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Delegates to the 26th Congress of ICEM Turkish affiliate Lastik-İş, the Rubber, Chemical, Petroleum Workers&rsquo; Union belonging to DISK national labour centre, unanimously re-elected Abdullah Karacan as President for the upcoming four-year period. The Congress was held from 18-19 June in Istanbul, with 300 delegates and 150 guests attending, including ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan and European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF) Political Secretary Sylvain Lefebvre. 
 
The Congress also welcomed two prominent ex-officials of DISK, former President S&uuml;leyman &Ccedil;elebi and former General Secretary Musa &Ccedil;am, who were elected to the Turkey National Assembly as deputies during recent 12 June general elections. 
 
The Congress opened with a 40-minute documentary on 62-year-old Lastik-İş and then discussion occurred on activities of the union over the last four years with the challenges and successes. 
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Lastik-İş Executive Committee, from left, Muharrem &Ouml;zen, Alaaddin Sarı, Abdullah Karacan, İhsan Malko&ccedil;, Nejdet Ulusoy
&ldquo;The Turkish trade union movement has been facing very difficult changes in terms of trade union rights and freedoms and as a result, the number of workers covered by collective agreements has dropped below 700,000 across the entire country,&rdquo; said Karacan in his opening address. &ldquo;Turkey does not deserve this picture and we need to reverse the trend.&rdquo; 
 
Abdullah Karacan added, &ldquo;According to the international statistics, Turkey, together with Mexico and Chile, are the top countries globally where income equality is the worst.&rdquo; 
 
Turkey&rsquo;s poor record on health and safety was also underscored, with statistics revealing that three workers are killed on average each day in work-related accidents. Lastik-İş delegates also voiced their intense struggle to limit precarious employment which shows a rising trend. The Congress applauded the Executive Committee with its performance in recruiting new members in existing and new plants, some of which are multinational companies such as Henkel from Germany, KCC from South Korea, as well as financial management and the performance of the union with new projects establishing social facilities that serve union members. The delegates also announced strong support for creation of new industrial union federations at global and European levels. 
 
At the end of the Congress, the new Executive Committee was introduced following re-election of President Karacan. The Executive is composed of Alaaddin Sarı, General Secretary; Nejdet Ulusoy, Head of Education, Press, Publication and Legal Affairs; Muharrem &Ouml;zen, Head of Collective Bargaining and Organizing; and İhsan Malko&ccedil;, Head of Financial Affairs.

Turkish Lastik-İş Re-elects Abdullah Karacan President

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The ICEM Turkish affiliate &Ccedil;IMSE-İş, the Cement, Ceramics, Pottery and Glass Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, announced the successful conclusion of a sector-wide labour agreement in the cement industry for 5,800 workers at 45 cement plants. 
 
The new two-year collective agreement will run from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 and averts a strike called by the union&rsquo;s presidential committee on 2 June. The agreement calls for a 7% increase in salaries plus an added YTL 25, as well as an increase in social benefits ranging from 7.6% to 27.81%. &Ccedil;IMSE-İş also managed to achieve a 100% extra payment for work performed on weekends. 
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The union negotiated the agreement with the Cement Industry Employers&rsquo; Federation (CEIS) for which it had been bargaining with since 7 January. 
 
&Ccedil;IMSE-İş also reported that it had concluded talks in the ceramics industry, which it had been negotiating with the Soil Industry Employers&rsquo; Association of Turkey. The employers grouping covers such Turkish companies as Eczacıbaşı Yapı Gere&ccedil;leri Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, Vitra Karo Sanayi AŞ, Matel Hammadde (Serel Seramik) Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, T&uuml;tk Ytong Sanayi AŞ, Ege Seramik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, and Ege Vitrifiye Sağlık Gere&ccedil;leri Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ. 
 
