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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jungsun reached out last week to New Zealand trade union affiliates in the immediate aftermath of the 22 February earthquake. The 6.3 magnitude quake has claimed the lives of 147 people, with another 200 persons missing and feared dead. 
 
National Distribution Union (NDU) General Secretary Robert Reid said the building his union&rsquo;s offices are housed and NDU partly owns, the Christchurch Trade Union Centre on Armagh Street, was badly damaged from the quake. Return to work there is uncertain. The NDU&rsquo;s Christchurch offices are on the fourth floor of the labour building. 
 
&ldquo;All NDU staff and we think all our members in Christchurch are OK, although many have damage to their homes,&rdquo; he added. 
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NDU General Secretary Robert Reid
National Secretary Andrew Little of the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said, &ldquo;EPMU personnel are unscathed but we are still ascertaining the impact on our members and their workplaces.&rdquo; 
 
Little said Christchurch, New Zealand&rsquo;s second largest city, suffered &ldquo;a lot of destruction and it will take a long time for the city to recover.&rdquo; He added: &ldquo;The shake was a very violent one.&rdquo; 
 
Some 600 search and rescue teams are at work in Christchurch and the estimated damages range from NZ$4 billion (US$3 billion) to NZ$16 billion (US$12 billion.) 
 
The 22 February earthquake is the second in less than six months in New Zealand. In September, a 7.1 quake hit some 40 kilometres from Christchurch, but caused less damage because it occurred in a less populated and rural area. Several Kiwi cities sit atop a series of faults connected to Alpine Fault, a subterranean mass where the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates slide across one another.

NDU Christchurch Offices Damaged in New Zealand Earthquake

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The 55th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women is running in New York City at UN headquarters. The annual Commissions runs from 22 February to 4 March and some 2,000 delegates from 27 nations are in attendance. On opening day, they heard former Chile President and current UN Under-Secretary General for Women Michele Bachelet. 
 
Nearly 200 trade union women are participating in the annual conference, which this year has as its theme access and participation for girls and women in education, training, science, and technology. 
 
The trade union women, behind their union banners and in step with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Education International (EI), and Public Services International (PSI), also used opening day to join New York area trade unionists at Fox News broadcast offices in Manhattan to protest legislative attacks on public-sector collective bargaining rights in the state of Wisconsin. &ldquo;We are Wisconsin&rdquo; was the unified chant protesters shouted at America&rsquo;s right-wing mouthpiece. 
<img alt="" src="" width="132" height="188" />
Michele Bachelet
Inside the 55th UN Women&rsquo;s Commission, trade union women called for full rights and protections for domestic workers by adoption of a Domestic Workers&rsquo; Convention. The Convention is to be considered at this June&rsquo;s 100th Labour Conference of the ILO. EI Deputy General Secretary Jan Eastman delivered a statement on the subject in a plenary calling for &ldquo;full opportunities for education and training for girls and women &hellip; leading to productive employment and decent work.&rdquo; 
 
This year&rsquo;s Commission on the Status of Women sees the merger of four UN gender institutions into one, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Women&rsquo;s Empowerment. Bachelet said in her opening remarks this &ldquo;has a unique and clear mandate to help ensure a seamless relationship&rdquo; between Member States and UN activities on overcoming gender imbalances. 
 
Bachelet warned not to postpone actions for women&rsquo;s empowerment on account of the global jobs crisis, stating that progress to date has been &ldquo;uneven and fragile.&rdquo;
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Canadian Trade Unionists Surround Rona Ambrose 
 
photo: CAW Women&rsquo;s Programs, Canada
Bachelet said: &ldquo;As we sit in this room today, there are still too many women and children being trafficked; too many domestic workers who left their families to live in new places, unprotected by labour laws or policies; too many girls forced to leave school or marry too early; too many women and girls who lack access to services. And worldwide,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;there are too few women who are at decision-making tables where peace, trade or climate change agreements are being negotiated.&rdquo; 
 
