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The ICEM-affiliated Mongolian union, the Federation of Energy, Geology and Mining Workers' Trade Unions (MEGM), hosted ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jung-sun recently. 
 
Warda commended accelerated development in Mongolia over recent years, noting significantly improved infrastructure in the country. It is positive for the country that foreign investment has increased rapidly, and resource-rich Mongolia can benefit from such investment through exploration and development of gold mines and construction of power plants. Major investors are from Canada, China, and the US. 
 
MEGM President Gambold indicated that union members are facing new challenges through this period of foreign investment. Government and employers are attempting to change current labour laws toward creating a more &ldquo;flexible&rdquo; labour market in order to &ldquo;adapt to the global economy.&rdquo; 
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This means fewer restrictions on temporary work agencies, increasing the numbers of precarious jobs in the country. This is being countered by trade unions of Mongolia, which have created a new working group that will submit a counter proposal to the proposed legislation. 
 
The government is introducing a programme of privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the telecommunication and energy sectors. A number of major investment contracts with foreign companies are due to be signed during the second half of 2010. 
 
The ICEM, working with the local ILO office, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and other Global Union Federations, will be supplying technical assistance for these critical issues to be addressed, so as to build a firm foundation for sustainable development in Mongolia, in line with ILO international labour standards. 
 
The experiences in many Asian countries, notably Korea and Vietnam, on business contracts with foreign companies are that these foreign companies often demand long-term contracts that are unacceptable with respect to labour protections and profit sharing. 
 
&ldquo;It is my sincere hope and firm belief that Mongolian government should listen to opinions of social partners. Through social dialogue and consensus, the government can build the confidence and mutual faith,&rdquo; stated Warda.

ICEM Shores Up Support to Mongolian Affiliate to Combat Privatisation, Contract Labour

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Thailand&rsquo;s Tripartite Industrial Relations Committee (IRC) ruled that French-based Michelin has violated provisions of the Industrial Relations Act 1975, and ordered that management at the Laem Chabang tyre factory reinstate 12 activists &ndash; members of ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Federation (PCFT) &ndash; to their rightful jobs. 
 
The ruling was given on 24 June, but notification and official documentation of the unfair labour practices complaint did not come to the PCFT until 20 July. The12 had been unfairly discriminated against by Michelin since leading a two-month dispute and company lockout at the plant in March and April 2009. 
 
The 12 had been kept on Michelin&rsquo;s payroll, but were assigned to a government-run skills centre in efforts to keep them away from the 1,800-member workforce. They refused the assignments, citing violations of their rights. 
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Standing, center, Michelin plant-level PCFT President Thanakorn Somsin (fist raised) and Secretary Sommoi Prawai (on his left), together with founders of the PCFT branch union 
The IRC ruling orders Michelin to provide work inside the factory to the 12 in positions not lower than their previous postings, and to do so within ten days. 
 
The dispute started when Michelin, in March 2009, attempted to institute 35% wage cut to everyone at the Chonburi Province plant. A petition surfaced protesting the unilateral cuts and managers then punished workers who refused to remove their names from the petition by locking them out of the factory. After unionists blockaded the plant, some were jailed, while Michelin supervisors filed criminal complaints against the union organisers. 
 
Even though tri-partite negotiations produced a partial resolve on 28 April, including recognition of the newly-formed plant union as part of PCFT, Michelin continued to discriminate against union leaders. The recent IRC ruling means that all union activists should be legally reinstated. 
 
Some 700 workers at Laem Chabang have taken up PCFT membership. Michelin has a 90% stake in three Thai tyre plants, the PCFT-represented Phra Padaeng factory in Samut Prakarn, the non-unionised Nong Khae plant in Sarburi, and Laem Chabang. The Siam Cement Group owns the minority shares in the three tyre plants.

