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Fifteen United Steelworkers (USW) branches in 11 US states last week ratified a new master agreement with International Paper (IP) by a 73% vote count, the union announced. The four-year agreement covers 6,800 workers at 15 pulp and paper mills, and it now builds on a first master agreement covering multiple workplaces of IP that was achieved in August 2007. 
 
The agreement, to take effect in August, includes wage increases of 1% in 2011, 2% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% effective on 31 August 2014. It also includes improvements in a defined benefit pension plan, and lump sum payments into an existing employee savings plan of US$1,000 each in 2012 and 2014. 
<img src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/1105.USW20IP20Master20Contract.jpg" width="369" height="151" alt="" />
USW Bargaining Committee
In addition, the agreement spells out stabilisation over health care costs, and provides job security, mainly through a &ldquo;successorship clause.&rdquo; That means that if IP sells any of the 15 mills, the new owner must retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective agreement. 
USW Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads collective bargaining for the union in the pulp and paper sector, said the IP agreement continues a historic achievement. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;our locals bargained site by site, even though most companies approach bargaining as part of a national strategy.&rdquo; 
 
Geenen added: &ldquo;The success of our local unions here sets a precedent for bargaining in the rest of the industry.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Jon.geenen.USW_.jpg" width="125" height="165" />
USW VP Jon Geenen
The agreement came together in late March and early April after nearly a year of planning and strategic meetings. It culminated in face-to-face discussions in New Orleans, Louisiana, early last month in which an 80-person USW bargaining committee participated. &ldquo;One of the main benefits of all the locals bargaining together at the same time is that everyone gets a voice in shaping the package,&rdquo; said Geenen. 
 
The USW has a similar master accord with IP in the paper converting industry, covering 2,800 workers at 32 paper-converting plants of the company in 18 US states. The first master agreement in converting came into effect in 2008 and expires in 2012.

Steelworkers Renew Master Labour Pact with International Paper in US

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The United Steelworkers (USW) submitted shareholder resolutions demanding boards of directors at four US oil companies take safety seriously. The resolutions were aimed at general meetings of Marathon Oil (27 April), Valero Energy (28 April), Tesoro Corp. (4 May), and it will appear before ConocoPhillips shareholders this week, 11 May, in Houston. 
 
The USW also filed a safety transparency resolution with Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the Philadelphia-based company agreed to comply with the contents of the resolution. The resolutions call on the companies to prepare a report of the &ldquo;steps the company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents&rdquo; within 90 days of the shareholders&rsquo; meeting. 
 
The resolution, meant to achieve greater safety at oil refineries and other company operations, calls on the board of directors of each company to disclose the board&rsquo;s oversight on process safety management, staffing levels, and also the inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. The American national labour center, AFL-CIO, and its asset fund assisted with the shareholder propositions. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0811GaryBeeversUSW.jpg" width="110" height="159" />
Gary Beevers
USW Vice President Gary Beevers voiced the significance in taking safety to the board rooms: &ldquo;If these companies had to tell their shareholders and the public how they were staffing their refineries, how much overtime people were working, and how long units were going without basic inspection and maintenance, we know they&rsquo;d try harder to fix the problems.&rdquo; 
 
The USW cited two months of last year &ndash; April and May 2010 &ndash; as being particularly deadly and dangerous times that should have awaken the US oil and petrochemical industries to poor safety practices. There were 13 fires, 19 deaths, and 25 serious injuries in those two months, including a 2 April 2010 explosion at Tesoro&rsquo;s 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Anacortes, Washington, that killed seven USW Local 12-591 activists. 
 
Tesoro workplace leaders, including Mark Laurence from Anacortes, spoke on behalf of the safety resolution at the company&rsquo;s 4 May AGM in San Antonio, Texas. Last year&rsquo;s Tesora tragedy was caused by a heat exchanger that blew apart because of cracks in a welded area. 
 
The Washington State Department of Labour &amp; Industry determined that Tesoro had failed in its duty to correctly test equipment for cracks. The state agency imposed a fine of US$2.39 million, but Tesoro is currently appealing the fine.

USW Makes Safety Oversight a Corporate Issue on US Oil Industry

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An illegal coal mine in Mexico&rsquo;s Coahuila state that was operating for only 20 days exploded on 3 May, killing 14 miners. The tragic methane gas blast occurred a short distance from the Pasta de Conchos colliery, where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico perished in a similar underground gas explosion in February 2006. 
 
Beneficios Internacionales del Norte SA (Bansa) was listed as the company operating the mine near Sabinas in the rich Coahuila coal belt of northern Mexico. Immediately after the powerful explosion that saw three of the dead blown completely out of the 60-metre-deep tunnel, officials could not determine the owner because of conflicting data in local registry citings. 
<img alt="ICEM ILO 176" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ilo_small.jpg" width="175" height="247" />
It was days after the blast that Bansa was determined to be the operator of the 340-acre mine site through a concession from local authorities. A local official defended that concession, telling press that when the federal government awards a concession, generated income goes to coffers in Mexico City, with nothing allocated for the community. 
 
