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Durban Roodeport Deep (DRD), the anti-worker South African gold producer, rejected out of hand affiliate NUM&rsquo;s viable plan to save jobs and create opportunities at the East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM). The union proposed to switch to high volume at the ore-rich mines near Boksburg. The mine operator, citing the high Rand, is intent on phasing out operations over the next ten months, affecting the livelihoods of 2,600 miners. DRD has already reduced pumping operations which could endanger the surrounding area. DRD is the managing partner and 40% ERPM stakeholder in the enterprise called Crown Gold Resources Ltd. With Khumo Bathong Holdings as majority holder.

Durban Deep Rejects NUM’s Plan for Job Preservation

Russian unions took to the streets 10 June in dozens of cities to demonstrate against proposed legislation to replace health care, utility and transportation benefits for retirees and disabled citizens with nonindexed cash payouts. Hundreds of concerned groups, led by the Federation of Independent Unions, fear the proposed added monthly supplement will be eaten away by inflation and price hikes to essential services. The measure will receive a first reading in the State Duma 2 July, and more protests are assured including a possible national strike in September if the proposal isn&rsquo;t defeated.

Russian Unions Protest Social Cutbacks

Ecuadorian management of Swiss-based cement producer Holcim Group fired 90 workers for attempting to form a union in the South American country. The sacked workers are seeking international help in asserting their right to organize, both with government officials and with the company. ICEM is coordinating action with Swiss affiliate Syndicat Industrie &amp; B&acirc;timent (SIB).

Cement Giant Holcim Sacks Workers in Ecuador

Trade union leaders from ten sub-Saharan African nations met at the NUM&rsquo;s Elijah Barayi Training Center outside Johannesburg in May to discuss forming a Workers&rsquo; Network of Eskom employees. Utility union leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe&mdash;along with representatives of the electricity provider&mdash;were present. Agreement was reached to launch a study tour to the countries to determine actual working terms and conditions of Eskom workers in each nation.

African Unions Formulate Plans for Eskom Utility Network

ICEM sent condolences to Pakistan affiliate WAPDA Labour Union over a gas explosion 25 May that killed 17 miners at the Sunjidi coal mine in Balachistian province. The area is rich in coal reserves, but the mines have notoriously poor safety records. A private company which leases land from the government operates the Sunjidi mine. ICEM is calling on the Pakistani government to put in place more stringent health and safety controls.

Gas Blast in Pakistan Coal Mine Kills 17

A strike by North American affiliate USWA has shut operations at a Michelin plant in Canada. The strike, begun 1 June by 1,000 members of USWA Local 677 in Kitchener, Ontario, is over company proposals to cut pay and health benefits of current workers and future retirees at the profit-making auto and light-truck tyre plant. The facility is a former B.F. Goodrich tyre plant, which French-based Groupe Michelin purchased in 1986.

USWA Members in Canada Strike Michelin

The clock is ticking on the Nigerian government to reverse rising fuel prices or face a general strike. The Nigerian Labour Congress met in emergency session last week and called for a mass strike on 9 June if a rollback in prices isn&rsquo;t instituted. ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN, the blue-collar and white-collar oil workers&rsquo; unions in Nigeria, respectively, are central to the action and the two affiliates are also calling on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to revive the country&rsquo;s refineries.

Nigerian Fuel Price Hikes Met with Union Protests

Australian affiliate CFMEU strongly opposes the Howard government&rsquo;s plan to dissolve the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission in favour of a stripped-down ministerial advisory panel. The tripartite NOHSC coordinates campaigns to prevent workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses, and its research is vital in setting national health and safety standards. Many employers have joined CFMEU in lodging protests against the government&rsquo;s cost-cutting measure that is sure to undermine initiatives for health and safety standards.

CFMEU Opposes Howard Government’s Health/Safety Plans

Ukrainian nuclear workers' wages have been paid in full for the past three months, and reimbursement of the wage backlog owed to them is about to get under way. 
 
Alexander Jurkin, President of the nuclear workers' union ATU, confirmed this to ICEM UPDATE today. 
 
The back pay owed to Ukrainian nuclear workers is put at over 15 million US dollars. This March, the union threatened an indefinite strike at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations unless measures were taken to pay this debt. As a result, Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma ordered the government to settle the dispute and put the country's debt-ridden energy sector back on a sound financial footing. 
 
Jurkin had further talks this Monday with Deputy Prime Minister V. Kurachenko, at which it was agreed that the National Bank would provide the security for new private bank loans to the Ukrainian energy ministry. These funds will be used to pay off the outstanding wage debt. 
 
Jurkin is now in Brussels for the Executive Committee meeting of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the ATU is affiliated. This morning, his union confirmed that the agreed process is getting under way. A planned protest march on Kiev has therefore been cancelled. 
 
&quot;I told the government exactly where I would be this week, that I would be in meetings with our International, and that the situation must not deteriorate again in the meantime,&quot; Jurkin commented this morning. &quot;The government took the point.&quot; 
 
The ICEM had organised strong international backing for the Ukrainian nuclear workers' campaign. 
 
&quot;This is an important victory for trade unionism in Ukraine and beyond,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe emphasised. &quot;In many transitional economies, the scandal of unpaid wages has driven workers and their families into deepest poverty. The Ukrainian nuclear workers, through their strong but responsible campaign, have secured a repayment plan for what they are owed. The ICEM will be watching to see that this promise is kept. And we will continue to press the governments and employers of Ukraine, Russia and other countries to ensure that all workers receive - in full and on time - the wages that are rightfully theirs.&quot;

Ukrainian Nuclear Wages Paid

Trade unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the oil and gas industry in South America, North America, Central America and the Caribbean met in Port of Spain, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, today and announced the formation of a new oil and gas union solidarity network in the hemisphere. The meeting was held under the auspices of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which will coordinate the new network. 
The unions that met represent oil and gas workers in twelve countries - Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, the United States and Uruguay. 
 
They organise workers in all parts of the industry, from exploration and development to refining, distribution and marketing. 
 
As part of their effort toward greater collaboration in the region, the unions elected a six-member steering committee to guide the new network. Errol McLeod, President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad &amp; Tobago, was elected as the chairman of the steering committee. 
 
The unions recognised that they faced many common challenges, including the privatisation and threats of privatisation of state-owned energy companies; violence by governments and employers against union leaders and activists in several countries, and attempts at union-busting in many others; low commodity prices for oil and gas; over-capacity, reorganisation, and corporate mergers and acquisitions, leading to increased concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands; decreasing employment levels due to corporate downsizing; unsafe and unhealthy working conditions; and common multinational corporate employers attempting to play workers in different countries off against each other. 
 
The unions put forward a joint plan of action to confront these challenges, including the sharing of information on working conditions and collective bargaining in their respective countries; the formation of global union networks at targeted multinational corporations; and joint efforts to assist unions engaged in collective bargaining, disputes, and organising efforts at common multinational corporations. 
 
&quot;The multinational corporations have strengthened their stranglehold over the natural resources and oil and gas markets worldwide, without regard to national borders,&quot; said McLeod. &quot;Oil and gas workers have no choice but to unite with each other on a regional and a global basis for the common cause.&quot; 
 
&quot;Oil and gas workers are tired of being the victims of globalisation,&quot; he said, &quot;and the creation of this network is the beginning of a new, organised resistance.&quot;

Americas: Oil And Gas Unions Form Regional Solidarity Network

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