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Seventy-seven Russian electric utility workers are dead following a massive explosion at a hydroelectric plant 17 August in the Khakassia Region of south Siberia. Workers at the site, Sayano-Shushenskaya, owned by the 60% state-run company RusHydro, are organised by ICEM affiliate Electroprofsoyuz. 
 
Russia&rsquo;s Emergency Situations Ministry warned in 1998 that the country&rsquo;s largest hydroelectric plant was desperately in need of major repairs, but little work had been done. The explosion occurred in the turbine hall of the dam, reportedly when a faulty turbine combined with a rise in pressure inside pipes caused the horrific explosion. 
 
On Saturday, 22 August, rescuers recovered 19 more bodies, bringing the death count to 66. Another 11 workers are thought to have perished, perhaps swept down the Yenisei River. 

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A day earlier, on 21 August, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the scene and announced families of the dead will each receive one million rubles (US$31,450) in compensation from RusHydro. Putin said the Russian government will match that amount. 
 
Workers were killed by drowning and crushed by crumbling debris. Some 40 tonnes of transformer oil spilled into the Yenisei. Five of ten turbines were destroyed as the explosion blew out walls and flooded the turbine hall. It is expected that reconstruction will take up to four years, at a cost of US$1.2 billion. 
 
The accident is expected to hike energy prices in the region by as much as 30%. The facility generates one-fourth of RusHydro&rsquo;s total power output and the plant supplies power to two aluminium smelters of RusAl. The company&rsquo;s director of corporate strategy said that 500,000 tons of annual aluminium production capacity is under threat, bringing expected production this year down from 4.4 million tonnes to 3.9 million. 
 
Last Wednesday, 19 August, was designated as an official day of mourning in the Khakassia region, some 3,000 km east of Moscow.

Blast at Russian Electric-Power Dam Kills 77

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Eight years after the murders of two trade unionist leaders, Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya, the Colombian judiciary has handed down the first convictions for their killers. 
 
The two leaders of Sintramienergica worked for the American mining multinational, Drummond. Jairo Charris Jesus, a member of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the murders. 
 
Locarno and Orcasita, president and vice president of Sintramienergetica, were killed on 12 March 2001, when they left the mine at the end of a working day. The bus in which they were travelling was intercepted by an armed group of the Northern Bloc of the AUC, in the village of Casa de Zinc, in El Paso province. 

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Victor&nbsp;Orcasita
Locarno was murdered there, while Orcasita was taken by the paramilitaries in a van, and found dead in a rural area the following day. Locarno&rsquo;s replacement in the union&rsquo;s leadership was Gustavo Soler Mora, who was murdered seven months after replacing Locarno. 
 
Charris was employed as &ldquo;security coordinator&rdquo; at the time of the killings for the contracting firm Industrial Food Services (ISA), a company that provided food to the mining camps of Drummond in Cesar department. Charris was found by the court to have given the order for the union leaders to be killed. 
 
Jairo de Jesus Charris sent written correspondence to the court, during his case, explaining that the murders had been planned with Colombian and American company executives. 

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Orcasita right, with other Sintramienergetica miners
Earlier this year Tolemaida Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, the Commander of the Bloque Norte, was extradited to the US for his part in the killings. 
 
Drummond has denied all links to paramilitary organisations, and all allegations of complicity in the killings. On 26 July 2007, a US federal district court in Alabama acquitted Drummond of any responsibility in a case brought under the US&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act. A US appellate court later upheld the acquittal, despite the fact that witnesses from Colombia were not allowed to testify in the US federal court case. 
 
However, in May 2009, an attorney for Colombian plaintiffs &ndash; the families of Locarno and Orcasita &ndash; filed another US lawsuit against Drummond, accusing the company of paying paramilitaries to murder union and community leaders, as well as paying paramilitaries to protect the transport of coal by rail from Drummond&rsquo;s minds to the port of Cesar Ci&eacute;naga.

Murderer Convicted of Killing Colombian Drummond Trade Unionists

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ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is, Turkey&rsquo;s Oil, Chemical and Rubber Workers Union, has started an organising campaign using unconventional methods. The campaign has received special commendation from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. Choosing to target the city of Duzce, near Istanbul, the city was covered in campaign materials, with every billboard showing posters from the union. Banners, brochures, flyers, stickers, TV and radio adverts, newspaper ads, t-shirts, and a campaign website, were all produced, so that the campaign would be impossible to miss. Progressive cinema celebrities also produced films connected to the campaign. 

