English

Español

Français

Русский

New english test page

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

testing new page

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

The USW is protesting against the Bush government&rsquo;s weakening of mine safety regulations regarding underground fumes. Bush&rsquo;s Department of Labor (DOL) relaxed rules on necessary engineering controls in monitoring metal and non-metal mines in favour of a new standard that expands the use of respirators for workers. 
But DOL&rsquo;s Mine Safety &amp; Health Administration (MSHA) did not go far enough in requiring employers to medically test workers for their ability to use respirators safely, an obvious slight for miners with undiagnosed heart and lung problems. USW Health, Safety and Environment Director Mike Wright called it &ldquo;a gift to (Bush administration) supporters in the mining industry. It&rsquo;s entirely political, and I suspect the decision was made over the objections of MSHA health staff, who certainly know better.&rdquo; The USW said it would challenge the respiration revisions in court.

Steelworkers Protest Mine Fumes Standard to US Government

Strikes, marches and mass demonstrations in The Netherlands may be over as ministers for the center-right government have backed away from cuts to the Dutch social welfare system. Dutch unions, employers and the government reached an accord 6 November that will save social programmes from the budget axe, including early retirement rights, the current work-week and holiday entitlement, and industry-wide wage agreements. In return, the unions have pledged restraint in wage talks next year.

NL Center-Right Government Backs Off Social Welfare Cuts

PACE, as lead union in ICEM&rsquo;s ExxonMobil Network, has an excellent website containing topical and informative data and news articles on the world&rsquo;s largest energy concern. It can be found at www.exxonmobil-solidarity.org.

PACE in US Establishes ExxonMobil Network Website

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has put in play an A$8 million advertising campaign against the Howard government&rsquo;s sweeping industrial relations reforms. 
The radio and television campaign began 19 June and runs intensely this week, a National Week of Action in which 30 June&mdash;a day before testy conservatives take hold of the Australian Senate&mdash;is designated a national strike day. On Thursday, hundreds of thousands of workers will strike by massing in major cities, despite threats by the Howard labour ministry that steep fines will be given to those workers that strike illegally. Howard&rsquo;s agenda is to limit collective bargaining by expanding the use of individual contracts with workers, reduce minimum wage levels, and abolish the federal states&rsquo; industrial relations systems. He&rsquo;s needlessly agitated trade unions by making the country&rsquo;s 38-hour workweek now open for discussion. 
Trade unions behind the ACTU now have an important ally on their side, academia. Industrial relations experts at Australian universities have formally banded to disparage Howard&rsquo;s reforms, predicting they will weaken workplace fairness and not have a positive effect on economic productivity or job growth.

Australian Unions Go on Offensive over Labour Reform

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
After one strike ultimatum given in March to Nigeria&rsquo;s oil industry was lifted to conduct further talks, affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN are prepared now to take three-day strike action beginning 11 April. Talks broke off 30 March between the two unions and several global oil companies and their contractors and mediation is being done by the country&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour and Productivity. 
At issue is the ever increasing number of expatriate workers entering Nigeria&rsquo;s oil sector, a fact that shatters set quota levels. The two unions also list among issues casualisation, deductions in worker salaries to fund pension benefits, and Nigeria&rsquo;s downstream restructuring programme which already has brought 4,700 redundancies. NUPENG and PENGASSAN members are wearing red shirts and other red items in the days leading up to the planned 11 April action.

Strike Threat in Nigerian Oil Industry Over Expat Workers

The ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Project took another step forward in sub-Saharan African countries 7-9 June with training workshops held in Johannesburg. The team of national coordinators for African countries was present and ICEM HIV/AIDS Regional Coordinator Shirley Miller, associated with affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa, was introduced. The team engaged in training on HIV/AIDS bargaining and negotiations, as well as participated in other workshops together with ICEM Global Coordinator Hans Schwass.

