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Global worker No1 2022

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Following agreement in the Netherlands in the light metal and electric-technical sector last month, Dutch unions and the employers&rsquo; grouping Metalektro reached terms on 19 April in the heavy metal sector. The new accord runs for 26 months and covers 150,000 metalworkers employed by some 1,300 companies, including DAF Trucks, Scania, ASML, and NedCar. 
 
The agreement is similar to the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4364-Dutch-Unions-Agree-to-�Trendsetting-Terms-in-Light-Metals-Electric-Sector">earlier metalworkers agreement</a> covering 330,000 workers on wages, training and education, and restrictions on labour agencies. While the light metal contract pays 4.45% in four steps over the next 18 months, the heavy metal one pays out 4.25% but 4.75% in total, taking into account bonuses the employers&rsquo; association agree to pay for reorganisation of the pension scheme effective 1 January 2012. 
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Metalektro is bargaining with FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen, and De Unie in the Dutch metalworking sectors. There is one major bargain remaining and that is in automotive, where 90,000 workers will have a contract expire on 1 June. 
 
The settlement in heavy metal recognised the shortage of skilled staff due to early retirements and redundancies and in turn made the sector more attractive for young workers. The agreement removes minimum levels of wage rates, allowing workers age 22 or over to progress into higher-paid jobs. The new accord also grants excellent industry-paid training and education opportunities. These areas are key and stand at the heart of this agreement. 
 
Of further importance, and similar to the one in light metal, the agreement has strong language on the use of short-term contract workers provided by agencies. The contract reads that work can only be outsourced to labour-hire firms that have collective agreements with the unions, mainly ones associated with Stichting Normering Arbeid (SNA). 
 
FNV Bondgenoten said the agreements so far indicate that the metal sector in the Netherlands is poised to lead Dutch economic recovery.

Employers, Dutch Unions Reach Terms in ‘Heavy Metal’ Sector

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The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) elected new leadership at an extraordinary General Assembly, held 3 May in Luxembourg. Some 90 delegates unanimously voted for Michael Vassiliadis, President of German trade union IG BCE, as President of EMCEF, while former ICEM officer Michael Wolters was named Acting General Secretary. 
 
They replace EMCEF President Hubertus Schmoldt, who retired from IGBCE in 2009, and General Secretary Reinhard Reibsch, who now retires. The assembly welcomed General Secretary Peter Scherer of the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and President Valeria Fedeli and General Secretary Patrick Itschert of the European Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation. These two European federations together with EMCEF are expected to integrate in 2012, creating a single industrial trade union federation for Europe. 
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New EMCEF President, Michael Vassiliadis
General Secretary Bernadette Segol of UNI-Europa also addressed the assembly. She is likely to be elected General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) when the ETUC holds its Congress next week in Athens. 
 
Founded in 1996 in Luxembourg, EMCEF represents some two million members in 38 European countries. Delegates on 3 May discussed the Secretariat's report on activities and finances, and then went into a detailed report on the future of European trade union activities, including the role of a new industrial union federation in Europe. 
 
The General Assembly also gave approval to three resolutions: affirming the fight against contract labour and precarious forms of work, affirmation to create a new European industry trade union federation; and giving support to Romanian affiliates fighting against extreme austerity measures there. 
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Schmoldt, Vassiliadis, Wolters, Reibsch
Vassiliadis, in his first speech as head of EMCEF, underlined the importance integration: &ldquo;We need combined forces to respond to major social, political, economic, and environmental challenges.&rdquo; He also praised Schmoldt, who he said transformed EMCEF from a loose association of trade unions to an influential trade union federation. 
 
Elected President of IGBCE in October 2009, Vassiliadis has been on IGBCE&rsquo;s six-member Governing Board since 2004, and has directed areas of works councils, shop steward development, trade union education, and youth activities for the German union. Originally from a Bayer plant near his home in Essen, he sits now on the supervisory boards of chemical companies BASF and Henkel, as well as serving as deputy chairman of the potash producer Kali and Salz and Evonik Steag. 
 