This agreement covers 3,200 workers and is union members and is also valid from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012. Wages will increase by 7% with an added YTL 30, while social benefit increases will average about 20%. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM salutes the achievement of &Ccedil;IMSE-İş,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;After a severe period in the materials industries brought on by the financial crisis, these two sector-wide agreements bring important improvements to Turkish workers and serve as excellent examples of mature industrial relations and social dialogue.&rdquo;

Cement Agreement Reached in Turkey, Strike Averted

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Accord was reached in Belgium recently for 150,000 metalworkers of three unions, MWB-FGTB/ABVV-Metaal, ACV-CSC Metea, and CGSLB/ACLVB. The two-year collective agreements cover workers in metal manufacturing, including aeronautical, automotive, and metal construction, as well as in the iron and steel industry. 
 
The agreements did not come without discord, however. Contentious bargaining over early retirements, unemployment benefits, contract and temporary workers&rsquo; rights, and layoff notices led to issuance of a strike notice that was to take effect on 24 June. 
 
But wage terms were reached in late May between the unions and employers&rsquo; federation Agoria in metal manufacturing, and agreement came on 6 June between the unions and the iron and steel grouping GSU. The three union federations won extension of early retirement provisions, and also longer periods of notice before layoffs can take effect. 
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The issue of subcontracting and temp workers&rsquo; rights was put aside and will be addressed in a separate memorandum. Belgian unions are seeking equal pay for equal work for such workers. 
 
Effective on 1 January 2012, redundancy notices will be extended in iron and steel from seven to 28 days for workers with less than six months service, and from 35 to 42 days for workers with over six months but less than five years&rsquo; service. 
 
The indexation of wages from cross-industry negotiations early in 2011 with the Belgian government will take hold in metal sectors. Wage rises of 0.3% higher than inflation will go into effect on 1 July 2011 and 1 July 2012. In addition, an economic &ldquo;green&rdquo; bonus of &euro;250 will be awarded. This is intended for purchase of environmental friendly products or services. The contracts run until 30 June 2013.

Two-Year Metalworking Contracts Set in Place in Belgium

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ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian oil worker affiliate, USO last week condemned oil giant Ecopetrol, and also the Colombian government, for the exploitation of contract workers at the company&rsquo;s subsidiary Propilco S.A. 
 
USO were particularly angered to see reports of the Colombian government speaking about the importance of decent work at the International Labour Conference of the ILO, while in fact the opposite is true back in Colombia. The government of President Juan Manuel Santos is complicit in the criminalisation of trade unions in Colombia. 
 
On 7 June, outsourced workers operating at the Propilco installations joined a USO union meeting to brief regular workers of their challenging working conditions. In retaliation, immediately following the meeting, the contractor companies blocked their return to the worksite. 
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The contractor companies include ASECO-ASAP, Invertrans, and Gomez Mantilla. Propilco S.A. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, and therefore the Ecopetrol is fully responsible for the employees of the above-mentioned contractor firms operating at Propilco. 
 
Common violations of CAL worker rights at Propilco include the following: 
 
ASECO and ASAP retain the worker contracts, meaning workers have no proof of employment, or of their benefits and salary; 
CAL workers are not supplied with transportation to work, meaning it is often necessary to cycle to work, through dangerous industrial cargo routes; 
Loading workers are paid in relation to the weight of cargo they load, with extremely low wages; 
CAL workers do not have access to a canteen; 
Employers disregard their legal responsibility for employee breaks, training, maximum shift length, and holiday leave; 
Some workers have worked 20 years for the contractor, but still do not have adequate housing; 
Invertrans sacked five employees on 8 June, without legal process, causing fear throughout Propilco that involvement in union activities will result in dismissal. 
 
The ICEM joins USO in condemning these conditions for CAL workers.

Colombian Oil Workers Decry Conditions for CAL Workers

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The strike that began on 25 May by 11,000 contract workers at the El Teniente division of Codelco in Chile has dwindled to about 4,000 as many of the more than 20 employers doing sub-contract work for the state-run copper producer have settled with contract staff. 
 
Production of copper cathodes from El Teniente, the company&rsquo;s most profitable division, had dropped to 40% at the peak of the strike on 8-9 June following blockades that prevented buses carrying Codelco staff from reaching the mine. But by late last week, output grew to 75% or more as some sub-contractors awarded bonuses and increased travel allowances to contract workers to get them to return to work. 
 
