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South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs will be lost in the country due to the world financial crisis. No mining sector has been spared, but perhaps worst hit is the platinum sector. 
 
In recent days, platinum mining house Lonmin announced 4,000 job cuts, 3,000 at its Western Platinum mine and 1,000 at the Eastern Platinum mine in Marikana. The mining house also plans to suspend operations at its Baobab shaft in Limpopo, causing untold job losses. 
 
These announcements were made by Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer, who claimed the redundancies had been agreed to with unions. But NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka countered that claim, saying it was false, accusing the company of bad planning in the run-up to the start of the crisis last September. 
 
In February, Anglo Platinum CEO Neville Nicolau hinted during a call related to the company&rsquo;s financial results that 10,000 jobs would be cut because of the economic climate. Again, the NUM was critical, citing bad planning and the fact that corporate chieftains publicly proclaim job losses before even consulting with the union, which serves only to frighten miners. 

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Frans Beleni
&ldquo;When platinum prices reached US$2,000 per ounce in May 2008, you could see the reckless spending perpetrated by management,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni on a recent South African radio programme. &ldquo;If true leadership prevailed, we could have prevented this bloodbath of job losses,&rdquo; added Baleni. 
 
Platinum is currently selling for about US$1,070 per ounce. 
 
Under Section 189 of South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act, termed the &ldquo;retrenchments clause,&rdquo; management must confer with labour in order to give an accounting of reasons behind any redundancies. An employer must prove there is a need to cut jobs, otherwise the matter lands in the courts. 
 
One successful intervention occurred at a Simmer &amp; Jacks gold mine in Buffelsfontein in February. The junior miner sought to cull 500 jobs from a production staff of 5,000. But with the help of South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration, and full dialogue with trade unions, those cuts were reduced to five senior contract workers, with 65 other contract workers becoming permanent staff. 
 
In return, unions, led by the NUM, agreed to miners working one extra shift per month throughout 2009. 
 
In the gold mining sector last week, 4,000 NUM members at Pamodzi Gold went on strike at two mines over non-payment of wages. Miners at the Steyn mine in Free State and at a mine in East Rand began strike action on 6 March after receiving only 20% of their wages for February. 
 
It was the second time this year that Pamodzi faced a shut-down because of its financial outlook. In January, 2,000 miners stayed away from the Free State operation because water supplies had been cut due to unpaid bills. On 5 March, the company announced it was seeking to secure a bridge loan to pay its workers and creditors until its UK and German financiers came through with a loan.

South African Miners Hard Hit by Global Financial Crisis

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The UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) will host a &ldquo;Put People First &ndash; March for Jobs, Justice, Climate&rdquo; on 28 March in London. The Saturday afternoon event will serve as a mobilisation of civil society prior to the convening in London of the G20 Summit on 2 April. 
 
Although a UK event, the TUC and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are encouraging union delegations from around the world to attend in order to bring to the attention of G20 leaders the imperative need for effective, adequate, and appropriate action to eliminate the hardships caused by the global recession. 
 
&ldquo;The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future,&rdquo; stated TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. 

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Brendan Barber
&ldquo;Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Creating a just, fair, and sustainable world is the only lasting way out of recession.&rdquo; 
 
The march will assemble at Victoria Embankment at 11h00. (Nearest tube station is Temple.) It will then set off at noon and pass the UK Parliament, wind through central London, before ending up for a rally at Hyde Park. 
 
The TUC is using three separate themes: Decent Jobs and Public Services for All; End Global Poverty and Inequality; and Building a Green Economy. More details on the TUC&rsquo;s London march and rally can be found <a href="http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk">here</a>. 
 
In addition, during the week of 16 March, the ITUC will release a trade union statement with recommendations to the G20 for a fairer, more sustainable economic system. The ITUC is requesting that this &ldquo;Trade Union G20 London Declaration&rdquo; be sent to respective governments by trade unions everywhere on 23 March. 
 
The document will support the necessity for inclusion of trade union representation on the four working groups established by the G20 governments, a promise that was made to global labour by world financial institutions in November 2008, but one which so far has not been met.