Wolters hails from Hamburg&rsquo;s chemical sector. He began with IG Chemie in 1990, did youth work for the union in eastern Germany then and in 2001 became the director of the union&rsquo;s Dresden office. He worked at the ICEM from 2005 until 2007 and since has been working in IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department in Hannover. 
 
ICEM was represented at the EMCEF General Assembly by Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan.

New Leadership Comes in at EMCEF

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The United Steelworkers (USW) submitted shareholder resolutions demanding boards of directors at four US oil companies take safety seriously. The resolutions were aimed at general meetings of Marathon Oil (27 April), Valero Energy (28 April), Tesoro Corp. (4 May), and it will appear before ConocoPhillips shareholders this week, 11 May, in Houston. 
 
The USW also filed a safety transparency resolution with Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the Philadelphia-based company agreed to comply with the contents of the resolution. The resolutions call on the companies to prepare a report of the &ldquo;steps the company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents&rdquo; within 90 days of the shareholders&rsquo; meeting. 
 
The resolution, meant to achieve greater safety at oil refineries and other company operations, calls on the board of directors of each company to disclose the board&rsquo;s oversight on process safety management, staffing levels, and also the inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. The American national labour center, AFL-CIO, and its asset fund assisted with the shareholder propositions. 
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Gary Beevers
USW Vice President Gary Beevers voiced the significance in taking safety to the board rooms: &ldquo;If these companies had to tell their shareholders and the public how they were staffing their refineries, how much overtime people were working, and how long units were going without basic inspection and maintenance, we know they&rsquo;d try harder to fix the problems.&rdquo; 
 
The USW cited two months of last year &ndash; April and May 2010 &ndash; as being particularly deadly and dangerous times that should have awaken the US oil and petrochemical industries to poor safety practices. There were 13 fires, 19 deaths, and 25 serious injuries in those two months, including a 2 April 2010 explosion at Tesoro&rsquo;s 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Anacortes, Washington, that killed seven USW Local 12-591 activists. 
 
Tesoro workplace leaders, including Mark Laurence from Anacortes, spoke on behalf of the safety resolution at the company&rsquo;s 4 May AGM in San Antonio, Texas. Last year&rsquo;s Tesora tragedy was caused by a heat exchanger that blew apart because of cracks in a welded area. 
 
The Washington State Department of Labour &amp; Industry determined that Tesoro had failed in its duty to correctly test equipment for cracks. The state agency imposed a fine of US$2.39 million, but Tesoro is currently appealing the fine.

USW Makes Safety Oversight a Corporate Issue on US Oil Industry

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An illegal coal mine in Mexico&rsquo;s Coahuila state that was operating for only 20 days exploded on 3 May, killing 14 miners. The tragic methane gas blast occurred a short distance from the Pasta de Conchos colliery, where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico perished in a similar underground gas explosion in February 2006. 
 
Beneficios Internacionales del Norte SA (Bansa) was listed as the company operating the mine near Sabinas in the rich Coahuila coal belt of northern Mexico. Immediately after the powerful explosion that saw three of the dead blown completely out of the 60-metre-deep tunnel, officials could not determine the owner because of conflicting data in local registry citings. 
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It was days after the blast that Bansa was determined to be the operator of the 340-acre mine site through a concession from local authorities. A local official defended that concession, telling press that when the federal government awards a concession, generated income goes to coffers in Mexico City, with nothing allocated for the community. 
 
The colliery employed 25 non-union miners and had no certification or registry regarding safety. The Mexican federal government closed the mine and is now involved in body recovery and investigation. 
 
The underground explosion rocked the surface so strongly that a 15-year-old minor who was picking coal off an external conveyer belt had to have both arms amputated and is in serious condition in a hospital. 
 
The 3 May tragedy in northern Mexico stands as yet another example of safety risks and dangers by unregistered and unreliable mining installations when demand and pricing of a mineral is at a premium.

