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Worker safety institutes in Australia have almost unanimously said the advent of Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s WorkChoices law will ultimately be detrimental to workplace safety. Now comes wisdom from another organisation, the Victorian Safety Institute of Australia. 
 
The institute says the government&rsquo;s labour reforms, which dramatically changed union rights and employment rights, will pose the biggest threat to workplace safety since asbestos. 
 
Speaking prior to a Safety in Action conference held recently in Melbourne, the Victorian Safety Institute&rsquo;s vice president, Kevin Jones said: &ldquo;WorkChoices is opening a Pandora&rsquo;s box of new health problems stemming from stress and high workloads. It&rsquo;s the greatest threat to workers&rsquo; health since asbestos, because it harms people from all walks of life in such an insidious way &ndash; millions of Australians will suffer its potentially devastating effects.&rdquo;

Australia: WorkChoices Law Brings ‘Undeniable’ Damage to Workplace Safety

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With 19 countries now recognising 28 April as the official International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, attention is now squarely on the United Nations General Assembly to also recognise the day. 
 
To that end, on 3 May, a worker and trade union delegation will meet with officials of the Executive Office of the UN's Secretary General to update them on global labour's drive for recognition of the day. The meeting in New York City is hosted by the Support and Coordination Office of the UN's Economic and Social Council. 
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Trade union representatives from each continent, along with those from the ITUC, will update officials from the Secretary General's office on the growing number of 28 April activities scheduled for this week, as well as on priorities to be contained in the official recognition of such a day. 
Those priorities include: Recognition and enforcement of worker and trade union rights to overcome barriers to occupational health and safety; A better understanding, tracking system, and response to occupational cancers; Ratification of global occupational health and safety instruments and measures by national governments, with aggressive promotion to strengthen reporting and enforcement. 
 
A global ban on the production, use and commercialisation of asbestos in all of its forms; and the need for better and more enduring mechanisms to report performance of HIV/AIDS targets and commitments made by intergovernmental institutions, especially the G8. 
 
Ed Thomas from the Canadian Union of Public Employees will lead the delegation. The Canadian labour movement is largely credited for the initial push, in 1984, to proclaim 28 April as Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day each year. The Canadian government formally recognised the day in 1991 when the Day of Morning Act was passed. Last year, the UN agreed to an annual reporting of 28 April by the ITUC. 
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&quot;It has taken a long time to reach this point, but our goal draws closer every time another country adopts 28 April as a national observance day,&quot; said Thomas. &quot;The recent decision by the governments of the Ukraine and the Andean Community, which will bring to 19 the number of countries that officially recognise the day, has injected fresh energy into the trade union delegation that will join me in New York.&quot; 
 
The trade unionists heading to the UN on 3 May will be part of a broader trade union group that will attend this year's UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The unionists will highlight the importance of good industrial relations regarding workplace health and safety within the context of sustainable development. 
 
The nations that have adopted 28 April as an official day of remembrance include: Argentina, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greece, Luxembourg, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Venezuela. 
 
In 1996, the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development first observed a global day to commemorate dead and injured workers when a trade union delegation was allowed to light a candle and incense at one of its sessions. At that time, Canada was the only country that had adopted 28 April as a national day of observance.

Trade Union Mission to UN to Press for Security Council Recognition of 28 April as Official Day

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ICEM affiliates from the Latin America/Caribbean Region have adopted a statement in support of Costa Rican affiliate Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros Quimicos y Afines (SITRAPEQUIA), which has fought against adoption of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) by the country&rsquo;s government. 
 
If adopted, CAFTA would become the official free trade agreement between the United States and the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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&nbsp; 
CAFTA has already been approved by all those countries, except. President Oscar Arias has announced a referendum will occur in Costa Rico on the free trade agreement later this year. 
 
According to the ICEM regional statement, which specifically cites the many current trade union rights violations in Costa Rica, adoption of CAFTA would bring it a whole range of negative symptoms and threats to society. 
 
