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Responding to the European Commission&rsquo;s recommendation that member states should consider suspending offshore licensing in advance of possible new EU-wide safety standards, Norrie McVicar, Chair of the ITF&rsquo;s Offshore Task Force Group (OTFG), said: &ldquo;This is the wrong position to take and the wrong time to take it. The EC should be protecting the safety gains made in the UK offshore sector, not eroding them by dumbing them down to a lowest common denominator.&rdquo; 
 
Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Sector Chair, added: &ldquo;You can never be too safe and we would never condone complacency, but the British and Norwegian sectors are generally good examples of best practice. They should be studied, learned from and, where necessary, improved. They shouldn&rsquo;t be remodeled into a one size fits all &ndash; but not very well &ndash; Euro model.&rdquo; 
 
McVicar also stated: &ldquo;One very positive feature of the UK industry is OSPRA, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, which brings together regulators, industry bodies and trade unions such as Unite and the RMT in a joint effort to ensure that we get the oil and gas we need as safely and cleanly as possible. It&rsquo;s that kind of good practice that we&rsquo;d like to see adopted by the rest of the global oil and gas sector, not weakened here in Europe.&rdquo; 
 
 
 
For further information, contact: 
ITF (International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation) 
Press officer, Sam Dawson, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260, Email: <a href="mailto:dawson_sam@itf.org.uk">dawson_sam@itf.org.uk</a> &nbsp; 
Norrie McVicar, OFTG Chair, Tel: +44(0)7768 652 257, Email: <a href="mailto:mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk">mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk</a> &nbsp; 
 
ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) Tel: +41-22-304-1847, Email: <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a> &nbsp;

ITF, ICEM Oppose EC’s Offshore Safety Recommendation

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
With the rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners perhaps only two weeks away, early October events at the San Jos&eacute; mine near Copiap&oacute; in northern Chile centered on activity on the surface and in courtrooms. Relatives of 27 of the 33 miners filed lawsuits last week against both the government and Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban Primera seeking a total of US$12 million while in a separate court case, a Northern Region III prosecutor brought criminal charges against San Esteban&rsquo;s two owners, plus the mine manager and operations manager over a 5 July rock slide in which a miner lost a leg. 
 
Meanwhile, a group of Chilean trade unions from the mining, metals, and energy sectors, after conducting two days of meetings in Copiap&oacute; in late August, issued a terse manifesto holding the government responsible for safety lapses inside the San Jos&eacute; mine. That manifesto cites the inherent flaws inside Chile&rsquo;s diverse workplace safety system, a system that excludes participatory roles for workers and their trade unions on safety matters. 
 
The Chilean trade unions drafting the manifesto also cite a government that is unwilling to engage in tri-partite dialogue to improve mine safety conditions, including refusing initiatives to discuss ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. That manifesto, in Spanish, can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/MANIFIESTO_DE_COPIAPO.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM today sent a second letter to Chile&rsquo;s government regarding the San Jos&eacute; tragedy, this time to Mining Minister Laurence Golborne calling on the government to revamp its preventative safety practices. That letter can be accessed <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEMletters/116.ICEM.Chile.MiningMinister.4Oct.pdf">here</a>. 
<img alt="" src="" width="191" height="128" />
Scene at San Jos&eacute; on 5 August
The lawsuit filed 30 September by the relatives of the 27 calls for damages totaling US$10 million against the company, and another US$2 million against the government and a state regulatory agency, the National Geological and Mines Services, for allowing the San Jos&eacute; mine to reopen in 2008 following a fatal accident in 2007. 
 
The criminal case by a miner who had his leg amputated from a rock slide in July was brought against San Esteban owners Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemeny, mine manager Pedro Simunovic, and operations manager Carlos Pinilla. The regional public prosecutor of Atacama ordered the four not to leave the country during a 90-day investigation of the incident. 
 
The 33 miners are in relatively good health and trapped 700 metres underground. The rescue by three separate drilling rigs (see prior ICEM dispatch <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4006-Rescue-of-Chilean-Miners-Hits-Stride">here</a>) continues with the Schramm T-130 drill advancing to 428 metres over the weekend in the widening of a smaller hole it made two weeks ago. 
 
That drill was idled on Saturday, 2 October, for a change in parts, but continued drilling yesterday. A larger oil drilling rig, called Rig 421, is making a single bore in hopes of coming to an area near where the miners are trapped. But Rig 421 drilling stopped over the weekend so technicians could change the directional course. The smaller mine drilling rig, a Strata 950 Riasebore drill, has been temporarily idled, but is due to restart its mission this week. 
 