Canadian trade union women attending the Commission got a chance to question Rona Ambrose, Canada&rsquo;s Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women. She spoke at the Commission on 24 February. The union representatives questioned Canada over lack of action and lack of outrage over 800 Canadian women being killed by men, on lax gun registry laws that perpetuate violence, and Canada&rsquo;s misuse of federal funds for programmes and work on missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

UN Commission on Status of Women Underway in New York City

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Turkish union leaders and militants of the Thrace region convened in early February for solidarity and support in a number of cases of industrial discord occurring in the rapidly-growing manufacturing zone. Five affiliates of the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) met and organized a demonstration at the Free Trade Zone of Corlu. 
 
The protest was in support of a two-month strike by ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş and dismissal of trade unionists by India-base Polyplex company, a plastics and polyester company. (The ICEM has launched a LabourStart campaign on this dispute; please join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=868">protest</a> now.)&nbsp; 
 
The demonstration also centered on other trade union infringements, particularly at worksites where organising is underway, and as well on the Turkish government&rsquo;s recent efforts to modify labour legislation regarding casual, temporary, and precarious work. Thrace is an area of Turkey experiencing a high of foreign industrial investments, ranging from metals to textiles to natural gas, chemicals, and rubber development. 
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Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın (center) Speaks at Joint Demonstration
Attended the formation of this regional coalition of trade unions were union Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın, Birleşik Metal-İş President Adnan Serdaroğlu, TEKSTIL President President Ridvan Budak, a member of the ITGLWF, Deri-İş President Musa Servi, also of the ITGLWF, representing leather and shoe workers, and the President of ICEM-affiliated Kristal-İş, Bilal &Ccedil;etintaş, the Glass Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey. These leaders were also accompanied by local branch union leaders of several unions, political party representatives, and NGO representatives. 
 
The five unions cited above pledge to support each other in the Thrace region in ongoing strikes and recruitment drives. 
 
Nearby to Corlu, 12 factories have been targeted for union organizing, but many union activists have been dismissed from their jobs because of their union membership. Besides Polyplex (a prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4212-Organising-Campaigns-of-Petrol-İş-of-Turkey-continue-but-with-Pain-">ICEM report</a> can be found here), factories of Yeşil Kundura (shoes), Disa Otomotiv (an auto supplier), Anakonda (metal fabrication), Astaş Al&uuml;minyum (aluminum), and Grup Suni Deri (leather) have been targeted for unionisation, and evidence of that can be found with several tents of picketers to be found in front of the plants. In some workplaces, achievements have been made while solidarity and support activities continue, as does several court cases. 
 
&ldquo;For many days we have been striking at workplaces individually,&rdquo; said Petrol-İş President &Ouml;ztaşkın. &ldquo;But today all the unions striking in the regional come together. We have unified our powers. We have decided to walk together and to organize joint demonstrations and actions. Our hope is that this bond now starting in Thrace will spread to the whole of the country.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Regardless of distinction or which confederation the union belongs,&rdquo; added Birleşik Metal-İş President Serdaroğlu, &ldquo;we will defend the rights of dismissed workers.&rdquo; 
 
Musa Servi, President of the ITGLWF affiliate Deri-İş, said, &ldquo;Employers will try to exploit by establishing factories in free trade zones where union rights are weak. If we act together, we can change this.&rdquo; 
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ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan Addresses TEKSIF Congress
To cement this bond between ICEM in its sectors, and metals and textiles, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan spoke at the 18th Congress of the Turkish Textile, Knitting, and Clothing Industry Workers&rsquo; Union (TEKSIF), an ITGLWF affiliate, on 19-20 February 2011 in Ankara. 
 
The Congress was attended and addressed by the President of ITGLWF, Hisanobu Shimada, and one agenda item was to conduct an intensive organizing campaign in textiles and related industries where over two million Turkish workers are employed. The campaign will also include a large support and solidarity with Turkish and international unions. 
 
