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Press

Mr. Andrus Ansip 
Prime Minister 
Republic of Estonia 
Tallinn 
Estonia 
 
Brussels, 20 March 2006 

Dear Prime Minister Ansip, 
 
I write on behalf of the 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers in the energy, chemicals, mining and processed industries. Estonian unions, along with Nordic IN, a five-nation trade union federation of workers in basic industries, informed us about your country&rsquo;s proposed Employees&rsquo; Representatives Act, which would replace a labour law which has been in effect since 1993. 
 
The ICEM, and its 389 trade union affiliates in 122 countries, objects to the proposed amended law as an attempt to weaken the role of trade unions in Estonia. We also view the proposal as an erosion of the role and duties that union shop stewards perform. 
 
I specifically refer to the way your government is planning to transpose a European Union directive (2002/14/EC), on informing and consulting employees, into the proposed new Estonian law. Article 1.2 of that Directive, which is also contained in ILO Convention No. 135 on Workers&rsquo; Representatives, states that information and consultation must be developed, taking into account national law and existing practices. The proposed Estonian law would exclude trade union shop stewards from these information and consultation procedures, and shop stewards would lose all their existing rights and guarantees. 
 
Furthermore, even though it is required in ILO Convention Number 98, trade union representatives would no longer have protection from dismissals. On top of that, trade union shop stewards would lose the ability to carry out their legitimate responsibilities on the job because the proposed statute significantly reduces the allowed amount of time for this to occur. 
 
In Estonia&rsquo;s 1993 statute, a well-formulated list exists of issues over which employees must be consulted. This has been changed in the proposed amendment with a short, unclear formulation. 
Additionally, the sanction or penalty for an individual employer representative who neglects the information and consultation section of this proposed law would be less than &euro; 1,000. That is about the same penalty that an employee representative would face for failing to keep confidential information. Article 8.2 of the European Directive stipulates that there should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions in the event of infringement. The ICEM feels this is not the case in the proposed Employees&rsquo; Representatives Act of Estonia. 
 
If adopted as the draft now stands, this legislation would be a major step backwards in the development of balanced labour market structures and mechanisms, as specified under the common EU social dialogue agenda.
The appointment of workplace employee representatives in parallel and alongside legitimate trade union shop stewards is directly contrary to this social model. Unfortunately, the proposed Employees&rsquo; Representatives Act would provide this option to employers doing business in Estonia. 
 
I urge you to use your influence to amend the proposed Act in such a way to ensure that the legitimate and universally accepted role of trade unions, and their elected shop stewards, is maintained. The ICEM will closely follow developments on this matter, and we intend to report directly to our affiliated trade unions on whether or not Estonia adopts the principle of a balanced social partnership between democratic and free trade unions, and employers. 
 
 
Sincerely Yours, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
ICEM

ICEM letter to Estonian Prime Minister on Employees’ Representatives Act

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
A five-day glass plant strike in Bulgaria by ICEM affiliate National Federation of Chemical Workers of Podkrepa ended 19 May. Some 700 workers, the majority of them members of the union, won a 17% increase in their total financial package, including a 10% raise in their basic salary. 
 
The strike action occurred at Turkish-owned Sisecam&rsquo;s Trakya Glass Bulgaria (Shishejam), a new facility that only went into production in February 2006 in the town of Targovishte. The Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union had conducted a one-hour protest outside the factory on 8 May over local management&rsquo;s refusal to address several issues. 
The flat-glass plant is the second of three plants that Sisecam has opened recently in Targovishte. A household glass plant opened for production in August 2005, while a potassium-glass plant and mirror operation will open in the northern Bulgarian town late in 2006.

Glass Strike Ends in Bulgaria with Wage Gains

Going against the flow of today&rsquo;s business mantra on ethical and sustainable behaviour, China and India continue to sign energy agreements with the military dictators in Burma. 
Only last Friday, Indian President Abdul Kalam sealed such a new deal, which will allow India to tap into a part of Burma&rsquo;s vast natural gas reserves. As part of that deal, yet another pipeline will be built. In Burma, more pipelines mean more slave labour, and more misery for the Burmese people.&nbsp;
<img height="200" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/burmamap.gif" width="200" />
This latest Indian deal follows the announcement late last year that the Burmese junta decided to sell a portion of its gas from the large Shwe project to China. 
By granting this and other rights to PetroChina and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp.), the military dictators opened up Burma&rsquo;s new natural gas resources to both regional superpowers, continuing their old habit of creating rivalries between them. Some gas will now, in part, be produced by Indian companies, but sold to China. Both nations are hungry for resources to drive their energy needs. 
 