Once a hole 66 centimeters across is made that reaches near where the miners are, it will take about eight days to erect a metal framing encasement &ndash; from both above and below &ndash; for a rescue capsule to fit that will take each miner to the surface. It is expected that all three holes will be fitted in the event a failure occurs in one. 
 
The miners became trapped on 5 August, following an underground explosion that caused mine shafts to collapse. Miraculously, they were discovered alive on 22 August. Thirty-two of the miners are Chileans, while one is a Bolivian national.

Story Line of Chilean Mine Rescue Shifts to the Surface

Para ver la versión en español de este boletín, debe desplazarse hacia abajo.

ICEM Women’s Bulletin / Boletín de noticias de la mujer de la ICEM

Forty trade union leaders representing the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) met on 20-21 September in Bad M&uuml;nder, Germany. This was the first meeting of a joint task force set up by the decision-making bodies of the three Global Union Federations (GUFs). 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s task force was established at its 2007 Congress in Bangkok in order to examine a new organizational structure for the three industrial GUFs. The joint task force in Bad M&uuml;nder this week was asked to look at the political project, structures, finances, and a possible timeline for uniting the 55 million workers represented by the three organizations into a unified Global Union Federation.
<img alt="" src="" width="290" height="265" />
&nbsp;Trade union leaders of ICEM, IMF, ITGLWF in Bad M&uuml;nder 
 

Task force members from five continents acknowledged the rationale of the unifying process to create a united voice of the industrial workers of the world, and a strong counter-power to major multinational corporations. Unions want to underline the role of manufacturing industry as the locomotive of national economies and as a creator of good quality jobs with decent working conditions and trade union rights. 
 
The meeting decided to set up a working group to look at the financial questions and to start drafting the statutes for a new organization for a continued discussion on decision-making, regional, and sectoral structures. The task force will report back to the statutory bodies of the three federations, and will meet again in the beginning of December in Geneva.

ICEM, IMF, ITGLWF Bodies Meet to Shape New Industrial Global Union

Legal experts of the International Commission for Labour Rights (ICLR) yesterday announced their next step in the campaign for legal recognition of the leadership of the National Miners and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), known as Los Mineros. The ICLR will file a brief to the Mexican Supreme Court in the case of Los Mineros, in which a ruling is pending over recognition of democratically elected General Secretary Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia. 
 
Legal recognition, or toma de nota, for Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez was first withdrawn by the Mexican Labour Secretariat in 2006. After the decision was overturned in court early 2008, G&oacute;mez was re-elected to serve another term by a May 2008 Los Mineros Convention. On 24 June 2008, the Mexican Labour Secretariat once again denied the toma de nota to G&oacute;mez, on the grounds that his election was not in accordance with the constitution of the trade union. 
 
It is unacceptable for the Mexican state to interfere in the internal workings of democratic independent trade unions such as Los Mineros, removing their right to autonomy. The Court&rsquo;s decision in this case will set a vitally important precedent on the freedom of Mexicans to freely exercise their right of association and to organise, outlined in ILO Convention 87. 
 
The move was formally announced at a press conference yesterday, 21 September, in Mexico City, organised by Los Mineros. The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) fully support this latest development, as part of the overall campaign for labour rights in Mexico. 
 
&quot;We will maintain pressure on the Calder&oacute;n government until our joint affiliate Los Mineros achieves justice&quot;, stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina. 
 
The brief to be filed by the ICLR is supported by a strong network of human and labour rights organisations around the world, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy &amp; World Human Rights (ELDH), the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), and the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers (CALL-ACAMS), among many others. 
 
View the brief and prior ICLR report <a href="http://www.laborcommission.org/reports.htm">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM is a Geneva-based Global union Federation covering 467 national trade unions in 132 countries. The IMF, also Geneva-based, consists of 200 trade union affiliates in 100 countries. 
 
For further information, contact Tom Grinter, ICEM Communications Office, <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1853, +41796934499 or Anita Gardner, IMF Communications, <a href="mailto:agardner@imfmetal.org">agardner@imfmetal.org</a>, +41 22 308 5032.

Prominent Legal Experts Call on Mexican Supreme Court to Respect Mineworkers’ Autonomy

Despite two full days of bargaining between ICEM affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (NTMEIA) on 16-17 September, no accord was reached to end the three-week old strike. Some 6,000 rubber workers have been on strike at six tyre factories operated by four employers since 29 August. 
 