Thai Labour Court Orders 12 Michelin Union Activists Back to Work

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US public criticism against a CEO and against his company in the wake of the deadly West Virginia coal mine explosion on 5 April has triggered measures for better and tighter overall workplace safety standards in the US Congress. The proposals stand as the first significant overhaul to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in its 40-year history. 
 
A panel of the US House of Representatives&rsquo; Education and Labor Committee gave approval, with a 30-17 vote on 21 July, to HR 5663, the Miner Safety and Health Act. The proposed legislation would finally put teeth into America&rsquo;s federal safety and health statute, and comes at a time when the US public is angry over the arrogance and power exhibited by companies following job-place deaths and ecological disasters, like BP&rsquo;s Deepwater Horizon explosion and deaths in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
The lightning rod for the tougher safety standards in the US continues to be Massey Energy and its CEO, Don Blankenship. It was at Massey&rsquo;s Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia, on 5 April, that a methane gas blast killed 29 non-union miners in a colliery where workers were ignored when they spoke up against poor air quality. Blankenship has used the deaths, contemptibly, to argue for less oversight by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and more reliance on business instincts in order to improve safety. 
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The proposed legislation is sweeping, and would lift the US statute to the level of some of the best safety laws in the world. OSHA violators could be charged with felony crimes, carrying heavy jail sentences and fines. It would grant expedited hearing, review, and protection in all-important whistle-blower cases, and it would give the US Labor Department&rsquo;s safety agency heightened power to shut unsafe workplaces. 
 
An existing but non-functioning &ldquo;pattern of violation&rdquo; status in the existing law would be given tougher enforcement mechanisms with strong penalties attached, and families and relatives of victims would receive more rights in the proposed legislation. 
 
Also in mining, workers would be given the undeniable right to refuse unsafe work and MSHA would have the power to shut down a mine without waiting for a company&rsquo;s appeals to exhaust, a common tactic used by Massey to continue production after safety violations are issued. At Upper Big Branch, Massey had been repeatedly cited for dust and ventilation problems, but the company&rsquo;s appeals caused penalties to be reduced and safety deficiencies to continue. 
 
Business and industry interests at the committee hearings in Washington, DC, opposed an updated OSHA, saying the proposed revisions are too much, too fast. 
 
That caused United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts to say, &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re asking ourselves, &lsquo;Are we moving too fast?&rsquo; maybe we should ask ourselves if we&rsquo;re moving too slow, because miners keep dyin&rsquo; in our nation&rsquo;s coal mines.&rdquo; 
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UMWA President Cecil Roberts
The increase in US mining deaths to date in 2010 is markedly up, and on a pace not seen since the 1980s when US mining employment was half what it is now. So far in 2010, 40 miners have been killed, nearing the most recent record of 47 in 2006. 
 
Thirty-one of the 40 deaths have occurred at Massey collieries. On 1 July, an electrician was crushed to death by a coal-laden shuttle car inside Massey&rsquo;s non-union White Buck Coal Co. mine in West Virginia. And on 10 May, another miner was crushed between machinery and a longwall at Massey&rsquo;s non-union Ruby Energy mine, also in West Virginia. He died a week later in a hospital. 
 
Besides the BP disaster that occurred in American waters in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April, killing 11 workers, the updated safety legislation is spurred by the 3 April explosion at Tesoro&rsquo;s oil refinery in the state of Washington that killed seven &ndash; all members of the United Steelworkers (USW) &ndash; and another explosion at a power station of Kleen Energy Systems in the state of Connecticut in February, killing six. These accidents raise among Americans a late-to-arrive consciousness that perhaps the cost of profits over people in a free society has come at too steep a price. 
 
The full US House of Representatives must now take up the safety bill, while the US Senate is standing back awaiting House action before it takes up the legislation.

Massey Arrogance Fuels Tougher Workplace Safety Standards for US

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Thanks to dogged persistence by ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the fate of the 133,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery Shell refinery in Montr&eacute;al is still open and subject to sale. Last week, following a second court injunction prohibiting dismantling of the refinery until 10 September, Shell announced it again would negotiate with the Delek Group of Israel over purchase of the refinery. 
 
