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The ICEM Asia-Pacific Region Oil and Gas Industry Network conducted a meeting on 21-22 August, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The meeting was co-hosted by ICEM, FES, VGCL, and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Union. 
 
Mr Koyanagi, representative of JEC Rengo, ICEM&rsquo;s largest sector union in the region, was elected as Chairperson for the meeting. 
 
Keynote presentations were given by ICEM and fellow global union federation the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF). 
 
For ICEM Geneva, Director of Organisation Jim Catterson presented a broad and detailed overview of the state of the sector, touching on current and future/projected industry patterns, emphasizing the ICEM global sectoral meeting scheduled for Stavanger which started today. Catterson highlighted the ICEM/ITF collaboration on and around offshore oilrigs, aiming to achieve unionization &ldquo;from well to wheel&rdquo;. Focus was also on the impact of the 2008 Economic Crisis, the importance of the Caspian area, the expected resurgence of Iraqi oil production, the oil industry ICEM Global Framework Agreements, the growing role of China as an investor and user of oil and gas, and the problem of the growing gap between drilling technology and security and safety technology.
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For the ITF, Mick Doleman, representing the ITF&rsquo;s Offshore Taskforce Group, recalled the 2006 alliance between ITF and ICEM on offshore issues, and along the &ldquo;pit to the port&rdquo; chain. Mick also emphasized the focus of Australian unions in solidarity work in the sub- region, in Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea in particular, stressing the need for the building of strong and active trade unions. 
 
Delegates received country reports by Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. 
 
The co-hosting Vietnam Oil and Gas Union presented themselves and the political context in which they operate, detailing union membership at 45,000-51,000 in the industry, at 129 workplaces. Current challenges faced by the union are growing use by employers of contract and agency labour (CAL); and union officials paid by management. 
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ICEM Asia-Pacific responded by recalling the developing contact with VO&amp;GU since 1993, now moving towards formal affiliation, and commended the detailed and structured report presented. 
 
There was a strong emphasis on the importance of solidarity and support amongst and between affiliates themselves. The value of regular sectoral meetings at the regional level was agreed, but the need for active information exchange and interaction between any such meetings was stressed. 
 
The meeting received motivation for two solidarity resolutions, on Linde Group&rsquo;s ongoing anti-union practices in Thailand, and in support of Los Mineros in Mexico, as well as one recommendation to the World Energy Conference. The three resolutions were unanimously accepted.

ICEM Asia-Pacific Region Oil and Gas Industry Network Meets

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The United Auto Workers (UAW) union became the eighth US trade union to join the Blue Green Alliance, a well-honed collaboration in place between major trade unions and major environmental groups in America. The announcement two weeks ago weds one of the US&rsquo;s founding industrial unions to a commitment to build cleaner and more fuel-efficient automobiles. 
 
&ldquo;We are thrilled to become part of this unique partnership of working people and environmentalists who are striving to build a cleaner, more efficient and more prosperous American economy,&rdquo; stated UAW President Bob King in the announcement that brought US auto industry labour into the alliance. &ldquo;We have enormous opportunities to revitalize this industry, and the American economy, by embracing the clean energy economy of the future.&rdquo; 
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UAW President, Bob King
The Blue Green Alliance started in 2006 between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club, and since has grown as a labor-environmental bond between leading American unions and both the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 
 
The Blue Green Alliance now has 8.5 million American workers pursuing Good Jobs, a Clean Environment, and a Green Economy. Besides the leading role the USW has taken in forming the alliance, other US-based unions include the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the Service Employees&rsquo; Union (SEIU), and the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA).

American Auto Workers Join Blue Green Alliance

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ICEM&rsquo;s Canadian affiliate the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union has lead the way in donating CA$30,000 to the relief efforts in flood hit Pakistan 
 
The CEP first donated CA$25,000 through its Humanity Fund, with the money going to Oxfam&rsquo;s emergency flood relief. The union followed with a second donation of CA$5,000. 
 
&ldquo;The need continues to be great in Pakistan and CEP members and their families have a proud tradition of helping those in need&rdquo; stated CEP President Dave Coles. 
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CEP President, Dave Coles
The CEP Humanity Fund is a member-supported fund that helps people facing disasters and poverty, promotes decent work and supports equitable development in Canada and around the world. 
 
In addition to the CEP&rsquo;s very generous flood relief contribution, thousands of workers at the Pakistan Steel Mills donated one day&rsquo;s salary to Prime Minister Syed Yousef Raza Gilani Flood Relief Fund. A leader of the Pakistan Steel People&rsquo;s Workers Union presented a check in the amount of Rs 15.5 million (US$180,000) to the Prime Minister in Islamabad. 
 
