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A new safety culture is urgently needed at the Sellafield nuclear plant, British trade unions insisted today. 
 
Britain's official Health and Safety Executive this morning released three highly critical reports on safety at Sellafield, which is run by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). 
 
&quot;The time has come for all at Sellafield to accept a collective responsibility,&quot; commented Jack Dromey, spokesman for the BNFL industrial trade unions. &quot;We must build a new world-class safety culture, rooting out the remaining vestiges of the old discredited culture of complacency. 
 
&quot;A failure to act will threaten the very future of the 20,000-strong company,&quot; Dromey said. &quot;The reports are a devastating indictment and utterly unacceptable.&quot; 
 
Dromey is National Organiser at Britain's T&amp;G union. Trade unions at Sellafield include the AEEU, GMB, MSF, T&amp;G and UCATT. 
 
The three inspectorate reports examine various aspects of the Sellafield operation, notably the falsification of quality control data on some batches of uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide (Mox) fuel. These nuclear fuels are reprocessed at Sellafield for a number of clients. The main overseas customer is Japan, whose nuclear plants have stopped using the Mox as a fuel since the false documentation was first discovered last year. The inspectorate says Sellafield's Mox facility, now out of operation, will not be allowed to reopen until a number of changes have been made. These include new monitoring equipment; retraining of workers - several of whom were sacked over the incidents; and big improvements in Sellafield's supervision and management. 
 
Another of the reports draws three conclusions about safety at Sellafield: &quot;The first is that there is a lack of a high quality safety management system across the site which is compounded by an overly complex management structure. The second is that there are insufficient resources to implement even the existing safety management system. The third is a lack of an effective independent inspection, auditing and review system within BNFL. Without a vigorous independent inspection, auditing and review system, the Health and Safety Executive does not see how BNFL can make acceptable and timely progress in delivering a high quality safety management system across the site.&quot; 
 
The reports are &quot;a bitter blow to all those who have worked hard over many years, to challenge old complacency and put in place, in 1999, the building-blocks for a bright future for BNFL,&quot; Dromey said. &quot;The unions drove through the most radical pay and change agreement anywhere in the economy for ten years. This was designed to deliver world-class working practices, and end the Sellafield culture of long working hours. The unions also backed the proposed Public/Private Partnership, essential to introducing new commercial and management disciplines. 
 
&quot;But old habits at Sellafield die hard,&quot; Dromey stated. &quot;The company must bear the brunt of the blame for the fragmentation of the management and irresponsible cuts to manning levels.&quot; 
 
&quot;Finger-pointing, buck-passing and alibi-seeking would be wrong,&quot; Dromey insisted. &quot;There is a collective responsibility for what has gone wrong. The workers at Sellafield are determined to play their part in putting that right. The unions fully support the company's recovery plan (launched today). Combined with the unions' commitment to the proposed Public/Private Partnership, this represents the best hope for a strong future for Sellafield and BNFL.&quot;

Urgent Action Needed At British Nuclear Plant, Say Unions

FCE CFDT also said recent financial figures of EDF suggests the company&rsquo;s stated ill health in 2004 was exaggerated in order to prepare the public for partial privatisation of the state-run company. If finances are maintained for two further years at 2004 tax levels, the union contends, the company will be stable enough not to have to deliver any EDF stake into the hands of private capital.

False Signals Sent Over EdF’s Finances in 2004

A 12-week strike by iron ore workers in eastern Canada ended after the Iron Ore Co. of Canada (a Rio Tinto subsidiary) sweetened a proposal over the one 1,400 strikers barely rejected in early September. The three-year deal with affiliate United Steelworkers of America (USWA) contains no concessions and gives miners, processing plant workers and dock workers a C$1 increase over the contract&rsquo;s term and a C$500 lump sum payment. Meanwhile, 300 workers at Wabush Mines will vote on a five-year contract this week after a deal was struck with the USWA 8 October to end a 15-week iron ore strike in Labrador, eastern Canada.