The statement says that such dangers will include even more workers&rsquo; rights violations. It adds that the agreement would set in motion a systematic dismantling of many of the country&rsquo;s social and legal gains, and that Costa Rica stands to lose a fair degree of sovereignty if CAFTA is adopted. The free trade agreement would bypass important parts of the country&rsquo;s legal system in and allow dispute resolution of violations by multinational enterprises to be heard in international courts.
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Costa Rican unions fear that the agreement will result in heavy job losses, especially in agriculture and industry. For example, with the opening of unrestricted or semi-restricted trade, US food products, which enjoy heavy subsidising and technological advantages, will find access to Central American markets much easier. This will work to the detriment of local national products and the workers employed in the food and agriculture. 
 
Also mentioned in the ICEM regional statement are public health risks. Patents held by large pharmaceutical companies may become unavailable. The statement also cites dangers to the environment, with private companies gaining more rights to commercially exploit the many natural resources of Costa Rica. 
 
The resolution was adopted at the ICEM regional conference for Latin America/Caribbean in Salvador, Brazil, which occurred on 27-28 June. SITRAPEQUIA&rsquo;s is Costa Rica&rsquo;s oil and chemical trade union and its efforts to block ratification of CAFTA have strong support from the Costa Rican national trade union centre, Confederaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores Rerum Novarum (CTRN).

ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Adopts anti-CAFTA Statement on Behalf of Costa Rico

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Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Tehran bus workers&rsquo; union, Sherkat-e Vahed (SKSV), was again arrested by Iran&rsquo;s secret police, following a June European tour that included meetings at the ILO International Labour Conference. Osanloo was abducted on 10 July after he stepped off a bus. 
 
Witnesses said he was beaten before being forced into a silver Peugeot and driven off. At first, Iranian authorities denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. But after two days, a Revolutionary Court judge acknowledged he was being held in the dreaded Evin prison, a jail that he had been in last year.
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Supporters of Osanloo in Tehran said the secret police has followed him around the clock since his return from Europe in late June. He spoke in Geneva at the ILO, London, and Brussels, where he addressed the General Council of the ITUC. At the ILO&rsquo;s annual conference, he said it was essential that the ILO and all of civil society oppose a draft labour code being proposed by the Islamic government in Iran. The law, if passed, would abolish nearly all workers&rsquo; rights gained in the past. 
 
The Labour Conference heard how the Iranian government brutally assaulted and then arrested activists during a 1 May celebration. And it heard from Osanloo that SKVS the union refuses to enforce a government decree limiting women passengers to the back seats of Tehran and Suburbs buses, and only if they are wearing sanctioned attire.
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David Cockroft, general secretary of The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), which hosted Osanloo in London, said last week, &ldquo;Three weeks ago we were applauding Mansour. One week ago we were successfully campaigning to have his deputy released from another unjustified arrest. This week we are profoundly worried about his physical safety and want to see Mansour freed and among his friends and family as quickly as possible.&rdquo; 
 
It marks the third time that Mansour Osanloo, 47, has been detained. In 2004, he helped form one of the first free trade unions since Iran&rsquo;s Islamic Republic was born in 1979. He led two successful strikes by transit workers that gave them a level of rights. But he was arrested twice in 2006, the latest a 19 December incarceration in which he was held for 22 days. 
 
The ICEM, along with the rest of the global labour movement, calls for immediate release of Mansour Osanloo from this latest, 10 July, unwarranted arrest.

Iran Again Arrests Mansour Osanloo Following His European Labour Visits

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Peru became the 22nd country to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, when Resolution No. 29012 passed the nation&rsquo;s Congress. The ratification is a tribute to all Peruvian mining unions, especially ICEM affiliate Confederaci&oacute;n General de Trabajadores del Per&uacute; (FNTMMSP) and national centre CGTP. 
 