Codelco also began ferrying regular staff to the mine-site in central Chile by helicopters after transport buses were stopped and turned back. 
 
The unions representing contract workers have been unsuccessful in getting either Codelco or Chile&rsquo;s government to engage them on working conditions at El Teniente. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4462-Contract-Workers-Strike-Codelco-at-El-Teniente-Mine-in-Chile">ICEM report</a> on the outbreak of the contractors&rsquo; strike here.)&nbsp;
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Mines and Energy Minister Laurence Golborne said he has been monitoring the strike, but ruled out any possible involvement by Codelco or the government because of &ldquo;acuerdo marco,&rdquo; or an agreement in 2007 stating that neither party has an obligation to address the grievances of contract workers. 
 
Regional politician Ricardo Rinc&oacute;n of Chile&rsquo;s Christian Democrat Party (DC) condemned the government&rsquo;s unwillingness to address the legitimate grievances of contract workers, stating that turning a deaf ear to workers does not speak well of Codelco management or of the government. 
 
Sub-contract employers have given their staff one-time bonuses of 700,000 pesos (US$1,500) to quit the strike, in addition to the increases in travel allowance. The strike has been marked by daily mobilizations and marches in the nearby city of Rancagua in Region VI, some violence and damage to buses, and arrests of about 80 contract workers. 
 
On 14 June, some 1,000 contract workers boarded 17 buses and travelled to Santiago to deliver petitions to the National Congress and several different ministries. Meanwhile, a day earlier in Rancagua, four women &ndash; mothers of striking contract workers &ndash; began a water-only hunger strike in the city&rsquo;s cathedral to protest the government&rsquo;s negligent lack of involvement in the dispute. 
 
Elsewhere, at Codelco&rsquo;s Chuquicamata mine, part of the company&rsquo;s El Norte division, some 1,000 regular staff, union members of branches of Federaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), marched on 15 June in preparation for a strike that could occur at any time. 
 
The FTC branches are manifesting over staffing requirements and possible job retrenchments as Codelco prepares Chuquicamata for conversion from an open-pit copper mine to an underground one. The FTC said protests will continue and possible strike action will occur unless management shows a willingness to engage in talks with workers over plans for the conversion. 
 
The US$2.2 billion conversion project means underground mining will start at Chuquicamata in 2018.

Chilean Contract Workers’ Strike at Codelco Lingers

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Negotiations resume today and tomorrow, 20-21 June, for 4,000 Australian coal miners employed by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), the world&rsquo;s top exporter of metallurgical coal. Union allies, led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), conducted successful stop-work meetings last week that saw broad agreement among miners that they want job security and an end to work practices of Australia&rsquo;s bygone WorkChoices era. 
 
The union alliance, called the Single Bargaining Unit and consisting of CFMEU, the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), met yesterday to prepare for this week&rsquo;s pivotal talks. 
 
The six-hour and longer stop-work meetings, held across seven BMA mines of the Bowen Basin, Queensland, from 14-17 June, saw miners vent frustration at BMA intransigence that has stalled bargaining, and company arrogance inside those talks. The two sides have been bargaining since December 2010. See ICEM <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4463-Aussie-Coal-Miners-Vote-92-to-Strike-BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi-Alliance">InBrief No. 182</a> report on this enterprise bargaining dispute here.&nbsp;
<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="110" />
Stephen Smyth
Union members are &ldquo;sick and tired of the same rhetoric being spat out of the company&rsquo;s PR machine,&rdquo; said CFMEU District President Stephen Smyth to the Central Queensland News. Miners and export facility workers voted in May for lawful industrial action by better than 92%. They are vehemently opposed to BMA proposals on changes in work rosters and moves toward subcontracting that will cost jobs and equitable incomes. 
 