And workers of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. donated a flat sum payment of Rs 20 million (US$233,000), plus one day&rsquo;s salary of management staff to the PM&rsquo;s Flood Relief Fund. It also sent large consignments of relief goods to flood-stricken areas. From Turkey, a freight train completely filled with relief goods was sent through a Turkey-Iran-Pakistan rail link in late August.

Canada’s CEP Donates $30,000 to Pakistan Emergency Flood Relief Effort

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The conference held in Oslo, Norway, on 13 September by the ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided rhetoric giving economic redress to the great financial crisis, but it&nbsp;must now be followed up&nbsp;with prompt action on job creation, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
 
The conference, entitled &ldquo;The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion,&rdquo; produced plenty of well-intentioned talk toward developing policies that promote job-creating growth, but the ITUC &ndash; one of the participants at the conference &ndash; stressed the importance of the ILO and IMF acting jointly and immediately on a job-centred recovery to pull tens of millions of the world&rsquo;s citizens from impoverished conditions. 
 
&ldquo;The ILO should be fully integrated into the G20&rsquo;s Mutual Assessment Process,&rdquo; stated ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, adding that national policies must adopt progressive taxation, quality public service agendas, expanded collective bargaining and better workers&rsquo; protections, and respect for the world&rsquo;s core labour standards.
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ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow&nbsp;
She also said that it is crucial that wage increases keep pace with growing productivity in order to stop the income decline of working people. 
 
&ldquo;In the face of the persisting global employment deficit, the IMF should encourage countries, including those that borrow from the Fund, to adopt and maintain job-intensive stimulus policies until recovery is self-sustaining and unemployment is falling to pre-crisis levels,&rdquo; said Burrow. 
 
The IMF&rsquo;s General Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was pointed in his remarks at the conference. &ldquo;The labour market is in dire straits,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Great Recession has left behind a wasteland of unemployment, and this devastation threatens the livelihood, security, and dignity of millions of people across the world.&rdquo; 
 
A joint ILO-IMF report said 30 million jobs had been lost due to the crisis, 75% of which occurred in developed nations. The IMF admitted that the percentage of workers laid off for long terms has grown with each economic downturn for decades, but that figures for such from the recent financial crisis have surged even more dramatically. 
 
The Oslo conference, hosted by the Norwegian government, was attended by four heads of state &ndash; Spain&rsquo;s Prime Minister Jos&eacute; Luis Rodr&iacute;guez Zapatero, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, Liberia President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, and Norway&rsquo;s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg &ndash; as well as seven national ministers and 25 trade union leaders.

ILO, IMF Oslo Conference on Crisis Now Demands Immediate Action

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Two sharp-edged coal disputes in Queensland and New South Wales are concluding, with branches of ICEM Australian affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) gaining the best possible terms for some combined 570 mineworkers. 
 
In northern Queensland, 233 miners employed by mining contractor Theiss of Leighton Holdings at the Collinsville mine reached terms within an enterprise agreement with Theiss in early September that provides them wage increases, improved housing allowances, and job security. 
 
The two-year-long dispute erupted late in July 2010 when miners launched a continuous strike. The 16-day strike was heroically marked by miners, spouses, and partners blocking tracks and turning back trains loaded with coal. The Collinsville mine is majority-held by Xstrata but Theiss and Leighton, a subsidiary of German construction giant Hochtief, operate the mine exclusively.
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CFMEU Members at the Tahmoor Mine&nbsp;
The other long dispute coming to conclusion is with Swiss-based Xstrata at the Tahmoor mine in New South Wales. Some 240 miners likely will vote approvingly for the company&rsquo;s last offer this week. If approved, the CFMEU will retain enterprise labour agreements under Fair Work Australia, something that Xstrata was resisting in attempting to roll back union-protected work rules to the days of former Tory Prime Minister John Howard. 
 
The 22-month dispute at Tahmoor was marked by lockouts and strikes, the latest a 19-day lockout that ended 7 September. During that lockout, a Fair Work Australia judge turned back Xstrata Coal&rsquo;s application to scrub the enterprise agreements at Tahmoor, basically stating that CFMEU had the legitimate workplace right to protect job security. 
 
Xstrata was seeking broad flexibility over workplace policies and procedures, without union involvement, while the union sought assurances against job replacements by contractors and greater roles in rosters and other on-the-job work rules.

Coal Strikes in Australia Wrapping to Conclusions

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Despite two full days of bargaining between ICEM affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (NTMEIA) on 16-17 September, no accord was reached to end the three-week old strike. Some 6,000 rubber workers have been on strike at six tyre factories operated by four employers since 29 August. 
 
