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An ICEM Nuclear Power Union Network is out of the starting blocks after 14-15 April meetings in Brussels. The network will be formalized at a conference tentatively set for 27-30 August in Romania. Unionists from affiliates in Belgium, Canada, Romania, UK and US attended the Brussels meetings.

Nuclear Power Network Forms with ICEM Assistance

Workers at Chernobyl, and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations, will go on strike unless a dispute over unpaid wages is resolved by tomorrow (6 March). Nationally and globally, unions are warning that the crisis could have implications for safety. 
 
Over the past few weeks, the nuclear workers have gradually been escalating their protests over the wage backlog, which now amounts to more than US$15 million. They have repeatedly warned that serious underfunding of the sector poses a threat to nuclear safety. 
 
Their union, the Atom Trade Union (ATU), issued the strike alert after the government and the nuclear energy utility Energoatom had persistently failed to tackle the wage debt crisis. The union has particularly criticised the government's foot-dragging over a decree that would open new credit lines for the cash-starved Ukrainian nuclear industry. 
 
ATU President Alexander Jurkin is now in negotiations with the Deputy Prime Minister in a last attempt to avert a full strike. 
 
At the global level, the ATU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters can count on the full support of their colleagues worldwide,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;The Ukrainian nuclear workers must be paid what they are owed, and the ICEM stands ready to back their campaign. 
 
&quot;Non-payment of any group of workers is wholly unacceptable,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;In the case of nuclear workers, it also poses a threat to the wider national and global community. 
 
&quot;Workers are a key factor in nuclear safety. They have to remain fully alert throughout their shifts. Nuclear workers who have serious financial worries, and who may have to take second jobs out of hours in order to make ends meet, could experience difficulty in concentrating. 
 
&quot;The Ukrainian authorities must ensure full payment of the nuclear workers' wages without further delay,&quot; Thorpe insisted, &quot;and they must provide the nuclear industry with the financial resources needed for safe operation. 
 
&quot;The global community must also shoulder its responsibilities,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;Part of the international funding devoted to nuclear safety in Ukraine must be earmarked for the full, immediate payment of the nuclear industry's wage backlog. And the world's governments must insist that, from now on, wages be paid in full and on time to the workers on whom the world's safety depends.&quot;

Chernobyl Workers To Strike?

Australian affiliate Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers&rsquo; Union (LHMU) won a verdict on agency fees in South Australia. The Industrial Relations Commission ruled non-union members must pay a fee for worklife gains through the enterprise bargaining process. LHMU Branch Sec. Mark Butler called it a &ldquo;landmark decision&rdquo; and vowed that all LHMU collective agreements in South Australia will include the new language.

Australian Affiliate LHMU Wins Agency Fees Case

92,000 South African workers have united within a union spanning a wide range of major industries. 
 
CEPPWAWU (Chemical, Pulp and Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union) was created at the end of last week by the merger of the chemical and allied workers' CWIU and the paper and allied workers' PPAPWU. As well as the sectors listed in its name, the new union covers glass, rubber, plastics and pharmaceuticals. 
 
Elected as CEPPWAWU's General Secretary was Muzi Buthelezi, with Bengeza Mthombeni as Deputy General Secretary and Pasco Dyani as President. 
 
&quot;Our membership will benefit from this merger through better service, improved finances and human resources, and more bargaining power,&quot; Buthelezi told ICEM UPDATE. 
 
The new union will be harmonising its collective bargaining this month and expects to have its local and regional structures in place by May. 
 
It urged its members to contribute today's (3 March) wages to the Job Creation Fund set up by South Africa's national labour confederations to tackle the unemployment crisis. 
 
At the global level, CEPPWAWU will be affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The new union has taken a resolutely internationalist stance from the start, and specifically notes that &quot;unions internationally from the chemical and paper industries have aligned themselves to form single organisations.&quot; 
 
&quot;This strong new union will be a further boost for the ICEM's important organising drive in Africa,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;South Africa is crucial to out efforts to unite the world's workers - a fact that we will recognise when the ICEM holds its World Congress in Durban this November.&quot;

South Africa&#039;s New Super-Union

South Africa&rsquo;s NUM and Harmony Gold Mining Ltd., along with two other unions, agreed to establish a task force composed of geologists, financial experts and labour and management officials to ward off the company&rsquo;s announced intent to shutter six mine shafts that could have cut the jobs of 5,000 workers. The compromise centers on the principle of saving jobs and not closing the shafts, and the task force will deliver its assessment on 3 May. &ldquo;We are pleased that a process to ensure we meet these objectives is in place and acceptable to everyone,&rdquo; said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe.
But strikes due to retrenchments and pay could occur by the NUM at two other firms in South Africa&rsquo;s gold and platinum sectors. Goldfields has indicated it intends to reduce its workforce at the Driefontein gold mine, and talks have failed over economics at Modikwa Platinum, a joint venture between AngloPlatinum and African Rainbow Minerals. NUM states it would like Goldfields to follow Harmony&rsquo;s approach by getting all parties seriously engaged to find a collective means to save jobs.

NUM of South Africa and Harmony Will Evaluate Job Cuts

Korean elections on 15 April proved historic for progressive forces including the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and ICEM affiliate Korean Chemical &amp; Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (KCFT). For the first time in the nation&rsquo;s 56-year history, progressive labour as represented by the DLP won seats in the National Assembly&mdash;ten, to become the country&rsquo;s third largest political party. KCTF is a member of the thriving national labour center, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which backs the DLP.

