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US affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) has successfully organised two PPG Industries auto-glass plants in recent weeks, and has a US government-conducted election scheduled at a third on 27 July. 
 
On 28 June, workers at a flat-glass plant in Evansville, state of Indiana, voted for UAW bargaining representation, and a week earlier, glass staff at a PPG factory in Crestline, state of Ohio, joined the UAW. The Evansville plant employs nearly 400 workers, while the Crestline factory has 260 bargaining unit jobs. 
The UAW election on 27 July is at a PPG Industries plant in O’Fallon, state of Missouri. The operation, a former Chemfil company worksite, produces metal and other fastenings for glass destined for the auto industry. The UAW currently represents workers at four American PPG plants and is active in the 16-union Joint Union Council of PPG Industries in North America.

UAW in US Succeeding in Organising Auto-Glass Factories

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The United Steelworkers (USW) in America on 30 June selected Michelin’s BF Goodrich tyre operations as the bargaining template in order to achieve a master rubber contract for 27,000 workers in North America. Talks with three major tyre producers, Michelin, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, and Bridgestone/Firestone (BSF), have already started. 
 
The current master labour agreement for the US tyre-making sector expires with all companies on 22 July, but the USW and the major tyre producers generally go beyond that deadline in negotiations. Smaller manufacturers in the US, such as Yokahoma, also follow the bargaining pattern. 
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USW represents some 4,000 Michelin workers at three BF Goodrich plants, while it covers 17,000 Goodyear workers at 12 plants and 6,000 BFS workers at eight tyre facilities. 
 
“Significant in the selection of BF Goodrich is the fact that we believe that we can set an industry pattern that looks after our retirees, enhances job security and protects standard of living for our active and retired members,” stated USW Lead Negotiator and Executive Vice President Ron Hoover.

Michelin Chosen for Tyre Bargaining Pattern in US Talks

The ICEM is backing a struggle by workers affiliated with Brazilian union SINAP-CUT in the state of Maranhão. Without warning and refusing to engage in dialogue with unions, Brazilian company Group João Santos sacked 227 workers last month in the remote northern town of Coelho Neto at its paper and agricultural enterprises, Itapagé SA and Agrimex SA.
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The company has refused to honour social payments due to workers, or to recognise the economic hardships created in the town. Group João Santos is responsible for 90% of the formal jobs in the rural town and controls 90% of the land around Coelho Neto. 
The workers and their families, backed by ICEM affiliate SINAP-CUT, together with an agricultural union, established a camp in front of the company’s Coelho Neto offices. The camp’s inhabitants have been threatened by military police, which has been summoned by the company. 
Workers and their unions issued “claims guidelines” against Group João Santos, calling for the company to return land to the community, maintain the town’s schools and school personnel, and rehire the workers to employment levels as of November 2005. The ICEM supports such demands, and has expressed such in letters to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the country’s minister of Labour and Employment, and the state’s General Attorney for Labour.

ICEM Lends Support to Brazilian Paperworkers’ Union

Some 500 delegates attended the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Women’s Conference on 16-18 February in Rosherville, near Johannesburg. The South African union elected a national leadership team, put in place a workable plan of action, and developed a concise and practical programme that will be presented at NUM’s National Congress in May.
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Delegates heard from three prominent women in South African labour: Minerals and Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks, COSATU Second Vice President Violet Sebone, and ANC Women’s League’s General Secretary Themba Kgasi. The NUM Women’s Structure was formed in 1998, and since has become a leadership front for women both nationally and internationally. “As women in the NUM, we have passed the stage of being told what to do,” said Women’s Structure Chairperson Rose Mohale. “We have stood firm and demonstrated we can add our voice to programmes of the organisation.”

NUM in South Africa Holds Women’s Conference

“The ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions) expresses, on behalf of its 20 million members throughout the world, deep concern over the increasing news of numerous cases of silicosis among jewellery migrant workers in China and India, who are slowly dying of an illness that they contracted through a poor working environment, compounded by a failure to provide adequate medical care. 
We express our heartfelt condolences to the family of Deng Wenping, a chinese migrant worker at a Hong Kong-invested jewellery factory in Southern China who has recently died and is one of the latest victims of silicosis in the sector. 
 
ICEM urges all employers in the jewellery industries, as well as the competent authorities in China, to pay immediate attention to the serious health and safety problems in the industry, to eliminate present dangerous conditions, and to urgently improve both medical care and the social security system. 
 
ICEM believes that only effective and genuine trade union representation of jewellery workers in China can lead to an adequate improvement of working conditions as well as contribute to meaningful industrial relations and social dialogue.” 
<hr/>
<a href="http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=19186&item%5fid=19182">Click here</a> for a China Labour Bulletin background document on silicosis in China, entitled 'Deadly dust'.

ICEM statement on silicosis in China and India

The 19 February gas explosion that killed 65 miners at Grupo Mexico’s Industria Mineral Mexicana subsidiary proves again the immediate necessity to improve safety and training in underground mining, particularly during times of high pricing and high demand for coal. 
 
Twenty-five of those killed at the Pasta de Conchos No. 8 mine near San Juande Sabinas, northern Coahuila State, were members of Section 13 of Mexico’s Miners & Metalworkers Union (SNTMMSRM), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF). 

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Many others were short-term contract workers who were given no training, insufficient oxygen supply devices, and were sent deep into shafts within a day of being hired. Mexican government and company statements on safety precautions and equipment on this mine disaster contradict with what miners actually had available to them. 
 
