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Global worker No1 2022

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<img alt="" height="39" src="" width="100" />

	Global Labour&rsquo;s &ldquo;World Day for Decent Work&rdquo; two week ago presented a vast swath of economic, social, and neglectful work rights and gender issues assailing societies in all corners of the world. 
	 
	Workers&rsquo; representatives throughout the world, however, spoke with a unified voice in the days leading up to and following 7 October. That voice called for a dramatic shift to a new globalisation that includes stable and quality jobs, broader social protections, and the assurance that every worker has the right to form and join a trade union, as well as the right to bargain collectively with employers. 
	 
	Activities of one manner or another occurred in over 100 countries, and those activities were as diverse as how to achieve decent work is wide. A sampling of those activities follows in this report. 
	 
	In Finland, the Council of Industrial Unions TP used 7 October to issue a statement aimed at all Finnish multinationals. That statement called on MNCs Stora Enso, UPM, Botnia, Kemira, YIT, Outokumpu, Kone, Mets&auml;, and Konecranes to begin discussions toward signing Global Framework Agreements with respective trade unions in Finland, and Global Union Federations.

	<img alt="" border="1" height="68" src="" width="120" />

	The 12-member council&rsquo;s statement expressed concern &ldquo;that the reputation of (Finnish) companies will suffer in the long run if they continue doing business &hellip; with disrespect for the ILO&rsquo;s core labour standards.&rdquo; The statement added: &ldquo;When a company has a negative attitude towards the organisation of personnel in its foreign units, (that) company dampens any enthusiasm for collective bargaining in Finland as well.&rdquo; 
	 
	The statement said other Nordic countries are more advanced than Finland, with companies based elsewhere more apt to sign global agreements. 
	 
	In Norway, the national centre LO commended a seven-point strategy put forward by the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion for Decent Work, strategies placed before legislative bodies shaping the 2009 State Budget. In addition to seven points built around global workers&rsquo; rights, the Ministry&rsquo;s statement includes ethical guidelines for the government pension fund to &ldquo;include conditions for workers in the companies in (the fund&rsquo;s) investment universe.&rdquo; 
	 
	&ldquo;We are very happy about this,&rdquo; said LO Chairman Roar Fl&aring;then. &ldquo;It shows that our government puts an emphasis on this issue, and that they want to strengthen workers&rsquo; rights on many fronts.&rdquo; 
	 
	The motto &ldquo;social inclusion&rdquo; took a different tone in Canada. There, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) used 7 October and the run-up to federal parliamentary elections to call attention to the lack of rights for 200,000 labourers in the country, classified as &ldquo;temporary foreign workers.&rdquo; The CLC says 59% of those workers are women. 
	 
	&ldquo;Most of these women don&rsquo;t see Canada as the land of equality and opportunity,&rdquo; read a CLC statement. &ldquo;Their status breeds abuse, exploitation, and social exclusion.&rdquo;

	<img alt="" height="82" src="" width="65" />

	One of the symposiums held in London&rsquo;s Congress House &ndash; home to UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) &ndash; was a forum on women&rsquo;s work issues, particularly issues relating to the informal economy. This workshop saw inequality and the gender gap as major roadblocks to implementation of the ILO&rsquo;s decent work agenda. 
	 
	Presenters included NGOs who champion labour rights for women: Women Working Worldwide, the National Group on Homeworking, the Central American Women&rsquo;s Network, and Homeworkers&rsquo; Worldwide. The session was moderated by the Women in the Informal Economy Globalising and Organising (WIEGO).

	<img alt="" border="1" height="59" src="" width="120" />

	In Ireland, an opinion piece published in newspapers by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) cited the number of low-wage, non-secure jobs created in the country between the year 2000 and 2006. The vast majority of those jobs are filled by youth between the ages of 15 and 24 who have a secondary education or less. 
	 
	&ldquo;With such a tremendous downward pressure on pay and standards at home and abroad,&rdquo; said the ITUC, World Day for Decent Work &ldquo;marks a timely and much-needed attempt to reverse that trend and exert a countervailing upward pressure.&rdquo; 
	 
	French manifestations on World Day for Decent Work focused on the global financial crisis. The erosion of savings, pension investments, and loss of well-paying jobs was the battle cry at marches held in Paris, Marseille, Nantes, and Lyon, with some 90 separate protests organised by unions nation-wide.