Today in Port Elizabeth, 4,000 NUMSA members from tyre plants in the Eastern Cape will march in protest of rapt division among employers in this year&rsquo;s wage talks. They will present a petition to management at the plant gates of Bridgestone-Firestone in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.
In last week&rsquo;s talks guided by an independent mediator in Port Elizabeth, management of the Japanese-based company continued to deviate widely from the wage offers put forth by other tyre companies associated with the NTMEIA. While Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop of India placed on the table a three-year package containing wage increases of 9%, 7.5%, and 7.5%, Bridgestone-Firestone&rsquo;s offer was 7%, 5%, and 5%. 
 
Rubber workers of NUMSA are willing to accept a three-year pact, but their wage expectations are 9% in each of the three years. In addition, they seek a modernized wage module that will lift the salaries of workers who have been stuck at minimum levels for as long as 10 to 15 years. 
 
Another key issue at the bargaining table revolves around the use of labour brokers. Although the NTMEIA will not agree to a ban, it has conceded to pay contributions for short-term and temporary workers into the Provident Fund, as well as make retirement and medical payments for them. The South African tyre industry employs about 1,000 such workers.
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Also last week in South Africa, 70,000 NUMSA members across the country returned to their jobs at fuel retail outlets and auto component shops. On 14 September, NUMSA convened a special National Executive Committee meeting, where eight of nine regional structures of the union agreed to accept terms of the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers&rsquo; Association, ending strikes that began on 1 September. 
 
The three-year contract for filling station attendants includes wage gains of 10%, 9%, and 8%, while auto-parts workers will receive 9%, 8%, and 8%. NUMSA did achieve a solid breakthrough regarding labour brokers, particularly in these sectors in which several employers are totally reliant on staff provided by outside hire firms. 
 
The agreement calls for all labour brokers to be registered by one of two certifying agencies, and all staff of labour brokers must receive minimum rates of pay inside the two industries as well as getting the same benefits and condition of employment. In addition, the negotiated settlement calls for the gradual phase-out of labour brokers, with a cut to 35% of current levels by the year 2013.

South African Tyre Strike Continues; Mass March Slated Today Against Bridgestone

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Coal-mining unions from Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Spain agreed last week in unity to ask the European Commission to extend its deadline for the elimination of state subsidies on the production of coal. Last spring, the Commission moved to eliminate completely any Member State from granting coal subsidies to coal-fired generating plants after 31 December 2010, but that was amended slightly in July to give a very limited extension of certain subsidies until 2014. 
 
German union IGBCE last week conducted a unity tour together with Works Council leaders of the country&rsquo;s coal producer, RAG, to Hungary, Poland, and Spain. What they found was undivided consensus that the sudden curtailment of state subsidies at year end will create social conflicts, much like what is now occurring in Spain.
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Hungarian Mining &amp; Energy Union, BDSZ&nbsp;
 
The trade unions of the coal-producing countries, IGBCE, NSZZ Solidarność of Poland, the Mining and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union BDSZ of Hungary, and mining and energy unions of both Spanish federations, UGT and CC.OO, pledged to work through their respective governments to change the Commission&rsquo;s current policy. 
 
&ldquo;The regulation proposal helps neither the coal-producing countries of Germany, Poland, Spain, and Hungary, nor the non coal-producing countries of the European Union,&rdquo; stated IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadas, who led the travel delegation. &ldquo;The subsidies do not create unfair competition in the EU. In comparison to the little that is gained in environmental protection, more (social costs) will be lost due to imported coal replaced domestic coal,&rdquo; said Vassiliadas.
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IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadas&nbsp;
Further, the unions claim that revoking the subsidies is counter-production to jobs creation coming out of the financial crisis. Coal accounts for 30% of European electricity generation, and 17% of total energy consumption in the EU.

European Mining Unions Reject Commission’s Coal Subsidies Policy

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A ten-day strike by the ICEM North American affiliate Teamsters Union against a subsidiary of Swiss-based Holcim ended 25-26 August when 130 union members at two branch locals ratified a three-year collective agreement with a 90% vote. 
 
The strike in the US state of Massachusetts was highlighted by Teamsters members from three other local branches blockading some 20 cement plants and terminals in Massachusetts and neighbouring New Hampshire. Those locals have contracts that expire in the future, making the show of support to truck drivers and plant operators of Locals 25 and 170 an exemplary example of solidarity. 
 
The strike and rolling actions came against Aggregate Industries, a wholly-owned Holcim subsidiary in the US and UK. 
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Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, Mark Harrington
The Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, Mark Harrington, described terms of the new agreement as satisfactory, with the union solidly protecting wages, pensions, and health care coverage, while compromising with American management over some work rules. 
 