These deals concern recently discovered offshore gas reserves, including the massive Shwe Project, operated by consortiums of Asian companies, including South Korea&rsquo;s Daewoo and India&rsquo;s state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC). 
This is in addition to the other &lsquo;older&rsquo; gas fields in the region, such as Yadana and Yetagun, which are mainly operated by a mixture of OECD-based and regional companies, including Total, Unocal (now Chevron), Nippon Oil and Petronas of Malaysia. 
 
The &lsquo;newer&rsquo; fields are still largely in their test-drilling phases. Estimates on their combined size vary, but range from twice the size of the combined Yadana and Yetagun fields, to ten times as much. 
Together with a few recently discovered oil fields, they are likely to become the latest and maybe largest pool of resources at the hands of Burma&rsquo;s military cartel, widely known as one of the most horrific dictatorial regimes in the world. Burmese generals spend roughly half of their nation&rsquo;s budget on the army, a tool used to terrorize Burma&rsquo;s population. Spending on education or health services is nearly non-existent.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="67" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ChinaFLAG.gif" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="66" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/IndiaFlag.gif" width="100" />
With the Chinese and Indian investments comes a startling fact: the projects will entail at least two new pipelines built inside Burma, one to India and one to China. 
While China is &ldquo;studying&rdquo; building a pipeline from the Arakan coast to the Chinese province of Yunnan, India reportedly agreed with Burma to build a pipeline that will now be much longer than originally anticipated, bypassing Bangladesh and going via Burma into northeast India. 
 
&ldquo;We all know about the consequences of building pipelines in Burma: countless Burmese civilians may be subjected to forced labour and suffer from it, ranging from having to work under slavery conditions at gunpoint, at best, to being murdered at worst&ldquo; said Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. 
 
History is clear about what happens when pipelines are built in Burma. While the onshore part of the pipeline that links the Yetagun and Yadana gas fields with Thailand is only 65 kilometres in length, construction of it brought serious human rights concerns with it. 
Forced labour was used in connection to the building of the pipeline by the omnipresent army, officially there to protect operations. Land confiscation without compensation, something common throughout Burma, is another likely consequence of the investment. Estimates on the current number of people forcibly displaced already range from a few hundred thousand to a few million. 
 
All this will be no different this time. According to the ILO, the United Nations agency that deals with labour issues, forced labour is still widespread in Burma.
Multinational companies still have to enter into joint-venture deals with Burmese state-run companies, in this case MOGE, the Myanmar Oil &amp; Gas Enterprise, a company owned and controlled by the army, which continues to control virtually all aspects of life in Burma.&nbsp;

India and China to boost forced labour in Burma

Contents
1. Australia&nbsp;-&nbsp;Companies Benefit from Treating Women Workers Well 
2. Brazil &ndash; Women of Colour Receive Half Pay 
3. China &ndash; More Protection for Female Migrant Workers? 
4. European Union &ndash; Eurostat Publishes Statistics; Commission Issues Gender Equality Roadmap 
5. France &ndash; Parliament Adopts Law to Allow Equal Pay for Women 
6. ICFTU &ndash; International Women&rsquo;s Day &ndash; Organising Campaign II 
7. South Africa &ndash; National Union of Mineworkers Holds 3rd National Women&rsquo;s Conference 
8. Spain &ndash; Equality Law between Men and Women; Agreement to Promote Women in Traditional Men&rsquo;s Jobs 
9. UNICEF &ndash; 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation 
10. United Kingdom &ndash; Women and Work Commission Issues &ldquo;Shaping a Fairer Future&rdquo; Report 
11. Resources 
 

1. Australia &ndash; Companies Benefit from Treating Women Workers Well 
 
Forward-thinking businesses in South Australia are reaping the benefits of treating their female staff well. Paid maternity leave, part-time work and mentoring are features that draw bright female employees to companies with &ldquo;Employer of Choice for Women&rdquo; citations. The awards were presented on 21 February 2006 by the Women in the Workplace Agency to a total of 116 companies nationally. 
 
Employees are seen to be selective about where they want to work, and many women use the list as a guide. As a rule, the listed employers have higher numbers of women at senior levels, succession plans for women in management, development plans for high achievers, paid maternity leave, high maternity leave retention rates and the ability to work part-time at all levels. 