Mine Blast Near Pasta de Conchos Kills 14 in Mexico

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Glen Mpufane of South Africa officially took up duties as ICEM&rsquo;s Mining and Diamond, Gems, Ornament, and Jewellery Production (DGOJP) officer on 2 May. He comes to the ICEM after a long career in South Africa&rsquo;s trade union movement preceded by 18 years of work in the apartheid-era gold mining industry. 
 
&ldquo;We are privileged to bring a person who not only has depth and knowledge of the mining industry, but one who displays great activism as a trade unionist,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
Mpufane, 52, is a native of Daveyton in Gauteng province, and worked for Ergo mining at the Brakpan mine, then an AngloAmerican and later an AngloGold concession. He worked as a fitter mechanic and helped form the Ergo Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1982. 
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New ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer, Glen Mpufane
He served as a shop steward, health and safety secretary, branch chairman, and then full-time health and safety steward for the branch. He also served as NUM regional secretary for health and safety, before taking a position at NUM in 2000 in health and safety. In 2004, he was named International Department Head for the NUM, a post he held until 2010. 
 
He worked as head of Secretariat for ICEM South Africa affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) for six months in 2010-11, prior to coming to Geneva to join the ICEM. 
 
&ldquo;There are huge challenges in mining, not the least is safety and health,&rdquo; said Mpufane. &ldquo;We have many challenges, including the challenge to deliver decent collective agreements to mineworkers.&rdquo; 
 
Mpufane is married with four children, the youngest, Amo, is 16 months old.

Glen Mpufane Joins ICEM as Mining/DGOJP Officer

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Deteriorating safety conditions inside Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Australian coal mines in New South Wales was brought to the company&rsquo;s annual general meeting (AGM) in Perth on 5 May. ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) delivered a sharp attack on the company&rsquo;s laxness over health and safety at majority-held Hunter Valley coal mining and processing operations. 
 
CFMEU NSW Northern District Vice President Robin Williams said that a significant number of accidents and incidents are not reflected in Rio Tinto&rsquo;s annual report. Williams and a workplace leader from each of three coal operations were vocal and critical of the company&rsquo;s coal-mine safety before shareholders at the AGM last week. 
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Williams said Rio Tinto has &ldquo;an adversarial approach to mine safety&rdquo; at Coal &amp; Allied Ltd., which includes mines at Mount Thorley/Warkworth, the Hunter Valley operations, and Bengalla. He said a &ldquo;culture of fear&rdquo; permeates the workplaces where threats of discipline and common and are &ldquo;outdated and should have no place in modern Australian mining. 
 
&ldquo;We do not want a situation,&rdquo; Williams added, &ldquo;where workers are uneasy about speaking out in case they face disciplinary procedures. If there is an accident or incident at a mine site, we want a proper investigation to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t happen again, not a scapegoat who is disciplined.&rdquo; 
 
The mineworkers told shareholders that the company&rsquo;s goal of zero harm and reality are far apart. They said the culture of fear that exists at Hunter Valley actually exacerbates risks. Rio owns 76% of the Hunter Valley coal operations. 
 
CEO Tom Albanese also had to address the near overflow this year of a tailings pond at Rio&rsquo;s 68% held Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory. The company&rsquo;s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA) shut production in January due to heavy rains. Albanese said the company will inject A$220 million&nbsp;into ERA for updated water treatment and management systems.

CFMEU Takes Coal Safety Concerns to Rio Tinto’s AGM

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Successful industrial relations between ICEM glass workers&rsquo; union Sintravidricol in Colombia and the US-based multinational Ross International has now built on the foundations of a first collective agreement four years ago. The union won a renewal agreement with significant improvements for workers. 
 
See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4361-Colombian-Glass-Workers-Seek-to-Build-on-Gains-Made-in-2007">ICEM InBrief</a> from last month. Bargaining was finalised on 6 May, months ahead of the expiration of the existing agreement. The scope of the agreement is expanded to cover five plants of Ross International in the two sections of Sintravidricol, La Estrella and Sabanata. 
 