Today in Port Elizabeth, 4,000 NUMSA members from tyre plants in the Eastern Cape will march in protest of rapt division among employers in this year&rsquo;s wage talks. They will present a petition to management at the plant gates of Bridgestone-Firestone in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.
The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), based in Geneva,&nbsp;continues its support&nbsp;for striking rubber workers in South Africa, and endorses today's mobilisation in Port Elizabeth.&nbsp; 
 
In last week&rsquo;s talks guided by an independent mediator in Port Elizabeth, management of the Japanese-based company continued to deviate widely from the wage offers put forth by other tyre companies associated with the NTMEIA. While Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop of India placed on the table a three-year package containing wage increases of 9%, 7.5%, and 7.5%, Bridgestone-Firestone&rsquo;s offer was 7%, 5%, and 5%. 
 
Rubber workers of NUMSA are willing to accept a three-year pact, but their wage expectations are 9% in each of the three years. In addition, they seek a modernized wage module that will lift the salaries of workers who have been stuck at minimum levels for as long as 10 to 15 years. 
 
Another key issue at the bargaining table revolves around the use of labour brokers. Although the NTMEIA will not agree to a ban, it has conceded to pay contributions for short-term and temporary workers into the Provident Fund, as well as make retirement and medical payments for them. The South African tyre industry employs about 1,000 such workers. 
 
Also last week in South Africa, 70,000 NUMSA members across the country returned to their jobs at fuel retail outlets and auto component shops. On 14 September, NUMSA convened a special National Executive Committee meeting, where eight of nine regional structures of the union agreed to accept terms of the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers&rsquo; Association, ending strikes that began on 1 September. 
 
The three-year contract for filling station attendants includes wage gains of 10%, 9%, and 8%, while auto-parts workers will receive 9%, 8%, and 8%. NUMSA did achieve a solid breakthrough regarding labour brokers, particularly in these sectors in which several employers are totally reliant on staff provided by outside hire firms. 
 
The agreement calls for all labour brokers to be registered by one of two certifying agencies, and all staff of labour brokers must receive minimum rates of pay inside the two industries as well as getting the same benefits and condition of employment. In addition, the negotiated settlement calls for the gradual phase-out of labour brokers, with a cut to 35% of current levels by the year 2013.
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information&nbsp;Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842 (office), +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).&nbsp;

ICEM Continues Support for South African Tyre Strike

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
US President Barack Obama has named United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard to the President&rsquo;s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations. The committee is a private sector initiative established by the US Congress in 1974 to ensure that US trade policy and trade negotiating objectives adequately reflect US commercial and economic interests. 
 
&ldquo;I am grateful to President Obama for the confidence he has shown in me, and I pledge to work closely with the Administration to help resolve some of the issues we face in maintaining a fair trading system among nations,&rdquo; said Gerard. The appointment was made on 15 September.
<img src="" width="110" height="60" alt="" />
The USW under Gerard&rsquo;s stewardship has been stalwart in protecting American jobs in the face of unfair trade advantages. Only last week, Gerard testified both before a House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee on legislation aimed at addressing China&rsquo;s unfair trade advantages because of its currency undervaluation, and before the US Federal Trade Commission on dumping of coated paper products into the US by China and Indonesia.

Obama Names USW’s Leo Gerard to American Trade Policy Panel

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The world&rsquo;s largest newsprint producer, Canadian-based AbitibiBowater, will exit from bankruptcy in mid-October, some 18 months after it sought protection from creditors in both Canada and US. A creditors&rsquo; committee last week gave approval to a restructuring plan that includes novel and company-saving collective agreements that were negotiated last spring, preserving pensions and granting unique union rights. 
 
Those agreements on both sides of the North American border between the forest products company and the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada and the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US kept the company solvent and operating. They also gave AbitibiBowater immediate financial relief, yet preserved some of the best union rights language in the North American paper industry. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s unsecured creditors vote came a day after the province of Quebec announced it would grant relief on contributions to workers&rsquo; pension plans in exchange for the company investing C$75 million in new projects over the next five years, as well as to maintain its headquarters in Quebec. 
 
