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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Trade union members of IGBCE and Verdi downed tools on 24 January in a four-hour warning strike across Germany against fair-pay salary delays by RWE. The worksite actions came a day before the sixth round of 2010 wage talks in Dortmund, the last chance for RWE to make an equitable salary increase before a full strike ballot occurs. 
 
With worker anger inside RWE boiling over, senior managers of the major European utility provider find themselves at a pivotal point with its 26,000-member German workforce. 
 
The warning strikes last week proved discontent at RWE is wide and loud. Scores of local staffs and thousands of RWE workers held vocal assemblies sponsored by the unions that delivered the same message: workers will contribute to the economic success of the company, but they want fair and full participation to create that success. 
<img style="WIDTH: 142px; HEIGHT: 210px" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0811.IGBCE.jpg" width="150" height="242"/>
Spirited demonstrations took place at many RWE gas and electric power stations and other workplaces, including lignite mines of RWE Power at Garzweiler, Hamach, and Inden. Coal-fired power plants at Niederaussem and Weisweiler also registered vocal support for further strike action. RWE’s nuclear workers at Biblis, Emsland, and Gundremminger downed tools, and gas workers from Emsland and Gersteinwerk also took part in the stop-work actions. 
 
IGBCE urged RWE in a statement to make an acceptable wage offer. The ICEM affiliate said the warning strike is necessary in order to increase pressure on RWE at the bargaining table. A full and unlimited strike would also ratchet pressure on RWE’s major German industrial customers. 
 
RWE had astoundingly withdrawn a 2.9% wage offer, while IGBCE and Verdi were demanding 6.5%. In place, the energy company proposed 2.4%. Salaries, however, are not the only issue. Worker demands for job security and halts to work-time increases also have thus far been unmet by RWE.

German Power Workers Close to Full Dispute with RWE

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ICEM conducted a project on organizing and social dialogue in Turkey in 2009 and 2010 with the support of the Dutch national labour centre, FNV, and its affiliate FNV Bondgenoten. Evaluation of the two-year work was made in a conference held on 29-30 November 2010 in the Turkish capital Ankara. 
 
Attended by more than 80 union representatives, the Conference hosted international delegates, namely Hans Hupkes, Celil Çoban, and Mail Ürker from FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands: Mats Svensson from IF Metall of Sweden; Michael Wolters from IGBCE of Germany; Jorgen Juul Rasmussen from Dansk El Förbund of Denmark; Jacques Caltot and Christophe Quarez from FCE-CFDT of France; Dimitra Penidis and Isabelle Verhaegen from CSC Batiment, Industri & Energie of Belgium; and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan, who ran the project. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.JPG" width="230" height="151" alt=""/>
The Conference started with the speech of Mustafa Kumlu, President of Turk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş Union, who expressed appreciation for the activities of the project that covered some 600 union activists over the two-year period. 
 
“The ICEM takes the lead in organizing international solidarity for Turkish workers, and this project is a clear signal of that,” said Kumlu, adding that Turkish unions support the creation of new manufacturing and energy workers Global Union Federation. Such an entity, he said, will create a large Turkish grouping of over 20 unions. 
 
Hans Hupkes, on behalf of FNV Bondgenoten, stressed the appreciation and satisfaction of his organization with the activities of the project. “A lot has been done – and won – in such a short period. We gained spirit and a sense of solidarity without borders,” he said. 
 
Warda said organising and social dialogue are two key elements of ICEM policy regarding multinationals. “We need the ability to include companies inside Turkey in this process, and the FNV project, we believe, will serve us well to meet this objective.” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.2.JPG" width="213" height="149" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Özkan gave a report on project activities carried out in 2009-2010. The conference then listed observations and opinions of the unions supporting the project from Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, and Belgium. In a separate session, participating Turkish unions shared their observations and evaluated the set of conference. Trade union rights and freedoms in Turkey was one discussion item. A remarkable contribution was made by Sister Müzeyyen Acunal who was fired from her workplace in the paper industry because she pioneered an organizing drive there. 
 
For 2011 and beyond, an evaluation on the future of the project with an action plan will be developed. A common point was made that union organizing is very tough in Turkey. Current legislation makes it extremely difficult. In addition to mentioning the obvious difficulties, a consensus was put forward that new opportunities and tools, particularly international ones, need to be used. Organising campaign being conducted by Petrol-İş was mentioned as a good example. 
 
At the end of the discussions, Turkish unions agreed to develop capacity on using international tools in separate sessions for trade union officers. Specific bilateral groups between Turkish unions and unions from countries from where multinational investment to Turkey originates should be created. Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations were mentioned as priorities. 
 