London Manifestation Set for 28 March, Prior to G20 Summit

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Oil workers of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU)&nbsp;ratified a renewal three-year enterprise labour agreement on 11 March Royal Dutch Shell&rsquo;s Clyde refinery and Gore Bay terminal in Sydney harbour, but it won&rsquo;t take the sting from Shell&rsquo;s brazen anti-union conduct over the past three months. 
 
Shell manipulated negotiations that began in November 2008 in efforts to force aspects of the draconian WorkChoices law on to the union, seeking to break an enterprise agreement and begin individual work contracts before repeal of former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s anti-worker laws commence on 1 July 2009. 
 
The company initially tabled a proposal reducing a 47-page agreement to 14 pages, stripping away such clauses as workers&rsquo; training, &ldquo;Roles and Responsibilities of Operators,&rdquo; and removing standard manning requirements, thus opening the way for more contractors. Managers also proposed a reduction in operators&rsquo; wages by A$12,000 per year. 

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The 86,000 barrel per day Clyde refinery underwent an extended maintenance shutdown beginning in November, giving the company an opportunity to deploy another union-busting move. That was a demand that its regressive proposals be approved by 30 January 2009, the expiration date of the prior three-year contract, or the CFMEU would face a lock-out. 
 
To prepare for that, Shell&rsquo;s imported managers began bringing in scabs for 18-day training periods as operators, and recruited retired workers from another Australian state. By early February, obviously frustrated with CFMEU&rsquo;s rightful reluctance to accept the concessions, the company applied to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to submit its proposals directly to workers in a secret-ballot vote. 
 
That ballot was defeated on 20 February by a resounding 82%, which not only forced Shell back to the bargaining table, but forced it to change its agenda. 
 
The enterprise agreement that 150 workers&nbsp;voted&nbsp;to accept on 11 March is far better than what Shell managers had sought. It calls for a 12% wage increase over the three years, and full protection of all current work language. 
 
&ldquo;Shell&rsquo;s agenda was nothing but union-busting,&rdquo; said Lorraine Usher, CFMEU&rsquo;S New South Wales District Secretary. The company&rsquo;s &ldquo;actions have left a work force seething with resentment and it will be a long time before trust in the workplace is regained.&rdquo; 
 
Two British managers of Shell at Clyde and Gore Bay were responsible for bringing on the anti-worker agenda. &ldquo;I believe they did everything in their power to escalate the dispute,&rdquo; said Usher. The former Operations Manager at Clyde, Paul Lunt, was retained to handle negotiations. The other was Mark Stevens, who was brought in from Singapore&rsquo;s Shell operations.

Australian Oil Workers at Shell Ratify Contract, But Scars Will Linger

pulp and paper/pâte et de papier/pulpa y papel

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The deadline is 1 April 2009 for applications to two of the four Global Labour University (GLU) programmes offered in 2009-2010. Those programmes are at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, and at Germany&rsquo;s University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics. 
 
The one-year course work leads to a Masters Degree in Labour and Globalisation. The programme at the Tata Institute, which begins in July 2009, is entitled &ldquo;Globalisation and Labour.&rdquo; In Germany, where course work starts in September 2009, the Masters Programme is called &ldquo;Labour Policies and Globalisation.&rdquo; 

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The other two GLU programmes have application deadlines of 20 September 2009, and are scheduled for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), S&atilde;o Paulo State, Brazil. The South African programme is called &ldquo;Labour and Development, Economic Policy, Globalisation and Labour,&rdquo; which begins in January 2010, while the Campinas, Brazil, programme is entitled &ldquo;Social Economy and Labour,&rdquo; and begins in February 2010. 
 
Because of the enlargement of the GLU, there are additional scholarships available to trade unionists. This includes the possibility to support more European students. More details are available by visiting the GLU&rsquo;s website at <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org">www.global-labour-university.org</a>. 
 