At stake are the jobs of 500 workers represented by the CEP. In January 2010, Shell announced plans to radically restructure its global downstream operations, including closure of the Montr&eacute;al East refinery by 1 June. 
 
The Anglo-Dutch multinational said it would continue operating part of the site as a terminal and distribution centre for scores of Shell retail outlets scattered across Qu&eacute;bec and Canada&rsquo;s Maritime Provinces. Such continuance, however, would require only 30 workers. 
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The CEP and its Montr&eacute;al branch union, Local 121, has battled relentlessly to find a buyer, as well as to press provincial and federal authorities to keep the refinery operating. Shell rejected bids by potential operators last spring and union members believe Shell wants the refinery shut, with imported petroleum products distributed through the terminal. 
 
On 8 July, a Qu&eacute;bec Superior Court granted the union a ten-day injunction preventing any cannibalizing of the refinery. &ldquo;We believe that maintaining the equipment in good condition until we get satisfactory answers to our questions about offers to but the facility&rdquo; is in everybody&rsquo;s best interests, said Local 121 President Jean-Claude Rocheleau. 
 
On 16 July, that injunction was extended into September. Meanwhile, last week on 20 July, Shell stated at a federal parliamentary hearing of the House of Commons that it re-open talks with Delek, a holding company in which its wholly-owned subsidiary, US Holdings Inc., operates a crude pipeline, refinery, and hundreds of gasoline retail outlets in the southern US. 
 
Delek had been an earlier bidder for the refinery, but Shell rejected the bid as too low. The ICEM remains hopeful that CEP will succeed in achieving sale of the refinery, preserving jobs for the union&rsquo;s energy workers. Shell operates two smaller Canadian refineries, in Sarnia, Ontario, and in Edmonton, Alberta.

CEP Fights to Keep Shell’s Montréal Oil Refinery Operating

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In the rush to get copper production from the Cananea mine back on world markets, is Grupo M&eacute;xico disregarding the safety and health of contract workers? So it seems by an apparent undocumented rash of on-the-job accidents and injuries in the short six weeks since federal police opened the mine in Sonora State for the company. 
 
Following a 16 July accident in which a sub-contract worker was hospitalised after a five-metre fall, military police secured the perimeter of the hospital, not allowing anybody to enter. When leaders of Section 65 of the Mexican National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) tried to lend assistance to the injured worker, they were turned away by &ldquo;a violent and arrogant grenadier,&rdquo; according to a report. 
 
Workers of Los Mineros at Cananea claim there have been 20 such accidents with injuries since mine rehabilitation began following the military takeover on 6 June. But this cannot be confirmed because safety reporting, if it exists, is never verified. This non-transparency at a major copper recovery project is a pox on Grupo M&eacute;xico and a pox on federal Labour and Interior Ministries, and on the State of Sonora, the latter governmental agencies that have all taken up reconciliation roles. 
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Federal police violently take control at Cananea, 6 June 
Photo - IMF
The pitiful irony is that Grupo M&eacute;xico and federal police used brute force to reopen the Cananea mine on 6 June, crushing a strike that began over health and safety in 2007. Now they are at breakneck pace, using disposable contract workers, to re-start Cananea at a time &ndash; during first quarter 2010 &ndash; that world copper supply fell short of refined usage. 
 
In a media interview in late June, Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s Isaac Lopez Arzola, the director-general of Southern Copper&rsquo;s Mexicana de Cobre S.A., which functions as the company&rsquo;s copper operating and servicing subsidiary, said 700 workers are now employed at the mine, all non-direct to Grupo M&eacute;xico and Southern Copper, and the responsibility of individual contractors. That number is expected to climb to 1,700. 
 