	<img alt="" height="180" src="" width="240" />

	above and below: 3 October rally in Moldova&nbsp;

	In Moldova, ICEM affiliate, the Federation of Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Unions of Moldova (FCERWUM), together with the Construction and Materials Workers&rsquo; Unions federation, held a rally on 3 October in Chişinău entitled &ldquo;Decent Work &ndash; Decent Remuneration.&rdquo; The goal was to bring public attention to the human need for proper work life that does not strip people of their dignity, but rather ensures full development of working potential. 
	 
	FCERWUM President Nicolae Stratila addressed the rally and stated workers in Moldova must exert greater vigilance against the use of contract and agency labour. On 7 October, FCERWUM took part in a roundtable discussion organised by the nation&rsquo;s National Trade Union Confederation in which the issue of precarious employment was focal.

	<img alt="" height="168" src="" width="220" />

	Three national labour centres in Russia conducted meetings and seminars in several cities. In Moscow, some 72 trade unionists picketed 56 metro stations during morning rush-hour commuter traffic on 7 October. They held placards and passed handbills that linked a decent wage to indexation, pensions at no less than 40% of wages, and collective agreements that contain social standards. 
	 
	In Serbia, the ICEM was part of a multi-country, week-long youth conference in the town of Bela Crkva. Sponsored by ICEM affiliate Nezavisnost, the conference saw young trade union leaders take part in workshops and discussions on the different aspects of decent work. What&rsquo;s more, the conference &ndash; now an annual event &ndash; stressed Balkan unity; trade unions from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia sent leaders-in-formation.

	<img alt="" height="121" src="" width="240" />

	Bela Crkva, Serbia

	In Romania, four national labour centre federations came together for a rally in Bucharest that drew 7,000 trade unionists. They called for pay increases across all work sectors, as well as for the government of Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu to get serious about workplace safety. The rally was staged in front of the National Parliament. 
	 
	The Pakistan Workers&rsquo; Federation conducted symposiums and meetings in eight cities on 7 October. In Lahore, at the Bakhtiar Labour Centre, a large gathering included government labour officials and representatives from employers&rsquo; groupings. There, the call for amendments to Pakistan&rsquo;s labour code rang out, as did the harm that privatisation of the country&rsquo;s electric supply systems would bring. 
	 
	Other forums occurred in Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sukka, Multan, Faisalabad, and Peshawar.

	<img alt="" height="53" src="" width="157" />

	One of ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in New Zealand, the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), on 7 October highlighted its national advertising campaign, which is entitled &ldquo;They Stand for greed/We Stand for Decent Work.&rdquo; An EPMU statement called the growing trend of contract and agency labour a serious affront to decent wages and living standards. 
	 
	&ldquo;They call it flexibility, but it&rsquo;s a device to disempower workers,&rdquo; stated EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. It&rsquo;s an effort &ldquo;to make it harder for them to negotiate with the real users of their labour.&rdquo;

	In Mauritius, the ICEM&#039;s African Regional Coordinator Fabian Nkomo took part in affiliate&#039;s Chemicam, Manufacturing, and Conected Trades Workers&#039; Union unveiling of a monument signifying the union&#039;s&nbsp;campaign against COntract and Agency Labour.

	The sculpture was dedicated on 7 October.

	<img alt="" height="180" src="" width="240" />

	Unveiling of Monument (rear) Dedicated to Fight Against Contract and Agency Labour in Mauritius

	In Brussels, following the presentation by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) of a petition to the European Commission on 7 October, EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla did make a statement. He told trade union leaders that 80% of the world&rsquo;s workers do not have adequate social protection. 
	 
	Spidla did promise that the Commission&rsquo;s renewed social agenda, put forward in July 2008, would attempt to improve work-life circumstances for all EU workers. He also noted that all EU member-states have ratified the ILO&rsquo;s core labour standards. 
	 