ICEM&#039;s HIV/AIDS Project Moves Forward

The government-imposed &quot;sole administrator&quot; has now left the headquarters of the Nigerian oilworkers' union NUPENG and the democratically elected union leadership has moved back in. This follows a NUPENG Congress and elections yesterday. 
 
The headquarters of the oilworkers' union PENGASSAN is also understood to be back in the union's control. The &quot;sole administrator&quot; there withdrew ahead of next week's PENGASSAN Congress and elections. 
 
The government administrators had been running the two unions ever since the late military dictator Sani Abacha ousted their real leaderships at gunpoint in 1994, as he moved to crush a nationwide oilworkers'strike. 
 
Re-elected as NUPENG General Secretary yesterday was Frank Kokori. The new NUPENG President is B.B. Awe. 
 
Kokori and PENGASSAN General Secretary Milton Dabibi were imprisoned without trial under the Abacha regime. Their release this June followed a sustained worldwide campaign led by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the two unions are affiliated. 
 
&quot;The NUPENG headquarters has been left in a bad state,&quot; Kokori told ICEM UPDATE today. &quot;My first task will be to get the basic infrastructure back in and put our administration back on its feet.&quot; 
 
The ICEM had continued to press for the ending of government intervention in the two unions. &quot;Democratic control is essential to the revival of these two important Nigerian unions,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe today. &quot;We greatly welcome the freeing of PENGASSAN and NUPENG and look forward to working with them again for the good of workers in Nigeria and worldwide.&quot;

Nigeria: Oil Unions Back In Workers&#039; Hands

Coal talks between New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and Solid Energy broke down last week, and workers began renewed industrial action at three worksites by refusing to load coal trains. State-run Solid Energy responded by suspending workers without pay. By 10 June, EPMU workers were back on jobsites and further bargaining is scheduled for next week between the union, Solid Energy and five of its contractors. EPMU compromised its wage demands from 6% to 5% in line with the union&rsquo;s national &ldquo;Fair Share&mdash;Five in &lsquo;05&rdquo; campaign, but the coal company has only offered 2.8% in bargaining.

Coal Dispute in New Zealand Again Grows Tense

EPMU and Norwegian-based pulp and paper company Norske Skog signed an innovative agreement with Kewerau College for a maintenance training centre. The programme is the first of its kind in New Zealand and will provide training from apprenticeship up to and through advanced levels of skilled maintenance. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a living example of a union and employer collaborating to fix a glaring gap in our skills and training,&rdquo; stated EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Norske Skog operates the 600- worker Tasman paper mill, which produces newsprint and directory paper at Kawerau.

New Zealand&#039;s EPMU, Norske Skog Agree to Training Centre

Three deadly mine accidents last week in China left 33 miners dead. On 8 June, an explosion at the Zijiang coal mine in Loudi, province of Hunan, killed 21 and injured 24. On the same day at an iron ore mine in Shahe, Hebei province, another gas blast killed nine and injured eight. On 7 June at the Shilongxiang coal mine near Zhaotong, Yunnan province, a methane explosion killed three. 
In a further Chinese mine safety note, it was revealed through an investigation that the owner of the illegal Xinfu coal mine in Qitaihe, Heilongjiang province, in which 18 miners died in a 14 March explosion was also a top safety official for the provincial mine supervisory bureau. The Xinfu mine was found to lack basic ventilation and gas monitoring equipment.

Three Mine Accidents in China Leave 33 Dead

Archive

Steelworkers Protest Mine Fumes Standard to US Government

NL Center-Right Government Backs Off Social Welfare Cuts

PACE in US Establishes ExxonMobil Network Website

Australian Unions Go on Offensive over Labour Reform

Strike Threat in Nigerian Oil Industry Over Expat Workers

ICEM's HIV/AIDS Project Moves Forward

Nigeria: Oil Unions Back In Workers' Hands

Coal Dispute in New Zealand Again Grows Tense

New Zealand's EPMU, Norske Skog Agree to Training Centre

Three Mine Accidents in China Leave 33 Dead

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us