Compared to a global investment strategy totaling US$2.8 billion, Grupo M&eacute;xico is spending only US$114 million to bring Cananea into production, rushing to get it done by first quarter 2011 to meet continued high copper prices. In turn, Southern Copper will double its global copper output over the next few years, making it the world&rsquo;s third largest copper producer. 
 
With copper prices doubling in early 2010 over copper pricing in early 2009, and considering that every 1% jump in the copper price equates to an estimated 1.3% rise in Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s equity value, should the company concern itself with safety, or the injuries of non-direct workers? 
 
Apparently not, except to surround them with militia so their stories cannot be heard.

Grupo México’s Infamous Safety Legacy Lives on at Cananea

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ICEM affiliated trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe discussed challenges in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries with a view to reinforcing representation, industrial relations, and social dialogue in an 8-9 June seminar in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The meetings, hosted by ICEM&rsquo;s Slovakian affiliate, the Chemical and Energy Workers Union (ECHOZ), were supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), one of the principal project partners in the world. 
 
The meeting was chaired by Juraj Blahak, ICEM&rsquo;s Vice President for Central Europe, who underlined the importance of the meeting for unions in chemicals who face restructurings, including privatisation that has had severe impacts on employment and trade unions. 
 
Clemens Rode, representing FES in the region, stressed the role of trade unions in shaping economic and social life in Central Europe. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave specific attention to the togetherness of Central and Eastern European trade unions, calling exchanges of information and experience in restructurings as vitally important. Warda also made a specific presentation on precarious employment and ICEM&rsquo;s global Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) campaign. 

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Attended by around 30 trade union leaders from Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, and Tadjikistan, the meeting received an extensive report from the ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, Kemal &Ouml;zkan, on global chemical and pharmaceutical trends, with specifics on the Central and Eastern Regions and individual countries. 
 
The meeting also got a presentation from Mr. Roman Karlubik, President of the Association of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry of the Slovak Republic, who drew the overall picture of the Slovak chemical industry and social dialogue with ECHOZ. 
 
The industry in Central and Eastern Europe suffered through the economic crisis in parallel to many economies in the region posting negative GDP growth, with some countries suffering near financial meltdown. Prior to the crisis, the region was seen as a good place to invest. For the pharmaceutical industry, generic medicines represent around half the industry in the region, with a number of number of companies including KRKA, Gedeon Richter, Polpharma, and Zentiva specifically focusing on generics. 
 
Central and Eastern European countries are projected to spend an estimated US$157.1 billion on healthcare in 2015, equal to 6.9% of total GDP. At present, only 30% of spending in the region is private, but over 85% of this is composed of out-of-pocket payments by people. 

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The Bratislava meeting agreed that in Central and Eastern Europe, chemical and pharmaceutical industries are still in the restructuring process, although levels differ from country to country. Restructuring occurs in ownership, particularly with privatisation, production, technology, and labour relations, which brings fear and challenges trade union recognition and survival. The participants agreed that there could an important exchange of experience on privatisation between Central and Eastern Europe, particularly for countries now undergoing privatisation, namely Belorussia. 
 
Another important point stressed was that the region&rsquo;s chemical industry is still under the dominance of basic chemicals, like fertilizers in Central Asia for example, which brings sustainability problems regarding jobs to workplaces. 
 
Occupational Health and Safety was specifically mentioned since current production systems create serious problems on this issue. A need for capacity building for unions in the region was underlined by the participants. 

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Participants also drew attention to the effects of the standards such as REACH and ETS, which regulates the environment where the chemical industry operates over employment. Outside of the European Union, there are also initiatives in the individual efforts of countries, such as Russia, to be able to harmonise their chemical legislations for survival of the industries. A need for a specific work about this particular area was mentioned by the participants. 
 
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that networking, regular exchange of information and experience, capacity building on industry matters, collective bargaining, and trade union issues should be continued. 
 
