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Copper Miners in Chile at Minera Escondida Ltda. were set to strike today, at 08h00, following an unacceptable wage offer made by management on Friday, 4 August. With 8% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply originating from Escondida in northern Chile, this dispute is being watched closely because it could send copper prices to new highs. 
 
Escondida Workers&rsquo; Union No. 1, representing over 2,000 copper miners, said over the weekend that an improved company offer still fell short of union demands. Management, led by BHP Billiton, had asked the government for the mandatory five-day cooling off period last week, making any strike before today illegal. 
 
The company&rsquo;s offer Friday raised a one-off traditional pay bonus for each worker to US$21,481 from US$15,000, but it held firm on its prior salary offer of 3% above Chile&rsquo;s inflation rate. The proposal also promises social improvements in the community of Antofagasta, as well as interest-free loans to workers. 
 
The union is seeking a 13% salary increase due to high inflation rates plaguing Chile&rsquo;s booming mining areas. It also seeks zone allocation pay and a US$29,629 one-off bonus. Workers&rsquo; Union No. 1 also claims that management has failed to address certain conditions for working women, particularly truck drivers. 
 
Any Escondida salary settlement is expected to be the defining pattern for upcoming wage and benefit negotiations with other mining enterprises in Chile, including bargaining units within huge state-run copper company Codelco. 
 
Minera Escondida Ltda., with two open pit mines in Chile&rsquo;s northern Region II, is 57.5% owned by BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, 10% by a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi, and 2.5% by the World Bank&rsquo;s International Finance Corporation.

Copper Miners Poised to Strike Today in Chile

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Some 20 months after arguing that it didn&rsquo;t have to adhere to a United Steelworkers (USW) plant-closing agreement in the US because not all tyre workers were being displaced, Continental Tyre last week said it was totally shuttering rubber operations in Mayfield, state of Kentucky. 
 
USW and German-based Continental became locked in dispute in late 2004 when the company announced it would no longer manufacture auto and light truck tyres at the Kentucky plant. The closure, which took effect 1 January 2005, cost 730 USW members their jobs. But Continental said it was not obligated to negotiate severance pay or other benefits for the sacked workers because it was retaining 100 jobs in Mayfield&rsquo;s moulding and warehousing departments. 
 
On 2 August, the company announced those and 50 management jobs would be lost by January 2007. 
 
&ldquo;The only surprise is that the company is finally acknowledging its intent to close our plant,&rdquo; said Terry Beane, USW Local 665 President. 
 
Ron Hoover, USW Executive Vice President, said, &ldquo;It was obvious to us long ago that Continental decided to abandon US production. Their business strategies and management teams never addressed the dynamics of this market and unlike other successful companies, they refused to develop a collaborative relationship with us.&rdquo; 
 
Continental bought the Mayfield plant in the 1980s from General Tire Corp. The operation once employed 2,400 rubber workers 
 
Continental also eliminated 800 union jobs this summer by closing a US tyre plant in Charlotte, state of North Carolina. The company demanded US$32 million in costs savings from the USW at this location, including 35% across-the-board wage and benefit cuts for each worker. 
 
Even before USW could put forward a compromise offer, Continental made its plant closing threat a reality by announcing total closure of the Charlotte plant. The USW has petitioned the US Contact Point for the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to conduct an investigation of Continental&rsquo;s rash and anti-worker conduct in Charlotte.

Contradicting Conti’s Labour Strategy, German Tyre-Maker Completely Shutters US Operation

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A pattern-setting agreement in the US rubber sector was achieved 5 August, following successful ratification by 4,000 members of United Steelworkers (USW) at three Michelin plants. The three-year labour agreement, now effective at Michelin&rsquo;s BF Goodrich plants in Fort Wayne, state of Indiana, and Opelika and Tuscaloosa, both in the state of Alabama, preserves job security and prevents future layoffs at the three plants for the contract&rsquo;s duration. 
 
USW trade unionists at all three facilities voted in favour of the agreement. The common contract needed acceptance by workers at two of the three plants in order to pass. 
 
&ldquo;We believe we achieved our industry goals when it comes to protecting retiree health care benefits and securing additional job protection measures for our active members,&rdquo; stated USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. 
 
The BF Goodrich agreement does grant the company some lowered operational costs. The accord makes room for 435 rubber workers at the combined plants to take retirement with an enhanced package that includes up to 40 weeks of pay, depending on length of employment. 
 
USW will now shift bargaining efforts to Bridgestone/Firestone (BSF), talks which have already begun. The union represents 6,000 BSF employees at eight manufacturing plants. The USW and Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber also are in negotiations, but the two sides are far apart on job security and other work terms. Goodyear is the biggest tyre-maker in the US, and the USW represents 17,000 workers at 12 plants. 
 