Two divisive other agreements originally signed by the company during a dispute in 2007 which led to the first collective agreement will be scrapped in the new deal. All 250 workers will now be covered by the same governing contract, with slight variations between the sections.
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Salary increases will equal 4.6% in the first year, inflation plus 1.2% in the second year, and inflation plus 1.3% and plus 1.4% for the final two years of the agreement. 
 
Significant improvements also included education allowances for primary, secondary, and university education for workers&rsquo; children, also new transport links for shift workers, increased holiday leave, paid leave for union activity, increased housing allowance, and a signing bonus for each worker in each year of the agreement. 
 
All workers will now be employed on indefinite contract status. Prior to the 2007 agreement, 80% or more of the employees were on short-term contracts. 
 
The official signing of the new deal by local management and Sintravidricol&rsquo;s Section Presidents for La Estrella and Sabaneta, Brahyan Sanchez Henao and Heriberto Giraldo Hernandez, is expected to take place this week. Salary increases will go into effect on 1 September.

Colombia Glass Workers Get Great Gains in Settlement

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An <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4103-Two-Dead-in-Dynamite-Blast-Near-Chile-s-San-José-Mine-Rescue-Site">ICEM report</a> from November 2010 told how inexperienced miners with no training detonated explosives on their first day of work inside the Los Reyes copper mine in northern Chile, killing 2. The incident happened only three weeks after the fabled rescue of 33 copper miners and only 70 kilometres from the San Jos&eacute; mine in Chile&rsquo;s Region II. 
 
Now some rather startling facts have surfaced courtesy of an expose on Chile&rsquo;s mine safety practices in the newspaper El Mercurio. As reported originally, the owner of the company, a Mexican national named Germ&aacute;n Zayas Baz&aacute;n, fled Chile and within six hours of the 8 November explosion landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a flight from Chile. 
 
Germ&aacute;n Baz&aacute;n was in Chile on a tourist visit. His whereabouts now are unknown and there has been no attempt to extradite him by Chile&rsquo;s government, reportedly because the mine accident is still under investigation. 
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What is known is that on 15 September 2010, the Los Reyes mine was ordered by the National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) inactive. But Baz&aacute;n somehow managed to get local authorities to reverse the order. At the same time, Baz&aacute;n was openly advertising in Copiap&oacute; and elsewhere, seeking people to work long shifts for high pay, no qualifications required. 
 
The deadly incident happened on the first day of work for three workers, ages 37, 26, and 21, were inside the mine. None had license to handle dynamite, they were without hard hats and mining lights, and the mine was without a fixed telephone line. El Mercurio reported that after the blast, Baz&aacute;n drove the 21-year-old worker &ndash; who lost an eye from an exploding stone &ndash; to a hospital and then fled to the Copiap&oacute; airport. 
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In new light of safety ills that beset Chile&rsquo;s mine industry, the SERNAGEOMIN inspector charged with overseeing the mine&rsquo;s official closure was sacked and the regional director then resigned. Sill in question is how Baz&aacute;n managed to acquire a deal to sell copper and other metals to Empresa Nacional de Mineria (Enami), a state-owned firm that processes and sells metals. 
 
Separately from Los Reyes, SERNAGEOMIN has acknowledged that only 7%, or 27 of 394 small-scale mines in Region II are operating legally. Currently there is legislation drafted in Chile to reform SERNAGEOMIN. Part of the bill would institute a mining regulator that would be charged with overseeing exploration and mine development plans. The new regulator will have oversight on mine safety too. 
 
In January, the Chile Mining and Energy Ministry did approve a 62% increase in the agency&rsquo;s funding, which is expected to raise the number of mine safety inspectors across the country from 18 to 45. But with over 4,000 mining operations, that number is far too low and it is still too early to judge the effect revisions in the proposed legislation will have.