In his letter of congratulations addressed to Nazmi Irgat, unanimously re-elected President of TEKSIF, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said: &ldquo;We are thankful for active support of the Turkish unions to the work toward creating a joint manufacturing and energy workers&rsquo; international. We know Turkish affiliates affiliated to all three organisations will play an effective role and take important responsibilities through support and solidarity.&rdquo;

Turkish Coalition of ICEM, IMF, ITGLWF Unions Forms in Thrace

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A dispute has arisen in South Africa between ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Xstrata Coal over the apparent discharge of 12 HIV-positive miners. The miners were first sacked last fall from their jobs at the Tweefontein collieries in Mpumalanga province, but the NUM interceded on their behalf before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) and won reinstatement to their jobs. 
 
But in mid-February, Xstrata Coal South Africa informed the NUM that it would re-sack the 12 and appeal the CCMA&rsquo;s decision to a labour court. At issue is whether or not Xstrata knew of their HIV status through a joint NUM-Xstrata Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCR) programme that is strictly confidential. Hundreds of Tweefontein miners were tested through the programme in October and November 2010. 
 
It is uncertain if Xstrata Coal gained access to results of the screenings, but the NUM alleges that the company does know the results. A private service provider was contracted to do the screenings and results are supposed to be shared only with the individual.
<img alt="" src="" width="225" height="169" />
Left: NUM Regional Secretary Paris Mashego
NUM Highveld Regional Secretary Paris Mashego accused the company of dragging backward the campaign to test for the pandemic and said the NUM will continue to press for the real motive behind Xstrata&rsquo;s reversal. Late this week, NUM delegates and shop stewards from many Xstrata worksites will descend on the company&rsquo;s Johannesburg headquarters to manifest against the injustice. 
 
&ldquo;What we experience here with Xstrata is the same thing our Australian comrades of the CFMEU experience with the company,&rdquo; said Mashego. &ldquo;They cannot accept official rulings and must always appeal their losses in order to get their way. Only in this case, there is something fundamentally wrong, the anonymity and confidentially of HIV-positive workers.&rdquo; 
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The National Education, Health, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (NEHAWU) of South Africa also responded negatively to Xstrata Coal&rsquo;s alleged actions. &ldquo;This ghastly and barbaric behaviour by a company is a clear sign of how some big companies are failing to abide by the ILO or the OECD Codes of Conduct by violating workers&rsquo; rights and working conditions. 
 
&ldquo;This alleged discrimination against workers who are HIV-positive is a huge blow to the government&rsquo;s fight against AIDS,&rdquo; stated a NEHAWU spokesman, &ldquo;because it sends a message to those who have the disease that they will lose their jobs if they come out.&rdquo; 
 
Xstrata Coal South Africa, 20% owned by African Rainbow Minerals Ltd., operates 11 coal mines in South Africa, and is currently developing three new projects &ndash; the Arthur Taylor Colliery Opencast Mine (ATCOM) East development, the Goedgevond coal project, and optimisation of the Zonnebloem project, all in Mpumalanga province. Together with the Tweefontein optimisation project now nearing completion, the projects will eventually produce 90% of the company&rsquo;s South African coal output.

Xstrata Coal South Africa Accused of Sacking HIV-Positive Miners

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ICEM ve Uluslararası Metal İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu (IMF), ekonomik, &ccedil;evresel ve sosyal krizler arasındaki ilişkileri ele alan, &ldquo;Emisyonu Azaltmak &ndash; İstihdamı D&ouml;n&uuml;şt&uuml;rmek&rdquo; konulu ortak bir panel d&uuml;zenledi. 7 Aralık'taki panel, COP16 &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, &ldquo;Emek D&uuml;nyası&rdquo; genel başlığı altında, Meksika'nın Cancun kentindeki Universidad del Sur'da ger&ccedil;ekleşti. 
 