Continuation of the struggle against Contract and Agency Labour, as part of ICEM’s global CAL campaign, was defined as one of the priority areas. After the first national conference in 2008, an urgent second conference was identified as important, considering the recent pushes by the Turkish government to modify labour legislation for allowing more workplace flexibility and unlimited use of agency labour. 
 
The ICEM’s Özkan commented: “Our intensive project programme in 2009 and 2010 gave us a good opportunity to get together with a big portion of local union officers in the regions of Turkey. More than 600 people got a chance to learn and make use of international solidarity in day-to-day union activities. We now will embark on specific projects with concrete targets.”

ICEM’s Two-Year Dutch FNV Project for Turkey Evaluated in Ankara

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The ICEM today announced unequivocal support to striking coal miners of the Tkibuli-Mindeli coal mine Imereti region in western Georgia. Trade union members of ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia are justified in their stop-work actions because the owner of the mine, the Saknakshiri company, part of the Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), has neglected to install modern gas detection devices in its underground mine. 
 
The open-ended strike began yesterday, 2 February, and the ICEM supports the demands of 200 miners to remedy unsafe mine conditions and to improve work conditions. The strike yesterday came after a two-hour warning strike on 31 January, and 12 days after a methane gas explosion inside the Tkibuli-Mindel mine killed one worker and severely injured four others. 
 
Those workers knew methane gas levels were high but were told to retreat into the mine or face dismissal. Two days before the 21 January explosion, two other work units complained about high gas levels but were ordered to stay inside shafts.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Georgia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
"The information we have is the Tkibuli mine operates with inferior and out-dated detection and ventilation equipment,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “Following an August 2010 gas explosion that again killed miners, the company made only minor repairs rather than invest in a new and modern system.” 
 
The 27 August 2010 explosion killed four miners and severely injured six others. On 3 March 2010, four miners were again killed and one seriously burned in another methane gas blast at the Tkibuli-Mindeli colliery. 
 
The ICEM backs the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia’s demand that the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC) be given full participation in the special commission to probe the 21 January disaster. The ICEM calls on Saknakshiri to meet workers’ demands, including establishment of a compensation system for injured workers and the families of miners killed at work, hazardous duty pay, and proper protective clothing attire for work. 
 
Besides a healthy safety environment in which to work, Tkibuli-Mindeli miners also are seeking an end to non-regular employment, an overtime pay system, and wage indexation tagged to inflation, restitution of 2010-2011 outstanding arrears, and holiday pay.

ICEM Supports Safety Strike at Georgian Coal Mine

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The global trade union for the mining industry, the ICEM, congratulates the miners of Carbones del Cerrejon and their union, Sintracarbón, as well as management of the coal enterprise in la Guajira state in reaching contract terms early this week in Colombia. In a statement, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda noted that through respectful social dialogue – a process instituted with the assistance of the ICEM seven years ago – the two parties reached a mutually acceptable collective agreement, thus abandoning a planned strike. 
 
The two-year labour accord between the 4,000-member ICEM-affiliated mining union and the company operating the world’s largest set of open pit coal mines, owned jointly by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, was reached with the assistance of Colombia Vice President Angelino Garzón and Vice Minister of Labour Relations Ricardo Echeverry late last week. That mediation illuminates the importance of social dialogue at the highest level in a country usually devoid of such labour-management tools. It also averts a costly strike that would have placed a heavy toll both on union members of Sintracarbón and Cerrejon. 
 
“We have witnessed both sides reach the brink of negotiations in the past several sets of two-year talks,” said Warda. “The fact that Sintracarbón and Cerrejon have not had a strike in over 20 years is testament to mutual respect and shared responsibility by both the union and management in looking after the welfare of communities, workers, and their families.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805COLOMBIA3.jpg" width="220" height="185"/>
The 2011-2012 labour agreement calls for a first-year wage increase of 6.5% and a 2012 increase of two percent over next year’s Consumer Price Index. But more importantly, the ICEM noted, Sintracarbón continued to make improvements at the bargaining table for the communities surrounding the massive coal complex in north-east Colombia, improvements in health benefits for workers and their families, and education benefits for family members. 
 
