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America&rsquo;s second and fourth largest industrial unions merged 12 April, creating North America&rsquo;s largest industrial union. ICEM affiliates United Steelworkers and PACE are officially one following a resounding voice vote of approval from delegates representing PACE local unions at a special convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Steelworkers&rsquo; Executive Board had already approved the merger in January. The merged union now has 850,000 members and is called the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied-Industrial and Service Workers International Union, or simply USW.

PACE and USWA in US Officially Merge

Fifty-three Serbian miners won job protections and guaranteed work rights with a seven-day hunger strike at the Kostolac coal mine. The workers, part of mine maintenance and geological research of Serbian power company EPS now coming under a new enterprise called Georad, will retain the same contract provisions and rights under the EPS collective agreement. They also won job protections from EPS if the new enterprise fails. The miners&rsquo; action plus skilled bargaining tactics by leaders of ICEM affiliate EPS Trade Union Workers won the guarantees. The strike lasted one full week, 18-24 March.

Serbian EPS Union Wins Rights for Mine Maintenance Workers

Strike ballot preparation by Transport &amp; General members in the UK began last week at two sites of French-based Imerys. Imerys late last year unilaterally closed off the final pension scheme to new workers and changed the accrual rate for existing workers that effectively downgrades their benefit levels. Some 2,500 workers are involved. T&amp;G said Imerys took a pension holiday between 2000 and 2003 that turned a large pension surplus into a deficit. If no move is made by Imerys to reverse its pension takeaways, the two workplaces in Devon and Cornwall could face strikes by mid-May.

Strike Ballot Readied by UK Unions at Imerys

A pattern oil bargaining agreement for 30,000 US workers was reached last week, a year before the current four-year labour agreement was due to expire. ICEM affiliate PACE and Shell came to terms on a three-year extension that will now be carried to other oil companies primarily operating in the US downstream sector. The contract contains wage gains of 3.5% for 2006, 3.5% in 2007, and 3.7% in 2008, plus gives workers a US$1,500 ratification bonus. Perhaps most importantly, however, as a measure to address a problem common in many US labour-management talks is creation of a joint union/management Health Care Strategic Committee that will devise solutions to lessen the impact of soaring health costs on all parties.

PACE Gets US Oil Bargaining Pattern with Deal at Shell

Forest Industries Federation of Finland has provoked an industrial dispute with paperworkers represented by affiliate Paperiliitto. Since late in 2004 when the employers&rsquo; federation dropped from the national incomes policy agreement, it has engaged in a consistent pattern of intentionally not coming to any deal with the union. The foot-dragging has caused Paperiliitto to issue an overtime ban, which began 30 March. The union represents 29,000 paperworkers in the sector. Paperiliitto has charged employers with breaking a &ldquo;principle on equality&rdquo; commitment in negotiations.

Finnish Paper Employers Provoke Industrial Dispute

Multiple gold strikes by affiliate NUM in South Africa may have been tempered some by a court decree late last week declaring an end to one strike, Gold Fields involving 30,000 miners. But ongoing stoppages and potential strikes could still pull 100,000 NUM members out, shutting down the country&rsquo;s gold mining industry. On 23 March, 21,000 NUM miners at Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Free State mines struck after the company reneged on a labour agreement from last summer. Harmony unilaterally terminated that agreement and announced job cuts to 4,900 workers without NUM consultation, thus shredding an understanding between Harmony and NUM reached last July. 
The 30,000 Gold Fields miners could return to strike lines once NUM serves a legal notice. A key issue at Gold Fields is housing. The company still provides only common-sex hostels in mining areas, a throwback to apartheid days. Pay disparity between black workers and white workers also is an issue, as is the fact that white women receive maternity leave while black women do not. At the weekend, NUM worksite leaders from South Africa&rsquo;s other third big gold mining house, AngloGold Ashanti, were meeting to consider their options.

Retrenchments Cause of Mining Strikes in South Africa

ICEM affiliate NUM has called for the South African government to revoke the mining license of Durban Roodeport Deep (DRDGold). NUM cites DRDGold&rsquo;s atrocious safety record, as well as its negative labour relations practices. On 9 March, an earth tremor struck the firm&rsquo;s North West mine operations at Hartebeestfontein leaving scores of miners trapped for several hours due to DRDGold&rsquo;s insufficient rescue abilities. Two miners died and 23 were injured. And then a week later the company suddenly closed the Blyvooruitzicht mine near Carltonville without giving the necessary statutory notice. Some 300 women who haul waste rock from that mine for residual gold processing by DRDGold lost their jobs. NUM wants DRDGold to exit the mining business and hand operations off to a company with more integrity and more concern for workers.

NUM in South Africa Seeks License Revocation of DRDGold

A 15 March manifestation in Paris over Total&rsquo;s decision to cut jobs at a petrochemical plant in Saint-Auban, Alpes-de-Haute Provence, has pushed the company off rationalisation of its Ark&eacute;ma subsidiary. Total&rsquo;s plan was to cut 548 jobs, 380 of them at the plant in southeastern France. ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT, along with CGT, took action with workers of the subsidiary in Paris and the company suspended the plan. Worker representatives and managers at the 1,000-worker Saint-Auban plant will now sit down to examine worker proposals for costs savings. FCE-CFDT predicted economic disaster for all workers in management&rsquo;s restructuring had occurred.

French Strike Cancels Total’s Chemical Plant Restructuring

In Brazil, the chemical workers union FEQUIMFAR in Sao Paulo, affiliated with CUT, won a reduction in weekly work time from 44 to 42 hours. The agreement was signed 8 March with pharmaceutical and other companies, and also includes a 2% increase in real wage terms for workers in chemicals, plastics, cosmetics, fertilizers and other industries. &ldquo;This is the first step toward a 40-hour week, which is our goal for all workers in all industries,&rdquo; declared FEQUIMFAR President Danilo Pereiro.

Chemical Workers in Brazil Win Gains Through Union

South Africa&rsquo;s NUM and Harmony Gold Mining Ltd., along with two other unions, agreed to establish a task force composed of geologists, financial experts and labour and management officials to ward off the company&rsquo;s announced intent to shutter six mine shafts that could have cut the jobs of 5,000 workers. The compromise centers on the principle of saving jobs and not closing the shafts, and the task force will deliver its assessment on 3 May. &ldquo;We are pleased that a process to ensure we meet these objectives is in place and acceptable to everyone,&rdquo; said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe.
But strikes due to retrenchments and pay could occur by the NUM at two other firms in South Africa&rsquo;s gold and platinum sectors. Goldfields has indicated it intends to reduce its workforce at the Driefontein gold mine, and talks have failed over economics at Modikwa Platinum, a joint venture between AngloPlatinum and African Rainbow Minerals. NUM states it would like Goldfields to follow Harmony&rsquo;s approach by getting all parties seriously engaged to find a collective means to save jobs.

NUM of South Africa and Harmony Will Evaluate Job Cuts

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