Korean Elections Bode Well for Union Movement

The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers Union of Canada would welcome global trade union support in its effort to block the Canadian government from selling its 19% state in Petro-Canada. Log on to www.cep.ca, click on the &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t Sell Petro-Canada&rdquo; link on the home page, and you can draft and send a short message against divestment to the prime minister that is automatically copied to the finance minister.

CEP of Canada Seeks Petition Help on Petro-Canada

ICEM President and Australian CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland officiated at a remembrance 4 April of the 1,600 miners who lost their lives in the mining areas of New South Wales dating back to 1801. The remembrance was the ninth such observance at the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation House in Cessnock. CFMEU Northern Mining &amp; Energy Division President Peter Murray said it is important to demonstrate respect and condolences to families who have lost loves ones in the mines and as a result of hazardous mine work.

Australian Mine Union Marks Death Toll in NSW

The crisis in Ukrainian coal mines is worsening by the day. Crippled by customers' unpaid bills and by &quot;reforms&quot; partly dictated by global financial institutions, the industry is continuing to default on wage payments to its workers. 
 
By 1 February, active coalminers were owed between 3 and 14 months' pay, the Miners' Independent Trade Union of Ukraine (MITU) reports. The total wage debt to these miners topped 700 million US dollars last month. The many Ukrainian miners invalided out because of accidents and occupational diseases are faring no better financially. They are now owed some 135 million US dollars' worth of benefits. 
 
Desperate times breed desperate measures. Strikes are spreading rapidly, now involving between 20,000 and 25,000 miners each day. About 200 miners have launched an indefinite sit-in below ground. One miner burned himself to death in a protest last December and more have threatened to do so. 
 
&quot;The miners are demanding that their wages be paid on time, that the arrears be paid and that state financing of the sector be increased during 1999,&quot; MITU President Mikhail Volynets commented yesterday. He said the country's President and government had reneged on a commitment to begin paying off the wage backlog. If the miners' &quot;legimate demands&quot; were not met, MITU would &quot;lead a general miners' strike,&quot; Volynets pledged. 
 
He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are pressing the Ukraine to cut coal industry subsidies, close mines and reduce the workforce. 
 
&quot;All this doesn't favour the financial improvement of country in general, and in particular of the coal sector, which is a key Ukrainian industry,&quot; Volynets emphasised. &quot;Because of the tough monetary policy implemented by the government under pressure from the World Bank, many industrial enterprises in related sectors have stopped working. This has also had a negative effect on the working of the mines. 
 
&quot;In this situation, social and psychological tensions are intensifying more and more in the mining regions,&quot; Volynets warned. 
 
At the global level, the MITU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The Ukrainian miners' claim is undeniably just,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe commented. &quot;They are simply demanding what they are owed. They have the full support and solidarity of their brothers and sisters worldwide. 
 
&quot;We certainly call upon the Ukrainian mines and the Ukrainian government to ensure payment of the wage debt without further delay,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;But beyond that, we demand that the institutions of global finance, notably the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, should at last show some social responsibility. At least part of the international finance that now goes into often harmful 'restructuring' in Ukraine and similar economies must instead be earmarked for the payment of the huge debts owed to those countries' workers. Global action is needed now to right this scandalous wrong.&quot;

Ukraine: Mine Strikes Spread As Pay Debt Climbs

"Meet the everyday needs of people everywhere." Few would argue with Unilever's central aim. But the food-to-toothpaste mammoth has forgotten one big human need - job security.

Unilever will present its annual results in Rotterdam tomorrow (23 Feb.). They are unlikely to be small. It currently claims to be the world's second-biggest consumer goods business and 19th-biggest manufacturer. And on the company's own figures, its operating profit has so far been "approaching 4 billion [US] dollars."

As for the workers, Unilever says it has "270,000 employees worldwide" - but for how much longer?

Immediately after the company's media event tomorrow, the Unilever European Works Council will hold its own press conference in Rotterdam [at 13.30 in the Hotel Restaurant Engels, Stationsplein 45].

There, the story will be very different. For Unilever employees, 1998 was once again a year of painful redundancies and job losses. In the 7 years between 1991 and 1997, Unilever closed 57 factories in Europe. In many of the plants that remain, jobs and pay have been cut.

The unions' press conference is being organised by their European-level industrial federations, the food and allied workers' ECF-IUF and the chemical and allied workers' EMCEF, and is supported by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

In a campaign backed globally by the food and allied workers' international IUF and the chemical and allied workers' ICEM, the works council is demanding:

An end to divestments and sales of companies
An end to factory closures
The use of Unilever's cash reserves for investments rather than for further downsizing and restructuring.

An ICEM/IUF cybercampaign to back these demands is online now. It includes facilities for lobbying Unilever by e-mail and fax.

Action by Unilever workers across Europe tomorrow will include leafleting, protest rallies and workplace assemblies. It is likely that short work stoppages will take place in a number of locations.

Unilever: Unions&#039; Action Day Tomorrow Over Plant Closures

Archive

Nuclear Power Network Forms with ICEM Assistance

Chernobyl Workers To Strike?

Australian Affiliate LHMU Wins Agency Fees Case

South Africa's New Super-Union

NUM of South Africa and Harmony Will Evaluate Job Cuts

Korean Elections Bode Well for Union Movement

CEP of Canada Seeks Petition Help on Petro-Canada

Australian Mine Union Marks Death Toll in NSW

Ukraine: Mine Strikes Spread As Pay Debt Climbs

Unilever: Unions' Action Day Tomorrow Over Plant Closures

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