With Convention 176 now officially on the books in Peru, miners win unprecedented rights in the country on safety and health matters. Ratification also is expected to bring new technology and techniques to one of the world&rsquo;s largest mining countries.
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&nbsp;&ldquo;The ICEM is proud to have had a small role &ndash; providing information and documentation on 176 &ndash; to Peru&rsquo;s trade unions,&rdquo; stated General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;But the real credit goes to FNTMMSP and all the other trade union organisations. They convinced those that needed convincing that with enactment of this important global standard, Peru is on course to a modern and sustainable mining sector.&rdquo; 
 
For the Peruvian government, they must now put in pace a national policy on mine safety and health. It must create a national agency that will thoroughly and regularly inspect and investigate all mining activity. Safe and reliable emergency procedures must be put in place in the event of accidents. 
 
Miners now can freely and without prejudice notify authorities and management of unsafe conditions. They have the right to call for expedited inspections or investigations, and they will have full access to all information and data concerning mine safety and health. They will also have the right to leave a mining operation in the event of serious risk. And worker representation backing these rights is guaranteed. 
 
For the mining employers, they must seek to eliminate all mining deaths and accidents by controlling and reducing inherent mining risks. They must provide the necessary equipment and communication systems to guarantee full security. And they must preserve the land and the environment, as well as the well-being of the communities and the people who reside in those communities near their mining holdings.
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Early in 2007, Peru&rsquo;s Commission on Work gave approval to national Resolution No. 29012 after strong and determined lobbying by Peru&rsquo;s labour unions. That came a month after a January 2007 visit to Peru by ILO Sec. Gen. Juan Somavia, who encouraged the government to ratify eight ILO Conventions, including the 1995 Safety and Health in Mines Convention No. 176. 
 
Nations that have now signed the Convention: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lebanon, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Peru Ratifies ILO Convention 176, the Mine Safety and Health Standard

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Turkey&rsquo;s only petrochemicals company, Petkim Petrokimya, was auctioned off 5 July by the state&rsquo;s Privatisation Authority in a &euro;1.5 billion transaction that fails simple transparency criteria. The government has failed to provide clear backgrounds on some of the partners comprising the winning bid for a 51% stake in this important Turkish enterprise. 
 
That bid was won by a newly-chartered Kazakh-Russian company, Transcentral Asia Petrochem Holding. It is composed of three partners: JSK Caspi Neft, a Kazk-based oil exploration firm; Investment Production Group Eurasia, reportedly a Kazak-owned and Russian-based real estate investor; and GK Troika Dialogue, a function of Moscow-based Troika Capital Partners that now has its first foreign holding in Petkim Petrokimya.
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&nbsp;The Russian Oil and Gas Report calls it Russia&rsquo;s fourth largest foreign investment ever, and says it is the largest Russian investment acquisition in Turkey. Immediately after the award was made, an international debt-rating agency put a &ldquo;negative watch&rdquo; on the acquisition, a pointed market signal regarding the lack of transparency. 
 
Those facts and many more are not lost on Petrol-İş, ICEM&rsquo;s oilworkers&rsquo; union affiliate in Turkey. Petrol-İş will once again argue in Turkish courts that this buy-out, a majority stake in a profitable enterprise that is key to the Turkish plastics supply chain, will harm the public good. The union has previously proven it can win its arguments in Turkish courts on privatisation matters, and this one contains solid facts that have many unanswered sub-facts. 
 
The Turkish Privatisation Authority opened bidding on Petkim Petrokimya on 16 March 2007. Seven consortiums were invited to submit further bids two months later. They included a partnership between Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR and the Kazakh national oil/gas company KazMunagGas, and ones comprised of India Oil Co. and Carmel Olefins Ltd., 50% held by Israeli-based Oil Refineries Ltd. 
 
It came down to the SOCAR partnership and Transcentral Asia Petrochemical Holding bidding against each other in the final round. Within Transcentral, JSK Caspi Neft is the only partner with a track record in energy. And that is oil and gas exploration and development in the eastern Caspian. The Russian interests have no energy experience, apparently anywhere. 
 