The ICEM commends the involvement of Vice President Garzón, Vice Minister Echeverry, and the Cerrejon management for recognizing in this set of talks that contract workers not directly employed by Cerrejon have the right of association and the right to form a union of their own choosing without interference from sub-contracting companies of Cerrejon, or the mining enterprise itself. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the bargaining committee of Sintracarbón for achieving a deserved 2011 pay increase of 6.5%, better than double Colombia’s current 3.19% CPI. The ICEM’s notes that Cerrejon is a highly profitable enterprise for the parent companies, as well as for Colombia, the world’s fifth biggest exporter of coal. 
 
“The union’s organised process of collective negotiations and it’s method of mobilising 4,000 workers behind the bargaining team is an example to all unions worldwide,” said Warda. “In this set of bargaining, they succeeded in raising the bar on work standards inside Colombia that should be an aspiration to all workers.”

Sintracarbón, Cerrejon Reach Commendable Contract in Colombia

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Full work rights for irregular workers took a big step forward in Korea last week. A ruling by the Seoul High Court against Hyundai Motor and for a sacked subcontract worker was greeted as a marker for those following this critical global issue. 
 
In a case reviewed, overturned, and then sent on to the Seoul High Court by Korea’s Supreme Court, the ruling rightfully declared that Choe Byeong-seung, 35, was a direct employee of Hyundai while employed at its Ulsan manufacturing complex between 2003 to 2005. 
 
In issuing the verdict on 10 February, the High Court said Choe “carried out his duties mixed with regular workers on either side of the conveyer belt, and Hyundai Motor made decisions regarding workload, methods, sequence, etc.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Korea.Metalworkers.KMWU.jpg" width="140" height="122"/>
Following the ruling, the Hyundai Irregular Workers’ Union and its parent, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), held a press conference in front of Hyundai’s headquarters in Seoul. Their message is that the world’s fifth largest auto maker must take this ruling as signal to bring all subcontract workers to direct employment. 
 
Hyundai employs roughly 34,500 workers at its plants in Korea, with nearly one-quarter of them irregular workers. Choe, for instance, was hired by the car maker through a labour agency, but he sued Hyundai, not the agency, for restitution of his work rights. He was sacked, allegedly, for exercising his right to belong to a union. 
 
For the company’s part last week, it denigrated the judgment by announcing it would appeal the High Court’s ruling back to the Supreme Court, and stated it might even file a Constitutional Petition. 
 
The plight that irregular workers face is again becoming a hot-button issue in Korea’s politics. All political parties are engaged on the issue, and even a leading member of the ruling Grand National Party declared it “hypocritical to talk about welfare issues while ignoring the problem of irregular workers.” On 27 January, the opposition parties, Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and People Participations Party (PPP), broke new ground by debating the issue of irregular employment in a public forum. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66"/>
The urgency of the issue, in no small part, also arises from last November-December’s 25-day sit-down strike at Ulsan, as well as job actions by non-regular workers at Hyundai plants in Asan and Jeonju during the same period. The strike at Ulsan caught the world’s attention, revealing accurately a major global manufacturer in an OECD country capitalising on servitude. 
 
Hyundai is hardly the only Korean equipment maker that exploits precarious workers. The GM Daewoo Irregular Workers’ branch of the KMWU in Incheon City has been battling for full-time rights for nearly four years. Despite local government and civil society pleas to GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. to begin talks with the union over misuse of irregular workers, the company has refused, citing no responsibility because it is not the official employer. 
 
Workers staged a sit-in atop an arch leading into the factory in December and later that month, the branch’s President, Sin Hyeon-chang, went on a hunger strike.

Hyundai Court Win for Irregular Worker Lifts Stakes in Korea

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Effective 1 March, some 200 transport workers at the Tkibuli-Mindeli coal mines in Imerti region, Georgia, will receive between 20-40% salary increases, depending on job classification, thanks to a 1-2 February strike by 600 members of the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union. 
 
That strike, on the heels of a methane gas explosion that killed one miner and seriously injuring four others, proved highly successful at 1,050-worker Saknakhshiri, or Geo-Coal, with management immediately agreeing to recognise the ICEM affiliate. Saknakhshiri is owned by Georgian Investment Group (GIG), a diverse conglomerate controlled by Georgian politician Davit Bezhuashvili. 
 
The 20-40% salary hikes for mine transport workers was agreed to in initial bargaining on 7 February. On 20 February, the union and management, together with the President of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), Irakli Petriasvili, will resume talks on behalf of 650 underground miners over safety, pay, and other work terms. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.georgia.2.JPG" width="220" height="165" alt=""/>
Left - Irakli Petriashvili, President of GTUC
Following the methane gas explosion on 21 January – the third such deadly blast in less than a year at Tkibuli-Mindeli – workers and their new union demanded modern mine safety equipment to replace Soviet-era equipment in place, and demanded improved work and pay conditions. 
 