	In Kenya, ITUC-Africa Secretary General Kwasi Adu-Amankwah sounded a different alarm. He said at a Decent Work conference in Nairobi that Economic Partnership Agreements must be challenged in order to preserve jobs. Governments in developing countries, he stated, must &ldquo;put employment creation at the centre of all trade and investment policies that affect Africa.&rdquo;

	<img alt="" height="95" src="" width="100" />

	Kwasi Adu-Amankwah also cited a UN report, issued only in September, which states African trade liberalisation policies have shown an export market-share drop from 6% to 3% of world trade over the past 20 years. This roughly matches the same period in which structural adjustment programmes have been imposed by world organisations on African nations. 
	 
	In Mauritania, the situation is worse. Six unions called for an afternoon demonstration on 7 October in support for safe working conditions and against the military junta now running the country. The manifestation was banned and riot police were out in force, preventing trade unionists from assembling.

7 October &#039;World Day for Decent Work&#039; Gave Labour a Catalogue of Diverse Activities

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The continuing collective bargaining dispute between ICEM&rsquo;s North American affiliate, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and French multinational LaFarge in Sugar Creek, Missouri, received keen focus in Paris recently. The ICEM, together with the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) &ndash; co-signatories to a Global Framework Agreement with the company &ndash; brought the dispute before the company and French and other unions on 3 October. 
 
At a cement manufacturing plant in Sugar Creek, Lafarge seeks to dramatically change retiree medical coverage in collective negotiations with Boilermakers Local D-27. It seeks to exclude new workers from retiree health coverage altogether, while proposing to move existing workers to another, inferior medical plan upon retirement. 
 
That plan, if accepted, could see retirees&rsquo; pay double for their health care costs. The existing plan now finds pensioners paying US$254-per-month for family health coverage.
<img height="119" alt="" src="" width="120" />
In a statement issued following the meeting, the ICEM, BWI, Boilermakers, and the other unions said: &ldquo;We believe that the leading companies of our industry have a social responsibility that extends beyond the borders of the home country. When companies fail to meet their responsibilities around the world, it is a threat to workers everywhere. We therefore pledge to strengthen and mobilise our international network in support of the world&rsquo;s cement industry workers. 
 
&ldquo;At this moment, Lafarge is not meeting its social responsibility to the workers in the community of Sugar Creek, Missouri in the United States. We call on Lafarge to meet and negotiate in good faith with Boilermakers Local Lodge D-27 for a new contract that does not discriminate against workers on the basis of age and offers all workers the opportunity for a retirement with dignity.&rdquo; 
 
Boilermakers Vice President Warren Fairly said global intervention in Missouri is necessary because if Lafarge halts its social responsibility on providing basic benefits in the US, the pressure to concede basic rights and social benefits in the company&rsquo;s European operations can be &ldquo;foreseen in the near future.&rdquo; 
 
North American and European unions, together with the ICEM and BWI, met in Paris on 3-4 October over matters with Lafarge and Swiss cement company Holcim. Trade unions taking part included the Boilermakers, United Steelworkers, Laborers&rsquo; International, and Teamsters of the US, Unia of Switzerland, as well as French trade unions CFDT, FO, CFTC, and CGT. 
 
The dispute for 55 members of the Boilermakers Union in the state of Missouri has been ongoing since expiration of a prior four-year labour agreement on 30 April 2008.

ICEM, BWI, US Boilermakers Bring LaFarge USA Dispute to Company in Paris

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Rubber workers of Kiyan Tyre in Chahardangeh, Iran, continued their protests last week over wage arrears. Some 600 workers of the factory began striking on 16 July and the protests escalated last week when strikers began setting portions of the factory on fire. 
 
Shouting anti-government slogans on 22 July outside a management building in Chahardangeh, a western suburb of Tehran, workers threatened to bring their next protest to Iran&rsquo;s Majlis, or Parliament.
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
&nbsp; 
On 12 April, 1,000 workers at Iran&rsquo;s biggest rubber plant took job actions because their wages had not been paid in five months. Then, the repressive State Security Force ran bulldozers into the protestors, and arrested all 1,000 using electric batons. Most were held for 36 hours, while some 100 strike leaders were held longer. They were finally freed, but as a condition for release, the workplace leaders were forced to sign statements that they would not protest again. 
 
