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In Jordan, ICEM affiliate, the General Trade Union of Workers in Mining and Metal Industries, decided to postpone a strike mid- August until 27 August. The decision was taken to give the managers of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) at the Shidiyeh mines some more time to meet with the workers' demands. The dispute, in which the union president, Khalid Fanatsah, is taking a leading role, is on housing units to be built for the workers by the company. Support for the workers reportedly came from the king of Jordan himself, His Majesty King Abdullah, who announced that the units should be distributed to the workers.

Tension Remians at Jordanian Phosphatre Mine

Over the course of the summer, an asbestos scandal hit Japan and has been getting a lot of press attention ever since. According to reports, around 3,000 people die every year from asbestos cancer in Japan and it is feared that these numbers may rise considerably in the coming years. When in 1987, lobbyists began to call for a ban of crocidolite, used, amongst other purposes, in Japanese schools, the government failed to take the necessary action. Similarly in the 1990s, when a move to ban asbestos was blocked after "relentless opposition from within the asbestos industry."

Asbestos Issue Surfaces in Japan

The Global Employee Forum of Norwegian pulp and paper producer Norske Skog has issued a strong statement in support of ICEM affiliate Fellesforbundet. The union is seeking to keep open a 380-worker book and newsprint mill in Skien, Norway, called Norske Skog Union. But the company is intent on closing in order to reduce capacity even though buyers have lined up to acquire the mill. The firm’s Global Employee Forum has charged management that it has not “prioritized and not taken advantage of the book market’s shortage of book paper.” Norske Skog has said “no to inquiries from customers in this market” and the employees’ forum calls on the company to exhibit the necessary social responsibility to “see that production at Norske Skog Union is maintained, at least with new owners.”

Norske Skog Workers Protest Closure of Norwegian Paper Mill

North American affiliate USW responded rapidly last week to the disaster along the US Gulf of Mexico coast brought on by hurricane Katrina. By mid-week—before US government relief could get into the death-stricken region with emergency supplies—the union had designated and begun disbursing US$100,000 through it’s Steelworkers Charitable and Education Organization, reported ICEM NA Chairman Don Langham, a vice president of USW. Some $50,000 of that came from the USW’s Humanity Fund of Canada. For information on the special fund, log on to www.uswa.org and visit “USW Katrina Disaster Fund” which is on the homepage. Further information can be obtained by contacting USW Secretary-Treasurer Jim English at jenglish@steelworkers-usw.org.

US Steelworkers Respond to Gulf Coast Hurricane

The 1,550 USW copper-mining members who are on strike in the states of Arizona and Texas against Grupo Mexico’s Asarco got a boost last month when thousands of Mexican mining and metallurgical workers engaged in hour-long stop-work actions in support of both the American trade unionists, as well as Mexican steel mill workers on strike in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán state. The US copper strike, begun at different locations in late June and early July, has now been complicated by the Mexican subsidiary filing bankruptcy in US federal court in Texas. That action, the USW says, is result of non-investment in facilities while copper prices were low, thus restricting Asarco’s ability now “to reap the full rewards of the ongoing copper boom.”

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

Another USW metals strike, now entering its eighth week in the Canadian province of British Colombia, will get a chance for resolve with renewed mediation on 9 September. The union and Teck Cominco Ltd. At a zinc, lead and metals refinery in Trail, BC, are locked in dispute over wage and pension benefits conceded in the 1990s. USW maintains the current windfall of high zinc and metal prices has lifted Teck’s bottom line, and such profitability warrants adequate adjustments for the 1,300 strikers. British Colombia provincial leaders, however, have turned a deaf ear to legitimate demands by the USW that it halt the company’s sale of hydrogenerated power across the border to the US while Canadian steelworkers of Teck Cominco are on strike.

USW's Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

About 400 members of ICEM affiliate Fiji Electricity Workers Association (FEWA) are preparing to strike this week over Fiji Electricity Authority’s (FEA) refusal to address pay demands and grievances. The union gave managers a 28-day strike notice on 11 August and insisted that failure to enter meaningful negotiations would cause a walkout. Talks did occur last week, but FEA did not address the wage issue or failure to pay past cost-of-living increases that were due. Fiji’s minister of Labour entered the dispute by issuing a letter declaring any strike illegal under the country’s Trades Disputes Act, despite the fact that FEWA has been in compliance with all strike notice and secret ballot provisions.

Fiji Electric Workers Threaten Strike

French workers of ExxonMobil are waging strike actions and manifestations against the US energy company’s decision to close worksites, and make redundant thousands of workers. Backed by five unions, including ICEM affiliates belonging to CFDT and CGT-FO, 80% of all French ExxonMobil workers are engaged in stop-work actions from 11- 19 May. Despite record profits with each passing financial quarter, the world’s largest energy company is following its plan to shut multiple French worksites, affecting hundreds of jobs. 
Unionised workers themselves took the initiative for the actions, and a refinery at Fos was shut off 13-14 May, while another refinery at Dunkirk was stopped 12-14 May. Last week prior to a two-day stoppage at the Port Jerome Seine-Maritime centre, all 700 workers of the facility staged a defiant manifestation. Actions are ongoing at nearly all the company’s French operations: Esso, SAF, Mobil, ExxonMobil Chemical and Noroxo.

French Unions Strike to Stop ExxonMobil Retrenchments

A despicable act of exploitation involving contract labour is in progress at a plastics factory in Australia. Ownership of Kemalex Plastics has caused a strike by a migrant workforce of women who are being threatened with firing and then rehired as contract laborers. Represented by ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers, the 55 strikers are resisting a move that would make them all independent contractors, thus stripping them of job security, sick leave and holiday pay. It would also force them pay their own superannuation. 
The employer, a maker of plastic components for the automotive industry, has attempted to intimidate strikers by sending hooded motorcyclists through picket lines. The women are paid just over minimum wage, and are seeking a 15% pay increase and a redundancy package of three weeks pay per year of service. The factory is in Dandenong in the greater Melbourne area.

Contract Labour Exploitation Causes Australian Strike

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Tripartite dialogue to achieve equal pay and rights for contract and agency laborers in South Korea has failed for the moment. The Non- Regular Workers’ Protection Act before the country’s National Assembly has been postponed until a second extraordinary session occurs in June. 
The leaders of the two main national labour centers, KCTU and FKTU, ended their 12-day hunger strikes 3 May, and jointly stated: “We deeply apologize to the non-regular workers who are suffering from various types of discrimination and employment instability, for failing to establish a law to protect them.” The labour unions are seeking a legislated restriction on the usage period of such workers, a guarantee of employment stability after expiration of the term, and equal pay for equal work. It is estimated that some eight million non-regular workers are employed in the different Korean industrial sectors.

Non-regular Workers Bill in Korea Fails to Reach Common Ground

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