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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="100" height="49"/>
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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Juan Linares Montufar was released from jail today, in what trade unionists around the world are calling a victory for international solidarity against the repressive Mexican government. The release, in which more details will be forthcoming, comes one week after trade unions around the world conducted a week-long "Global Days of Action" for trade union rights in Mexico. 
 
Linares was a political prisoner, held illegally since 3 December 2008 and without bond since his arrest. The sham charges against him all relate to the transfer of funds from a Trust created by his trade union, the National Union of Mine, Metal and Steel Workers (SNTMMSSRM) to the union. His detention is one part of the campaign of trade union intimidation and repression by the Mexican government.
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Juan Linares is the President of the Oversight and Justice Council of the SNTMMSSRM, also known as Los Mineros. 
The transfer of the trust funds was perfectly legal under Mexican law; in addition to being a protected exercise of trade union autonomy under ILO Convention 87. Two state charges against Linares were dismissed during his time incarcerated, but a federal charge against him was dragged out while the courts denied him bail. 
Linares was held at the Reclusorio Norte prison in Mexico City. He received regular visits from his family, other Mineros leaders, and international trade union delegations from around the world. To all his visitors, Linares had one message: “I could walk out of this jail tomorrow if I were willing to betray my union. But I will never do that.”

Mexican Trade Unionist Juan Linares Released from Jail

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A joint affiliate of the ICEM and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees’ Union (FTZ&GSEU) of Sri Lanka, is in crucial need of international support, as workers at a branch of the union face severe intimidation by both management and police. 
 
Industrial relations at a women’s underwear factory owned by Canadian-based Bratex Pvt. Ltd. has been bad since managers failed to make scheduled bonus payments due in January 2010. The date coincides with a new human resources director, Dusmantha Kumarasire, coming into the plant. 
 
Following that, there was a long period of FTZ&GSEU asking for dialogue with the company, but with no result. Kumarasire and Bratex continued to avoid negotiations even after the Sri Lanka Board of Investment called for talks. 
 
The salary increment had been agreed to under a Memorandum of Settlement between Bratex and the union before Sri Lanka’s Assistant Commission of Labour on 21 December 2009. But on 16 February 2010, a government official arrived at the plant with armed personnel. Siripala Amarasingha, an assistant to Sri Lanka’s President for labour matters, boasted to textile workers of his record in suppressing 23 labour disputes, and warned workers against involvement in the union. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.sri lanka textile women.jpg" width="241" height="160"/>
Amarasingha also instructed management not to avoid the union on salary talks and when this became known, workers took strike action on 18 February 2010. The strike ended when promises – now broken – were made to FTZ&GSEU Joint Secretary Anton Marcus. 
 
Of further abuse to workers, who number 1,000 with 85% of them women, were the floods in May 2010. Many workers found it impossible to travel to work, and Bratex forced to them to work for no compensation for three days, or risk losing salaries and an attendance bonus. 
 
Company-police collusion increased in early January 2011 when officers showed up at a party to identify union activists. Bratex has provided two automobiles to local police, who use them patrol workers’ neighbourhoods and go house to house in pursuit of union activists. 
 
On 11 February, workers went on strike again. Two workers, Amal Santha and U.W. Gayan Predeep Kumara, were detained on 14 February. The arrests prompted a protest by Bratex outside the police station demanding their release. Protesting workers were then attacked by police and three more workers were arrested. 
 
Last week, 20 union activists were sacked inside the plant. The ICEM and ITGLWF are grateful to the Clean Clothes Campaign for assisting Bratex workers in this blatant abuse of trade union rights. 
 
Click here for <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.sri%20lanka%20textiles%20women%20contact.doc" type="internal">contact information to send your protest</a> to the Sri Lankan government, police, and Bratex management. Demand an immediate end to harassment of workers by both police and mangers, reinstatement of the dismissed workers, and an immediate start to dialogue to make workers whole for their lost salaries.

Union Busting of Textile Workers in Sri Lanka Follows 2010 Strike

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On 19 November 2010, a massive methane gas blast inside Pike River Coal Ltd.’s New Zealand colliery killed 29 miners, including 11 members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and 13 contract workers. In the 15 weeks since, the government of Prime Minister John Keys has let down the victims’ families on the recovery of bodies, and now has barred the EPMU from federal funds for legal representation in the follow up investigation. 
 
On 14 February, the Key government announced legal cost assistance for the EPMU to the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s investigation was denied. 
 
Attorney General Chris Finlayson called the union an “advocacy organisation” and said there should be no extra help extended to the EPMU in “doing its job for its members.” The government will pay the legal costs for families of victims and for all contractors in the commission’s inquiry, which is expected to begin late this year with a report out no later than March 2012. 
 
“The EPMU has a material stake in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River coal mine disaster,” said National Secretary Andrew Little, adding that any one of the 65 EPMU members in the 120-member staff of Pike River Coal Ltd. could have been a victim. 
 
“The government has overlooked the union’s legitimate interest in all of this,” said Little. 
 
A month before this mid-February decision, the Key government lowered the boom on families of the 29 miners by sealing the South Island mine, announcing a recovery plan had failed, and stating there was no credible way to retrieve the 29 bodies. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.bernie monk.jpg" width="136" height="104"/>
Families’ spokesman Bernie Monk
“It’s a bloody sad day for New Zealand,” said families’ spokesman Bernie Monk on 14 January. Monk’s 23-year-old son Michael died inside the mine. “They have not come to the families at all. How the hell are we going to get the truth if they don’t go in?” 
 
Key said in a press report that he made no promises to family members that remains of victims would be recovered. 
 
On 27 January, a chief coroner’s inquest said all 29 likely died within minutes of the first blast on 19 November. On 24 November, a second major blast rocked the horizontal mine shafts and then two more explosions occurred in the days following. 
 
A major issue in all investigations is sure to be location of large ventilation fans inside the mine, an unusual location in coal mining where methane gas is prevalent. Initial reports state that an electrical outage shut two large ventilation fans inside the mine. The coroner’s inquest said an electrician, Russell Smith, ventured into the mine to check on the outage and simultaneously, at 15h44 on 19 November, a 50-second explosion occurred. Some 600 metres in the mine, Smith came upon 24-year-old Daniel Rockhouse, an equipment operator who had been thrown from his machine. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.epmu.memorial.jpg" width="250" height="157"/>
NZ Congress of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly with Ian Murray and Tim Whyte, CFMEU Australia, at Pike River Memorial Service
The two managed to escape 108 metres up a ladder inside a ventilation shaft, exiting the mine at 17h26. The coroner’s inquest grants death certificates to the families. But their bodies remain locked inside the Pike River mine. 
 
In a twist of fate last week, the trustee for the Pike River Disaster Relief Trust, Greymouth Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, urged donors to shift their contributions to Kiwi earthquake relief efforts. The mine trust has received over 20,000 contributions totaling NZ$7 million. 
 
Some donations, Kokshoorn said, were earmarked for specific purposes, while NZ$6.5 million is targeted to provide financial help to families of the 29. He said the fund would begin transferring funds into individual family trusts, with a priority to place funds in trust deeds of dependents of the victims.

Aftermath of NZ’s Pike River Mine Tragedy Turns Ugly

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