İnsana yakışır ve s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilir istihdamın korunması ve yaratılması ve iklim değişikliğiyle m&uuml;cadelede sendikaların rol&uuml; konusunda bir&ccedil;ok tanınmış sendikacı g&ouml;r&uuml;şlerini dile getirdi. 
 
IMF Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko, &uuml;lkenin teknolojik ilerlemeden yararlanarak karbon emisyonlarının denetiminde kaydettiği gelişmeyi ve &ouml;nerilen iklim fonuna verilen desteği vurguladı. Ne var ki, Kaneko, yeni anlaşma b&uuml;t&uuml;n b&uuml;y&uuml;k emisyon kaynaklarını kapsamayacak ve uygulanabilir nitelik taşımayacak olursa, karbon sızıntısının s&uuml;rebileceği kaygısını dile getirdi. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="166" />
Soldan sağa: ICEM'den Brian Kohler, CFMEU'dan Michael O'Conner, ITUC'tan James Howard, IMF-Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko
Avustralya İnşaat, Orman, Maden ve Enerji Sendikası (CFMEU) Ulusal Sekreteri Michael O'Connor, Tasmanya'da yeni bir k&acirc;ğıt ve k&acirc;ğıt hamuru fabrikasının ekonomik potansiyelini ortaya koymak i&ccedil;in &ccedil;evre gruplarıyla kendi sendikasının nasıl bir &ccedil;alışma ilişkisi kurduğunu anlattı. 
 
O'Connor burada dikkat edilecek noktanın, sendikanın iş&ccedil;ileri temsil ettiğini hatırlamak ve iş&ccedil;ilerin sesinin duyulmasını sağlamak olduğunu s&ouml;yledi. 
 
Uluslararası Sendikalar Konfederasyonu'ndan (ITUC) James Howard, ITUC'un Adil Ge&ccedil;iş politikası konusunu ele aldı. Adil Ge&ccedil;iş hi&ccedil; de basit bir s&uuml;re&ccedil; değildir; ancak araştırma, diyalog, sendika-işveren anlaşmaları, g&uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; sosyal programlar, sanayi yatırımları ve iş&ccedil;ilerin eğitimiyle ger&ccedil;ekleşecektir. 
 
Ana konuşmacı, Japonya'nın Ekonomi, Ticaret ve Sanayi Bakanlığı'ndan İzura Kobayaşi idi. Kobayaşi devam eden iklim g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerini a&ccedil;ık s&ouml;zl&uuml; bir tavırla &ouml;zetledi.
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="128" />
İzura Kobayaşi ve Michael O'Connor
İzura Kobayaşi, Japonya'nın g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;n&uuml; (ki Japonya, Kyoto s&uuml;recinin karbon sızıntısını &ouml;nleme konusunda yeterli &uuml;lke desteğine sahip olmadığı g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde) a&ccedil;ıklamasının yanı sıra, &ouml;nemli bir&ccedil;ok &uuml;st d&uuml;zey g&ouml;r&uuml;şme ve &ouml;zel &ccedil;alışma gruplarının &ccedil;alışmaları hakkında bilgi de verdi. 
 
Nihai sonucu tahmin etmek zor, ama bazı &ouml;nemli konularda ilerleme kaydedildi. Japonya, elbette, imalat sanayilerinde verimli enerji kullanmasının ve yeni teknolojilere yatırım yapmasının ilerlemeyi sağlayan ana y&ouml;ntemlerden biri olduğu g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde. 
 
ICEM'den Brian Kohler ve IMF'den Kan Matusuzaki her iki k&uuml;resel federasyonun politikalarını ve Uluslararası Tekstil ve Deri İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu'yla (ITGLWF) birlikte Haziran'da d&uuml;zenlenen S&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilirlik &Uuml;zerine D&uuml;nya Konferansı'nın sonu&ccedil;larını a&ccedil;ıkladılar. Ayrıca, &ldquo;Değişimi &Ouml;ng&ouml;rmek&rdquo; konusunda bir sunum yaptılar. 
 
