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The general strike that has paralysed the West African nation of Guinea since 10 January ended 27 January. The country&rsquo;s unions, including ICEM mining affiliate SYNAMIC/ONSLG, reached a compromise with beleaguered President Lansana Cont&eacute; to cede some of his near absolute powers. 
 
Guinea&rsquo;s trade unions, backed by some 14 opposition parties, forced Cont&eacute; to concede authority to a yet-to-be-named prime minister, who will run the government. The ending of the strike also produced a pledge from Cont&eacute; to immediately reduce fuel and food prices. 
The ICEM reached SYNAMIC General Secretary Yamodou Tour&eacute; last week, after he had been twice jailed by police and gendarmerie during the strike. Tour&eacute; said he was among some 20 leaders who negotiated with Cont&eacute; until late in the evening of 25 January. Earlier that day, a commission that included government officials, union leaders, and civil society representatives met to work out the new powers for the prime minister. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Guinea.png" width="250" />
The 72-year-old Cont&eacute; sacked former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo in April 2006. The strike started after Cont&eacute;, in December, released one of Guinea&rsquo;s wealthiest men, employers&rsquo; association leader Mamadou Sylla, and former minister Fode Soumah from prison. The two, both close associates of the reclusive president, had been imprisoned on corruption charges. 
 
The peaceful general strike was met with heavy-handed force by Guinea&rsquo;s riot police. At least 59 demonstrators were killed during the 18-day strike, including more than 30 on 22 January when police sprayed automatic weapons fire into a citizens&rsquo; protest in the capital city of Conakry. 
 
Tour&eacute; was among a handful of labour leaders arrested on 17 January as they led a group of some 200 demonstrators on a march to the National Parliament. The leaders were released later that day following negotiations led by National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Sompare. Tour&eacute; also serves as secretary general for the Organisation Nationale des Syndicats Libres de Guin&eacute;e (ONSLG), one of the main national labour centres in Guinea. 
He was arrested again five days later, on 22 January, the bloodiest day of the strike, when a presidential guard led by the president&rsquo;s son, Ousmane Cont&eacute;, stormed a union meeting. Some 30 trade union leaders were then taken to Cont&eacute;&rsquo;s home on the Samory military grounds near Conakry. They were released in the early morning hours of the next day. 
<img height="96" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMminingsector2.JPG" width="100" alt="" />
Ironically, it was those arrests and late night meeting with Cont&eacute; that set the stage for last week&rsquo;s negotiated end to the general strike. 
 
The strike brought Guinea, one of the world&rsquo;s most impoverished countries, to a standstill. It crippled exports of bauxite, the country&rsquo;s major cash source, after miners at one of the country&rsquo;s bauxite mines, Sangaredi, downed tools. 
 
Workers of the Christian miners&rsquo; union, FSAMCA, also played a key role in the strike, after they were told by their union to join the strike on 19 January. Miners belonging to all unions at the country&rsquo;s national bauxite company, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guin&eacute;e (CBG), effectively brought the company to a halt. 
 
CBG is operated by Alcoa World Alumina, through its Halco joint venture with Canada&rsquo;s Alcan, with the two North American companies owning 51% of the enterprise, and Guinea&rsquo;s government the remainder. Russia&rsquo;s giant aluminium producer Rusal also has substantial holdings in the country. 
 
Guinea is the world&rsquo;s leading producer of bauxite.

Unions in Guinea End General Strike

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Members of ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian mining affiliate, Sintracarb&oacute;n, were braced to strike the massive coal enterprise called Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, in Guajira state, over the weekend. The mining operation in northeastern Colombia, complete with a 150-kilometre rail link to company-owned deep-water port facilities at Puerto Boliv&aacute;r, is owned by global mining houses AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
Sintracarb&oacute;n union members at the world&rsquo;s largest open pit coal mine voted to strike over a week ago. The union&rsquo;s National Assembly of Delegates, which met on 25 January, voted to give approval for a possible strike to begin anytime in the next ten working days. Company and union representatives were continuing bargaining over the weekend. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Colombia.png" width="250" />
A total of 4,000 workers are represented by Sintracarb&oacute;n, while the mining enterprise employs another 4,000 contract workers. 
 
All three multinational mining companies, along with the Colombian subsidiary, are partners with the ICEM and Sintracarb&oacute;n in a unique Social Dialogue arrangement in the South American country. That agreement, set in 2004, covers some eight global companies doing business in Colombia, and establishes a formalised procedure not only for the safety and security of trade unionists, but also for meaningful labour-management discussions on all issues. 
 
Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n and Sintracarb&oacute;n called on the ICEM to intervene in the dispute two weeks ago. The ICEM had been monitoring the negotiations since November. 
 