The more recent protests are against a hand-picked management team which reportedly is under-paying wages, or denying payment altogether. Kiyan, formerly called Alborz Tyre Mfg. Co., was established in 1958 as a joint venture with the American company B.F. Goodrich Co. In 1979, it became part of state-owned National Iranian Industries, before being sold to private Iranian investors in 1994.

Tyre Manufacturing Workers in Iran Again Strike Kiyan

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At the Fifth Meeting of the Brazilian national network of trade unions at Dutch-based Akzo Nobel plants from 15-17 July in S&atilde;o Paulo, union representatives from British-based ICI chemical facilities joined the network. Akzo Nobel recently acquired ICI. 
 
The expansion of the network is expected to further the links of solidarity between workers of the two companies in Brazil. 
 
The 25 union representatives present came from plants located in Recife, Santo Andr&eacute;, Mau&aacute;, S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo, Jundia&iacute;, Itupeva, S&atilde;o Roque, S&atilde;o Paulo, Bahia, Guarulhos, and Rio de Janeiro. 
 
The network meeting opened with a presentation by the Brazilian national centre CUT on a multinational project surrounding the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union&rsquo;s Project of Life programme. That deals with the demands of life, health, and work, and introduces actions to ensure a better work environment. 
 
The coordinator of the network, Sergio Carrasso, then delivered a report on activities of the network since its inception in 2003. That was followed by the results of a survey done by the Social Observatory Network on working conditions at Akzo Nobel.
<img height="167" src="" width="380" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
The survey reflects a positive outcome through collective negotiations, with workers of Akzo Nobel in Brazil managing to establish better social dialogue practices in which civil rights have been guaranteed and wage differentials bridged. 
 
ICI trade unionists attending made a presentation on their individual plants, including numbers of workers, length of work days, discrimination problems, and social dialogue and corporate social responsibility experiences. 
 
The mid-July network meetings also served as preparation for the Third National Social Dialogue forum of Brazilian unions with Akzo Nobel. The network meeting concluded with a visit to the S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo plant. 
 
Akzo Nobel workers pledged to continue seeking contacts with workers of the company in Mexico and The Netherlands.

Brazilian Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network Brings in ICI Plants for Effective Solidarity

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
&nbsp;The ICEM lodged a stern protest with the government of Turkey following excessive police force to quell a peaceful protest by ICEM affiliate Belediye-İş, the Municipal and General Workers&rsquo; Union. Due to stalled negotiations on behalf of 10,000 union members at different segments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality, the union issued a 60-day strike notice in mid-July. 
 
On 17 July, 2,000 Belediye-İş members, along with officials of the union, marched to an administrative building of the municipality to hang a banner announcing their legal strike. They were immediately repelled by police, using pepper spray and pressurized water cannons. 
 
The police force was a reminder of the force used on 1 May this year when trade unionists attempted to lay flowers at Istanbul&rsquo;s Taksim Square in memorial to the 37 comrades killed there by government forces on 1 May 1977.
<img height="199" alt="" src="" width="300" />
Police Water Cannons Impede Peaceful&nbsp;Belediye-İş March on 17 July 

&ldquo;The attitude taken by police against peaceful demonstrators reinforces the impression and opinion worldwide on your government&rsquo;s pursuit against (workers&rsquo; rights),&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 
 
&ldquo;Although Turkey has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98, we understand that neither in law or in daily life can these standards be freely exercised.&rdquo; 
 
The strike notice was issued because the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality has closed the door on negotiations after offering only an 8% increase. Belediye-İş is seeking a 40% increase. According to the union, daily consumer costs have rapidly escalated beyond the high inflation rate in Turkey, with water and transportation increases nearing the 35% mark.

ICEM Protests Police Force to Break up Belediye-İş Strike Call in Turkey

&nbsp;<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Today, in Bogot&aacute;, Colombia, civil society and trade unions, led by the ICEM electric utility affiliate Sintraelecol, will mark the 25th anniversary of the Guavio dam disaster in which most of the 200 casualities were&nbsp;temporary labourers. They were buried alive when a&nbsp;pair of massive rock slides, totalling 60,000 cubic yards of earth,&nbsp;fell on them&nbsp;in the evening of 28 July 1983. 
 