A majority stake at this particular time is critical. The Turkish government began the sale of this enterprise, composed of two petrochem plants in Aliaga and Yarimka, in 2005, when it sold over the third of the company&rsquo;s stock in a public offering. Some 40% is now traded on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The stake that Transcentral will win -- if it can get past Petrol-İş and several other legal challenges &ndash; consists of the 44% stake owned now by the Privatisation Authority and a 7% holding by Turkey&rsquo;s public pension monies.
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Petrol-İş&nbsp;demonstrates&nbsp;Against&nbsp;Non-Transparent Bid&nbsp; 
 

Even before Transcentral won the bidding, Petrol-İş and its members took to the streets to protect the 3,700 workers employed at Petkim Petrokimya. Marches and protests will be repeated as this privatisation becomes subject to the union&rsquo;s legal challenges, as well as full Turkish regulatory approval. Petrol-İş President Mustafa Oztaskin called into question the issue of the buyers&rsquo; financial stability in Turkey&rsquo;s press following 5 July&rsquo;s winning bid announcement. 
 
Turkey has seen a number of privatisation sales in recent years in many different sectors, as advised by the International Monetary Fund. Petkim Petrokimya is Turkey&rsquo;s only petrochemical plant, and it creates annual revenues of US$1.6 billion. It supplies most of Turkey with the raw and essential materials for the plastics, textile, and detergents markets. And one-quarter of output from workers at the two plants is then sold on export markets. This is one Turkish privatisation deal that will gain intense scrutiny in the coming months.

Petrochems: Transparency Suspect in Turkey’s Latest Petrol Privatising

Two trans-Atlantic unions that have plans to merge, the United Steelworkers (USW) of North America and Unite of the UK, launched a joint campaign on 21 June to highlight the negative role that private equity companies are having on the global economy. The two unions called on governments and world economic bodies to fairly regulate such capital entities. 
 
The two unions, both ICEM affiliates, announced the joint campaign at the opening of merger talks in London. 
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&quot;Our two unions will work closely together to lobby governments in Europe and North America to restrict the activities of corporate raiders, to protect the jobs and the pay conditions of working people,&rdquo; stated Unite Joint General Secretary Derek Simpson. 
 
&ldquo;Private equity firms highlight the reason that we are exploring a merger with Unite,&rdquo; added USW President Leo Gerard. &ldquo;Global finance must be confronted by global labor.&rdquo; 
 
Unite&rsquo;s other Joint General Secretary, Tony Woodley, said, &ldquo;Private equity funds are the world&rsquo;s largest source of cash, funded mostly by workers&rsquo; pensions, paying little or no tax. There&rsquo;s something seriously wrong in any country where this happens.&rdquo; 
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The unions seek transparency into the activities of private equity companies, and they seek a closure of tax loopholes that reward short-term manipulation at the expense of job creation and workers&rsquo; income. 
 
It is estimated that workers&rsquo; pension funds now provide up to 25% of private equity capital. In 2006 alone, private equity funds raised a total of US$221 billion, up from US$33 billion ten years ago. To illustrate the harm that takeovers, buy-outs, and the inevitable restructurings bring, last year, a total amount of US$730 billion in leveraged deals was done. That compares to only $37 billion a short five years ago. 
 
The tax paid by managers of such deals, who make sometimes tens of millions of dollars in a single deal, is sometimes less that tax paid by an ordinary worker.

USW of the United States and Unite of the UK to Challenge Greed of Private Equity Funds

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Negotiations in the gold, platinum, chrome, diamond, coal, and iron ore mining sectors of South Africa head into July with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and major mining companies being far apart on wages. 
 
Disputes have been declared in nearly all the talks, with NUM seeking two-year increases ranging from 11% at DeBeer's diamond-mining operations to higher at platinum and gold mining operators. Contracts expired on 30 June but talks are likely to continue throughout July, under the guidance of the CCMA, the governmental agency where NUM has filed for dispute resolution. Such filings are necessary before a union can legally take strike action. 
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This set of negotiations comes amidst an escalating South African inflation rate, especially food and fuel costs. The talks also come when commodity prices are high, and the mining houses are reaping huge profits. 
 