2. Brazil &ndash; Women of Colour Receive Half Pay 
 
Women of colour in Brazil receive, on average, half the wages paid to white female workers. This was one of the findings of a survey conducted by the Special Secretariat for Women&rsquo;s Policies, based on data gathered between July and September 2005 in six Brazilian state capitals. 
According to the study, the biggest difference exists in the city of Salvador, Bahia, where women of colour receive on average US$247 per month, compared with white women&rsquo;s US$598 per month. In Rio de Janeiro, white female workers received US$468 per month, while their black counterparts earned half this amount. 
 
The data indicate that the government should make a greater effort to address the issue of race and gender, invest in schooling and job training for women, and raise awareness about workers&rsquo; rights. 
The study, which was completed in December 2005, covered the cities of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, S&atilde;o Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre. The research was based on data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics&rsquo; (IBGE) Monthly Employment Survey. (Source: Public Services International) 
 
 
3. China &ndash; More Protection for Female Migrant Workers? 
 
The All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is stepping up its efforts to protect more migrant workers, especially women, according to a senior official. The ACFTU will work out rules to prevent female migrant workers from doing overtime and protect them from suffering from occupational diseases and sexual harassment. Surveys in different cities show that employers did not abide by the rules when hiring rural women. 
 
Trade unions in Northeast China&rsquo;s Heilongjiang Province found that 60 percent of female migrants who were questioned in the provincial capital Harbin did not sign labour contracts with their employers, and 62 percent of them suffered wage defaults. About 653,000 migrants were working in the city last year, and 35 percent of them were women. 
 
 
4. European Union &ndash; Eurostat Publishes Statistics; Commission Issues Gender Equality Roadmap 
 
In conjunction with the International Women&rsquo;s Day on 8 March 2006, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Community, publishes statistics to provide information on women and men in the European Union (EU). For example, women in the EU live, on average, 6 years longer than men. More women than men aged 20 to 24 had completed at least upper secondary education in 2005 (80% of women compared to 75% of men). Almost a third of managers in the EU are women. 
 
The employment rate, that is the percentage of the working age population that has an employment, was lower for women than for men in all member states, 56% for women and 71% for men. The female employment rate varied between 34% in Malta and 71% in Denmark and Sweden. On average about a third of working women were in part-time jobs, compared to 7% of men. Women work longer hours than men, however, including domestic work. Only in the United Kingdom and Sweden are the number of hours worked by women and men almost equal. 
 
Eurostat also produces a study entitled How is the time of women and men distributed in Europe? For more information on both publications, see <a href="http://www.eu.int/comm/eurostat">http://www.eu.int/comm/eurostat</a>. 
 
The European Commission adopted a &ldquo;Roadmap for equality between men and women 2006-2010&rdquo; in view of International Women&rsquo;s Day. The roadmap sets out six priority areas for action in the 2006 to 2010 period: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>Achieving equal economic independence for women and men; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Enhancing reconciliation of work, private and family life; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Promoting equal participation of men and women in decision-making; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Eradicating gender-based violence and trafficking; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Eliminating gender stereotypes in society, and; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Promoting gender equality outside the EU. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
The Committee on Women&rsquo;s Rights and Equality of the European Parliament has also adopted a number of texts, including on the future of the Lisbon strategy from a gender perspective and on the call for the Gender Equality Institute. 
 
 
5. France &ndash; Parliament Adopts Law to Allow Equal Pay for Women 
 
The French government adopted, on 23 February 2006, a law aimed at guaranteeing equal pay rights for women, who currently earn - on average - one-fifth less than their male counterparts. The text sets a five-year target for wiping out pay inequalities, calling for more negotiations between companies and unions, but does not provide for any sanctions. 
A national review, to be carried out in three years&rsquo; time, will decide whether to introduce financial penalties for employers who are in breach of the regulations. The law requires French companies to carry out their own audits every year, including a comparison of salaries by gender. 
 
 
6. ICFTU &ndash; International Women&rsquo;s Day &ndash; Organising Campaign II 
 
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, ICFTU, is launching phase two of the Global Unions&rsquo; Organising Campaign &ldquo;Unions for Women, Women for Unions&rdquo; on 8 March. The ICFTU Women&rsquo;s Committee decided that phase two will aim at a significant increase in female membership rates in trade unions, particularly amongst women workers in the export processing zones, in the informal economy, among migrant women workers and young women, as well as a net increase in women&rsquo;s representation in decision-making levels of trade unions. 
 