The day has been designated as not only a Day of Remembrance by&nbsp;ICEM's Latin America/Caribbean Region, but also as a day to push for full labour rights, including safety and health, for contract and agency workers. 
 
The memorial event and symposium&nbsp;will be held at the Hotel del Parque, 23-24 Carrera 5A, Bogot&aacute;, beginning at 14h00. 
 
&ldquo;Today is a tribute to the casual workers and others&nbsp;who passed away in 1983 while they were constructing one of the most important energy projects in our country,&rdquo; said ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos. &ldquo;It is also a call to non-permanent workers and agency staff everywhere to join with labour unions for decent work and a guarantee of protection under established global labour standards.&rdquo;
<img height="126" alt="" src="" width="294" />
Construction of the 820-foot rock-fill dam, the tallest in the Americas,&nbsp;began in August 1981 by Empresa de Energia Electrica de Bogot&aacute;, the electric power company of Colombia's capital city. Between the towns of Ubal&aacute; and M&aacute;mbita, 120 kilometres northeast of Bogot&aacute;, the utility had purchased 2,000 estates from landowners in order to build the continent's&nbsp;biggest hydroelectic dam, one&nbsp;that would generate one million kilowatts of power.
In September 1982, a precursor of what was to come occurred when four miners were killed from a rock slide.
During&nbsp;the spring of 1983, when construction&nbsp;was in full swing,&nbsp;heavy rains set in on the&nbsp;the Bocatoma Valley in the department of Cundinamarca. 

The US$1.3 billion dam project, on the Guavio River, had the financial support of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. March through May, 1983, also saw a 48-day strike by workers against the joint contractors, Rome-headquartered Vianini Lavori Spa and Madrid-based Entrecanles y Tavora. The&nbsp;strike saw the Colombian military&nbsp;called in.
<img height="181" alt="" src="" width="180" />
At 10h00 on 28 July, while boring was underway on a power tunnel and a separate water diversion&nbsp;tunnel,&nbsp;eight workers were slightly injured when a massive rock was dislodged and fell inside the adjacent tunnels. A safety alarm drew the attention of the industrial security team, but after inspection, the area was declared&nbsp;safe for work. Meanwhile, rain continued to ravage the Andes mountainside outside.&nbsp; 
 
At 19h00, pipefitters, electrical pump installers, and other skilled workers were leaving the project&rsquo;s front on buses,&nbsp;their work day complete. Left behind to mine the tunnels overnight were some 100-plus casual labourers, including many teen-age boys. 
 
In the words of one pump installer, who recalls looking back on the worksite&nbsp;from a base camp, the illimination of lights was brilliant. And then seconds later, &ldquo;the lights went dark.&rdquo; Some of the&nbsp;workers, along with rescues teams,&nbsp;began hurrying back to the project&rsquo;s front in buses, only to have a second&nbsp;landslide bury three buses alongside the tunnels. 
 
Buried inside were 138 workers, with&nbsp;another 40 workers crushed to death when the buses they were in&nbsp;became encapsulated by falling&nbsp;rock. Approximately 20 local residents, who were assisting work in one manner or another, also perished inside the tunnels.
The bodies of only one-half of the victims were&nbsp;recovered.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
The Guavio&nbsp;dam was finally&nbsp;completed in 1988, two years behind scheduled. In 1997, the Spanish company Endesa purchased the hydro-generating operation. 
 
The ICEM salutes its Colombian affiliate, Sintraelecol, with commemorating the 25th anniversary of a disaster that should never&nbsp;have happened, as well as all Latin American/Caribbean trade unions and NGOs who are participating in today&rsquo;s event.

Colombia Dam Disaster of 28 July 1983: ‘The Night the Lights Went Dark’ on 200 Casual Workers

&nbsp;<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Forty-one national mining unions from 37 countries met 9-11 July in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the ICEM&rsquo;s quadrennial World Conference on Mining and DJGOP. A total of 138 delegates addressed the major changes occurring in the industry. 
 