Iron Ore Strikes in Eastern Canada Winding Down

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Goodyear&rsquo;s neutrality is not evident in Malaysia, however, where the US firm is busy suspending union officers, violating labour rights, exploiting foreign workers and relying on rampant outsourcing. 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products (NUECMRP) is locked in a dispute with Goodyear Malaysia Bhd. in Selangor with the company. The union is faced with restructuring while Goodyear continues to exceed quotas on foreign workers, namely from Nepal, Burmaand Vietnam. 
The NUECMRP branch at Selangor, numbering about 500 workers, has staged a series of informational pickets to support the suspended officers, as well as nine other workers who have been dismissed or suspended.

Goodyear Violating Union Rights in Malaysia

The USWA again used union-friendly language in it&rsquo;s Goodyear tyre contract to win card-check union recognition for workers. A majority of 158 production and maintenance workers at a textile cord factory in Utica, New York, said they want USWA representation and Goodyear is now obligated to negotiate a first collective agreement. The Utica operation is a joint venture between Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber Industries. The union has now won four card-check recognitions at Goodyear&rsquo;s US plants since the agreement took effect late last year.

Goodyear Workers in US Win Unionisation with USWA

Bridgestone/Firestone Argentina continues to stall progress toward a resolve to the 11-month dispute with affiliate SUTNA at a tyre factory near Buenos Aires. Facing further industrial action on 19 August, BS/FS agreed to a request by the Labour Minister for Buenos Aires province to continue negotiations. Only nine of 58 workers who were sacked in an illegal rationalization plan have returned to their jobs, and SUTNA continues to press for the remainder as well as meaningful negotiations toward a new collective agreement. In the absence of a better proposal from the company, SUTNA has a mandate from union members to resume the industrial actions it suspended in early July when BS/FS agreed to reinstate workers.

Dispute Between Bridgestone, Argentine Union Continues

Two iron ore strikes in eastern Canada have crippled mining production in Labrador, province of Newfoundland. On 19 July, 1,250 members of ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers of America (USWA) struck the Iron Ore Co. of Canada, 58.7% held by Rio Tinto, over company proposals to strip health care and pensions, freeze wages and install a psychological profiling programme of workers on which to base discipline. The strike affects 1,000 workers at a mine and pellet processing plant in Labrador City and 250 port workers in Sept-Iles, Quebec. Some 350 USWA members are on strike at Wabush Mine in Labrador City and an accompanying processing plant and port in Pointe Noire, Quebec. That strike began 5 July and is against a consortium of firms led by US-based Cleveland Cliffs and is over efficiency issues including contracting out bargaining unit work. The two strikes affect 60% of Canada&rsquo;s iron ore exports.

Canadian Mine Strikes Shut Rio Tinto, Wabush Mine Operations

After a one-week strike, some 300 members of ICEM affiliate Korean Chemical &amp; Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation reached a labour agreement with BASF Korea in Yeosu. The 23 July agreement calls for a base monthly salary hike of 5% and a reduction in weekly work hours from 42 to 40 without any corresponding loss of pay. 
The amiable settlement is contrasted with the harsh response of government and joint venture partners LG Group and ChevronTexaco at the nearby LG Caltex refinery.

Week-Long Strike Brings BASF Settlement in Korea

French unions have called for protest action at Michelin tyre plants throughout France tomorrow, 21 September. 
 
At issue are the company's plans to restructure and to cut thousands of jobs. 
 