The United Steelworkers of the US, which signed a strategic alliance with SNTMMSRM in April 2005, pledged financial and technical support to the union in the immediate aftermath of the blast. The IMF underscored the Mexican union’s charge that this was “industrial homicide” and must be investigated and denounced as such. 
“Grupo Mexico shareholders and directors and whoever is responsible for this crime, caused by greed, repression and insensitivity should be charged and punished accordingly,” said SNTMMSRM and the IMF.

Mexican Coal Mine Blast Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’

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The ICEM has responded to a call issued by Industrianställda I Nordic (Nordic IN), the new five-nation trade union federation of industries, to protest Estonia’s proposed changes to their labour code. The proposed Employees’ Representatives Act, which would weaken trade union protections, was the main focus in meetings today between Estonia’s trade unions and the Ministry of Social Affairs. 
 
The ICEM’s disapproval of the proposed changes, in a letter to Estonia Prime Minister Andrus Ansip is at <a href="/index.php?id=23&la=EN&doc=1702" type="internal">/index.php?id=23&la=EN&doc=1702</a>.

ICEM Responds to Estonia’s Proposed Labour Law Changes

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South African and North American members of the Sappi Workers’ Network attended the paper company’s AGM in Johannesburg on 6 March to protest lack of fruitful negotiations at mills in the US, and broken promises on education and over promotion opportunities in South Africa. 
Representatives of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood & Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa and United Steel Workers (USW) of the US learned at the meeting that CEO Jonathan Leslie would resign, and the USW issued a statement the day following the meeting that it would welcome a change in course of industrial relations. 
 
“Sappi now has an opportunity to take a new direction if it chooses,” said USW Vice President Dick LaCosse, leader of the union’s Paper Division. “We would welcome a new approach to our talks with the company to better secure our jobs, our communities and our future."

South Africa, US Unions Attend Sappi’s Annual Meeting

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Canadian paperworkers and hundreds of supporters marched in Nova Scotia on 18 March, angry over an imposed lockout by Stora Enso. The march and rally drew about 2,500 in the town Port Hawkesbury. Some 600 members of ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) were locked-out on 26 January 2006 by the Swedish-Finnish paper company, now the world’s largest forest products concern. 
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The key issue separating CEP Local 972 and Stora Enso is one covering contracting-out policies. The company is intent on breaking from the pattern acceptance on contract labour provisions by other paper manufacturers in eastern Canada. Coming just seven months after a Finnish paper sector lockout led by Stora Enso, the lockout in Nova Scotia has caught the attention of scores of national trade unions. 
The company’s Works Council made a strong statement in support of the CEP branch union at its 8-9 March meetings, and an ICEM Circular produced an unprecedented stream of protests to Stora Enso CEO Jukka Härmälä in Finland. CEP Local 972 received earnest solidarity from scores of national trade unions, as well. 
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Finnish Paperiliitto President and ICEM Paper Sector Chairman Jouko Ahonen wrote, “Your struggle is our struggle, as last year our struggle was your struggle. We were not alone last summer and you are not—and will not be—alone in this dispute. You can be also sure that the brave struggle of your Local and its members enjoys sympathy and admiration of Finnish people.” 
 
The Works Council resolution states: “Stora Enso has refused to accept the Eastern Canada Pattern Settlement and wants to outsource jobs. These demands are completely different from local traditions and also different from collective agreements with other companies. Stora Enso must understand that this kind of activity does not lead to any kind of good result; on the contrary, it will cause immense suffering for everybody involved.” 
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The 18 March event was led by CEP President Brian Payne and a number of local dignitaries attended, including provincial New Democratic Party leader Darrell Dexter attended. Local union members, however, were disappointed that Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald, who is from a nearby town heavily populated by paperworkers, failed to attend.

Locked-Out Canadian Paperworkers Hold Rally

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China’s latest coal mine fatalities occurred Saturday, 18 March, when 28 miners were trapped by flooding in Shanxi province. The incident happened at the Fanjiashan mine, owned by the Zhaoxian township in Luliang city. 
 
Prior to this, 12 major accidents claimed the lives of over 100 miners over a two week span dating back to 5 March. And separate to this, near Baishan, Jilin province, seven accidents over a two-week period in March occurred at local mines, killing a total of 10 workers. 
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On 13 March, a gas blast at the Rongsheng mine in Erdos city, Inner Mongolia, killed 22. Also on that day, nine were found dead after an explosion at the Qitaihe Taihe mine in Heilongjiang province. The cause of this latter blast was cited as illegal smoking inside the mine. On 23 February, a coal dust explosion killed 18 in Shandong province at a mine owned by the Zaozhuang Mining Group. The cause here was listed as failure to dampen an underground coal seam prior to drilling. 
 
In Hunan province, which already reports 79 mining deaths this year—29 more than last year—33 miners perished at three of the major accidents since 5 March. Provincial officials this month moved to close 400 unsafe mines in Hunan province. 
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Other actions are occurring at the national level to curb mining deaths. The government has recently blocked some US$70 million worth of coal mine investments on behalf of government officials. A government probe found that 4,578 officials in China have investments in the country’s coal mines. Chinese workplace safety officials admit an estimated 60% of Chinese mines ordered to close in 2005 still continue to operate. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) reported at the National People’s Congress last week that their mandate is to reduce coal mine deaths by 3.5% this year. 
 
In 2005, China had an official death rate of 5,986, with unofficial estimates ranging up to four times higher. If March 2006 is any indication, Chinese coal mines will need to make fast improvements in safety in order to reach this goal.

March a Deadly Month So Far for Chinese Mine Workers

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