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Eight hundred South African employees of global tyremaker Continental went on strike today in support of American colleagues currently embroiled in a long-running dispute with Conti's US subsidiary. 
 
The South African warning strike at Conti's General Tyre plant in Port Elizabeth today lasted for almost two hours. It was held in solidarity with rubber workers currently on strike at Continental's General Tire plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States. 
 
The South African workers downed tools this morning and, joined by an additional 150 union shop stewards, marched to the office of Continental's South African chief executive officer. There, they delivered a letter demanding that the company settle the strike in North Carolina. The CEO immediately agreed to forward the South African union's demands to Continental's parent company headquarters in Hanover, Germany. 
 
The South African rubber workers are members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the American rubber workers are members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). Both unions are affiliated globally with the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
"The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa in General Tyre, South Africa, Port Elizabeth, is disgusted by the attitude shown by Continental General Tyre in Charlotte, United States of America, in failing to resolve and negotiate in good faith a protected industrial action led by members of the United Steelworkers of America," stated the union's memorandum of demands. "We are utterly disgusted that the local management in General Tyre South Africa has refused to intervene to bring sense and reason to their counterparts in Continental Tyre, Charlotte, in the United States of America ... We demand that you use your influence and impress upon management in Charlotte to negotiate in good faith with our fellow comrades represented by the United Steelworkers of America." 
 
"NUMSA is angry with Continental for refusing to acceed to the workers' demands in Charlotte," added Dumisa Ntuli, NUMSA spokesman. "The company's refusal to negotiate a fair collective bargaining agreement with the USWA is an international disgrace for the company. NUMSA cannot accept a situation where the company is making huge profits and wants workers to accept substandard wages and working conditions. It was clear today that the workers at Continental's Gentyre in South Africa demonstrated their anger at the company and in support of our fellow workers in the USA." 
 
Continental's Charlotte plant in the USA is the site of a strike, begun on September 20, 1998, by 1,450 members of USWA Local 850 over the company's unfair labour practices. German-based Continental, which has already been indicted by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on five counts of violating US federal labour laws, contends it has hired 800 "permanent replacement" workers at the Charlotte facility. 
 
Today's South African action is "a tremendous demonstration of global labour solidarity for the Charlotte strikers," said ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. "The South African tyre workers understand that Continental's abuse of American workers is also an insult to them, and they have acted accordingly. It's time that Continental's management in Hanover got the message that this dispute is going to continue to grow until a just settlement is negotiated in North Carolina." 
 
"We are extremely grateful for this act of solidarity by our South African brothers and sisters," added George Becker, USWA President and chairman of the ICEM’s global rubber section. "They have given new meaning to the old union adage that 'an injury to one is an injury to all.'" 
 
The South African protest is part of a global week of action against Continental, begun on June 21, which is being coordinated by the ICEM. 
 
Other activities this week include protests at Ford Motor Co. dealerships in 61 US cities. Ford fits General tyres as original equipment on several of its models in the US. Also scheduled are protests at German consulates in several US cities. 
 
Protests have also been lodged in Belgium by ICEM affiliate the Centrale Générale/Algemene Centrale, the union representing Continental's Belgian workers, and in France by ICEM affiliate the FCE-CFDT. 
 
A demonstration will be held tomorrow at the German consulate in Sydney, Australia. This demo is organised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and ICEM Australian affiliate the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU). 
 
The ICEM and the USWA also recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte. 
 
Continental acquired a 60% interest in Gentyre on July 1, 1998. The company, now called Continental Tyre South Africa (Pty) Ltd., produces about 10,000 tyres a day for car manufacturers in South Africa and for the export market.

Conti Tyre Global Campaign: South Africans Strike In Support Of Americans

Protest actions began today by ICEM’s two Nigerian affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, aimed at forcing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to upgrade four oil refineries. Following a 24 June joint emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the two unions, a five-point communiqué was issued to the government to revitalize the refineries in order that petrol prices in Nigeria be stabilized. The unions gave the government a 21-day ultimatum beginning today; otherwise a national strike of the refineries will be called.

Nigerian Oil Affiliates Seek Upgrades to Refineries

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited chemical firm DuPont for failure to record on-site injuries that occurred last November at a plant in Niagara Falls, New York State. DuPont failed to list injuries in the official OSHA 300 record-keeping log. 
Two workers had inhaled chlorine gas and one of the two needed immediate medical attention a missed a month of work. 
The violation comes following the US labour board citing DuPont for failure to turn over requested documentation by US affiliate PACE on location of hazardous chemicals at the textile fibres plant. In 2002, DuPont refused to allow PACE health and safety representatives from entering the plant.

DuPont Guilty of Faulty Record-Keeping in New York State

ICEM Nigerian affiliates PENGASSAN and NUPENG had their demands for upgrading refineries, compliance with labour standards and other relevant issues that have besieged the oil industry in Nigeria met. Major oil firms, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and the two unions reached accord 20 July, five days before a national strike was to start as announced in a union ultimatum. Full dialogue with the unions over privatisation, the number of expatriates working in the industry, training, oil windfall revenues and contract staff and casual workers will continue.