ICEM ile IMF'nin Emek D&uuml;nyası adlı etkinliğine katılım iyiydi ve panel son derece olumlu tepkiler aldı.

İklim Konferansı&#039;ndaki ICEM-IMF Forumunda Sanayiye Yaklaşım Tartışıldı

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In the 19 days since 29 miners were pronounced dead in New Zealand&rsquo;s worst mine disaster in 114 years, recovery of the remains of those that perished is still far off, and Pike River Coal Ltd. has given redundancy notices to 90 full-time workers. 
 
That happened on 8 December. 
 
Pike River has already severed its relationship with 70 contract workers at the coking coal mine near Atarua on the west coast of the South Island. 
 
Meanwhile, police and Labour Ministry interviews of Pike River workers over mine safety became contentious when the company insisted on having its lawyers sit in on the interviews. The Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) objected to that, saying it might inhibit the investigation into criminal liability. 
 
&ldquo;We have objected &ndash; it&rsquo;s a clear conflict of interest,&rdquo; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. &ldquo;Police are looking for criminal liability among workers or management &ndash; or both. It&rsquo;s improper for the company to be represented by lawyers in those interviews.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="124" />
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
Pike River issued the mandatory four-week layoff notices to its permanent staff last week, meaning that 90 miners will not get paid beyond mid-January. Pike River Coal Ltd. has already launched a commercial feasibility study assessing whether or not it will continue mining the rich Brunner coal seam, but investors say it will take NZ$200 million to re-start the mine. 
 
But it&rsquo;s estimated that it could still take several weeks &ndash; or months &ndash; before the remains of the dead miners are recovered. A local coroner has visited relatives of the deceased to get DNA samples, indicating the difficulty that lies ahead to identify the 29. 
 
The initial 19 November methane gas blast at the Paparoa Range mine most likely killed all 29 miners. Following a subsequent explosion on 24 November, the miners were declared dead. In the days that followed, two further explosions occurred, with coal-stoked fires raging deep in the horizontal shafts of the mine until the middle of last week. 
 
On 29 November, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced formation of a three-member Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine causes of the tragedy. That Commission, headed by High Court Justice Graham Panckhurst, with two international mine safety experts on it, will be given broad latitude and it could take up to two years to assemble findings. In the meantime, area police, the Labour Ministry, and the EPMU will conduct separate investigations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="157" />
NZ Congress of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly with Ian Murray and Tim Whyte, CFMEU Australia at the&nbsp;2 December Memorial Service
Police ended supervision of the mine-site last week and turned recovery procedures back to the company. A Polish-designed G&oacute;rbniczy Agregat Gaśniczy (GAG) jet engine inertisation unit was brought in from the Queensland, Australia, Mine Rescue Unit and on 2 December began to suppress the fires and neutralize combustible gases with inert gases, such as nitrogen. 
 
While this continued over this weekend, a metal cap was placed over the main shaft to allow back pressure in the mine and to further inert deadly gases inside the mine. Early speculation to the cause of the initial explosion was a power outage to a ventilation fan that was some 100 metres into the mine. Methane quickly built-up, followed by a massive explosion. 
 
When an electrician went inside to check the outage during the fateful afternoon of 19 November, the explosion deeper in the mine blew him off his feet. He did manage to rescue an equipment operator who was thrown from a machine, and the two escaped 108 metres up a ladder in a ventilation shaft. Whether or not the giant ventilation fan had been topside, making it easier to re-start, will surely be one of the many issues in upcoming investigations, including the Royal Commission Inquiry. 
 
Several disaster relief funds have been established, and the ICEM is recommending donation be sent to EPMU&rsquo;s &ldquo;Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust.&rdquo; The ICEM&rsquo;s New Zealand affiliate said half of everything contributed will go to the Grey District Labour Council community fund, with the other half used to establish a dedicated fund for the education of the children of those miners killed. 
 