Through the campaign unions will continue to advocate for women workers&rsquo; rights. More focus will also go to transforming the cultural and structural barriers that prevent women from becoming active members and leaders. For more information see: <a href="http://www.icftu.org">www.icftu.org</a>. 
 
 
7. South Africa &ndash; National Union of Mineworkers Holds 3rd National Women&rsquo;s Conference 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) held its 3rd National Women&rsquo;s Conference from 16 to 18 February 2006 in Johannesburg. The conference was held against the background of the 50th Commemoration of the Women&rsquo;s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, in 1956. It also was a prelude to the NUM Congress in May 2006. 
 
The theme of the conference was &ldquo;Mobilise, organise and lead against chains of domination, exploitation and oppression of women.&rdquo; 285 delegates attended the conference, including some 30 men. NUM&rsquo;s emphasis is on women&rsquo;s development in order to generate cadres. NUM&rsquo;s structures must also be an engine to generate women activists. There are now women in the regional structures in 5 of the 11 national regions. 
 
In 2004, when the Mining Charter was adopted, women made up 1.5% of the workforce in South African mines. Now it is 6%. Growing numbers of women are also engine drivers. In addition, there are currently much more women in the mining engineering school than before. 
 
 
8. Spain &ndash; Equality Law between Men and Women; Agreement to Promote Women in Traditional Men&rsquo;s Jobs 
 
Draft legislation was approved in Spain on equality between women and men. The aim is first to transpose the European directive into Spanish law and to define direct and indirect discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying. The sanctions to punish these violations are already set. 
 
Parental rights are defined and broadly extended. Measures to improve work-life balance are also provided for. Furthermore, gender-related social security rights are improved. The path is open for positive action measures to eliminate inequality. 
 
So far, equality plans are voluntary, but companies with more than 250 workers ought to try to set up such plans. 
 
An agreement was signed between the Education and Science Council, the Spanish Chemical Employers&rsquo; Federation, the CCOO Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (FITEQA-CCOO) and the UGT Industrial Federation (FIA-UGT) to increase the number of girls taking vocational training courses in sectors that are not traditionally feminine. The point is to develop programmes and activities in secondary schools to help avoid discrimination in the chemical industry. 
 
 
9. UNICEF &ndash; 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation 
 
6 February was UNICEF&rsquo;s 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). UNICEF operates programmes in 18 of the 28 countries where this traditional practice exists. Of these 28 countries, 14 countries have passed anti-FGM laws. However, according to the London-based Foundation for Women&rsquo;s Health, Research and Development, only Burkina Faso, Ghana and Kenya actively uphold those laws. 
 
Countries have been under international pressure to ratify the African Union&rsquo;s Maputo Protocol banning FGM. However, they simultaneously face opposition to cultural change from many traditional ruling classes within their own societies. The African Union needs to set up a monitoring mechanism to follow compliance with the protocol. In addition, rights groups are needed to do field work to follow up at local level. 
 
 
10. United Kingdom &ndash; Women and Work Commission Issues &ldquo;Shaping a Fairer Future&rdquo; Report 
 
On 27 February 2006 the UK Government issued a report by the Women and Work Commission, entitled &ldquo;Shaping a Fairer Future&rdquo;. The commission was chaired by former Deputy General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers&rsquo; Union (and also former Chair of ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee) Baroness Prosser. 
 
According to the report, women work in the lowest paid jobs, the so-called &ldquo;five c&rsquo;s&rdquo;: catering, cleaning, cashiering, clerical work and caring. The report claims that the equal pay gap is bad for the British economy and recommends 40 measures to boost women&rsquo;s careers and earnings. 
 
British trade unions, however, had mixed reviews about the report. The Transport and General Workers&rsquo; Union (T&amp;G) welcomed the report but also said the commission should have gone further and recommend a mandatory pay audit. &ldquo;Being a woman still means being paid less &ndash; a quarter less than men, which is the highest gap in Europe,&rdquo; said Diana Holland, T&amp;G&rsquo;s National Organiser for Women, Race and Equalities. 
&ldquo;Audits simply ensure an employer is complying with the law. Without an audit, employers will be vulnerable to thousands of individual, costly equal pay cases.&rdquo; 
For more information, see: 
<a href="http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/women_work_commission/index.htm">http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/ 
women_work_commission/index.htm</a> 
 
 
11. Resources
<ul>
 <li>WEDO's (Women&rsquo;s Environment and Development Organisation) Latest Global Monitoring Report: Beijing Betrayed. 
 