Courses are offered in English, and applicants should, as a rule, be under the age of 40. The endorsement of a trade union is a requirement for a scholarship, and such scholarships are conditional on a &euro;1,500 contribution from a supporting trade union or another donor. GLU is an initiative of the ILO, with support from global trade unions, the respective academic institutions, and foundations.

Global Labour University Seeking Applicants for Germany, India Masters Programmes by 1 April

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The Main Workers&rsquo; Board of EPS Trade Union, representing 48,000 employees of Serbia&rsquo;s state-run Electric Power Industry, re-elected Milan Đorđević on 12 February as President. This is Đorđević&rsquo;s first full term, having succeeded Miroslav Veličković early in 2008. He had been Vice President. 
 
Đorđević is from the town of Barosevac, and worked for EPS as a coal miner at the Kolubara-Lazarevac open-cast coal mine, Serbia&rsquo;s largest colliery. He was a strong activist for miners&rsquo; rights and continues to be an effective advocate for all workers at EPS. 
 
Re-elected Vice President by the Main Board was Branko Tomić, who comes from an electric power distribution company in Kraljevo. 
 
EPS consists of 11 electric power distribution companies, 7 electric generating plants, and three coal production, process, and transport enterprises. The EPS Trade Union was founded in 1992.

EPS Trade Union of Serbia Re-elects Milan Đorđević as President

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Dutch delegates to the recent two-day Congress of FNV Bondgenoten re-elected Henk van der Kolk as chairman of the largest trade union in The Netherlands. The Congress was held in Rotterdam. 
 
Also re-elected were General Secretary Ellen Dekkers, Federal Secretary Anja Jongbloed, and Treasurer Willem Noordham. The end of the Congress on 30 January thus began third terms for this leadership team. 

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Henk van der Kolk FNV Bondgenoten Chairman
In his speech to open the Congress, van der Kolk called on Dutch social partners to initiate a new employment scheme come 1 March when the Working Hours Reduction plan expires. That plan was initially put in place in November 2008 to address the financial crisis, and was extended in January. It allows distressed companies to reduce the hours of workers, with those workers assured of receiving full pay through state funds. 
 
&ldquo;There must be something new after March 1,&rdquo; van der Kolk said, adding the crisis likely will continue throughout 2009 and into 2010. He said the government must be committed to re-training and job creation. He also warned the Social Affairs and Employment minister not to increase the pension age. 
 
Van der Kolk has headed Bondgenoten since the end of 2002, prior to which he was a director for the national centre, FNV. From 1989 to 1997, he worked for the General Union of Education Staff, the predecessor union to Algemene Onderwijsbond (AOb).

FNV Bondgenoten Congress Re-Elects Henk van der Kolk for 4-Year Term

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ICEM Belgian affiliate FGBT/ABVV stepped up its campaign calling for protection of workers&rsquo; rights in the glass and ceramics sector. 
 
Six hundred workers in the sector have lost their jobs, and over 1,000 contract workers have been sacked as global companies operating in Belgium face the worst economic downturn in decades. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV accused several companies of taking advantage of the crisis by shifting production to countries where wages and social payments are much lower. The Vesuvius group, for instance, is accused of closing a profit-making site in a &ldquo;race to the bottom.&rdquo; 
 
The economic downturn has seen scores of temporary and contract workers in glass and ceramics rendered jobless in Belgium without notice, prospect of job reclassification, or retraining. 
 
The 1,000 short-term contract workers represent between 11-12% of the total workforce in these sectors. 
 
Saint-Gobain, the Paris-based glass producer, announced last year that it would cut 4,000 jobs globally this year, many in Belgium. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV calls attention to the obvious fact that although workers are hardest hit by the crisis, production quotas remain high and dividends to shareholders continue to flow. 
 
Considering the government assistance and programmes available to employers, there should be no need for dismantling these sectors in Belgium. 
 
The union pledges to continue the struggle throughout 2009 to restore workers&rsquo; jobs and rights, as well as to ensure that workers have the necessary purchasing power in Belgium.