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The special website and blog for the campaign can be found <a href="http://www.sendikaliol.org">here</a>. The project&rsquo;s slogan &ldquo;Sendikalı Ol&rdquo; or &ldquo;Be unionised&rdquo; is accompanied by &ldquo;Umutlu Ol&rdquo; (Be hopeful), &ldquo;G&uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; Ol&rdquo; (Be Strong), &ldquo;G&uuml;venli Ol&rdquo; (Be Secure), &ldquo;Mutlu Ol&rdquo; (Be Happy), &ldquo;Birlik Ol&rdquo; (Be United) and &ldquo;Etkili Ol&rdquo; (Be Effective). The blog has specific sections designed for potential new members, &ldquo;What is the Union?&rdquo;, &ldquo;Why Unionise?&rdquo;, &ldquo;What is Petrol-Is?&rdquo; 
 
The impressive project is the result of long-term research and planning by the union. Following a dramatic decline in membership in early 1990s, organizing became an urgent priority on the Petrol-Is agenda. This extremely visible campaigning technique was chosen, to break the pattern of previous trade union recruitment campaigns. Many companies in Turkey do not recognise workers&rsquo; right to organise as a legitimate right. Previous union organising campaigns had come up against repressive union-busting measures from the employers, such as threats dismissals, blacklists, redundancies. Unions had therefore been forced to be conduct campaigns in secrecy. 

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Petrol-Is President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın
The Duzce campaign was a chance to break a mindset that identifies &ldquo;union organizing&rdquo; with &ldquo;anarchy&rdquo;. The union&rsquo;s message was conveyed, not only to unorganized workers at their worksites, but also to their families and local communities. The campaign created an atmosphere full of energy, hope and self-confidence, especially for young workers. 
 
Next steps for the campaign will be a comprehensive recruitment drive in the coming months, similar publicity campaigns in other Turkish cities and at the national level.

Turkey’s Petrol-Is Launch Creative Organising Campaign

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The United Steelworkers (USW) is on strike in Canada against global mining giant Vale, as reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3315-Miners-of-USW-Strike-Vale’s-Nickel-Riches-in-Canada">InBrief 135</a>. The ICEM is coordinating global union solidarity among its affiliates for these striking miners and is asking its mining affiliates around the world to demonstrate solidarity. A letter was sent this morning from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, urging &ldquo;We have an historic opportunity in an expanding campaign to confront a global corporation with global trade union power&rdquo;. 
 
More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Greater Sudbury and Port Colborne took industrial action on 13 July; strikers are now digging in as the strike enters its third week. 
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The local/branch of the USW has established a website in which the major issues in the strike can be viewed -- <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">http://www.fairdealnow.ca</a>. 
Vale is the second largest mining company in the world. In the last five years, Vale has made enormous profits, with $13.2 billion (USD) net profit in 2008 alone. According to the company&rsquo;s own figures, each Vale employee produced $221,223 of 2008 net profits. Unfortunately, Vale has shared little of that profit with its miners. In contrast, it has paid six top executives $33 million in compensation in 2008 alone and had their pay increased more than 120% from 2006 to 2008. 

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Local 6500 President John Fera
ICEM affiliates in Africa are supporting the USW struggle, and in doing so, are increasing the pressure on Vale leadership to halt their mistreatment of their mineworkers in Canada. This is because Vale plans large expansion in the African continent and their reputation there will necessary for this. Creating a two-tiered pension plan, slashing the nickel bonus and seriously damaging seniority rights, is not acceptable behaviour from the Vale management. 
 
CUT Brazil and the United Steelworkers signed what they call a &quot;strategic partnership&quot;, last week, to support workers in their negotiations with the Brazilian multinational Vale, in both Canada and Brazil. &quot;The Brazilian workers organized in the Vale Union Network, part of nearly 150,000 Vale employees in 35 countries on five continents, are extremely concerned about the fate of the negotiations in Canada, since the outcome could have an immediate impact in the renewal of the collective agreement in Brazil,&quot; the CUT statement said. 
 
As Vale Inco spokesman Cory McPhee blamed the current economic downturn for the extensive concessions for workers, including heavy cuts to pensions, and to production bonuses, Local 6500 vice-president Rick Bertrand pointed out that Vale Inco has made $4.2 billion in Sudbury since it purchased Inco, late 2006. The ICEM campaign will continue protesting against mining companies, who attempt to take unfair advantage of the current economic crisis. Workers should not pay for the crisis they did not create.