The stop-work meetings were attended by between 300 and 1,000 miners each in forums at BMA&rsquo;s Broadmeadow and Saraji mines on 14 June, Blackwater and Gregory Crinum mines on 15 June, Goonyella Riverside and Norwich Park mines on 17 June, and Goonyella and Peak Downs mines on 18 June. BMA is a 10-year-old joint venture between two of the world&rsquo;s industrial titans that produces 58 million tones annually of coking coal.

Stop-Work Meetings Raise Stakes in Queensland Coal Talks

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ICEM-affiliated Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia broke through a major barrier with Rio Tinto on enterprise bargaining when it used good-faith dialogue under the Fair Work Australia law to negate Rio Tinto&rsquo;s long-standing preference for individual work agreements. The breakthrough came in an &ldquo;in principle&rdquo; agreement achieved with the mining giant on 9 June that grants 400 iron ore train drivers and car examiners in West Australia collective bargaining rights. 
 
The agreement is precedent-setting and it is hoped that the Anglo-Australian mining house and metals producer follows similar Fair Work law practices in its other Australian businesses and with other Australian unions. The agreement allows the 400 essential staff who moves Australia&rsquo;s valuable iron ore resources to West Coast ports to vote on a collective agreement. 
<img src="" width="169" height="160" alt="" />
Gary Wood
&ldquo;This is a long overdue outcome that would never have been achieved under WorkChoices, and has only been achieved because of the Fair Work Act and the determination of the rank-and-file to stand united in support of their collective rights,&rdquo; said CFMEU West Australia Mining and Energy Secretary Gary Wood. 
 
The agreement came through 18 months of bargaining with Rio Tinto under procedures of two-year-old Fair Work Australia that left the company no alternative but to acquiesce and allow workers to vote on a collective agreement. It also ends an 18-year period of hostility by Rio Tinto to remain union-free and operate under individual work agreements at Rio&rsquo;s Hamersly, Pilbara Iron Ore, and other subsidiaries. 
 
The ICEM salutes the CFMEU for this historic accomplishment on behalf of Australian unions regarding Rio Tinto, and now calls on workers in West Australia to make the most of the achievement in order to speak with a collective voice in making life-enhancing gains for all.

CFMEU Wins Bargaining Rights for Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Train Drivers

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The National Union of Mineworkers, South Africa (NUM) are mobilising against an attempt by Brazilian mining multinational Vale to invest in the African copper belt. Vale&rsquo;s proposed purchase of Metorex Ltd was opposed by the NUM Central Committee, meeting 26-28 May, due to the anti-union history of the country, most notably in Canada. 
 
The NUM will now file a complaint to the Competition Commission, and engage the South African government to intervene against the US$1.1 billion purchase. Meterox is based in South Africa, but all its operations are in Zambia, and the DRC. Huge potential for copper extraction in the DRC is especially attracting Vale to the Meterox deal. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="103" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="155" height="85" />
At the same time, Vale demonstrated its aggressive opposition to workers&rsquo; organising, in Colombia. On 3 June workers at the El Hatillo mine, in the Department of Cesar, Northern Colombia, organised with Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, and presented modest bargaining demands to management. 
 
Vale Coal Colombia responded to its employees exercising their right to organise and bargain collectively with persecution, threats, and outright refusal to bargain. Vale supervisors at the mine have threatened all workers with the sack if they do not renounce the union. Many El Hastillo employees are precariously employed through outsourced contractors, facilitating Vale&rsquo;s union busting at the mine. 
 
On June 12, El Hastillo superintendent Jairo Tamayo locked employee and union leader Mario Prado in his office and aggressively threatened him. This intimidation caused Mr. Prado a suspected heart attack, and he remains in hospital in a serious condition. 
 
The United Steelworkers last week launched an international campaign supporting Sintramienerg&eacute;tica in their struggle to organise at Vale. An international LabourStart campaign is launched today, calling on the Colombian government ensure the fundamental rights of workers at El Hatillo, and calling on Vale Colombia to halt its union busting efforts and negotiate with the union in good faith. 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1027">LabourStart campaign</a> here, and write to the Colombian President and CEO of Vale Colombia.