&ldquo;The Bratislava meeting has clearly shown to us that Central and Eastern Europe is still the area where the ICEM needs to focus its activities in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry,&rdquo; said Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Coming just months before ICEM&rsquo;s World Chemical Conference in October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, the meeting has given us a great overview on what to do for having genuine global union activities in this industry.&rdquo; 
 
On 7 June 2010 a regional ICEM Central Europe Council meeting took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. Trade Union representatives from Hungary, Macedonia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia took part in the meeting. The meeting was headed by Juraj Blahak, ICEM Vice-President and President of the Central European regional Council.

Challenges to Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals Focus in Central, East Europe Forum

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Two sector-wide collective agreements in Turkey in tyre and glass industries have been concluded, with preservation of gained rights and improvements to salaries and social benefits realised. 
 
The tyre negotiations, which started on 5 February and cover over 4,000 members of the union of Lastik-Iş in four plants of three multi-national companies, namely Bridgestone Brisa, Goodyear, and Pirelli located in the cities of Izmit and Adapazari. 
 
The union&rsquo;s strategy was to preserve gained rights and improve current salaries and social benefits, while employers demanding some concessions on working conditions, such as flexibility of working hours, holidays, extended temporary work, and changing wage grades, particularly the gap between newly- hired workers and existing ones. 
 
The demands of employers were on the basis of the labour code, which recognises flexible working conditions at workplaces in Turkey. 

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Abdullah Karacan, President of Lastik-Is during voting for the CBA, in front of Goodyear plant, Izmit 
After the three-and-a-half-month period of negotiations, with disagreements on 21 provisions of the agreement still in play, Lastik-Iş moved to begin strike action on 9 June. Following a 12-hour bargaining session just hours before the strike was to begin, the two sides reached a two-year agreement covering the 2010-2011 period. 
 
Employers rescinded their concessionary proposals. In addition, wages and social benefits were adjusted in line with the Turkish inflation rate, thus managing to secure purchasing power of workers. The agreement was voted upon by the members of Lastik-Iş in each factory and approved unanimously. 
Commenting on the new agreement, &ldquo;During tough and tensioned negotiations, our members showed a great deal of decisiveness in securing their gained rights, thus the agreement has resulted in preserving past achievements,&rdquo; said Abdullah Karacan, President of Lastik-Iş. 
 
Another important sector-wide agreement was achieved in the glass sector by the ICEM affiliate Kristal-Iş, who negotiates with the Turkish Glass Employers&rsquo; Federation on behalf of over 5,000 members at the factories of Şişecam Group&rsquo;s Paşabah&ccedil;e Cam Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (plants at Kırklareli and Mersin); Anadolu Cam Sanayi A.Ş. (plants at Topkapı-Istanbul, Mersin, &Ccedil;ayırova-Kocaeli); Trakya Cam Sanayi A.Ş. (plants at Thrace and Mersin Fabrikası) and Cam Elyaf Sanayi A.Ş. 

<img src="" width="210" height="173" alt="" />
Bilal Cetintas, President of Kristal-Is
During negotiations, which started on 10 January as the twenty-second negotiation period for this industry, the Kristal-Iş primary aim was to keep patterns of working conditions intact, patterns existing in the plants for over 40 years. 
 
The union did put forward limitations on sub-contracting, which it defined as one of the most sensible issues in labour relations in the glass sector. The union, through the negotiations, aimed at reaching soıme principles with the employers on regulating this long-standing problem. For this Kristal-Iş proposed some tools to eliminate and minimise sub-contracting in glass factories where maintenance, cleaning, catering, and loading activities are done through sub-contractors. The union&rsquo;s first demand was to stop sub-contracting in maintenance and repair. 
 
Following a tough, ten-round set of negotiations, the two-year agreement was signed on 14 May and it preserves the gained rights and past settlements, as well as improving wages with increases. For the first year of the agreement, the hourly wage is increased 0.65 Turkish Liras (0.35euros) on average, while the second-year increase will be awarded at the level of inflation. Social benefits, such as education, marriage, death, and holiday benefits were also increased at levels higher than the current inflation rate.