General Secretary Manfred Warda responded to the company, as well as to the three parent firms, stating, &ldquo;ICEM has taken note of the extended period of negotiations involved in settling a new, two-year collective agreement between Sintracarb&oacute;n and your company. We are also keenly aware of the profitable coal mining and export operations that Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n and its three multinational partners have in Guajira state, as well as the high demand for this coal on global markets. 
&ldquo;We urge your company not only to maintain the level of respectful Social Dialogue that exists in the charter developed by the ICEM with multinational companies doing business in Colombia, but also to seriously consider the proposals set forth by Sintracarb&oacute;n. These social proposals are just and proper in view of the operation that your company has in Colombia.&rdquo; 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100" />
Sintracarb&oacute;n is seeking a 2007 salary increase of 8%, and a 2008 increase of 2.5% above the Colombian consumer price index for this year. The ICEM affiliated trade union is also seeking monthly health care stipends to cover the costs of medicines for family members. It also seeks a university educational stipend for children of miners, as well as a non-conditional production bonus. Management is attempting to apply conditions to such a bonus plan. 
 
Another legitimate union demand calls on Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n to begin discussions on buying the land of indigenous people who live in the vicinity of Cerrej&oacute;n, and possibly relocate them to areas away from the company&rsquo;s vast mining operations. Sintracarb&oacute;n is proposing immediate &ldquo;working sessions&rdquo; between the union, company, and community leaders to analyse environmental problems and find solutions. 
 
A last unresolved issue involves the high number of contract workers on Cerrej&oacute;n worksites. Sintracarb&oacute;n is seeking for the minimum level of pay for contract workers to be increased and linked to the minimum legal salaries in Colombia. It also seeks application of all Colombian employment laws for these workers, including the right to union representation. 
In the ICEM letter to the companies, the Global Union Federation asks Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n to actively monitor the work practices of contract employers. The ICEM also insists that &ldquo;contract workers receive the same protections and rights that full-time, permanent employees have, including the right to trade union representation.&rdquo; 
 
The mining operation, once jointly owned by ExxonMobil and the Colombian government, has ramped up excavation of thermal coal from 17 million tonnes in 1995 to an expected 28 million tonnes this year. Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s coal reserves are estimated at 930 million tonnes. 
 
The coal is highly desirable on global markets because it is high in energy and has a low sulphur and ash content. Europe accounts for 56% of exports, while 20% is exported to North America. The three parent companies have seen coal prices tripling over the past year, and the operation posted revenues of US$1 billion.

Sintracarbón’s Miners Poised to Strike at Carbones del Cerrejón in Colombia

Two recent and separate attacks by lawless militia groupings in Iraq have incensed the ICEM, the Global Union Federation for the energy sector. Both attacks, one random, on 16 January,&nbsp;in which a dedicated trade unionist was slain, the other, on 11 January,&nbsp;a targeted slaying of oil engineers in route to a union&rsquo;s press conference, &ldquo;reflect the failures of both the occupation forces and of the al-Maliki government,&rdquo; according to ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
The ICEM was appalled to learn of the death of Mohammed Hameed, a dedicated trade union organiser of the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). He was among a group of 15 civilians who were randomly gunned down in an open marketplace in southern Baghdad near his home. Hameed had been out on a walk when he was caught in a hail of gunfire.
<img height="142" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0610Manfred1.jpg" width="134" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="143" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0611Falah.jpg" width="120" />
&nbsp;Manfred Warda&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Falah Alwan&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&ldquo;It hurts tremendously when a trade unionist is killed in a situation like this,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;Brother Hameed was a person who had the vision and fortitude to help build a just and decent civil society inside Iraq.&rdquo; Hameed, who was in his 30s, scored several advances last summer for oil industry workers in the Baghdad area, who constantly attempt to escape poverty conditions in the strife-ridden area. 
 
He is survived by his wife, who is an active trade unionist herself inside the service sector side of the&nbsp;FWCUI, and two children. 
 
The second incident occurred five days earlier, when militia gunmen abducted eight engineers of the Iraqi Oil Ministry as they were travelling in a vehicle to a FWCUI press conference on fuel price increases. Four of the kidnapped victims were released. One engineer, Abdukareem Mahdi, was later found dead, after being tortured. The other three, Nazar Fattah, Adil Yahia and Ahmed Maulood, remain missing and are presumed dead.
&ldquo;We are disappointed with the response from the government and the lack of information given us by the authorities on these heinous crimes,&rdquo; said Falah Alwan, the president of FWCUI. &ldquo;The Iraqi government must take responsibility for the lawlessness that has become so prevalent in the oil industry, as well as for the obvious security deficiencies that has allowed ordinary workers to be killed every day.&rdquo;
<img height="100" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMoil4.JPG.JPG" width="100" />
The ICEM also calls on the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to fully investigate the abductions and killings on 11 January, and to make serious efforts to apprehend the drive-by gunmen responsible for the random killings on 16 January.