NUM, USW Take Gloves Off on Vale in South Africa, Colombia

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The Independent Trade Union of Miners&rsquo; of Ukraine (NPGU) held its Sixth Congress at mid-month in Kiev and besides hearing a 2005 to 2011 report on the union&rsquo;s activities, the Congress elected governing bodies and adopted several resolutions. 
 
Mikhail Volynets was re-elected President of the Independent Miners Union by secret ballot. The Congress was attended by the ICEM and representatives from the ILO, the US Solidarity Center, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany, representatives of Ukrainian ministries and departments, deputies of the Verkhovnaya Rada, or Parliament, the leaders of other trade unions of Ukraine. 
<img src="" width="209" height="207" alt="" />
Mikhail Volynets (left) and NPGU Vice President Anatoly Akimochkin
Delegates and speakers voiced concern that the new law on Social Dialogue in Ukraine, adopted by the Rada, with many stating that it jeopardizes the gains made over the past 20 years. Specific resolutions of the Congress singled out harmful passages of the Social Dialogue law regarding pension reform and health and safety in Ukraine&rsquo;s coal mines. 
 
The Congress also resolved to: demand that the state establish a system of preferences for employees who are actively involved in creating safe working conditions and for employers who prove that they maintain a steady level of safe working conditions; demand that the work state mine regulatory agencies do be judged on hours worked without incidents, accidents, and fatalities, rather than on the number of orders, reprimands, and fines issued; demand that public institutions in the field of occupational safety and health should be an integral part of safety and health management systems. 
 
Delegates also called on the Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers not to adopt the draft law on pension reform; develop wage reform aimed at legalizing the maximum wage and to significantly increase the wage proportion in a company's production costs to the level of 20-25% to serve as the basis for calculating pension contributions; eliminate the corruption phenomenon in the extractive industries where the shadow market of coal reaches three million tons per year, and to close coal mining off to so-called &ldquo;slave labour,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Kopanki&rdquo;; and improve legislation for heightened liability against employers for violating workers&rsquo; rights.

Independent Miners’ Union of Ukraine Holds Sixth Congress

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On 13 May in Madrid, two great unions from the Spanish UGT confederation merged to form a new union, the 150,000-member FITAG-UGT, the UGT&rsquo;s new union for food and industrial workers. 
 
Dissolution congresses of the two predecessor unions, FTA-UGT for food and FIA-UGT for chemicals and industrial, preceded the founding congress, with delegates voting better than 97% in both congresses to go ahead with the merger. Antonio Deusa Pedrazo was elected General Secretary of FITAG-UGT. The new Executive is made up of 17 members, six of whom are women. Roughly 32% of the new union&rsquo;s membership is women. 
 
The union will negotiate 31 collective agreements in sectors that cover 10% of Spain&rsquo;s total industrial base. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="159" />
Mari Luz Rodriguez
The founding Congress made it clear that special attention will be given to sectors that are more difficult to organise such as ones containing small- and medium-sized companies. One focus will be immigrants who work in great numbers in some of the sectors that the new federation will represent. 
 
Spanish Secretary of State for Employment, Gender and Youth, Mari Luz Rodriguez, spoke at the founding 
Congress. She recognized the new union for its reinforced union structures and for defending the interests of workers. 
 
FITAG-UGT also made it clear it was laying the foundation for facing the challenges that confront trade unions, both at national and international levels. Those include: to respond to globalization and fight neoliberalism; strengthen the union role and strengthen European Works Council roles in facing multinationals; to make the most of international trade unions; to demand and get more stable and secure employment with more rights; and to demand more appropriate social protections and defend the welfare state. 
 
To meet these goals, FITAG-UGT resolved to organise more workers in all sectors that the new union serves, and to get more shop stewards to be present in all workplaces and to increase the union&rsquo;s influence. The union believes better training, information, and structures will be put in place to achieve these goals. 
 
ICEM affiliate FIA-UGT itself is a product of mergers in Spain&rsquo;s labour movement. The former Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union first merged with UGT branches representing oil and gas workers and then merged again with branches of miners and textile workers.

Industrial, Food Workers of UGT in Spain Merge

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