&ldquo;The strategy worked,&rdquo; said Harrington. &ldquo;By extending picket lines we were able to impact the company economically.&rdquo; 
 
Harrington himself extended gratitude to Swiss trade union Unia for its intervention in the strike. He said company negotiators made note of that fact &ndash; with some surprise &ndash; at the US federal mediation session on 25 August that produced the settlement. The ICEM also intervened with Holcim during the strike. 
 
Teamsters Locals 42, 633, and another unit of Local 25 that has a different expiration date with Aggregate Industries not only honoured roving pickets at the company&rsquo;s New England operations, but members of those local branches joined the pickets. 
 
Regarding those solidarity actions, the ICEM considers it heroic deeds in defending and winning a new labour agreement because the Holcim subsidiary was readying the hire of replacement workers as its strategy to break the strike.

US Teamsters Union Settles Holcim Cement Strike in US

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Latin America&rsquo;s largest company by market value, Petrobras, was hit hard by a one-day warning strike on 3 September. Eighty percent of ICEM-affiliated Federa&ccedil;&atilde;o &Uacute;nica de dos Petroleiros&rsquo;s (FUP) 35,000 members shut refineries, distribution terminals, offshore platforms and rigs, and administration offices across Brazil last Friday in a stern message to the largely state-owned company that it will not be shortchanged in current negotiations. 
 
In a statement, the FUP umbrella grouping of unions &ndash; by far the largest at Petrobras &ndash; said workers&rsquo; intent was to &ldquo;interrupt the main operations, keeping only the essential activities operating for the maintenance and security of equipment.&rdquo; 
 
The union was angry that Petrobras had granted large bonuses to senior managers while negotiations were in progress, and then suddenly halting talks. 
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Some seven refineries in Brazil stopped producing, as did 30 offshore drilling platforms and countless other facilities. FUP is seeking the Brazilian inflation rate from September 2009 to August 2010, or 5%, and also seeks productivity pay totaling 10% for undertaking training and development programmes. 
 
The union federation also wants guaranteed safeguarding of labour standards and establishment of a national forum as a dialogue platform to discuss structural changes with management over health, safety, and the environment. 
 
The company&rsquo;s response to the warning strike was that it would conduct an &ldquo;open and transparent&rdquo; set of negotiations with workers&rsquo; representatives. 
 
The warning strike came on the same day that Petrobras announced it would conduct a massive stock offering in order to raise US$64.5 billion in capital funds.

FUP Launches Day-Long Warning Strike Against Petrobras

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Australian building materials maker James Hardie Industries lost a tax appeal case in a courtroom on 1 September that likely will inhibit the troubled company&rsquo;s ability to make payments under terms of the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund. Under a mandatory agreement with the state government of New South Wales, Hardie must pay 35% of its annual cash flow to the fund. 
 
A federal court judge ruled last week that James Hardie owes back taxes to the government in the amount of A$357.4 million, plus interest, for dodging taxes in 1998 when it formally moved ownership of US subsidiaries out of Australia. 
 
The 1 September decision by a federal court judge in Australia, upholding a Taxation Office ruling from that 1998 case, means that Hardie will need a fresh infusion of money to meet its liability commitments to victims of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Lawyers who represent victims also expressed fear that the company will completely default on immediate and future obligations. 
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The AMWU said prior to last week&rsquo;s ruling that if James Hardie were to win the appeal, it would demand that the A$275 million cash windfall due the company go directly to the compensation fund. The AMWU said James Hardie has not made a payment into the fund in 2009-2010, and the bottoming-out of the home-building market inside the global financial crisis seriously jeopardizes the compensation fund. 
 
The AMWU further states that victims&rsquo; claims average A$110 million per year, but that James Hardie has made sufficient profits only once in the past seven years to cover a full year&rsquo;s of liability. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s case involved the company&rsquo;s wholly-owned affiliate RCI Pty. using a tax avoidance scheme, as determined by the Tax Commissioner, for the purpose of the subsidiary gaining a tax benefit. 
 
One Australian press account said last week&rsquo;s verdict &ldquo;cements the reputation of James Hardie&rsquo;s board and management of the 1990s and early 2000s as putting more effort into minimizing liabilities than was good for the company. 
 
&ldquo;James Hardie has been mired in scandal after using legal arguments in 2004 to deny liability to pay asbestos compensation,&rdquo; said the press report. &ldquo;The furor over asbestos, which forced the company to resume responsibility, was prompted by a global restructure in 2001, which built on a 1998 restructure that is at the centre of the tax dispute.&rdquo;

Asbestos: James Hardie’s Failed Tax Appeal Clouds Victims’ Payments

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