ICEM Affiliates Demonstrate Solidarity for USW Striking Miners in Canada

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ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n in Colombia is calling for international solidarity for the outsourced workers of transport contractor SOTRANS. Those workers are being subjected to a fierce campaign, in response to their attempts to exercise their right to organise and bargain collectively. The new trade union SINTRANS, faces a difficult challenge, as all SOTRANS workers are contracted on a fixed term, six-month basis. Colombia has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98. 
 
The fact that all SOTRANS workers are limited to six month contracts, enabled the contractor to end the employment of union leaders Vicente Pomarico and Jorge Diaz, ignoring their protections as founders and leaders of the workers&rsquo; organisation and members of the bargaining committee. The company have since continued their strategy of persecution and harassment of the union, making 33 more workers, involved in the union, unemployed. Eighty per cent of the SOTRANS workers are still reported to be organised. The management of Cerrej&oacute;n and the Ministry of Social Protection have voiced no objection at all to this blatant violation to the right to organise. 

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SINTRANS is the first union of subcontractors at Cerrej&oacute;n. Sintracarb&oacute;n, with full ICEM support, seeks to set a precedent of SINTRANS at the site, an example for workers at other subcontracting firms there. There are around 300 contractor companies at the site in La Guajira, conducting much of the operation&rsquo;s work. The union continues to organise meetings and demonstrations at the world&rsquo;s richest coal reserve. There is no sign of the union backing down. 
 
As reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3290-Sintracarbón-Seeks-Unionisation-for-Subcontractor-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia">InBrief</a>, SINTRANS are pushing for two priorities, firstly full-time permanent employment contracts, and secondly wages and social benefits that are, at least, in line with the national minimum standards. They are currently paid US$250 a month. Subcontractors at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-pit coal mines, are often described as working in &ldquo;slave labour&rdquo; conditions. It is the responsibility of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management to block SOTRANS&rsquo; campaign of harassment and union-busting at their site. 

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Carlos Gaviria
Colombian politician Carlos Gaviria D&iacute;az, president of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), has stepped in on the side of subcontractors, &ldquo;the realization of these rights is an indicator of the vitality of a democracy and the rule of law&quot;. Gaviria does not accept the claims from Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, that these rights violations are not their responsibility due to the &ldquo;independence&rdquo; of contractor firms. &quot;Outsourcing can not be a dodge to evade responsibilities and violate workers' rights,&quot; he added. 
 
Senator Jorge Robledo has also weighed in supporting the victimised SINTRANS workers, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 33 union members sacked by the contractor. Robledo has also denounced the complicity of the Cerrej&oacute;n management. 
 
In unrelated news in Colombia, new ICEM affiliate Union Sindical Obrera (USO) are facing intimidation during their collective negotiations with petroleum company Ecopetrol. Thursday 17 July saw riot police attack workers at the Barrancabermeja refinery with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun bombs. Workers flocked to listen to union leaders at the refinery front door, but were attacked by the security forces, leaving 3 injured workers and arresting 2 more. The attack occurred two days after the start of the negotiations; USO suspended the meeting to focus on treating the injured and securing the release of detainees. 

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USO President Germ&aacute;n Osman condemned the attack. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia.

Temporary Workers in Colombia Attacked for Attempting to Organise

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The Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), consisting of 140 countries, took a landmark decision at its deliberations in Nairobi in February 2009. The council moved to start negotiations toward an international treaty on mercury that either bans or places very strict restrictions on the dangerous chemical. 
 
UNEP&rsquo;s unanimous decision may mean the beginning of the end for mercury, although the transition to either a no-mercury or low-mercury world will still take time. 

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UNEP has, for seven years, coordinated the intense scientific and policy debate on how best to deal with mercury, said the agency&rsquo;s executive director and UN Under-Secretary, Achim Steiner. Now &ldquo;the world&rsquo;s environmental ministers, armed with the full facts and full choices, decided the time for talking was over &ndash; the time for action on this pollution is now.&rdquo; 
 
The Governing Council also was unanimous on the risk to human health. Mercury and its compounds are highly toxic to humans, especially to the nervous system at even relatively low levels of exposure. It is particularly harmful to the development of unborn children. It accumulates in humans and animals and can be concentrated throughout the food chain, notably in certain types of fish. 
 
The EU has called for a ban to begin on mercury by 2011. UNEP&rsquo;s main function is to promote international policy cooperation in the environmental field.

Say Farewell to Mercury? UNEP’s 2009 Nairobi Action Sets the Stage

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Over the past decade, multinational tyre companies considered Central Europe as an investment utopia, shifting production and expanding factories at a rapid rate. Recently, US-based Goodyear invested US$100 million in its existing plant in Debica, Poland, while Bridgestone of Japan moved to construct a second plant in Poland. 
 