Tyre, Glass Labour Agreements in Turkey Preserve Past Conventions

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After a sustained campaign by Bangladesh&rsquo;s garment sector trade unions, the government last week announced an 80% rise to the minimum wage for workers in the sector. The minimum wage rise, from US$24 to US$43 per month falls far short of the US$72 (5,000 taka) figure that trade unions had pushed for. 
 
According to a report released in June by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Bangladeshi garment workers are the &quot;world's most poorly paid&quot; workers. The vast majority, some 80% of the 3.5 million garment workers in Bangladesh are women, earning far less than a living wage, with many working 12-14 hour days, six days a week, under appalling and hazardous conditions. Common practice is for factory owners to not pay overtime, to pay workers late, and to pay less than the minimum wage. 
 
The target figure of US$72 per month, which the Bangladeshi government refused to implement, is approximately half the minimum wage of China. Calculations suggest that a realistic living wage in Bangladesh is around US$150 per month. 
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The government&rsquo;s decision was described as inadequate by labour leaders in the country, and was met with garment workers protesting in the streets of Dhaka, the nation&rsquo;s capital. &quot;We have tried our best to meet the demands of the workers,&quot; stated Labour Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. The country&rsquo;s garment exports, mainly to the US and Europe, are worth over US$12 billion per year, nearly 80% of the total export income of Bangladesh. 
 
Affiliates of the International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) responded to the increase with a series of demands for social benefits to supplement the minimum wage. The Bangladesh National Council (BNC) of Textiles Garment and Leather Workers called for provisions on food, housing, healthcare, and childcare if workers&rsquo; basic needs are to be met. The BNC has also urged government to implement the wage increase with immediate effect, instead of waiting until November. 
 
The ITGLWF is urging buyers to insist that their suppliers respect workers&rsquo; rights to freedom of association and to take account of the cost of paying a decent wage during price negotiations. 
 
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Gap, H&amp;M, Marks &amp; Spencer, and Tesco source much of their production from Bangladesh. While the international buyers are forcing prices to remain low in the so-called race to the bottom, workers are paying for it by receiving poverty-level wages. Minister of Labour Khondker Mosharraf Hossain previously stated, &quot;The problem Bangladesh faces is that giant multinational retailers will not pay for a wage increase. Every year the multinationals slash the prices they are willing to pay per unit, which drives down wages.&rdquo; 
 
Labour leaders have been forced into hiding, to escape retaliatory beatings and arrests by the Bangladeshi authorities.

Bangladesh Garment Workers Protest Low Wage Increases, Continued Repression

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The fate of 33 Chilean miners is still uncertain today, following a roof collapse on Thursday afternoon, 5 August, inside a copper and gold mine owned by Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban Primera in the country&rsquo;s northern Atacama desert. 
 
Today, a series of six holes were being bored to where the miners are thought to be. Sound-detection equipment will then be used in hopes of making contact with the miners. 
 
Rescue attempts on Saturday, 7 August, had to be suspended after further roof collapses occurred. Teams had traversed some 240 metres down ventilation shafts in efforts to reach the trapped miners when the cave-ins happened. The miners are trapped some 450 metres beneath the surface. 
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There is an emergency shelter near that level that contains food, water, and oxygen for up to 72 hours. But one miner familiar with the shelter said it was small and could not hold 33 persons. 
 
The mine has a history of underground land-slides, and only a few weeks ago a miner lost a leg after he was trapped by fallen rock. In 2007, three miners died inside the mine and an adjoining mine owned by the company due to the same set of circumstances. 
 
Both a company spokesman and a legislative deputy from the region were quoted as saying the mine area has great geological faults, particularly in its deeper regions. The Secretary-General of the San Esteban Primera Mine Workers&rsquo; Union, Javier Castillo, said workers had continually warned of the hazards inside the mine dating back to 2003. 
 
Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban is a junior Chilean mining concern that at one time was 40% owned by Cobre Mining Co., an extension of the former Aurex Resources of Vancouver, Canada. It is unclear if the North American company still has a stake in the San Esteban mine, some 800 kilometres north of Santiago near the city of Copiapo. 
 
Chile is a major global mining country that has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

33 Miners Feared Dead Inside a Copper, Gold Mine in Chile

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ICEM South African affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood &amp; Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), is gradually agreeing to pay accords with employer associations in several industrial sectors, with disputes declared only across a few industries. CEPPWAWU is the lead union in industry-wide negotiations in some 11 of 13 manufacturing sectors, and 2010 pay awards are being reached at or just slightly above the current South African inflation rate of 7% to 7.5%. 
 
Contracts for many of the 60,000 members of CEPPWAWU and four other unions expired on 1 July 2010, although a few industrial sectors &ndash; namely, Petroleum, Glass, and the Plastics bargaining council of Metal and Engineering Industries Sector &ndash; are under longer term contracts, and only 2010 wage determinations are up this year. 
 
Adversarial bargaining generally across CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s sectors has not occurred in 2010, primarily due to attention of the recently completed World Cup games in South Africa. Some sectors reached multi-year agreements with unions in 2009 to avoid flashpoint bargaining in 2010. And in one sector, Pulp, Paper, and part of the Wood Products sector, bargaining was delayed until completion of the World Cup. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="102" />
Disputes brought before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) have been lodged in the Fibreboard and Particleboard chambre, as well as in Sawmilling. Disputes were also declared in Industrial Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, and Pulp and Paper, but late in July and early August agreements were reached in those sectors. 
 
In Pulp and Paper, where the major employers are Sappi and Mondi, agreement was recently reached for an 8% increase, with shift allowance adjustments still to be determined. In Chemicals, where 12,000 workers are covered by the blanket agreement, CEPPWAWU and three smaller unions agreed to a 7.5% increase, with 0.5% to be added in January 2011. Sasol, Dow Chemical, and PetroSA are the major employers. 
 
In Pharmaceuticals, numbering about 3,000 workers, an 8% increase was achieved, retroactive to 1 July. Pfizer, Aspen, and Adcock Ingram are the leading employers. 
 
In the Furniture chambre, where the National Union of Furniture &amp; Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (NUFAWSA) is the majority union, a 7% wage increase was agreed to. In Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, an 8% increase was won for some 2,000 workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
One sector that has seen a split in 2010 is the Tissue &amp; Allied Products, where Kimberly-Clark and Nampak have failed to come together in a common employers&rsquo; voice mainly due to wage disparities. Nampak has withdrawn from industry-wide talks in this sector. Meanwhile, Kimberly-Clark did reach an early wage agreement with CEPPWAWU, calling for a 2010 increase of 8%, while the union is now forced to bargain separately with Nampak. Those talks only started late last week, with the two sides scheduling second and third rounds of bargaining on 18-19 August and 30-31 August. 
 
In the sectors with multi-year agreements, CEPPWAWU and Petroleum employers now enter the second half of a two-year agreement for 13,500 workers, and a wage adjustment pegged to the 2010 inflation rate at this point &ndash; 7.25% &ndash; was paid on 1 July. In glass, another two-year agreement covering 2,200 workers, a 7% increase was made. And in Plastics, where labour and management now enter the final year of a four-year deal, 8.1% was paid out to lower salaried workers, while 7.1% was won for those at the higher end. 
 
The Particleboard and Sawmilling talks will see the government intervene in talks through the CCMA on 16 August. 
 
Roughly 75% of CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s total membership is covered under the various industry-wide bargaining forums. CEPPWAWU was born in 1999 when the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Industrial Union (CWIU) and the Paper, Printing, Wood &amp; Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (PPWAWU) merged.

Few Disputes for CEPPWAWU, South African Employers in 2010 Industrial Talks

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