Belgian FGTB/ABVV Outlines Steps in Glass, Ceramics to Meet Economic Crisis

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The ICEM expressed concern recently at the actions of Sinotex Lanka, Ltd., a garment producer which is owned by Hong Kong-based Cristal-Martin Group. The company has closed two factories after operating 27 years in Sri Lanka. 
 
Members of the Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union, who recently applied for affiliation to the ICEM, have called for international solidarity for the 2,500 workers that have lost their jobs. The ICEM insists that the company make the correct pay settlements to workers, in line with national legislation. 
 
Reports suggest that Sinotex has already made arrangements for the factories to reopen with new workers, a clear illustration of how a company uses the global economic crisis to destroy a trade union. Most of the Sinotex workers are women, and many are migrants from rural villages far from the factories in the Investment Promotion Zone of Katunayake. 
 
Many of the workers were sacked after up to 20 years employment. 

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The Joint Secretary of the union, Anton Marcus, sent a letter early in February to the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. That letter urged him to organize &ldquo;dialogue between social partners in order to overcome the challenges posed by the world economic crisis.&rdquo; 
 
The legislation that must be upheld is the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1978. In order for a different settlement to be agreed outside of the terms of this law, it must be carried out under a Memorandum of Settlement, covered in section 12(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act of Sri Lanka. This must be based on negotiations between the employer and employees before the Commissioner of Labour. 
 
Sinotex Lanka, Ltd. has violated all of these legal provisions, summoning workers one by one, and then terminating their services with a small stipend. Neither the union nor the Commissioner of Labour had been consulted, even though the union had requested a meeting. 
 
The ICEM believes this has set a dangerous precedent for other anti-union companies across Sri Lanka. Members of the union at Wheel Works Private, Ltd. have also been threatened by managers with discharge if they do not resign their membership.

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

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A general strike in the French West Indies territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique turned deadly last week when a fifty-year-old union leader, Jacques Bino, was killed as he approached a road block set up by disenfranchised youths in Point-&agrave;-Pitre, the largest city of Guadeloupe. His car was hit three times by 12-gauge shotgun slugs, one of which hit the tax and union official in the chest. 
 
Six policemen were also wounded in Guadeloupe that same evening, 17 February, as widespread rioting took place on the Caribbean island. It is thought that Bino may have been killed after being mistaken for a plainclothes policeman. 
 
The general strike started 20 January by a grouping of 50 trade unions and associations, under the banner &ldquo;Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon&rdquo; (Stand Up Against Exploitation). The strike is over a social caste system that harkens back to the days of slavery on the islands. 
 
On 14 February, thousands of workers marched through the town of Le Moule to the chant, &ldquo;Guadeloupe is ours, it&rsquo;s not theirs.&rdquo; 

<img height="133" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0902.Elie_.Domata.jpg" width="100" />
Elie Domota
Elie Domota, spokesperson for the Stand Up Against Exploitation stated, &ldquo;Guadeloupe is a colony, because in a French department they would never have let the situation deteriorate this much before intervening.&rdquo; Demonstrators have targeted the island&rsquo;s &lsquo;b&eacute;k&eacute;s&rsquo;, descendants of white plantation owners who still control much of the island&rsquo;s economy. They account for less than 1% of Guadeloupe&rsquo;s 450,000 population. 
 
Citizens of Guadeloupe are victimised because most food is imported and is far more expensive than in France. However, wages are much lower and unemployment levels reach 20%. The Sarkozy administration in Paris has refused calls to recognise a demanded &euro;200 per month increase in the minimum wage, or to address a demand that price cuts to basic essentials such as food and fuel be lowered by 20%. 
 
It took until the fourth week of the strike, only last week, before Sarkozy did intervene. He spoke of the need for profound changes in the island&rsquo;s economy, but failed to give any concrete proposals. 
 
Similar demonstrations have occurred in neighbouring Martinique, while the strike has threatened to spread to the territories of French Guyana in South America, and the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. Protests could spread to mainland France in the coming days and weeks.

General Strike in Guadeloupe Turns Deadly; Finally Gets French Attention

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