 In this appraisal of the status of women worldwide, which comes 10 years after governments adopted the groundbreaking &ldquo;Beijing Platform for Action&rdquo;, women in 150 countries assess the progress in the implementation the commitments. For the report, available in five languages, see <a href="http://www.wedo.org">www.wedo.org</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>UNESCO launched its initiative &ldquo;Women Make the News&rdquo; to ensure that the issue of gender equality must remain at the forefront of each society&rsquo;s agenda. See <a href="http://www.unesco.org/march8">www.unesco.org/march8</a>. 
 
 For news and information on the global action on gender and the media see <a href="http://www.whomakesthenews.org">http://www.whomakesthenews.org</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>The view the minimum wage and equality campaign in New Zealand, see <a href="http://www.supersizemypay.com">www.supersizemypay.com</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>Play an interactive game on working time at <a href="http://www.worksmart.org.uk">http://www.worksmart.org.uk</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>For a resource on good quality, affordable childcare, see the British TUC: <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-11300-f0.cfm">www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-11300-f0.cfm</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>To learn about women&rsquo;s vital contributions to peace and security, see <a href="http://www.womenwagingpeace.net">www.womenwagingpeace.net</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>Mama Cash works for social transformation and the advancement of women&rsquo;s rights worldwide. She strives for a peaceful and just world where women are free to make their own choices and secure their human rights: <a href="http://www.mamacash.nl">http://www.mamacash.nl</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>The International Transport Federation ITF has a campaign site that includes news on activities around the negotiation of equal rights for women airline employees in Jordan, the demonstrations outside train stations in France and India, and on surveys of women members in New Zealand. For information on strengthening women&rsquo;s participation in transport unions, see <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/women/NetworkNews.cfm">www.itfglobal.org/women/NetworkNews.cfm</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>For information on the long-term earnings gap in the United States, Still a Man&rsquo;s Labor Market: The Long-term Earnings Gap, see the web site of the Institute for Women&rsquo;s Policy Research: <a href="http://www.iwpr.org">www.iwpr.org</a>. </li>
</ul>

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 9

Inside Thailand&rsquo;s current political turmoil and Prime Minister&rsquo;s Thaksin Sinawatra&rsquo;s rush to elections next month to solidify his authority rests the issue of privatisation and whether or not a country&rsquo;s resources belong in public control or sold off to capital markets. 
 
There is little question of where Thaksin stands, judging from his own business dealings and his government&rsquo;s actions to break up the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), as well as Metropolitan and Provincial electric utilities. 

<img height="67" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ThailandFlag.gif" width="100" />
A central demand by the political opposition, which seeks Thaksin&rsquo;s resignation, is immediate debate and introduction of new constitutional amendments. Thaksin is seeking a quick victory, allowing him to continue setting constitutional precedents, including the ones he has used as the means to sell public-vested enterprises to investors. Initial listing of EGAT on the stock markets was scheduled for November 2005, but has been suspended pending a court review. 
 
New debate also has surfaced over privatising the regional electric power authorities, scheduled for later this year. Last month, the Thai Finance Ministry raised uncertainties on privatising these utilities by stating electricity rates are set by government policy, raising questions on profitability and revenue forecasts. Even more to the point, a ministry official said new investment decisions cannot necessarily be made just on commercial reasoning, but also must be made on social needs. 
&ldquo;The plan to shift transmission wires underground will in no way help boost profits, but rather is aimed at improving service quality and the community,&rdquo; the official told the Bangkok Post. The outcome in Thailand over the next several weeks promises to be the watershed that will shape political decision-making well into the future.

Electric Privatisation Cloaked in Thailand’s Political Tempest

French unions will begin mass protests and strikes today across the country over the government&rsquo;s broken promise, made a short 18 months ago, that Gaz de France (GDF) would remain at last 70% state held. The actions are due to a proposal made public a week ago to merge GDF with the French-Belgian publicly-traded water/power group, Suez. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMgas.JPG" width="100" />
The French government stands in the middle of the deal, which would effectively privatise GDF, with France&rsquo;s stake only 34%. The government currently holds 80% of GDF. 
 
The merger would have a detrimental effect on Electricit&eacute; de France, costing mass job losses since Suez and its subsidiaries would supply power to GDF. CFDT Chimie Energie said the proposed merger lacks transparency in that no analysis of the combined industrial plan was presented, and the social aspects of such a Suez-GDF merger had not been studied adequately. 
The deal is an attempt to block Italian energy company Enel&rsquo;s hostile takeover bid of Suez.