The prior three-year labour agreement in the US rubber sector expired on 22 July.

US Steelworkers Ratify Contract with Michelin’s BF Goodrich Unit

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Some 1,100 rubber workers, members of ICEM affiliates Transport &amp; General Workers Union (TGWU) and Amicus, voted to take industrial action at two Pirelli tyre plants in the Midlands. Workers were balloted after the Italian tyre-maker offered only a 2.2% wage increase.
The balloting, which took place between 10 July and 3 August, showed that a full 75% of workers at Pirelli&rsquo;s plants in Burton-on-Trent and Carlisle accept industrial action as means to a fair contract. TGWU represents about 900 of the workers at the two plants, while Amicus represents 200. 
 
&ldquo;The overwhelming vote in favour of industrial action shows the strength of feeling against the company&rsquo;s 2.2% final pay offer,&rdquo; said TGWU National Manufacturing Organiser Peter Booth. &ldquo;Pirelli Tyres is one of the most profitable parts of the group and our members clearly feel that a below-inflation offer does not reflect their expectations, particularly with rising energy costs.&rdquo; 
 
The unions have submitted the vote to the company, and asked Pirelli to reconsider its pay offer. The exact industrial action agenda will be released today. Pirelli had previously announced its intention to issue an initial public offering for its tyre division, but early in July cancelled any spin-off of this business

UK Unions TGWU, Amicus Vote for Industrial Action Against Pirelli

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South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will conduct week-long commemorations all this week in tribute to a defining mining strike that occurred 60 years ago on 12 August. 
 
Hundreds of miners, then part of NUM&rsquo;s predecessor, the Black Mineworkers&rsquo; Union, struck on that day in 1946 at Witwatersran for a wage increase of 60 shillings and an end to single sex hostels. The strike was met by white police and the private security forces of the mining bosses, who violently put down the strike, maiming and killing several mineworkers in the process. 
 
&ldquo;It is important to recall the contributions made by these black mineworkers, their resilience and resistance under difficult times,&rdquo; stated NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, who also is President of the ICEM. Zokwana specifically mentioned the names of J.B. Marks, J.J. Majoro, and Thabo Mofutsanyane as courageous trade union leaders who made a stand on behalf of black mineworkers. 
 
&ldquo;The fact that the NUM is here today is due to the early efforts of these leaders and workers in organising mineworkers,&rdquo; Zokwana said. 
 
The commemorations started yesterday when African National Congress Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe addressed a NUM memorialisation event in Welkom, Free State. All of NUM&rsquo;s 11 regions will conduct activities this week that will culminate in a march on Saturday, 12 August, on the offices of the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg. On Wednesday, 9 August, a tribute honouring the 50th Anniversary of the Women&rsquo;s March to Union Buildings will be held. This will recognise the constraints still facing women who work in South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry, as well as honouring women who have lost their husbands in mining accidents.

60th Anniversary of South Africa’s Witwatersran Mining Strike Occurs This Week

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ICEM South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) ended an eight-day strike today against Kumba Resources. Following a series of meetings over the weekend at branch level with NUM&rsquo;s 4,000 members employed at Kumba, the strike ended after top executives of the company entered talks. 
 
National union leaders joined the talks beginning on Friday, and consultations continued with the company over the weekend. 
 
&ldquo;Our members are pleased with the outcome as presented to them after our talks with the chief executive of Kumba,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;The discipline of our members while on strike deserves praise and their ability to compromise for purposes of settling the strike is commendable.&rdquo; 
 
The strike severely affected operations at some six Kumba mines, including iron ore pits, three coal mines and a dolomite mine. The NUM was the largest of four unions in negotiations with Kumba, currently 67% controlled by AngloAmerican. The union struck on 30 July and union members of the Black Allied Mining and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (BAMCWU) followed NUM out on strike. Trade union Solidarity staged a two-day strike on 31 July and 1 August, but then accepted the company&rsquo;s wage offer. ICEM affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) represents a small number of workers at Kumba 
 
NUM struck in efforts to achieve an equitable wage package, and to gain maternity leave improvements and housing increases. Those issues were achieved, with top leaders of the company agreeing to the NUM&rsquo;s demand of 9% for low-wage workers over the weekend. NUM&rsquo;s demand for an 8% pay hike for higher wage earners was compromised when the union accepted 7.75%. But it is understood that various allowances will now be implemented to push that to 8%. The NUM paid special tribute to the 900 workers of BAMCWU who stood strong with South Africa&rsquo;s dominant miners&rsquo; union. 
 