2010 Chile Copper Mine Blast Reveals Regulation Gaps

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The Global Union Federation for the mining industry, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), acknowledges the measures taken by the Government of Chile to reform its antiquated workplace safety and health culture since the successful rescue of 33 miners at the San Jos&eacute; mine in northern Region III in October 2010. But the ICEM remains adamant that Chile must ratify and implement procedures under International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Recently, the Chilean government delivered instrument of ratification to the ILO on Convention 187, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention. This is commendable, the ICEM believes, but Chile must go further by ratifying Convention 176. 
 
&ldquo;Chile is a nation of rich mineral resources, extracted and sold on global markets,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;If the amazing story at San Jos&eacute; taught us anything it is Chile must meet world-class mine safety standards regarding prevention and monitoring.&rdquo; 
 
Warda added that it primarily is at small- and mid-size enterprises, similar to Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban Primera, the employer at San Jos&eacute;, where standardized and current methods of safety compliance is woefully missing. Just as these enterprises grow and produce more to meet the soaring global minerals boom, so too must Chile keep pace by proving it can provide the necessary safeguards for mineworkers. 
 
ILO Convention 187 is a general set of workplace safety standards that does commit Chile to establish a tripartite body to address overall occupational workplace health and safety practices. But it is not specific to mining. 
 
Mine Safety Convention 176, and its accompanying Recommendation R-183, addresses a range of hazards and specific problems faced by miners. Most importantly, it sets forth responsibility to not only remove mine hazards, but to remove the root causes of those hazards. 
 
The ICEM notes that since San Jos&eacute;, Chile has made some progress on mine safety. The National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) has seen an increase in funding and a proposed new law would revise mine regulations, including safety. But only by ratifying and fully implementing Convention 176 will Chile be able to claim that it meets mineworker safety standards inherent to a world-class extractive resources nation. 
 
For further information: ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842.

Chile Needs More Progress to Eradicate Mine Safety Deficiencies

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Neil Reimer, National Director Emeritus of the Canada&rsquo;s Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (ECWU) &ndash; one of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union&rsquo;s founding unions &ndash; passed away on 30 March in Edmonton, Alberta. He was 89. 
 
Neil Reimer has been described as a &quot;giant of the labour movement,&quot; and surely no one could argue with that description. 
 
For nearly 70 years, Reimer was a strong and dedicated advocate of workers&rsquo; issues. Beginning his career in 1942 as an organizer for the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) while working at Consumers Co-operative refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan, he played a major role in organising his first energy workers&rsquo; union there. He 1951, he moved to Edmonton, where he organised oil and chemicals plants. He was also mayor of Edmonton. 
 
He helped found the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada in 1961, and was elected the first leader of NDP&rsquo;s Alberta branch in 1963. 
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Neil Reimer
He went on to become leader of the Canadian district of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), and ultimately founder of the independent Canadian union, the ECWU. 
 
His retirement from this position in 1984 only slowed him some, as he remained active in politics and social justice movements until his death. 
 
Canadian trade unionists and social leaders knew him as a &ldquo;visionary.&rdquo; He did not simply look toward the future, he tried to build it according to the principles he believed in. Those principles included decency, respect, and dignity for workers and their families. 
 
He understood the need to organize and he believed in the independence of the Canadian labour movement. He believed that Canada should control its own natural resources &ndash; especially energy resources &ndash; for the benefit of Canadians. Under his direction, some of the most progressive union policies of the day were produced on topics from energy and the environment, to working hours to national collective agreements, to health and safety. 
 
Neil played a big role inside the ICEM. He was a personal friend of many ICEM elected representatives and staff officers. He was an influential member of the then ICEF Executive Committee up until his retirement, and many of his ideas live on in ICEM policies. 
 
Neil led a long and active life and his accomplishments helped make the world a better place. The Canadian labour movement, the CEP, the ICEM, and indeed all workers have much to thank Neil Reimer for. He will be well remembered and sadly missed.

Canadian Energy Union Stalwart, Neil Reimer, Dies at Age 89

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