In Hungary, Hankook of South Korea, established a production unit, and Bridgestone`s new plant is close to start-up. Apollo Tyre of India is also a plant in Hungary. Similarly, in Romania, Pirelli just started an operation in Slatina, where the Italian company has teamed Continental AG in steel-cord production. 

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This Central European growth, however, brings with it some consequences concerning job conditions and trade-union representation. Wages, working conditions, health and safety regulations also fall short of the level common in West European countries. In some of the new plants, trade union rights are denied or companies prefer plant-level and company-based unions. 
 
This has led the ICEM to boost national trade unions to challenge these circumstances by creating a regional network of rubber unions. Trade union leaders from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Slovenia came together to discusses these challenges, as well as the effects of the economic crisis at a meeting in Budapest on 8-9 April. 

Hosted by ICEM Hungarian affiliate VDSz, the meeting was sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation (FES) of Germany, and was also attended by French and Spanish trade union representatives and ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation, EMCEF. 

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VDSz President Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak
Following presentation by the ICEM on the global picture of the industry, the participants gave reports about individual situations in their countries. Hungary has always been the centre of the rubber industry in the region, but the union organising ratio has fallen since the level is what at before 1990, a VDSz representative reported. Unions are blocked from being freely established in some companies, like Hankook and Bridgestone. 
 
The ICEM was asked to continue to support the struggle at both companies to achieve union recognition. In Slovakia, the financial crisis has substantially decreased production, with work hours reduced and workers&rsquo; typically paid 60% of their normal salaries. Slovenia has just adopted a law for a shorter work-week, which was supported by the trade unions. 
 
The crisis has dramatically impacted the auto and auto-supply industries in Slovenia. Initially, wages were not cut but workers were forced to use their holidays. As the crisis dug deeper, wages and working hours were reduced. Likewise in Romania, the auto industry is in a significant crisis, seriously affecting the tyre industry. One positive note is that the union organising 1,500 workers at the new Pirelli factory in Slatina won 10% wage gains. The meeting also heard EMCEF&rsquo;s presentation on the crisis as well as its activities regarding social dialogue, collective bargaining, and the European Works Councils. 
 
&ldquo;We must not let the crisis destroy our earlier achievements,&rdquo; said VDSz President Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak. &ldquo;We must be vigilant in not allowing employers to misuse the current conditions. Our entire social future depends on trade union recognition, representation, and increased pay and working standards.&rdquo;

Central European Rubber Unions Form Joint Strategies on Financial Crisis

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The 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok in 2007 mandated that the ICEM develop a policy on sustainability as a basis for future initiatives, including discussions with employers, governments, and other Global Union Federations (GUFs). An initial meeting of a Working Group toward this end occurred early in 2008, and it established some parameters for ICEM positions and created the basis for development of an initial discussion paper. 
 
Last week, on 14 April, this Working Group reconvened in Geneva to review and comment on the discussion paper. Based on their deliberations, the paper will be revised and will become a draft policy for submission to the ICEM Executive Committee on 23 June 2009. 
 
Representatives from all ICEM Sectors and Regions were invited. The meeting was chaired by Lars Myhre of Norway's Industi-Energi (IE). Other participants included Ivan Mokhnachuk and Victor Miachin of Russia's mining union, Rosugleprof; Jan Str&oslash;mme of IE; Dave Shier of the Canadian Power Workers Union (PWU); Alfons de Potter, Belgium's CSC Energie Chimie; Marc Blanc, France's F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie Energie, CFDT; Ralf Bartels of Germany's IGBCE; Anabella Rosemberg, representing the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); and Ana Belen Sanchez of the ILO. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda was also a participant. 

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In general, the Work Group expressed satisfaction with the ICEM's initial discussion paper. The group suggested that the final ICEM policy needs to clearly express the viewpoint of an industrial union federation on all aspects of sustainability. 
 
Participants also pointed out that opportunities for a new focus and new dialogue between governments, employers, and unions &ndash; as the drive towards sustainability takes shape &ndash; must not be overlooked. In that regard, all agreed that the recent financial collapse has opened opportunities for discussions that might not have been possible a year ago. 
 
The role of energy in development, social security, and sustainable jobs were crucial issues to the Working Group, and the ICEM must demand a balanced energy future that includes cleaner use of fossil fuels (including carbon capture and storage/sequestration), nuclear, and, of course, renewable energy sources. The future of energy must consider questions about access to energy and price fairness and stability. 
 