Kumba is a product of South Africa&rsquo;s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). AngloAmerican is currently in the process of splitting the company in half, with the global mining house to retain iron ore operations. Kumba&rsquo;s coal and base metals production, including zinc and titanium, will be split into South Africa&rsquo;s largest black controlled company, Exxaro Resources, after sale is finalised to Eyesizwe of South Africa. That is expected to occur later this year.

South Africa’s NUM Ends Strike at Kumba Resources

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Fifty years ago, on 8 August 1956, 262 coal miners at Bois du Cazier in the Belgian town of Marcinelle lost their lives in a gruesome chain of events inside a 975-metre mine shaft. On 8 August 2006, the timing of those events will be commemorating on the hour they occurred. 
 
Beginning at 08h00, the time when a shaft elevator malfunctioned and crashed, clipping high-voltage electrical lines, a bell tower clock at Bois du Cazier will ring 262 times as the name of each victim is read. At 10h00, flowers will be laid at a monument at the mine that is dedicated to the many accidents that have occurred at Bois du Cazier since 1901. At 11h00, a ceremony will be held at the Marcinelle cemetery, followed by another commemoration at 12h30 at the mine site, now a museum. 
 
The shaft elevator blocked the flow of fresh air and the resulting electrical explosion created a firestorm. Some of the 262 coal miners, including 136 Italian immigrants, died from the furnace-like firestorm caused by the blast, while others who may have found refuge from the fire died from subsequent carbon monoxide poisoning. The deadly day of 8 August 1956 at Bois du Cazier stands as the worst industrial accident in Belgium&rsquo;s history. 
 
The aftermath of this tragic worksite story is depicted in a book entitled &ldquo;Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle,&rdquo; co-authored by Belgian FGTB trade union Federal Secretary Paul Lootens. The book&rsquo;s title, &ldquo;Tutti Cadaveri,&rdquo; comes from the Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, tragically, &ldquo;All corpses.&rdquo; 
 
This French language book, by Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain, was published only on 1 May 2006, but is already in its second printing. It is available from Aden Publishers for &euro;22, and can be ordered by contacting Aden at <a href="mailto:editionsaden@skynet.be">editionsaden@skynet.be</a>, or calling +32 2534 46 61. 

More information on the book, plus ordering information,&nbsp;can&nbsp;be found at <a href="http://www.aden.be/tutti_cadaveri.html">www.aden.be/tutti_cadaveri.html.</a>.

Worst Belgian Industrial Disaster: 8 August 1956

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&ldquo;Hadi Never Died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi Trade Union Movement&rdquo; is a recommended book just released about the continuing fight to establish free and democratic trade unions in Iraq. Written by Abdullah Muhsin and Alan Johnson, and published by UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress, all proceeds of the book benefit Iraqi trade unions. 
 
Hadi Saleh might best exemplify the decades-long fight for open and free trade unions inside Iraq. The country was once moderately tolerant of such unions, which made it an economic and social model for the Middle East. Hadi Saleh, then a leader in the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), was strangled to death with electrical wire in his home after being tortured on 4 January 2005 by assassins aligned with the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein. He was 58. 
 
In 1969, Hadi Saleh was sentenced to death during the early years of a repressive regime for engaging in activities for free and independent trade unions. He was imprisoned for five years and then fled, taking exile in Sweden. At the height of the invasion in spring 2003 which toppled Saddam Hussein, he returned to Iraq to continue the fight for legitimate trade unions. 
 
At the time of his death, he was the International Secretary of the IFTU, now called the Iraqi Workers&rsquo; Federation (IWF). 
 
Hadi Saleh has not been the only trade union advocate since commencement of the Iraqi occupation to meet his death for trade union activity. In 18 February 2005, Ali Hassan Abd of the Oil &amp; Gas Workers&rsquo; Union was shot and killed while walking home with his children. Less that a week later, Ahmed Adris Abas of the Transport &amp; Communications Workers&rsquo; Union was gunned down in Martyrs&rsquo; Square in Baghdad. 
 
On 25 January 2006, Alaa Issa Khalaf of the Mechanics&rsquo;&rsquo; trade union of the General federation of Iraqi Workers was assassinated and in late April of this year, Thabet Hussein of the General Union for Health Sector Workers was murdered. In June, Shukry Al Shakhly, a founder of the IFTU, was also murdered. 
 
Others have been kidnapped, or have been victims of senseless killings that occur every day now in Iraq. 
 
Author and IWF liaison Abdullah Muhsin voiced the beliefs of Hadi Saleh at the recent launch of the book: &ldquo;Free and independent unions will play an important role in making sure investment provides quality jobs and decent public services. 
 