Bank transfers can be made to Kiwibank in New Zealand. Account number 38-9011-0165987-00, with checks written to: EPMU Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust, c/o PO Box 14-277, Kilbirnie, Wellington, NZ 6241. 
 
Several labour organisations across the globe have already contributed, including A$100,000 by the Australian Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) and C$10,000 by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.

Pike River Aftermath: Layoffs, Lawyers and Long Investigations

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The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) has launched an international campaign calling on the Swedish furniture multi-national IKEA and its wholly-owned Swedwood subsidiary to uphold commitments on trade union and worker rights throughout its supply chain. The campaign comes in response to Swedwood and its appalling labour practices at a US factory in Danville, Virginia. 
 
Swedwood is the primary wood manufacturer for IKEA. 
 
In behaviour which has brought comparisons to Walmart, local management in Danville has blocked trade unions access to its 275 factory workers since commencing operations at the site in 2006. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration in October found Swedwood guilty of numerous unsafe work practices and improper record keeping, hiding the true numbers of serious accidents of workers. 
<img src="" width="130" height="130" alt="" />
Other abuses occurring at Swedwood in the US factory include forced overtime without advance notice, workers forced to work 30 days consecutively, managers manipulating work schedules to cut overtime, workers not allowed bathroom breaks, and most importantly, workers denied their right to trade union representation, and forced to work in an unsafe environment. 
 
BWI has always regarded dialogue in its Global Framework Agreement with IKEA as a model. In that agreement, BWI&rsquo;s first ever, IKEA clearly commits to follow the ILO core labour standards throughout its global operations. Since signing the agreement in 1998, those commitments have been respected in Poland, Russia, and elsewhere, and the Gene3va-based Global Union Federation (GUF) insists that local managers in Danville must be forced to open its doors to the BWI North American affiliate, the International Association of Machinists (IAM). 
 
BWI took the campaign to an IKEA outlet in Vernier, Geneva, on 7 December. Trade union leaders from over 25 countries conducted the protest and sent a clear message to IKEA that they were united against workers&rsquo; rights abuses in Danville, USA. See video footage of the campaign <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrfPUe-2Kc">here</a>. 
 
The GUF is calling on supporters to send a Christmas card to IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson, demanding an end to labour rights abuses in Danville. The card states that IKEA&rsquo;s customers should be assured &ldquo;that the furnishing products they buy from your stores have been made by workers whose human rights are fully respected.&rdquo; Click <a href="http://www.goiam.org/ikea/">here</a> to send your Christmas message to IKEA.

BWI Launces Holiday Campaign Against IKEA’s Swedwood on Abusing Trade Union Rights

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By a vote of 521 to 398 on 6 December, members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi voted to end a 32-day strike against the world&rsquo;s third largest copper miner, located in Chile. The Union of Workers of the Collahuasi Copper Mine and Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned jointly through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata, resumed talks on 29 November with help from Roman Catholic Prelate Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes, Bishop of Iquique. 
 
The union's Second Director, Carlos Daniel Rojas, told the ICEM that Bishop &Oacute;rdenes succeeded &quot;in opening the door&quot; with the company when there appeared little hope that talks would resume, and the union took it from there to work out a settlement. 
 
The final resolve came in negotiations on 5-6 December, with an acceptable compromise. 
 
The vote during the evening of 6 December ended the longest private-sector Chilean copper strike, surpassing one of 26 days in 2006 at the Escondida mine, owned 57.5% by BHP Billiton and 30% by Rio Tinto. 
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="142" />
Members of the Union Vote to Ratify 42-month Contract on Monday, 6 December
Terms of the settlement will give the 1,551 miners of Collahuasi a wage increase of 16.3% over a 42-month period, and a bonus payment of 12 million pesos (US$25,160). Other key issues in the strike, which began on 5 November, were company-paid health care and education costs for miners&rsquo; children. The union did make significant advances in both these areas from prior levels paid by the company. 
 