French Unions Strike over Gaz de France Merger Plan

Following a two-day strike on 22 and 23 February, a two-week cooling off process is now underway between ICEM Belgian affiliate ABVV-FGTB and ExxonMobil at a polymers plant near Antwerp. The entire workforce of 350 totally shut down operations at the Zwijndrecht plant in a contract dispute for a 2006-2007 renewal. 
<img height="65" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/BelgiumFLAG.gif" width="100" />
Workers were incensed at the wage offer presented to them. Also in dispute is management&rsquo;s proposal to reduce staff by increasing automation. 
Determined worker unity under the guidance of ABVV-FGTB brought the company back to the table, where a conciliator did remove some obstacles to a new agreement on 27 February, the day the two-week cooling off period took effect. Labour and management will return to talks on 14 March.

Belgian ExxonMobil Strike Over; Talks will Resume 14 March

<img height="41" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief.gif" width="100" />
ChevronTexaco Nigeria Ltd. and one of its contractors, US-based Elper Engineering, face strike actions if the companies do not live up to terms of a collective agreement put in place five years ago. ICEM affiliate NUPENG met again last week in Nigeria with the two companies to resolve the dispute over back wages and severance, but the employers rebuffed efforts to settle the issue. 
The union declared its intent to resolve the dispute through social dialogue, but warned that NUPENG members working inside the two companies would strike if ChevronTexaco and Elper continue to avoid the issue. The two firms have granted the contractual obligation to a few employees, but have denied it to most. Contract workers at ChevronTexaco&rsquo;s massive Escravos operations in Ugborodo, Delta State, and its shallow-water platform Funiwa off Bayelsa State are affected.

Dispute Festering in Nigeria Between NUPENG, ChevronTexaco

The 19 February gas explosion that killed 65 miners at Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Industria Mineral Mexicana subsidiary proves again the immediate necessity to improve safety and training in underground mining, particularly during times of high pricing and high demand for coal. 
 
Twenty-five of those killed at the Pasta de Conchos No. 8 mine near San Juande Sabinas, northern Coahuila State, were members of Section 13 of Mexico&rsquo;s Miners &amp; Metalworkers Union (SNTMMSRM), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF). 

<img height="73" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/MexicoFlag.gif" width="120" />
Many others were short-term contract workers who were given no training, insufficient oxygen supply devices, and were sent deep into shafts within a day of being hired. Mexican government and company statements on safety precautions and equipment on this mine disaster contradict with what miners actually had available to them. 
 
The United Steelworkers of the US, which signed a strategic alliance with SNTMMSRM in April 2005, pledged financial and technical support to the union in the immediate aftermath of the blast. The IMF underscored the Mexican union&rsquo;s charge that this was &ldquo;industrial homicide&rdquo; and must be investigated and denounced as such. 
&ldquo;Grupo Mexico shareholders and directors and whoever is responsible for this crime, caused by greed, repression and insensitivity should be charged and punished accordingly,&rdquo; said SNTMMSRM and the IMF.

Mexican Coal Mine Blast Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’

<img height="41" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief.gif" width="100" />
Even as German affiliate IGBCE came to acceptable terms with Continental Tyre over a plant downsizing in Hannover, two other ICEM-affiliated trade unions face difficulties with the company. In the US, United Steelworkers (USW) is fully engaged in achieving job protection measures in negotiations at a tyre plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
 
Continental North America announced last year that it would make redundant 510 of the plant&rsquo;s 1,083 jobs this year, and then dropped a concession-ridden proposal on the union seeking US$32 million in costs savings that includes across-the-board 15% pay cuts. 
USW has criticized the &ldquo;slash and burn proposal.&rdquo; Union Executive Vice President Ron Hoover said, &ldquo;There are absolutely zero job security provisions to maintain future productivity&rdquo; in Continental&rsquo;s proposal, a deviation from the master rubber contracts that Goodyear, Bridgestone-Firestone and BF Goodrich/Michelin operate under in the US. A labour agreement in place since 1999 at the Charlotte plant expires on 30 April 2006. 
 
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), meanwhile, has condemned Continental for failing to abide by a labour court ruling to reinstate workers at its Port Elizabeth plant. The workers were sacked after the company unilaterally changed working hours without consultations with NUMSA. The union has taken legal action, and is threatening a strike and a boycott of Conti products through its affiliation with COSATU, a South African national labour centre.

Continental Tyre Creating Problems in US, South Africa

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