ICEM Condemns Killings Within Iraq’s Oil Industry

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The 2007 annual meeting of general secretaries of the Global Union Federations (GUFs) last week took on a major structural change when labour leaders formed a Council of Global Unions. This new structure will include the newly formed International Trade Union Federation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD. The founding of the council occurred in Brussels during meetings on 9-10 January. 
 
The founding document of the council proclaims &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; 
<img height="200" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0701GUFCouncil.jpg" width="300" />
ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Fred van Leeuwen, general secretary of Education International (EI), was elected chair of the council, while Building Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) Gen. Sec. Anita Normark was elected vice-chair. Each participating organisation will be represented by three members on the council. ITUC Gen. Sec. Guy Ryder will serve as secretary of the council. 
 
Van Leeuwen, commenting on the formation, said, &ldquo;Our talks this week revealed how much more we can do together to confront global forces that work against the interests of working people, and we will carry forward the momentum of this new accord to achieve just that.&rdquo; 
 
Besides the ICEM, the GUFs signatory to the Council of Global Unions include: BWI, EI, International Arts and Entertainment Alliance (IAEA), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), and the Union Network International (UNI). ITUC and TUAC round out the membership on the council.

ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda sign Global Unions’ Council

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After 22 days in an Iranian jail, Sherkat-e Vahed trade union leader Mansour Osanloo of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company was released for a second time on 19 December after his wife deposited a sizeable bail bond. 
<img height="152" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0701Osanloo.jpg" width="148" />
Sherkat-e Vahed trade union leader Mansour Osanloo
The release was welcomed by the Iranian union&rsquo;s global federation, the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), but the ITF expressed disgust that Iran is now resorting to added bail money and other restrictions to hold back legitimate trade union rights. 
Osanloo was arrested outside his home on 19 November by plain-clothes policemen, who beat him and forced him at gunpoint into a car. He appeared in court a week later, but no charges were filed against him. In August 2006, only three months earlier, he was released from prison, after nearly eight months of detention for essentially championing union rights among Tehran&rsquo;s bus drivers. 
<img height="102" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ITF.jpg" width="102" />
In January 2006, a strike by drivers was met with brutal clubbings and beatings by Iranian police forces. Many among some 50 strike leaders have been terminated and/or blacklisted for their suspected involvement in that strike. The ITF, in coordination with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), has been engaged in a campaign against Iran&rsquo;s rights&rsquo; abuses, using both direct protests and formal complaints. 
 
Following Osanloo&rsquo;s 19 December release, ITF Gen. Sec. David Cockroft stated, &ldquo;The persecution of this man has got to stop. Fundamental trade union rights have to be respected in Iran, and we await similar news concerning Mansour Osanloo&rsquo;s trade union colleagues, some of whom have been sacked and all of whom have been denied the right to be represented by the union of their choice.&rdquo;

Iran Releases Trade Union Leader Mansour Osanloo

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The United Steelworkers (USW) in the US is recommending that copper miners and smelter workers of Asarco LLC in the states of Arizona and Texas approve a new 42-month labour agreement. The union successfully negotiated an amicable tentative settlement with the subsidiary of Grupo Mexico late in December, and voting by some 1,600 miners at three mines and two smelters is now underway. 
 
The accord must also be approved by a US Bankruptcy Court. 
 
USW District 12 Director Terry Bonds said the tentative agreement contains substantial economic gains, as well as achieving job security protections that have never before been seen in the US mining industry. &ldquo;This agreement is a tremendous breakthrough for workers in the mining industry,&rdquo; said Bonds. 
<img height="66" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/USAUSW.jpg" width="120" alt="" />
Perhaps the highlight of the new agreement is that it is a single contract covering all five locations. &ldquo;In 2004, we had seven different contracts with varying contract language, two different expiration dates, and differing pension plans,&rdquo; said Bonds, adding that workers took action in a bitter 136-day strike. That strike began in July 2005 when Grupo Mexico demanded massive wage and benefit concessions, despite copper prices being at record highs. 
 
To settle the strike, workers agreed to a one-year contract extension. &ldquo;This recently concluded tentative agreement is the fruit of this extraordinary struggle,&rdquo; Bonds said. &ldquo;I could not be more proud of our members and local union leaders. This was a long struggle and its outcome was never guaranteed. Our members proved that working people don&rsquo;t have to simply accept inequality or economic injustice.&rdquo; 
 
The USW&rsquo;s Southwest regional director in the US also had high praise for Asarco CEO Joe Lapinsky. He said the company&rsquo;s labour relations behaviour began to change when Grupo Mexico management was moved aside and an independent board of directors and Lapinsky were named to head the US subsidiary. 
 
