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After losing a contempt of court case against leaders of the Botswana Mining Workers Union (BMWU) last month, diamond-mining monopoly Debswana has chosen a different retaliatory route following a 13-day strike late last summer: internal disciplinary measures against BMWU leaders. Debswana, a joint venture between DeBeers and the government of Botswana, has summoned individual leaders of the union for hearings on the spontaneous strike action that broke out in only a few areas of the company&rsquo;s wide-ranging operations. Despite company rhetoric calling for healing and reconciliation over the August-September strike that saw participation by 450 of the firm&rsquo;s 7,000 workers, this latest action is proof that the company has no intention of forgiving and forgetting.

Debswana Continues to Retaliate Against Botswana&#039;s Miners

Industrial action in New Zealand is escalating over ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union&rsquo;s (EPMU) call for 5% wage increases across all sectors of the country&rsquo;s buoyant economy. On 15 April, 238 EPMU miners at collieries of Solid Energy in Huntly East and Rotowaro struck. Coal miners across NZ are seeking a 6% pay hike to offset lost wages from government passage of the Employment Contracts Act in the late 1990s. Miners are also seeking pay parity between operations of the North Island and South Island. Underground miners in the South are paid less than workers in the North, while open cast miners on the North Island earn less than those of the South. Metals and manufacturing workers, also represented by EPMU, are on the verge of striking if the 5% demands are not met.

Miners in New Zealand Take Strike Actions

A strike by 21,000 members of NUM of South Africa ended in the Free State 6 April when the union and Harmony Gold came to terms over a number of issues, including an independent audit panel to examine racism issues at Harmony&rsquo;s Free State operations. Other issues resolved include conversion of hostels into family units with increased housing allowances, rectification of inaccurate pay deductions and workers&rsquo; rights to choice in health care treatments. Although the agreement did not cover the unilateral retrenchment of 4,900 miners in the Free State, talks are expected to continue on that issue.

NUM Ends Strike Against Harmony Gold in South Africa

Meanwhile, coal miners in South Africa, fearful they would be sacked by the sale of Zululand Anthracite Colliery by Ingwe Holdings&rsquo;parent BHP Billiton to Riverdale Holdings, staged an underground strike for several days beginning 10 April. Supported by the NUM, the strikers are seeing assurances that any redundancies at the colliery in northern KwaZulu-Natal State will be met with adequate payments. Another underground mine sit-in occurred in the Free State by 400 NUM members at Star Diamond near Theunissen. Miners were protesting the sackings of two workers who refused to work in dangerous conditions.

South African Coal Miners Stage Underground Strike

Trade unions in Belarus are holding a National Day of Action today to demand a living wage and an end to restrictions on trade union rights. 
 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) is &quot;alarmed by recently published facts and figures which clearly indicate an unprecedented decline of the standards of living in Belarus,&quot; writes ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a message of support to ICEM-affiliated unions there. 
 
&quot;Existing structures have prevented the effective development of the national economy and triggered severe inflation,&quot; Higgs argues. &quot;Workers' salaries no longer reflect their true contribution to the society and can hardly keep them from the brink of poverty or ensure physical survival.&quot; 
 
The Belarus unions &quot;stand as the only force that defends the right of the workers and their families to a decent life,&quot; Higgs writes. &quot;This determined attitude has put the unions under severe attack by the authoritarian regime, which the world community is observing with growing concern. I have addressed President Alexander Lukashenko and the Belarus government on several occasions, strongly protesting against the violations of union rights in Belarus.&quot; 
 
Pledging full international support to the Belarus unions' campaign, Higgs urges the country's government to &quot;finally negotiate and sign a General Tariff Agreement with the unions&quot;.

Belarus Union Action Gains Global Support

Perseverance paid off for workers in the US state of Alabama. They have just gained their first contract [collective agreement] at the 400-person Imerys calcium carbonate plant in Sylacauga. 
 