On 8 Sept, Michelin announced a 20 percent growth in net income during the first half of this year. In the same breath, the French-based tyre giant said it was going to fire 7,500 of the workers who produced this outstanding result. 
<img height="393" alt="Cartoon: Thierry Lenoir/ICEM" src="" width="252" />
Cartoon: Thierry Lenoir/ICEM
&quot;This decision is unacceptable both in its form and in its substance,&quot; says French chemical and energy workers' federation FCE-CFDT, which organises Michelin workers. It notes that neither the unions nor Michelin's workers were told about the plan before it was publicly announced. The FCE-CFDT accuses Michelin of &quot;visceral contempt&quot; for &quot;both the unions and the workers, who are never considered either as partners or as people.&quot; 
 
The union recalls that Michelin brought in no less than eight &quot;social plans&quot; in France alone between 1982 and 1998. Altogether, these cut the workforce from 52,000 to 27,000. 
 
Michelin is also showing its disdain for small shareholders, the FCE-CFDT says, because they will not benefit from the surge in the company's share price. The profits are being taken by speculators. 
 
Not least, Michelin's announcement demonstrates &quot;provocation and contempt vis-a-vis the [French] government and the parliamentarians who decided that the working week should be cut from 39 hours to 35 on 1 January 2000, in order to create jobs and reduce unemployment.&quot; As the union points out, Michelin has been particularly vocal in its opposition to the government's plan for work time cuts. 
 
Stressing that the company &quot;is 'managing' its employment at the European level,&quot; the FCE-CFDT calls for the establishment of a European Works Council within Michelin, and says this &quot;should happen within the next few days.&quot; 
 
For comments by French union F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGTFO, which also organises Michelin workers, see ICEM UPDATE 53/1999. 
 
At the global level, the FCE-CFDT and F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGTFO are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The ICEM and its unions worldwide pledge full support to the campaign by our French brothers and sisters,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;Michelin has long been known as a patriarchal, arrogant employer. If this company is to drag itself into the twentieth century, it does not have much time left.&quot;

French Unions Call Michelin Action

Electricity workers in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have now ended their strike, following an agreement reached with the government. 
 
The strikers had been protesting at non-consultation over government plans to corporatise the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board into separate generation, transmission and distribution businesses. The restructuring, which is backed by the World Bank, is seen as a prelude to privatisation. 
 
The main points of the settlement emerge from an agreed &quot;detailed report and consent on points of discussion&quot; received today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The report summarises negotiations between strike leaders and the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Committee of Administration on 25 January. [All direct quotes in the following are unofficial translations]. 
 
The strike leaders reported that &quot;the general feeling of employees&quot; is &quot;against the dissolution of the Board&quot;. The strike committee &quot;feels it has attracted the attention of the Administration, and the whole nation, to this subject&quot; and it &quot;hopes that the Administration will honour the feelings of its employees&quot;. After that, &quot;discussion was held on employee-related issues&quot; and the Cabinet Committee &quot;gave its consent&quot; to a 15-point programme of demands which includes the following: 
 
- All court cases against the strikers are withdrawn. &quot;All imprisoned workers shall be released immediately&quot; and &quot;all the termination, suspension or other such orders&quot; issued against employees in connection with the strike &quot;shall be ineffective from the date of their issuance.&quot; Strikers will be considered to have been on leave during the dispute, thus guaranteeing full wage payments and continuity of service during that period. 
 
- There will &quot;under no circumstances&quot; be retrenchment of &quot;any employees&quot;. This specificaly includes the various categories of casual and contract labour. Conditions of service will be at least equal to the present provisions. 
 
- The present &quot;bipartite negotiation system&quot; on pay will continue. In other words, collective bargaining will be maintained. 
 
- Agreements reached with unions before the dissolution of the Electricity Board will also be complied with after restructuring. A current revision of pay anomalies will be completed and implemented. 
 
- Payment of pensions, gratuities and other cash entitlements is guaranteed to all those were employed by the Board or who will be so employed whenever interim restructuring is notified. The state government will set up a trust fund to ensure the financing of the payments. 
 
It is understood that the break-up of the Board may be deferred for some time. Most power workers in Uttar Pradesh are now back at work, but strike leaders complained over delays in the release of some strikers from jail.

Indian Power Dispute Settled

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