Gold and platinum, two natural resources in which South Africa leads the world in production, have seen rising demand, resulting in higher pricing. Gold was selling for US$420 an ounce in early 2005. In June 2007, it was selling for nearly US$653 an ounce. And platinum, which finds South Africa supplying 75% of the world's markets, has seen price rises of 18% since the beginning of 2007. 
 
NUM is seeking wage increases for the two years in most sectors of about 15%. 
 
&quot;When we talk of double-digit (increases) we mean business and we are not in the business of playing games with our members' mandates,&quot; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. 
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NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
To date in talks, the mining companies have put forward wage offers that fall far short of South African inflation. The Chamber of Mines, representing AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields, and Harmony in gold talks, have offered only 6%. DRDGold is bargaining outside the chamber, but its current offer is insufficient. 
 
The same can be said for the chamber's low offer in coal negotiations. In platinum, where AngloPlatinum, Impala Platinum, Lonmin, and Northam are the country's leading producers, the employers' wage offer of between 6-7% falls short of NUM goals. 
 
At Kumba Resources, an iron ore producer, the NUM is seeking 13.5%, while DeBeers offer to diamond miners is 7% next to NUM's demand for 11%. 
 
The NUM knows that no mining settlement has ever been reached without a fight. Now, as negotiations head into July, South Africa's largest and most militant trade union expects just that.

Disputes Declared in South Africa&#039;s Mining Negotiations

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South Africa's mining industry is getting more dangerous, judging from a rash of deaths in June in the country's gold and platinum sectors. Overall, mining deaths in 2007 far outpace those occurring in preceding years, making a 2003 goal by the Chamber of Mines of achieving zero workplace deaths by 2013 difficult to imagine. 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), ICEM's largest trade union affiliate in South Africa, believes mining houses are spending large sums to increase production in this period of high precious commodity pricing, but very little on safety prevention. 
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A&nbsp;study done by a South African organisation, Bench Marks Foundation, cites an audit done by AngloPlatinum, a company hit with the most June mining deaths. The audit reveals that an AngloPlats review of its deaths in mining shows more emphasis is placed on establishing blame &quot;rather than on identifying causes and instituting measures to prevent the occurrence of accidents.&quot; 
The world's largest producer of platinum, 75% owned by AngloAmerican, witnessed five June deaths in its South African operations, which caused the company to close its massive Rustenburg operations for seven days on 18 June in order to conduct a safety audit. 
 
AngloPlatinum is responsible for 17 deaths in South African mines so far in 2007. Twelve of those came at Rustenberg. That compares with a total of 19 in 2006, 17 of which came at Rustenburg.
AngloPlat's sister company, AngloGold Ashanti, has fared no better. Globally, in the first quarter of 2007, AngloGold experienced its worst quarter of mining deaths since 2004. Fourteen miners perished in the first three months of 2007, including nine in the company's South African gold operations. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Rival Goldfields is responsible for ten mining deaths in South Africa so far in 2007. 
 
Last year, a total of 199 mining deaths were recorded in the country's mines, including 113 in gold operations and 40 in platinum. If the recent May-June spate of nearly 50 deaths continues, the 2007 death toll will far exceed those occurring in 2006. 
 
The NUM has formally called for an urgent tripartite meeting to resuscitate South Africa's Mining Health and Safety Summit in order to address the current deficiencies in mine safety. Even the Chamber of Mines, at its third annual health and safety meetings early in June, said that drastic action is needed now to curb the high level of mining deaths. 
 
The NUM endorsed the chamber's statement, but says mining houses must begin to &quot;walk the talk.&quot; In the Bench Mark's study, commissioned by the three major platinum producers, AngloPlatinum, Impala, and Lonmin, the NGO said the dramatic increase in production levels is responsible for an adverse effect on safety. 
 