Global labour solidarity played an important part in their campaign. 
 
Union members ratified the new agreement on Tuesday night by an over 70 percent margin. The result was announced yesterday by their union, PACE. 
 
The contract is the culmination of a campaign that began in June 1999 after Imerys had withdrawn recognition of the union. Imerys is a leading materials and minerals multinational headquartered in France. 
 
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). PACE and the ICEM waged a global campaign that resulted in a successful organising drive at Sylacauga in June 2000. This in turn led to negotiations for a first contract. 
 
&quot;We congratulate the Sylacauga workers and PACE on their endurance,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. &quot;Their victory is our victory.&quot; 
 
The three-year contract provides for a pension up to 2.08 percent of earnings for each year of service; annual raises of 3.5, 3.0 and 3.0 percent; a cap on health insurance premiums paid by workers; incentive bonuses; a company-backed retirement savings scheme; overtime pay after eight hours; and increases in shift differentials and holiday pay. The contract also eliminates the older &quot;tech system&quot; for promotions and job classifications and replaces it with one based 
largely on seniority and job bidding rights. 
 
&quot;After 42 days and nights of negotiations over the last six months, we were able to come to an agreement with management that will better the lives of Imerys' workers,&quot; said PACE negotiator Jimmy Colston. &quot;The company and union were able to work together on this, which we believe has led to a much better relationship after a rocky start.&quot; 
 
PACE Region Five Vice President Don Langham thanked Colston along with local union president Keith Fulbright and the union negotiating committee &quot;for their hard work and skilled negotiations.&quot; He also thanked Joe Drexler of PACE's special projects division, the ICEM's Fred Higgs and the unions in other countries who pressed Imerys to recognise the union in Sylacauga. These included unions representing Imerys employees in France, where the company is headquartered, in Britain, in Belgium and in Australia. Also featuring in the campaign were a widely publicised PACE and ICEM lobby of the Imerys shareholders' meeting in Paris and a special PACE/ICEM website. 
 
&quot;For the first time, workers here will be able to advance in a fair manner and with equal rights to improve their livelihoods and the welfare of their families,&quot; said PACE local union president Keith Fulbright yesterday. &quot;The contract has brought about unity, pride and dignity that we never had before, and the company will also benefit from this.&quot;

US Imerys Workers Secure Agreement

Disturbing new evidence of a link between breast cancer and night work is to be published soon by a Danish researcher. 
 
The findings were previewed at a conference held jointly last Thursday by the Danish Cancer Society (Kraeftens Bekaempelse), the Danish Women Workers' Union (KAD) and the Danish General Workers' Union (SiD). 
 
They show a 50 percent higher risk of primary breast cancer among 30- to 54-year-old women who work night shifts in selected trades for at least half a year. 
 
The risk tends to increase somewhat in women who work nights long-term, researcher Johnni Hansen told the conference. Among women with over six years of employment in trades with predominantly night work, the risk of breast cancer is 70 percent higher than among women daytime workers in the same age range. However, the group of women night workers in this category is small. 
 
Hansen is a specialist at Copenhagen's Institute of Cancer Epidemiology. He has just completed a study of breast cancer among women who work at night. Although a number of descriptive studies in the past have shown significantly higher breast cancer rates among night workers, this is thought to be the first survey that uses reliable nationwide statistics. 
 
His findings will be published in EPIDEMIOLOGY, January 2001, Vol 12, No. 1, pp 74-77. 
 
The increased risks revealed by the new survey are probably not statistical flukes - especially as the study was conducted on a very large sample and was based on Denmark's detailed registry of employment records, health records and population. 
 
The study looked at all 7,035 Danish women who fulfilled all of the following conditions: they had confirmed primary breast cancer, they were born in the period 1935-59, they were aged 30-54 at the time of diagnosis and they had been in employment. 
 