&ldquo;But unions are also important in forming Iraq&rsquo;s democratic future and national identity,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Our independence makes us a home to all Iraqis irrespective of gender, ethnicity, and religion. Unions are an antidote to the sectarian poisons of extremism in Iraq.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Hadi Never Died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi Trade Union Movement&rdquo; can be ordered for ₤10 at <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/publications">http://www.tuc.org.uk/publications</a>, or by e-mailing <a href="mailto:media@tuc.org.uk">media@tuc.org.uk</a>, or calling +44 20 7467 1294.

Book Celebrates Determined Comrades Fighting for Free Iraqi Trade Unions

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ICEM affiliate Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN) stepped in to resolve a strike by workers at a diamond cutting and polishing factory in the southern African country recently.
The strike, by nearly a quarter of the 500-member workforce at a plant operated by Israeli-based Lev Leviev Diamonds, occurred when management again attempted to impose restrictive individual contracts on workers. The activist-leaders shut down the plant in Namibia&rsquo;s northern industrial zone on 27 July by effectively blocking entrances, and then demanded representation by the MUN. 
 
After listening to workers&rsquo; grievances, MUN General Secretary Joseph Hengari began negotiations with the company. The union convinced strikers to reopen the plant on 31 July, and got the company to drop threatened disciplinary actions against strike leaders. 
 
After two years of operation, the plant&rsquo;s workers still have not been granted permanent status, instead held to 12-month temporary contracts. This round of temporary work agreements were issued in July, with the company demanding a signed return by 31 July. The individual contracts disqualified workers from earning a basic salary unless they reached certain production goals. Commissions would be paid to workers only when work exceeded a daily target of eight stones per day, or 170 diamonds per month. 
 
Hengari said the contracts fail on all counts of basic workers&rsquo; rights. He said that no overtime is ever paid, and standard double pay for work performed on Sundays and holidays is ignored. The MUN is awaiting official word from the company that it recognises the union, since nearly all workers have designated MUN as bargaining representative. 
 
Lev Leviev Diamonds is the world&rsquo;s largest cutter and polisher of precious gems and a major source of rough stones to other cutters. The conglomerate also owns a gold mine in Kazakhstan, two diamond mines in Angola, and a multitude of other global business ventures, stretching from real estate, to petrol stations to Vash Telecanal, Israel&rsquo;s Russian television station. The company, operated by Lev Leviev, a 1971 immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union state of Uzbekistan, has a long history of opaque transactions, particularly in diamond and gem trading.

Namibian Diamond Polishers Seek Representation by Mineworkers’ Union

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Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Labour Ministry will convene another conciliation meeting tomorrow, 8 August, in order to avert further job actions by trade unionists of ICEM affiliate Oilfield Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU). Hundreds of OWTU members shut down the country&rsquo;s only oil refinery at Point-a-Pierre from 23 July to 27 July in protest to state-run oil company Petrotrin&rsquo;s insufficient three-year contract offer.
OWTU has been attempting to reach an accord with Petrotrin for 1,500 refinery, exploration and production workers since last year. The labour dispute centers on wages and general work terms and conditions. All five labour agreements &ndash; covering 5,000 workers &ndash; between OWTU and the company have now expired, and the union is seeking a fair and just settlement for renewal agreements dating from 2005 to 2008. 
 
On 24 July, Petrotrin requested government mediation. Refinery workers, frustrated by management&rsquo;s bargaining table intransigence in a time of booming oil and gas profits, began job actions a day earlier. The two parties met with Labour Ministry officials on 27 July and again on 3 August in attempts to resolve issues, and tomorrow&rsquo;s meeting is termed pivotal in terms of future actions. 
 
&ldquo;The demonstration by workers recently was a show of disgust over the company&rsquo;s meagre offer,&rdquo; said OWTU President Errol McLeod. &ldquo;The situation is not stable enough now to assure anybody that more demonstrations will not occur.&rdquo; 
 
OWTU members at the former Texaco refinery in Point-a-Pierre did strike on 5-6 June over stalled talks, in addition to safety issues. Other Petrotrin workers, including offshore workers, struck a month earlier due to lack of progress in negotiations. In March, refinery workers began the job actions by waging two separate strikes. 
 
The Point-a-Pierre refinery produces 160,000 barrels-per-day of petrol, diesel and oil for domestic consumption and export to other Caribbean nations and the US. The refinery is expanding to include a US$150 million methanol plant for gas to liquids conversion. Petrotrin will have 49% ownership in the new enterprise, with the 2,250 barrel-per-day plant led by New York-based start-up company World GTL

Trinidad’s Oil Workers Take Action for Fair Contract

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