The colliery employed 25 non-union miners and had no certification or registry regarding safety. The Mexican federal government closed the mine and is now involved in body recovery and investigation. 
 
The underground explosion rocked the surface so strongly that a 15-year-old minor who was picking coal off an external conveyer belt had to have both arms amputated and is in serious condition in a hospital. 
 
The 3 May tragedy in northern Mexico stands as yet another example of safety risks and dangers by unregistered and unreliable mining installations when demand and pricing of a mineral is at a premium.

Mine Blast Near Pasta de Conchos Kills 14 in Mexico

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Glen Mpufane of South Africa officially took up duties as ICEM&rsquo;s Mining and Diamond, Gems, Ornament, and Jewellery Production (DGOJP) officer on 2 May. He comes to the ICEM after a long career in South Africa&rsquo;s trade union movement preceded by 18 years of work in the apartheid-era gold mining industry. 
 
&ldquo;We are privileged to bring a person who not only has depth and knowledge of the mining industry, but one who displays great activism as a trade unionist,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
Mpufane, 52, is a native of Daveyton in Gauteng province, and worked for Ergo mining at the Brakpan mine, then an AngloAmerican and later an AngloGold concession. He worked as a fitter mechanic and helped form the Ergo Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1982. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Glen20Mpufane.jpg" width="179" height="165" />
New ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer, Glen Mpufane
He served as a shop steward, health and safety secretary, branch chairman, and then full-time health and safety steward for the branch. He also served as NUM regional secretary for health and safety, before taking a position at NUM in 2000 in health and safety. In 2004, he was named International Department Head for the NUM, a post he held until 2010. 
 
He worked as head of Secretariat for ICEM South Africa affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) for six months in 2010-11, prior to coming to Geneva to join the ICEM. 
 
&ldquo;There are huge challenges in mining, not the least is safety and health,&rdquo; said Mpufane. &ldquo;We have many challenges, including the challenge to deliver decent collective agreements to mineworkers.&rdquo; 
 
Mpufane is married with four children, the youngest, Amo, is 16 months old.

Glen Mpufane Joins ICEM as Mining/DGOJP Officer

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Deteriorating safety conditions inside Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Australian coal mines in New South Wales was brought to the company&rsquo;s annual general meeting (AGM) in Perth on 5 May. ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) delivered a sharp attack on the company&rsquo;s laxness over health and safety at majority-held Hunter Valley coal mining and processing operations. 
 
CFMEU NSW Northern District Vice President Robin Williams said that a significant number of accidents and incidents are not reflected in Rio Tinto&rsquo;s annual report. Williams and a workplace leader from each of three coal operations were vocal and critical of the company&rsquo;s coal-mine safety before shareholders at the AGM last week. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/1105.cfmeu20nsw20northern20district.jpg" width="366" height="99" />
Williams said Rio Tinto has &ldquo;an adversarial approach to mine safety&rdquo; at Coal &amp; Allied Ltd., which includes mines at Mount Thorley/Warkworth, the Hunter Valley operations, and Bengalla. He said a &ldquo;culture of fear&rdquo; permeates the workplaces where threats of discipline and common and are &ldquo;outdated and should have no place in modern Australian mining. 
 
&ldquo;We do not want a situation,&rdquo; Williams added, &ldquo;where workers are uneasy about speaking out in case they face disciplinary procedures. If there is an accident or incident at a mine site, we want a proper investigation to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t happen again, not a scapegoat who is disciplined.&rdquo; 
 
The mineworkers told shareholders that the company&rsquo;s goal of zero harm and reality are far apart. They said the culture of fear that exists at Hunter Valley actually exacerbates risks. Rio owns 76% of the Hunter Valley coal operations. 
 
CEO Tom Albanese also had to address the near overflow this year of a tailings pond at Rio&rsquo;s 68% held Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory. The company&rsquo;s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA) shut production in January due to heavy rains. Albanese said the company will inject A$220 million&nbsp;into ERA for updated water treatment and management systems.