At the top of the agenda of an ICEM work plan covering the next four years was the continuing health and safety problems occurring at mines throughout the world. 
 
&ldquo;At a time of unprecedented profits in the mining industry, it is an unacceptable situation that much of this profit continues to be stained with the blood of miners,&rdquo; said Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM President and also President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa.
<img height="173" alt="" src="" width="140" />
ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana&nbsp;
Although there are no worldwide figures on mining injuries and fatalities, serious accidents continue to plague mining operations in more developed countries, such as the US and South Africa, as well as in developing nations. South African-based Gold Fields Ltd., the world&rsquo;s fourth largest gold-mining house, was specifically cited for operating dangerous mines and may be a target of ICEM action. 
 
ICEM affiliates attending the Mining Conference approved a continued global campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 196, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Delegates also approved action to assist uranium miners in Africa in preventing exposure to dangerous radiation. 
 
A further focus to the conference was the continued vertical and horizontal consolidation in the mining and metals industries and the growing power of multinational corporations, including emergent multinational mining companies based in Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Delegates pledged to work together to build networks to confront these companies. 
 
Also designated as part of the work plan was the development of a policy on sustainable development, including support for developing clean coal technologies, challenging the use of contract and agency labour and gaining work rights for such workers, and establishing closer relationships with NGOs that show support for workers. 
 
Featured at the conference was a presentation on the fight between the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union, known as Los Mineros, and Grupo M&eacute;xico and the government of Mexico, which has attempted to destroy the union. ICEM affiliates pledged full support to the miners and a stepped up campaign against this company and the government. 
The ICEM mining report can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2008ICEMMiningReportEN.pdf">here</a>.

ICEM Holds Quadrennial Mining Conference in Russia

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The second meeting of the Brazilian National Network of Unions representing Belgian chemicals and pharmaceutical company Solvay was held from 9-11 June in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil. The network was created in September 2007 when Brazilian trade unions at nine worksites gathered to create coordination and solidarity. 
 
Chaired by ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President S&eacute;rgio Novais, the network is coordinated by Juvenil Nunes da Costa from the ABC Regional Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Brazil. With support from the Brazilian national labour centre CUT, the National Confederation of Chemical Workers&rsquo; of Brazil (CNQ-CUT), as well as from the ICEM, the meeting also had the full solidarity from Belgian union Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale and the European Works Council (EWC) of Solvay.
<img height="233" src="" width="350" alt="" />
The EWC sent a solidarity message and a detailed presentation, explaining composition and activities of Solvay&rsquo;s structure. 
 
Along with the global economic situation of the company, participants gave reports from the nine Brazilian plants. Enhancing integration and solidarity of Solvay&rsquo;s workers, complying with the major ILO Conventions regarding trade union rights, combating all forms of discrimination, protecting workers&rsquo; health and safety, and maintaining the fight against outsourcing were defined as important principles for the network&rsquo;s activities. 
 
Delegates also decided to seek all opportunities for social dialogue with the company, to increase global solidarity with trade unions throughout the world, and to enter into deeper relations with the EWC. 
 
The Solvay Brazilian Network published a first edition of a newsletter following last September&rsquo;s meeting, and will do another one shortly to inform all Brazilian Solvay workers of its activities. 
 
Another network meeting has been scheduled for December 2008, again in S&atilde;o Paulo.

Brazilian Solvay Chemicals Network Organises Second Meeting

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Norway&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; union Fellesforbundet, conducted a World Day for Decent Work seminar on 30 September in the union&rsquo;s offices in Oslo. The event brought together representatives from many of the union&rsquo;s sectors, international officers of the national centre, LO, and Labour Party officials of the federal government, including Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion Dag Terje Andersen. 
 
The union intentionally convened the forum to occur just days before the government will take up the draft State Budget for 2009. That will start tomorrow, 7 October.
<img height="70" alt="" src="" width="325" />
One of the main proposals put forward by the ICEM affiliate on the budget is over social dumping regulations concerning the use of workers on temporary contracts. Currently, a person on a temporary contract must bear the burden of proof that an employer is circumventing existing legal procedures on the use of temporary contracts. 
 