The Collahuasi Miners&rsquo; Union also won bonuses for work performed on national holidays, even more of a bonus on Christmas, a 40,000-peso-per-month improvement in the housing allowance, a 400,000-peso housing loan, and dependent scholarship awards for both primary school and university education. 
 
Union President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz said the contract&rsquo;s outcome would increase monthly benefits by 120,000 pesos, or US$252 per month. 
 
The strike was marked by a united workforce led by Mu&ntilde;oz and Second Director Rojas. The miners of Collahuasi took up residency in the Santa Mar&iacute;a School in Iquique, and staged peaceful and near-daily manifestations in that city. Those demonstrations were strategic in order to draw attention to their cause of gaining adequate health coverage and educational stipends from an employer that posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion due to high copper pricing. 
 
The 6 December vote took place inside the Santa Mar&iacute;a School. Collahuasi miners returned to return to work high in the Atacama desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, during the evening of 7 December. 
 
&quot;The Collahuasi miners and their families showed strength and fortitude in a dignified and peaceful way against an enterprise intent on maintaining production and turning profits,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &quot;For that, they have earned the pride and admiration of the world's mining unions.&quot; 
 
ICEM coverage of this heroic strike throughout November can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4117-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike-Now-in-Crucial-Stage">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4102-Miners-Dig-In-at-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike">here</a>.

ICEM Applauds Resolve of Collahuasi Miners in Chile at Strike’s End

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), ICEM&rsquo;s white-collar affiliate in Africa&rsquo;s most populous country, halted a strike on 4 December against Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, so that negotiations over breaches to a collective agreement could begin. 
 
The strike was conducted by the Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch of PENGASSAN over the energy company&rsquo;s sudden and unilateral sacking of 84 Nigerian workers. The union blocked entry at the company&rsquo;s administrative offices in Eket in Akwa Ibom State, as well as at other Mobil Producing facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt. 
 
The strike began on 30 November and was called off on 4 December when Mobil decided to discuss the issue, stating that it would return the workers to their jobs. 
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The company, the operating partner in a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., dismissed 66 offshore workers and 18 office employees employed by various contractors. Under the collective agreement, the workers are covered by provisions of the agreement. 
 
By late last week, negotiations did prove that Mobil had violated the contract, both in terms of failing to meet and discuss the layoffs with PENGASSAN prior to the sackings and failing to establish redundancy pay with the union. 
 
The union and company agreed to establish a working group to calculate the exact remuneration owed dismissed workers but Mobil&nbsp;has not returned Nigerian nationals to their rightful jobs. 
 
PENGASSAN has constantly had to defend its collective agreements is the rapid escalation of casualisation in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas sector, with Mobil Producing consistently being one of the worst violators.

PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

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Some 45,000 German paperworkers will see a 2.5% wage increase come 1 January. That was the negotiated result in Gernsbach in the third round of bargaining that concluded early on 2 December between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and Deutschen Papierindustrie (VAP), the employers association. 
 
The new collective agreement will run until 30 November 2011 and for the first time, ties together under one collective agreement workers employed at some 220 paper mills in both the western and eastern regions of Europe&rsquo;s biggest economy. 
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IGBCE and VAP agreed to improve the pension plan effective 1 January 2012 by &euro;100 from &euro;234.98. IGBCE also won improved holiday pay and shift work increases effective 1 January 2011. 
 
Perhaps most significantly, the two sides used a working group to reach a common understanding over the use of temporary workers, thus preventing the abuse of such workers. 
 
IGBCE Chief Negotiator for the Paper Sector, Holger Nieden, called the results satisfactory, stating that some paper industry employers in Germany have weathered the financial crisis in good economic shape, while others have workers that are still employed at still reduced hours.

IGBCE, German Paper Producers Reach Wage Terms for 2011

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PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

IGBCE, German Paper Producers Reach Wage Terms for 2011

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