CFMEU Takes Coal Safety Concerns to Rio Tinto’s AGM

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The Council of Global Unions (CGU), at its meeting in Geneva on 10 June, adopted two statements; one on labeling chrysotile asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) category of the Rotterdam Convention, the other condemning the assault on public sector workers in the US state of Wisconsin, and endorsing Wisconsin as a pilot site in this week&rsquo;s campaign launch of &ldquo;Quality Public Services &ndash; Action Now.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU, founded on 10 January 2007, is the coordinating body for nearly all Global Union Federations (GUFs), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). CGU&rsquo;s charter calls for &ldquo;a common determination to organise, defend human and trade union rights and labour standards everywhere, and promote the growth of trade unions for the benefit of all working women and men and their families.&rdquo; 
 
The 10 June statement on chrysotile asbestos is aimed at this week&rsquo;s Rotterdam Convention meetings in Geneva and urges an override past objections to PIC listing &ldquo;by a tiny number of countries who have a vested interest in maintaining their lucrative trade in this potent human carcinogen.&rdquo; 
 
The Rotterdam Convention establishes controls on the trade of toxic substances. With chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, unlisted, countries can export it without warning labels or safety precautions. The five biggest export nations of it are China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Canada. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/1102.wisconsin20sign.jpg" width="93" height="128" />
The CGU statement cites the mineral with causing 100,000 deaths annually and cautions that failure to classify it risks the spread of even more deaths particularly in the developing world. 
 
&ldquo;The Global Unions asbestos policy stipulates that the only &lsquo;safe use&rsquo; of asbestos is no use at all,&rdquo; reads the CGU statement. &ldquo;We call on Canada and other asbestos stakeholders to accept that the time has come to include chrysotile on the PIC list so that developing countries can make informed decisions on a subject of such deadly importance.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU&rsquo;s Wisconsin statement reads: &ldquo;The attack that public employees and their unions are now facing in Wisconsin is part of a larger design by those who want to create a powerless and compliant workforce, and to plunder the common good of public services. 
 
&ldquo;Turning back this tide is not a local or even national challenge. Trade unions worldwide and our allies are working together with a shared determination to organize, defend human and labor rights, promote the growth of unions and advance quality public services for the benefit of all people.&rdquo; 
 
On 14 June, in a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision that blocked implementation of Governor Scott Walker&rsquo;s law, clearing the way for the gutting of public sector bargaining rights for 300,000 teachers, nurses, and other public workers. (See a prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4308-Wisconsin-Eliminates-Public-Sector-Bargaining-Resistance-Continues ">ICEM report</a> on the midnight passage of Walker&rsquo;s legislation here.) 
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) and other US unions will now bring the fight to federal courtrooms in further lawsuits to block Walker&rsquo;s anti-social, anti-people measure.

Global Unions Issue Statements on Chrysotile Asbestos, Public Sector Assault in Wisconsin

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The National Union of Mineworkers, South Africa (NUM) are mobilising against an attempt by Brazilian mining multinational Vale to invest in the African copper belt. Vale&rsquo;s proposed purchase of Metorex Ltd was opposed by the NUM Central Committee, meeting 26-28 May, due to the anti-union history of the country, most notably in Canada. 
 
The NUM will now file a complaint to the Competition Commission, and engage the South African government to intervene against the US$1.1 billion purchase. Meterox is based in South Africa, but all its operations are in Zambia, and the DRC. Huge potential for copper extraction in the DRC is especially attracting Vale to the Meterox deal. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/SouthafricaNUM.gif" width="100" height="103" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/USAUSW.jpg" width="155" height="85" />
At the same time, Vale demonstrated its aggressive opposition to workers&rsquo; organising, in Colombia. On 3 June workers at the El Hatillo mine, in the Department of Cesar, Northern Colombia, organised with Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, and presented modest bargaining demands to management. 
 
Vale Coal Colombia responded to its employees exercising their right to organise and bargain collectively with persecution, threats, and outright refusal to bargain. Vale supervisors at the mine have threatened all workers with the sack if they do not renounce the union. Many El Hastillo employees are precariously employed through outsourced contractors, facilitating Vale&rsquo;s union busting at the mine. 
 
On June 12, El Hastillo superintendent Jairo Tamayo locked employee and union leader Mario Prado in his office and aggressively threatened him. This intimidation caused Mr. Prado a suspected heart attack, and he remains in hospital in a serious condition. 
 
The United Steelworkers last week launched an international campaign supporting Sintramienerg&eacute;tica in their struggle to organise at Vale. An international LabourStart campaign is launched today, calling on the Colombian government ensure the fundamental rights of workers at El Hatillo, and calling on Vale Colombia to halt its union busting efforts and negotiate with the union in good faith. 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1027">LabourStart campaign</a> here, and write to the Colombian President and CEO of Vale Colombia.

NUM, USW Take Gloves Off on Vale in South Africa, Colombia

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ICEM-affiliated United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) members ratified a front-end loaded and pattern-setting US national coal collective agreement on 17 June. The contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators&rsquo; Association (BCOA) was ratified by 70% of miners voting at 125 UMWA local branches, and comes six months before expiry of an existing national contract. 
 
