled from the table after rejection, and also due to an industrial court ruling barring a strike, a clear sign that the justice system was one-sided. The BMWU was attempting to put together a settlement that would end the strike and halt the harsh court action by Debswana and the government at the weekend.

Botswana’s Miners Strike Debswana

The ICEM&rsquo;s North American Women&rsquo;s Conference will be held 13 September in Ottawa at the headquarters of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The statutory conference will coincide with a CLC march to protect Canada&rsquo;s national Medicare system as political leaders will gather that day to debate the future of the healthcare programme. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Minto Place Suite Hotel.

ICEM’s North American Women’s Conference Set for Ottawa

Paperworkers in the UK represented by Graphic Printing &amp; Media Union (GPMU) are on the verge of industrial action following a breakdown in talks with the Confederation of Paper Industry companies. The ICEM affiliate sent notices to some 12,000 members that industrial action could commence after 26 August if progress is not made in talks. Union workers in the paper sector voted for possible industrial action last June. GPMU has rejected a proposal by the industry for a 2.85% pay increase.

Paper Dispute in UK Threatens Entire Industry

The NUM of South Africa successfully concluded wage negotiations with DeBeers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Terms include a 7% increase in pensionable wages with the minimum basic rate of pay retroactive to May 2004 set at R 3,100 per month. &ldquo;The agreement paves the way toward enhancing a partnership that would enable both parties to benefit during the good and bad times,&rdquo; said NUM Deputy Gen. Sec. Archie Palange. The pact runs until 30 April 2005.

NUM, DeBeers Come to Wage Terms in South Africa

Archive

Turkish Miners' Leader Murdered

ICEM Mission Secures Trade Unionists' Release - Colombian Oilworkers Freed

Continental Tyres Campaign: Continental Tyres Faces New US Charges Of Law-Breaking

Independent Nuclear Network Elects Officers

Worst Japanese Nuclear Accident Claims Fifth Life

Nigerian Labour Opposes Workplace Reform Legislation

Botswana’s Miners Strike Debswana

ICEM’s North American Women’s Conference Set for Ottawa

Paper Dispute in UK Threatens Entire Industry

NUM, DeBeers Come to Wage Terms in South Africa

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