Each case was then matched against a &quot;control&quot;, who was a woman drawn at random from the files of the central population registry but whose year of birth was the same as the corresponding case. &quot;Controls&quot; were women who were alive, without cancer, and who had been in employment before the date of diagnosis of the corresponding case. 
 
Women were considered to work predominantly at night if they had been employed for at least half a year in one or more of the trades in which at least 60 percent of the female respondents had night-time schedules. 
 
Appropriate adjustments were made for other factors known to affect rates of breast cancer, such as socio-economic status, the number of children to which the women had given birth and the women's age at the time of the births. The study also looked at alcohol consumption, which is a known risk factor for breast cancer. In Denmark, as in many countries, alcohol consumption is higher among night workers than in the population as a whole - but the gap would probably not explain all of the difference in the breast cancer rates. 
 
So the explanation must be sought elsewhere, and by far the most likely candidate is a lack of melatonin. 
 
Melatonin is produced naturally in the human body, where it helps to regulate body rhythms, sleep and, possibly, tumour growth. In women, it may also help to prevent overproduction of oestrogen. Concentrations of melatonin have been shown to inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells. 
 
The body's production of melatonin is regulated, via the retina of the eye, by the daily cycle of light and darkness. It is produced mainly at night. Thus, a person who regularly stays awake all night under artificial lighting will produce less melatonin. 
 
For complex reasons linked to the light/dark cycle, this melatonin deficit is unlikely to be made up by sleeping during daylight hours. Totally blind women are known to have an approximately 50 percent lower relative risk of breast cancer than sighted women. 
 
But whatever the causes of the higher breast cancer rates among night workers, the socio-economic effects could be very serious. Trade unions have long fought for full equality of opportunity at work, and women's status in the workplace has improved significantly in most parts of the world as a result. 
 
In recent years, these equality drives have included the opening of night work to women in a growing number of sectors, and the lifting of regulations that previously limited their access to these higher-paying jobs. For many women workers around the world, night work is both an economic necessity and a step up the promotion ladder. 
 
Breast cancer is by no means the only physical and psychological health risk faced by night workers - whether women or men. And accident rates are significantly higher on the night shift than during the day. Also, it may be wondered if a melatonin deficit may not produce other ill-effects in men and women alike. 
 
So tackling the problem of breast cancer among night workers will, in part, depend on negotiation and on attitude - particularly the attitude of the employers. Trade unions have always insisted that jobs should be designed for people, rather than people for jobs. It may also be even more necessary in future for collective agreements to state that biological factors must not impede equality of pay and opportunity. 
 
Lillian Knudsen is the President of the Danish Women Workers' Union (KAD). She is also on the executive of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which both the KAD and the SiD are affiliated at the global level. 
 
&quot;Internationally, I have always insisted that women should work on an equal footing with men - at whatever time of day or night,&quot; Knudsen says. &quot;But this new report has made me nervous, because it would seem that, if we women can sleep in darkness, we produce a hormone that helps to protect us against breast cancer. But we're not stupid. We know full well that some sectors - hospitals and care homes for instance - will always have to work right around the clock. And we must avoid creating a panic. Clearly though, more research is needed into this mechanism, so that we can find out how to design jobs better and minimise the risk of breast cancer.&quot;

Night Work Linked To Breast Cancer

Trade unions in tyre multinational Goodyear have launched a worldwide newsletter. 
 
Named Global Solidarity, the bulletin will help coordinate union information and action within Goodyear on all continents. 
 
This is the latest initiative from a global Goodyear workers' network set up in 1999 by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM is building up union networks within major multinationals in its sectors. At the same time, it is working to conclude global agreements with companies, covering issues such as trade union rights, equality and health, safety and the environment. 
 
ICEM-affiliated unions in the company concerned establish and run a network, with unions in the company's headquarters country often taking on a key role. In this case, Global Solidarity is published by the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA), which organises workers in the US tyre industry. 
 
The first issue of the newsletter includes labour stories from Goodyear operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, the UK and the USA. It also covers regional union action and gives background information on the company. 
 