The situation was exasperated days after the blast when police arrested two low-level managers as scapegoats for last month’s deadly accident. In support of the two and as protest to the overall work and safety conditions, miners staged a two-hour warning strike on 31 January and then began an open-ended strike on 1 February. The strike ended the very next day when management recognised the union and agreed to begin immediate talks with a series of set deadlines leading to a collective agreement no later than 20 March. 
 
Workers began joining the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union after a 27 August 2010 gas blast that killed four and severely injuring six others. On 3 March 2010, another gas explosion filled four and severely burned one other miner. 
 
The Tkibuli-Mindeli coal deposits are the second major set of Georgian workplaces that the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union has organised using direct action in recent months. Last spring, the union staged strike actions at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and Georgian Manganese mines, winning work rights for 5,800 miners and metalworkers. 
Please view an <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4229-Strike-Ends-Georgian-Miners-Recognized-at-Tkibuli-Mindeli-Colliery " type="internal">ICEM report</a> from last week on the union’s recent success at the Tkibuli-Mindeli mines.

Two-Day Strike Wins Georgian Miners, Metalworkers 20-40% Pay Hike

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Over the last six months, public opposition has been growing in the eastern Indian State of Bihar over plans for a factory to manufacture asbestos products. Local residents took to the streets en-masse on 10 February in the state capital Patna in a rally coinciding with the group "Citizens Forum Against Asbestos" submitting a memorandum seeking the cancellation of the industrial license given to the proposed factory. 
 
The campaign against the new factory is now pressuring the federal Indian government to offically impose a nationwide ban on the large-scale import of asbestos. Bihar state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shifted blame from his administration to the national government. "This factory has received the environmental clearance from the government of India. There should be a uniform policy, and asbestos factories stopped all over the country," he stated. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904.asbestos.jpg" width="180" height="128"/>
Construction at the Balmukund Cement and Roofings Ltd. (BCRL) factory has now been suspended. 
 
While India’s national government has banned the mining of asbestos, it allows trade, manufacture, and use of the mineral, despite proven dangers of inhaling asbestos fibre. World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 90,000 people die of asbestos-related illnesses every year. The White Asbestos Bill is currently pending in the Indian Parliament and awaits further debate. The legislation would ban the use and import of the deadly mineral. Almost half of the imported asbestos into India is mined in Canada. 
 
Inhaling asbestos fibre or dust can result in the painful and eventually fatal condition called mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer. Most patients are poor workers without access to medical care. Asbestos is banned in the European Union, Australia, and Japan.
A much-criticised memorandum of understanding was signed on 31 December 2010 between the Board of Trade of Montreal, Canada, and the Indian Chamber of Commerce for the "safe" use of asbestos. The agreement is seen as a clear disregard for the health of Indian workers, as profit-motive is the priority for both groups. The inclusion of a representative of Balcorp Ltd., a major asbestos miner and exporter, in the trade mission to India led by Quebec’s Economic Development Minister earlier this month, has caused much concern for Indian activists.

Mass Popular Protests against Proposed Asbestos Factory in Bihar, India

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In Spain early this month, national union federations DGB of Germany and CC.OO and UGT of Spain were full social partners at the 23rd Spanish-German Summit. In common, they took the opportunity to issue a strong statement that government measures stemming from the economic crisis have benefited markets, but done nothing for social cohesion. 
 
The national trade union centers also took issue with German Chancellor Andrea Merkel’s economic proposition heading into the summit to restrict wage growth by linking salaries to productivity and inflation. Leaders of the three federations – Michael Sommer of DGB, Ignacio Fernández Toxo of CC.OO, and Cándido Méndez of UGT – were part of a tripartite event at the summit that also included CEOs from Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, Iberdrola, Siemens, Acciona, and other corporations. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SPAIN.CC.OO.gif" width="140" height="49"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SPAIN.UGT.gif" width="90" height="90"/><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyDGB.gif" width="120" height="67"/>
In the statement, the federations said compliance with “the agenda established at the G20 in London for new regulation of the international financial system” must be a priority. They also gave full support to the European Trade Union Confederation’s (ETUC) rejection of European Commission proposals for financial governance, and bluntly said, “Today’s European governments aim to lay the burden of the crisis on workers and pensions.” 
 