Nigerian Affiliates Succeed with Pledges for Refinery Upgrades

The deadliest mine disaster in four years in the Ukraine occurred 19 July. Thirty-six coal miners perished when a methane gas explosion rocked the Krasnolymanskaya mine in eastern Donetsk region. “Safety rules, especially those of ventilation, were constantly violated in that mine,” said Mikhail Volynets, president of the Miners’ Independent Trade Union of Ukraine. The mine is Ukraine’s most profitable, producing 10,000 tonnes per day. On 27 July, the government ordered around-the-clock inspections of air volume, effectiveness of mine degassing, dust content and explosive risks of equipment for a two-week period in all coal mines in the country.

Deadly Coal Mine Explosion Kills 36 in Ukraine

ICEM New Zealand affiliate Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union (EPMU) emerged from its biennial conference in Rotorua 24 July with a priority to achieve employer-funded superannuation schemes. The New Zealand Institute was established to promote policies and aid New Zealand’s largest trade union with developing asset ownership funds held by workers. Andrew Little was re-elected EPMU national secretary at the conference for a second four-year term, while Trevor Ruby was elected president, Don Pryde senior vice president and Dennis Robertson junior vice president.

EPMU Leaves Congress with Focused Priorities

The NUM of South Africa successfully concluded wage negotiations with DeBeers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Terms include a 7% increase in pensionable wages with the minimum basic rate of pay retroactive to May 2004 set at R 3,100 per month. “The agreement paves the way toward enhancing a partnership that would enable both parties to benefit during the good and bad times,” said NUM Deputy Gen. Sec. Archie Palange. The pact runs until 30 April 2005.

NUM, DeBeers Come to Wage Terms in South Africa

United Steelworker (USWA) members at four Michelin plants in the US and Canada ratified new two-year labour agreements last week that enhances job security protections and pledges the French-based tyre firm to make minimum US$150 million capital improvements to the plants. The ratification in Canada at the company’s Kitchener, Ontario, plant ended an 11-week strike for 1,000 workers. The USWA fended off concessions at Michelin’s four unionized North American plants, and won protections against contracting out maintenance and a guarantee of no layoffs or plant closings during the term of the contract. The three US plants are located in Tuscaloosa and Opelika, Alabama, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Steelworkers in US, Canada Ratify Rubber Contracts with Michelin

ICEM President and Australian CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland officiated at a remembrance 4 April of the 1,600 miners who lost their lives in the mining areas of New South Wales dating back to 1801. The remembrance was the ninth such observance at the United Mineworkers’ Federation House in Cessnock. CFMEU Northern Mining & Energy Division President Peter Murray said it is important to demonstrate respect and condolences to families who have lost loves ones in the mines and as a result of hazardous mine work.

Australian Mine Union Marks Death Toll in NSW

The crisis in Ukrainian coal mines is worsening by the day. Crippled by customers' unpaid bills and by "reforms" partly dictated by global financial institutions, the industry is continuing to default on wage payments to its workers. 
 
By 1 February, active coalminers were owed between 3 and 14 months' pay, the Miners' Independent Trade Union of Ukraine (MITU) reports. The total wage debt to these miners topped 700 million US dollars last month. The many Ukrainian miners invalided out because of accidents and occupational diseases are faring no better financially. They are now owed some 135 million US dollars' worth of benefits. 
 
Desperate times breed desperate measures. Strikes are spreading rapidly, now involving between 20,000 and 25,000 miners each day. About 200 miners have launched an indefinite sit-in below ground. One miner burned himself to death in a protest last December and more have threatened to do so. 
 
"The miners are demanding that their wages be paid on time, that the arrears be paid and that state financing of the sector be increased during 1999," MITU President Mikhail Volynets commented yesterday. He said the country's President and government had reneged on a commitment to begin paying off the wage backlog. If the miners' "legimate demands" were not met, MITU would "lead a general miners' strike," Volynets pledged. 
 
He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are pressing the Ukraine to cut coal industry subsidies, close mines and reduce the workforce. 
 
"All this doesn't favour the financial improvement of country in general, and in particular of the coal sector, which is a key Ukrainian industry," Volynets emphasised. "Because of the tough monetary policy implemented by the government under pressure from the World Bank, many industrial enterprises in related sectors have stopped working. This has also had a negative effect on the working of the mines. 
 
"In this situation, social and psychological tensions are intensifying more and more in the mining regions," Volynets warned. 
 
At the global level, the MITU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
"The Ukrainian miners' claim is undeniably just," ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe commented. "They are simply demanding what they are owed. They have the full support and solidarity of their brothers and sisters worldwide. 
 
"We certainly call upon the Ukrainian mines and the Ukrainian government to ensure payment of the wage debt without further delay," Thorpe said. "But beyond that, we demand that the institutions of global finance, notably the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, should at last show some social responsibility. At least part of the international finance that now goes into often harmful 'restructuring' in Ukraine and similar economies must instead be earmarked for the payment of the huge debts owed to those countries' workers. Global action is needed now to right this scandalous wrong."

Ukraine: Mine Strikes Spread As Pay Debt Climbs

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