Pulp and paper, chemicals, rubber, and materials sectors all have their particular sustainability challenges, which the ICEM acknowledges. Finally, the Working Group reiterated that sustainable jobs must be decent jobs that recognize the principles of human rights, labour rights, and particularly the respect for the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups. 
 
Warda closed the meeting by explaining the next steps on sustainable development, which will include a draft policy incorporating input from the Working Group, acceptance of the final paper by the ICEM Executive in June, and a possible multi-GUFs&rsquo; conference on sustainable development sometime&nbsp;in the future.

ICEM Holds Second Work Group Meeting on Sustainable Development

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Every year, on April 28, the world commemorates workers killed, injured, or made ill as a result of their jobs. 
 
How many are there? Collecting good data on occupational injuries and deaths is very difficult. The most credible source of international statistics is the ILO. Their numbers are staggering. The ILO has estimated that globally, there are two million work-related deaths annually. That's more than 5,000 every day, and for every fatality, hundreds more injuries and illnesses occur. 
 
These numbers, as incredible as they seem, are generally believed to be gross underestimates. 
 
Fatalities are under reported by workers and employers. Often, an occupational fatality is not identified as such. Once reported, a fatality must be &quot;accepted&quot; or recognized by a country's regulatory authority or workers' compensation board to be counted among the statistics. In many jurisdictions, large numbers of workers are exempt from workers' compensation coverage. Data for injuries are even less reliable than for fatalities. 

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Worker deaths that are immediate and obvious tend to be recognized. Deaths due to illnesses that have an occupational origin are rarely recognized. Cancer is one of the biggest work-related killers, but rarely is it properly acknowledged. Relatively few occupational diseases are recorded in official statistics. 
 
Injury and illness data are notoriously subject to bias and methodological problems. Many workers' injuries, illnesses, and even fatalities, are simply never recorded. Workers' compensation assessments and insurance premiums are often based on these statistics, creating a huge financial incentive for employers to suppress or discourage the reporting of accidents. 
 
This is done in a number of ways, ranging from schemes that bring injured workers into the workplace so their injuries won't be counted as &quot;lost time,&quot; to sophisticated psychological techniques like &quot;behaviour-based&quot; safety programs. Threats of discipline or discharge following a reported accident are not uncommon. &quot;Post-incident drug-testing&quot; has been highly effective in causing workers to conceal injuries rather than risk a false-positive test result. 
 
In the days leading up to 28 April, many statistics will be quoted. Appalling as the numbers may be, the truth is probably far worse. 
 
In the end, 28 April is not about numbers, it is about people. Next week, on Tuesday, let us pause and remember those who paid for their livelihoods with their lives or their health. Then let us renew the fight for safe and healthy workplaces.

28 April: Day to Renew Fight for Safe and Healthy Worksites

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28 April is Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day, or more formally, the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. It is the day that trade unions across the world mourn the dead, but pledge even harder to wage the fight for safe, healthy, and risk-free workplaces. 
 
The commemoration day is rooted in the Canadian labour movement, whose unions worked for several years before the country&rsquo;s Parliament in 1989 passed Bill C-223, adopting 28 April as the official &ldquo;Day of Mourning.&rdquo; While labour groups in several countries began commemorating the day soon thereafter, it became a global day of health and safety recognition and a vivid reminder of the ever-present risks and hazards inside worksites when the UN lit a Commemorative Candle in 1996 for the victims of the Kader toy factory fire in Thailand three years earlier. 
 
Some 188 mostly young women workers perished in that fire and another 500 were severely injured. Now, 20 countries officially recognize the day, with Croatia being the latest, moving in recent weeks to designate it the National Day of Occupational Safety and Health. 

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(The others: Argentina, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greece, Luxembourg, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Venezuela.) 
 
The day also is marked by labour unions and workplace health and safety groups in over120 countries. It is more than just a memorial day to remember the estimated two million workers who die each year from workplace accidents, job-related injuries, or occupational illnesses. It is a day of renewal and action for positive change to make worksites safer and risk-free. 
 
ICEM trade union affiliates are encouraged to find an activity next week to take meaningful action. Use the day, for example, to work in your community and within your union to engage your government on ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention; or any of the other ILO Conventions which your government has not ratified, such as Convention 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention; No. 162, the Asbestos at Work Convention; No. 148, the Work Environment Convention; No. 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention; No. 119, the Guarding of Machinery Convention; and No. 136, the Benzene Convention. Only through direct action will change occur.

28 April, Day of Mourning: History is Recent but Roots are Growing

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