Print copies are currently being distributed in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Online versions in each language are now available on this site:
&nbsp;&nbsp; 
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=EN">English version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=FR">French version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=ES">Spanish version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=DE">German version</a>

Goodyear Union Network Launches Global Bulletin

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) today applauded US President Bill Clinton and the US Senate for ratifying Convention 176 of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO), concerning safety and health in mines. 
 
The White House today confirmed to the ICEM that President Clinton has signed the document ratifying Convention 176. The US Senate gave its consent to the Convention on September 20, 2000. The President's signature makes this the 14th ILO Convention ratified by the United States government. 
 
The tripartite (union/employer/government) ILO General Conference approved Convention 176 on June 22, 1995, following an international campaign by the ICEM for its approval. The ICEM represents over 20 million workers globally, including more than 2 million mine workers. 
 
&quot;It is outrageous that in the 21st century, mine workers anywhere in the world are still forced to sacrifice their lives and limbs to make a living,&quot; said Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which is affiliated globally to the ICEM. 
 
&quot;This ILO convention seeks to set minimum health and safety standards for the mining industry globally and that is a very worthy objective that must be enforced,&quot; he said. UMWA and ICEM officials played prominent roles in the ILO workers' group which was instrumental in drafting and securing adoption of this Convention. 
 
&quot;The ICEM applauds President Clinton and the US Senate for ratifying this important ILO Convention,&quot; said Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. &quot;When it comes to health and safety, there must be no double standards in the world's mining industry. 
 
&quot;The US government's ratification sends an important signal to other countries with significant mining industries that mine worker health and safety must be treated seriously,&quot; Higgs added. 
 
The United States is the sixteenth government to ratify ILO Convention 176. Other governments which have signed up are Armenia, Austria, Botswana, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lebanon, Norway, Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Zambia. The ICEM is continuing its campaign to convince further governments to similarly ratify the Convention. 
 
Under the Convention, states commit themselves to consult with unions and employers for the introduction of a coherent health and safety policy in mining. This policy is to include proper monitoring and inspection, plus investigations and reports on accidents and occupational diseases. Workers' representatives have the right to be fully involved in the inspections, investigations and reporting. The new standard places on employers the responsibility for risk elimination and reduction, ensuring that workers are evacuated from the mines if a serious danger arises, drawing up emergency action plans for each mine and providing full safety equipment and safety training. 
 
The Convention also calls for workers to be fully informed of the health and safety risks in each mine. Most importantly, they are to have the right to stop work and leave the mine if they have reasonable grounds for believing that they are in serious danger. 
 
More than 30 million people are employed worldwide in the mining industry and approximately 15,000 mine workers are killed per year around the world. There were 85 mine fatalities in the US in 2000. More than 127,000 miners were killed in the United States in the 20th century. 
 
Many mining accidents go unreported. Major known mining disasters in 2000 included: 
 
December 28, 2000. Donestsk Region, Ukraine, a windlass overturned and crushed two crane operators at the Bazhanov coal mine: two killed. 
 
December 19, 2000. Atakumoso, Nigeria, a landslide at an illegal gemstone mine: 15 killed. 
 
December 11, 2000. Baise city, Guangxi province, China, a roof collapse at a gold mine: 15 killed, four injured. 
 
December 3, 2000. Hejin city, Shanxi province, China, an explosion at the Tianlong coal mine: 42 killed, six missing. 
 
November 28, 2000. North West province, South Africa, a rock fall at Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg platinum mine: two killed. 
 
November 27, 2000. Sichuan province, China, poison gas released at the Red Star Coal Mine: nine killed. 
 
November 25, 2000. Hulun Buir League of Inner Mongolia, China, a coal gas explosion at the Dayan Coal Co. mine: 51 killed, 12 injured. 
 
November 19, 2000. Gokcesu hin Mengen township, western Bolu province, Turkey, a gas explosion: three killed, four others missing. 
 