The five-and-a-half-year agreement replaces the existing one and takes effect on 1 July. It will cover 10,000 miners and preserves the long UMWA tradition of providing excellent salaries, pension benefits, and health care coverage to US miners and retired miners. 
 
The US$6-an-hour wage increases over the life of the contract will now serve as a national pattern in union and non-union mines across North America. More importantly, that pattern is extended to include pension benefits &ndash; including health care benefits &ndash; for tens of thousands of retired miners and for workers and retirees of many coal and energy companies outside of the BCOA. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/RobertsCecimwal.jpg" width="100" height="139" />
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
&ldquo;Our members will receive the largest pay increase in the 121-year history of our union,&rdquo; said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;In addition, we were able to preserve full health care benefits for active and retired members and their dependants, as well as preserve pensions for current and future retirees with no cuts in benefits.&rdquo; 
 
The national accord includes two US$1-per-hour increases in the first six months of the new agreement, on 1 July and again on 1 January, which is an average 8.2% increase over current wages. Wages will be increased by US$1-per-hour on 1 January in each successive year until 2016. 
 
The UMWA preserved health care benefits for active and retired miners with no cuts. The agreement preserves a pension plan that sees a company-contributed US$5.50-man-hour-worked into a pension fund that ensures the benefits are paid in full. 
 
The UMWA posted several other improvements in the proposed agreement, including pay increases for shift work, increased sickness, accident, vision and dental benefits, and better life insurance terms. 
 
The ICEM termed the new collective accord exemplary on several fronts. &ldquo;This contract again is verification of the tremendous power that UMWA holds for a social America,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It deserves attention and wide applause.&rdquo;

UMWA Wins Excellent Terms in US National Coal Talks

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A tentative collective agreement was reached late in the evening on 19 June in New York City for 15,000 General Electric (GE) workers in the US. The proposed four-year accord came hours before a Sunday midnight expiration of a prior agreement for 11,000 of the 15,000 workers, represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the International Union of Electronic Workers/ Communications Workers of America (IUE/CWA). 
 
Ten American unions have been bargaining with GE since 24 May as part of a joint union Coordinating Bargaining Council (CBC). The unions represent industrial workers who manufacture everything from jet airplane engines to locomotive train diesels to electrical appliances to small motors to lighting systems. Pension terms negotiated under the agreement will also apply to staff of NBC, the US television network owned by GE. 
 
Details of the proposed agreement will not be released until Thursday, 23 June, to allow the GE Conference Boards of the UE and IUE/CWA time to consider all provisions and make recommendations to their respective memberships. 
<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/1106.john20hovis20UE.jpg" width="100" height="128" />
UE President John Hovis
&ldquo;While the proposal contains important improvements and advances, it also contains certain disappointments,&rdquo; said President John Hovis of the UE, an ICEM affiliate. &ldquo;However, given the current economic climate overall, it&rsquo;s an agreement we can support.&rdquo; 
 
Breakthroughs came in bargaining on 18 June when GE negotiators increased its wage offer and withdrew unfair and additional payments on retirees for prescription drug coverage. Entering bargaining yesterday (19 June), the two sides were still grappling with issues related to a company Health Choice medical plan, a pension scheme for new hires, and regressive GE proposals to an early retirement option for workers. 
 
The CBC has representation from the UE, IUE/CWA, United Steelworkers (USW), International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers (IAM), National Association of Broadcast Employees &amp; Technicians (NABET/CWA), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE), the Electrical Workers (IBEW), Sheet Metal Workers Union (SMWIU), the United Association of Plumbing and Pipefitting Union (UA), and the Firemen &amp; Oilers division of the Service Employees Union (SEIU). 
 
The talks were national in scope for multiple local branch unions of the UE and IUE/CWA, while mostly single-site or single-unit bargaining was simultaneously occurring for the other unions although the entire CBC was at the large table in the New York talks. 
 
Messages of support (or congratulations) can still be given CBC negotiators by signing this IUE/CWA <a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/c/783/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=2601 ">Unity Petition</a>.

Tentative Pact Reached in US for 15,000 General Electric Workers

<img alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66" />
A new update has been published by the ICEM of its PowerPoint presentation on &ldquo;Contract and Agency Labour and the ICEM CAL Campaign&rdquo;. This regularly updated presentation, which can be used by anyone, contains not only a considerable number of updated key statistics on Contract and Agency Labour and other forms of precarious work, including the ICEM&rsquo;s own statistics, but also a wide range of national and international &ldquo;best practice examples,&rdquo; highlighting, among other, what unions around the world have done successfully to counter the problem. 
 
The full-length English version of the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/11-05-19%20CAL%20ICEM%20PPT%20for%20website.2.ppt">presentation</a> can be found - and downloaded - here.

New ICEM CAL Facts and Figures Overview

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