The chief researcher to the year-long study recommends that bonuses of top executives be linked closely to safety performances. 
<img height="161" alt="" src="" width="130" />
NUM and ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana
NUM President Senzeni Zokwana said, &quot;Workers feel let down by the state's judicial system since no employer has ever been hauled before a court of law in the circumstances in which people lose their lives, although legislation is clear on that.&quot; 
 
&quot;Miners are losing their lives and limbs, while the majority of accidents are preventable,&quot; added NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. The NUM insists that all parties concerned in South Africa, from the relevant governmental agencies to all levels of management inside the mining companies, give the matter of health and safety in mining the top priority it deserves.

2007 Mining Deaths Become Worrisome in South Africa

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On June 25, 2007, 30 employees of the Russian &ldquo;State Institute of Organic Synthesis Technology&rdquo; (or FGUP GITOS) went on a hunger strike for an indefinite period. They were driven to this extreme measure by the inability of the Federal Agency for Industry to settle wage arrears, going back to 2003. 
 
In the past, FGUP GITOS was involved in technology research and development, including on highly toxic substances. When Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993, the R&amp;D work at the Institute ended. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
All conversion schemes subsequently launched at the enterprise have failed. Since June 2004, the FRUP GITOS, the only industrial employer in the town of Shikhany, in the Russian Saratov Region, has been going through a bankruptcy procedure, which has been persistently obstructed by the Federal Agency for Industry. 
 
In June 2005, the Federal Agency set up one of the business units of the FGUP GITOS as a separate entity and transferred production floors, the infrastructure , the State order, and 230 employees of the FGUP GITOS to the new legal entity. In April 2006, the FGUP GITOS itself, with the remaining 200 employees, was declared bankrupt and put into receivership. Currently, all employees of the FGUP GITOS have received redundancy notices. 
 
In July 2006, in an attempt to prevent a hunger strike announced by the FGUP GITOS union, a Joint Commission was formed, with representatives from the Federal Agency for Industry, the Interregional Trade Union Association SODRUZHESTVO, affiliated to Russian Oil and Gas Workers Union (ROGWU, ICEM affiliate), the Government of the Saratov Region, the local authorities of Shikhany, and the workforce. The Commission had the task of determining the amount of wages and social benefits owed to both former and current GITOS employees and finding a way to settle the arrears. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" />
Some efforts towards financial assistance were arranged. However, most failed, and others were manifestly insufficient. 
 
In February 2007, the FGUP GITOS union announced its decision to picket the Federal Agency for Industry. After they were first told that it was &lsquo;all their own fault&rsquo;, promises were made to the workers that the enterprise would be reorganised. Those promises were never fulfilled. 
 
More workers are determined to join their 30 striking colleagues if nothing is done. The workers also intend to organise a march to Moscow and file a mass complaint with the European Human Rights Court. 
 
Alerted to the situation by ROGWU, the <a href="/index.php?id=8&amp;doc=2309&amp;la=EN">ICEM sent a letter to the Russian Prime Minister</a>, stating its grave concern and urging the Federal Government to ensure an immediate resolution of the dispute and settlement of all social benefits and wage arrears which currently stand at RUB 88 million (&euro; 2.5 million), including wage arrears, union dues, payments to the pension fund and health benefits.

Russian Chemical Workers start Hunger Strike

Archive

Australia: WorkChoices Law Brings ‘Undeniable’ Damage to Workplace Safety

Trade Union Mission to UN to Press for Security Council Recognition of 28 April as Official Day

ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Adopts anti-CAFTA Statement on Behalf of Costa Rico

Iran Again Arrests Mansour Osanloo Following His European Labour Visits

Peru Ratifies ILO Convention 176, the Mine Safety and Health Standard

Petrochems: Transparency Suspect in Turkey’s Latest Petrol Privatising

USW of the United States and Unite of the UK to Challenge Greed of Private Equity Funds

Disputes Declared in South Africa's Mining Negotiations

2007 Mining Deaths Become Worrisome in South Africa

Russian Chemical Workers start Hunger Strike

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