&ldquo;Our demand is that fixed termed contracts must be the norm and that if an employer uses temporary contracts, it is their obligation to prove that it is within the limits of the law,&rdquo; said Fellesforbundet President Arve Bakke. As well, he added, a demand within this round of social talks is that &ldquo;the main contractor must be held responsible for wages and conditions for all employees of the subcontracting firms.&rdquo; 
 
Fellesforbundet also prominently took up the issue of restaurant workers at last week&rsquo;s Decent Work seminar. The union is demanding that the government impose regulations that the country&rsquo;s culinary industry must have regional safety representatives, much like those in other Norwegian industries. 
 
Such representatives could better monitor the social abuses so common in this sector. Fellesforbundet says workers oftentimes are enlisted in restaurants on a day-to-day basis.

Norwegian Fellesforbundet Discusses Contract Labour, Restaurant Work in Decent Work Forum

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Some 50,000 National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members amassed in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, 4 October. The mobilisation was in protest to the mining industry&rsquo;s failed implementation of equality measures in the senior ranks of companies, and racial prejudices that still haunt employment practices. 
 
NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told the ICEM that the union is seeking transformation &ndash; meaning accelerated &ldquo;employment opportunities for women and for the historically disadvantaged who have been denied senior level positions&rdquo; by the country&rsquo;s mining houses. 
 
Seshoka also said transformation means a faster end to same-sex hostels in and around mining enterprises. 
 
Seven of NUM&rsquo;s 11 regional branches took to the streets on 4 October. They marched some eight kilometres from Beyers Naude Square to Joburg&rsquo;s city centre and the Chamber of Mines offices. 

<img height="156" alt="" src="" width="110" />
NUM Gen. Sec. Frans Baleni
There, NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni and President Senzeni Zokwana presented a memorandum to mining industry leaders, as well as to Business Unity South Africa, the Mining Qualifications Authority, and the Department of Minerals and Energy. 
 
The NUM is upset that 14 years after adoption of the Mining Charter, the industry is no closer to implementing equality provisions than when the landmark agreement was signed. 
 
Seshoka points to two recent incidents detailing unfairness. At AngloPlatinum Ltd., the world&rsquo;s largest producer of platinum majority owned by AngloAmerican, the company&rsquo;s only black general manager was sacked at the Lebowa Atok mine. The person was fired for alleged production shortfalls but, in fact, the mine is rumoured to be up for sale. 
The other incident saw a shop steward at DRDGold&rsquo;s Blyvoor mine suspended for taking up the case of a worker who claimed racial insults were levelled at him. 

<img height="105" src="" width="90" alt="" />
NUM President Senzeni Zokwana 
 
Saturday&rsquo;s march and manifestation may not be last the Chamber and its affiliates hears from the NUM. If progress isn&rsquo;t seen, South Africa&rsquo;s largest ICEM affiliate will consider work stoppages at selected companies. 
 
Meanwhile, 2008&rsquo;s death toll in South Africa&rsquo;s mines rose to at least 130 after four deaths over the past nine days. Two of those deaths occurred at AngloGold&rsquo;s TauTona mine. A miner was killed underground on 2 October there when ground caved in. On 27 September at TauTona, another miner was killed in a similar incident caused by an earth tremour. 
 
Also on 2 October, a waterjet operator inside Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Elandstrand mine died 2,900 metres beneath the surface due to a cave-in. The fourth death was an AngloPlatinum miner at Rustenburg who died in a hospital on 1 October from injuries he suffered in a deadly tragedy on 26 August. 
 
On 2 October, 3,000 miners at AngloGold&rsquo;s Savuka mine stopped work for 24 hours in accord with NUM policy to take a Day of Mourning following a mine death. A comrade died at Savuka, the world&rsquo;s deepest gold mine (3,777 metres) on 25 September.

NUM Manifestation over Mine Chamber’s Slow Pace toward Racial, Gender Equality

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NUM Manifestation over Mine Chamber’s Slow Pace toward Racial, Gender Equality

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