The CEP and its President, Dave Coles, applauded both the province&rsquo;s and creditors&rsquo; actions, but reminded that the federal government has been conspicuously absent from issues to preserve the Canadian forest products industry.
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="114" />
CEP President Dave&nbsp;Coles&nbsp; 

&ldquo;Workers have done more than their fair share to save this company, in marked contrast to our federal government which did nothing to come to the aid of ailing forest communities,&rdquo; said Coles. &ldquo;We will remember the Harper government&rsquo;s inaction at election time.&rdquo; 
 
The CEP preserved its pattern bargaining for the eastern Canadian paper sector in court-monitored negotiations with AbitibiBowater last spring. Although the five-year agreement contained 10% wage cuts for the first two years, it did protect existing and future retirement benefits with the company contributing C$500 million to a new, union-operated pension fund. In the US, in a four-year pact, USW members took a lesser salary reduction for the same period but won several union rights issues unique in American labour agreements. 
 
In Canada, the restructuring plan under the country&rsquo;s Companies&rsquo; Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA) now goes before a Quebec Superior Court judge on 20 September for approval, while in the US, a conformation hearing under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Court occurs 24 September in the state of Delaware.

Newsprint Maker Abitibi to Emerge from Bankruptcy, Thanks to NA Paperworkers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A 17-day strike by members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) ended last Wednesday, 15 September, against Megabolt Australia Pty. Ltd., a Campbellfield, Victoria, producer of nuts, bolts, roof plates and other metal gear primarily sold to the mining industry. The 25 metalworkers won an exceptional contract in their first enterprise labour agreement with the company, owned by the Hutchins family&rsquo;s Wham Investments. 
 
Megabolt workers took up the AMWU banner after being stymied by a thriving company over wages. Some employees had worked up to ten years at wages of A$15 an hour, barely above the Australian minimum wage.
<img src="" width="156" height="117" alt="" />
photo: Tim Laurence
After maintaining 24-hour picket lines since the strike started on 30 August, Megabolt General Manager Tom Hutchins admitted he wanted labour peace and a resumption of production because, as he stated in a local newspaper, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got more business to win and jobs to create &hellip; I don&rsquo;t want anything more than to get a resolution.&rdquo; 
 
That resolution came in the excellent three-year accord. Workers won a 10% wage increase, backdated to 2 June 2010, with 4.5% increases to come each in 2011 and 2012. In addition, the AMWU won an A$750 ratification bonus for each worker, and the union negotiated permanent and full-time work status for all casual workers who have been on the job for longer than six months. 
 
Other gains include monthly rostered days off, improved redundancy provisions, an award-aligned classification structure, language on use of contractors, as well as health and safety and union rights. 
 
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re ecstatic with the outcome,&rdquo; said AMWU delegate Zelko Cimboro inside Megabolt. &ldquo;We got the outcome we wanted and the workers definitely feel stronger together now.&rdquo;

Australia: Vigilant Strike Leads to Superior Gains for AMWU Members at Megabolt

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On 7-8 October, ICEM organised a session on decent work in Dakar, Senegal, together with the national trade union center Union D&eacute;mocratique des Travailleurs du S&eacute;n&eacute;gal (UDTS) and the ICEM affiliate, Syndicat Unique des Travailleurs des Industries Diverses du S&eacute;n&eacute;gal (SUTIDS). The meeting was sponsored by CSC Belgium, and ICEM Vice President Alfons de Potter was one of the facilitators of the meeting. 
 
&ldquo;We benefit from the experience of Belgium in discussion of employment problems,&rdquo; said SUTIDS General Secretary Seyni Mbaye Ndiaye. &ldquo;This country is very advanced on social issues.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="69" />
In S&eacute;n&eacute;gal, the focus of decent work is to combat poverty and find a solution to social exclusion. The priority is to create employment for everyone backed by social protections. Such employment needs to have the support of social dialogue and the respect for global labour standards. In S&eacute;n&eacute;gal, a legal decree has been passed regulating temporary work. Nevertheless, it is the duty of trade unions to monitor the legislation. The country has a national programme to promote decent work. 
 
SUTIDS has a bilateral programme with CSC Belgium to strengthen capacities. The decent work programme was preceded by two days of a regional women's workshop for countries in French-speaking West Africa, which concluded that ICEM must do more to strengthen trade union action in the informal economy. Unions from Mauritania, Togo, B&eacute;nin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), S&eacute;n&eacute;gal, and Romania took part in the meeting. The unions also called upon ICEM to exert pressure on the production chains inside the DRC to put a stop to violence against women and rapes in Kivu. 
 
The meeting ended with a press conference.

ICEM, CSC of Belgium Conduct Decent Work Workshop in Sénégal

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