Citing social inequality as a trigger to the economic collapse, the statement said structural reform and fiscal consolidation concerning pensions overhaul, welfare cut-backs, and weakening of collective bargaining laws “will not lead to the recovery of the European economies. Quite the opposite. This erroneous conception is holding back a solution to the crisis and promoting social injustice.” 
 
The statement also hit out at judgments from the European Court of Justice that wrongly regularize social and wage dumping, including the Vikking, Lava, Rüffert, and Luxembourg cases. 
 
The DGB, CC.OO, and UGT also said it agrees with analysts who say “Europe is losing its values and its soul,” and used as case example Tunisia and the fact that European governments held back until the very end condemnation of dictator Ben Ali and support for a people’s democratic movement.

DGB, CC.OO, UGT Forge Common Ground on Euro Jobs, Economy

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In historic levels of unity among members of ICEM-affiliated IGBCE in Germany, the union's chemical workers announced on Friday, 11 February, they will seek a 7% pay increase in contract talks beginning this week on 16 February. The wage round covers 550,000 workers in 1,900 companies of the chemicals sector for a period of 12 months. 
 
Negotiations will be held on a regional basis, with the North-Rhine region to begin first, followed shortly after by other regions. 
 
Peter Hausmann, IGBCE Governing Board member, who heads the union’s Collective Bargaining Department, said the figure of 7% had been agreed following production growth in the sector for 2010 of 11%, and companies realising an average 17.5% increase in revenues. The industry is on its way to returning to levels before the global recession, as Europe's largest economy recorded its best figures last year since the reunification of Germany. 
<img style="WIDTH: 142px; HEIGHT: 210px" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0811.IGBCE.jpg" width="110" height="177"/>
Hausmann explained that intensive plant-level talks had been on-going since December, in all nine regions. The unanimity of the position of all districts is significant, and rare in recent years. 
 
Last year’s agreement saw IGBCE agree to a concessionary wage freeze in view of the financial crisis. IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis stating at the time, “It is fair considering the varying conditions in the industry and it helps build a bridge between the economic crisis and recovery.” 
 
Similar pay compensation will be sought by Verdi and IG Metall, and in the clothing and insurance sectors.

IGBCE Aims for 7% Increase in German Chemicals Sector

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Ukraine last week became the 25th country in 16 years to ratify of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. The country’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on 15 February gave approval to the set of mine safety standards by a vote of 311 out of 418 MPs present. 
 
The effort was spurred by ICEM’s two mine union affiliates in the eastern European country, the Coal Industry Workers’ Union of Ukraine (PRUPU) and the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine. Leaders of both unions, Victor Turmanov and Mikhail Volynets, are members of the Rada.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Victor Turmanov.jpg" width="115" height="115" alt=""/>
PRUPU's Victor Turmanov 
The bill, No. 0195, was initiated by Ukraine President Victor Yanukovichem on 10 November 2010, and now awaits the President’s signature. Once signed, the Convention will take effect in 12 months, with the expectation that Ukraine’s national laws on mine safety will be updated to comply with the global standards. 
 
“Ratification of Convention 176 signals Ukraine’s commitment to safety and health protections for workers in one of the world’s most dangerous occupations,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We welcome this legislation and congratulate our trade union affiliates for advancing this inside Ukraine’s government.”
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Volynets Mikhail - UKRAINE.jpg" width="90" height="133" alt=""/>
Mikhail Volynets, Independent Trade Union of Miners 
The ICEM views ratification of Convention 176 as the precursor for improving a country’s national mining laws. The Convention spells out responsibilities for government, employers, and workers and their representatives, and specifically gives miners the right to report hazards, dangerous conditions and accidents, as well as the right to refuse unsafe work. 
 
For employers, Convention 176 places responsibility on them to not only remove workplace hazards, but remove the causes of those hazards. Employers are responsible for ensuring adequate underground ventilation and providing double exits in mines. The Convention also mandates that employers provide adequate safety training programmes to workers and ensure a regular routine of occupational health surveillance of miners. 
 
Of vital importance, the Convention gives workers and their trade unions participation in inspections and accident investigations, and allows workers to select their own safety and health representatives in full partnership with employers and governmental regulatory bodies. 
 
Ukraine is the fourth country in the past three-and-a-half years to ratify ILO Convention 176. In January 2010, Bosnia/Herzegovina ratified the Convention, while Luxembourg ratified it in April 2008 and Peru in June 2007. 
 
The ICEM established a campaign on country ratification of ILO Convention 176 at its 2007 Congress, and information on that campaign can be found <a href="/en/209-ILO" type="internal">here</a>.

Ukraine Ratifies ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention

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