November 5, 2000. Liaoyuan district, Jilin province, China, a gas explosion at the Xian Coal Mine: 13 killed; 18 others missing. 
 
November 1, 2000. Nanchange, China, a fire in the Pinghu coal mine: 13 killed and one missing. 
 
October 20, 2000. Guangxi, China, an impoundment failure at a copper mine resulted in a landslide: 30 miners killed, 50 injured and another 100 missing. 
 
October 13, 2000. Thabazimbi, South Africa, a rock fall at a Northam Platinum mine: two killed. 
 
October 11, 2000. Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China, a gas explosion at the Zhangergou coal mine: 25 killed. 
 
October 11, 2000. Mianzhu, Sichuan Province, China, a landslide at a phosphate mine: at least 20 killed. 
 
September 28, 2000. Shuicheng, Guizhou province, China, an underground explosion at the Muchonggou coal mine: 161 killed; 43 critically wounded. 
 
September 28, 2000. Driefontein, South Africa, a rockburst at a Gold Fields mine: two killed and ten injured. 
 
September 27, 2000. Carletonville, South Africa, a rock fall at the Gold Fields Kloof gold mine: four killed, four injured. 
 
July 9, 2000. Gansu province, China, a fire at a coal mine: 17 killed. 
 
June 17, 2000. Henan province, China, a gas explosion at a coal mine: seven killed, four injured and another 7 missing. 
 
June 16, 2000. Mianzhu, Sichuan province, China, a coal mine explosion: seven miners and 5 rescuers killed. 
 
May 15, 2000. Welkom, South Africa, an underground explosion at the Gold Fields Ltd Beatrix gold mine: seven killed. 
 
April 15, 2000. Shanxi province, China, a gas explosion in a coal mine: 40 killed and three missing. 
 
April 6, 2000. Welkom, South Africa, a rock fall at the African Rainbow Minerals gold mine: three killed. 
 
January 10, 2000. Orkney, South Africa, a rockburst at an African Rainbow Minerals gold mine: six killed.

US Ratifies ILO Mine Safety Convention

Taiwan's trade unions have won their fight to reduce legal working hours. 
 
This month, the standard working week has been cut from 48 hours to 42. 
 
A law to that effect had in fact been passed by the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, last June. This followed a strong trade union campaign. But employers had been lobbying hard against the measure, and the government at one stage intended to raise the limit back up to 44 hours. 
 
The Taiwanese unions fought back with a further high-profile campaign. Global trade union support played a vital role in their victory. 
 
The Chinese Federation of Labour (CFL) is Taiwan's trade union centre, with 3,600 affiliated unions. The Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions (CITU) groups 18 major Taiwanese industrial unions. Dual affiliations to the two bodies are held by the petroleum workers' TPWU and the power workers' TPLU, both of which are affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. 
 
At the parliament buildings in Taipei last month, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs joined the Taiwanese unions in talks with Deputy Prime Minister Lau Ching-Chi and other legislators. 
 
&quot;Your visit to Taiwan and the meeting with the parliamentary leaders was one of the key factors in the victory of our struggle,&quot; Huang Ching-Hsien told Higgs today. 
 
Huang, who played a prominent part in the parliamentary talks, is President both of the CITU and of the TPWU. He said the Taiwanese unions would be networking closely and actively with the ICEM.

Taiwanese Unions Win Worktime Cuts

Archive

Debswana Continues to Retaliate Against Botswana's Miners

Miners in New Zealand Take Strike Actions

NUM Ends Strike Against Harmony Gold in South Africa

South African Coal Miners Stage Underground Strike

Belarus Union Action Gains Global Support

US Imerys Workers Secure Agreement

Night Work Linked To Breast Cancer

Goodyear Union Network Launches Global Bulletin

US Ratifies ILO Mine Safety Convention

Taiwanese Unions Win Worktime Cuts

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