&ldquo;(Lapinsky) has chosen a path of cooperation with our union, rather than confrontation, and we look forward to working with him to address the many challenges still facing the company,&rdquo; stated Bonds. 
<img height="53" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/USAFlag.gif" width="100" alt="" />
Once ratified, the new contract will contain US$1-per-hour wage increases for all miners and smelter workers, backdated to 1 January 2007. Another US$1 increase will come on 30 September 2008, with another US$1 hike coming a year later. Workers will receive a US$3,000 ratification bonus with approval of the contract. 
 
Quarterly bonuses will be awarded if the price of copper averages above US$1.60-per-pound. A 20% increase in the pension formula over the life of the three-and-a-half-year pact was also negotiated. 
 
But perhaps more significantly, USW won strong successorship protections in the event of a sale of any Asarco asset; reinvestment guarantees on the part of the company; restrictions on Asarco&rsquo;s ability to outsource work; substantial USW influence in any Plan of Reorganisation; and a company requirement that it will remain neutral in union organising efforts, with union recognition granted on the basis of a card-check.

Approval Near for Innovation Mining Contract between USW and Asarco in US

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Last month, North American ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) negotiated the biggest pay and benefit increase in the US coal industry since 1974, winning a 32% wage and pension increase over a five-year period. The union negotiated the agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), which will establish the pattern for several US coal operators in the coming months. 
 
UMWA membership of some 20,000 miners ratified the contract with 80% approval on 21 December. The contract took effect for 3,200 actives miners and 10,000 retirees in six US states at Consol Energy Inc. on 1 January. It includes a 20% across-the-board wage increase over the five-year period, and a future retiree benefit hike of $10-per-month for every year of service. In addition, UMWA&rsquo;s members at Consol received a US$1,000 bonus at the first of the year. 
 
&ldquo;There are no concessions, no givebacks in this agreement,&rdquo; stated UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;There are only gains for current members, retirees, and their families.&rdquo; 
<img height="98" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/USAUMWA2.jpg" width="150" />
&ldquo;This is the largest wage increase we&rsquo;ve negotiated since 1974. Over the life of the agreement, a miner working at the top rate will see over US$32,000 more in his paycheck for just working straight time,&rdquo; said Roberts in a statement. A mineworker represented by the UMWA had been averaging US$20.42-per-hour prior to this contract taking effect. 
 
Coupled with funds guaranteed through the US government&rsquo;s renewal of the federal Abandoned Mine Land Fund, the new contract assures that health care coverage, with all benefits included, will be maintained with no cost increases to workers for co-payments. Roberts said that other coal companies will be bound to the new BCOA contract&rsquo;s pension provisions, since they are part of the UMWA&rsquo;s 1974 Pension Fund.

UMWA in US Negotiates Highest Gains with Coal Companies since 1994

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A 4 January pipeline leak of some 4.5 tonnes of the chemical hexamethylene diamine (HMDA) at a BASF nylon intermediates plant near Bellingham, Teesside UK, was termed a &ldquo;major incident,&rdquo; causing injuries to 37 workers, including one worker still in serious condition at a North-East UK hospital. 
 
Two other workers had been hospitalised up until late last week. One of the two underwent plastic surgery for burns to the face. Hexamethylene diamine is a component in the manufacture of synthetic material nylons, and is a corrosive substance which causes chemical burns when contact with the skin and eyes is made. It also causes damage if breathed into the lungs. 
 
The incident injured both BASF staff and contract workers employed at the chemical plant. 
<img height="90" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/UKGMB.gif" width="90" />
ICEM UK affiliate GMB, which represents some workers at the plant, said it will involve itself fully in investigations now underway by the UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive and the Environmental Agency. &ldquo;When there is an accident of this nature, we always have questions about safety and why it happened,&rdquo; GMB Regional Secretary Tom Brennan told a local newspaper, the Northern Echo. &ldquo;I can assure you, there will be questions raised over safety procedures, equipment, and machinery. There will be a complete review.&rdquo; 
 
Twenty of the workers were decontaminated at the worksite, but 17 others were rushed to hospitals. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMchemical.jpg" width="100" />
BASF, the world&rsquo;s largest chemical concern, has had two other serious health and safety occurrences in recent years at this operational site. The German company&rsquo;s previous site, in Wilton, a town close to Bellingham, was struck by a massive fire in 1995. And four years later, a worker who inhaled cyanide fumes died. BASF was fined ₤20,000 in 2002 for that workplace death. 
 
BASF bought the nylon intermediate plant on Seal Sands Road in Bellingham in 1985.

Chemical Leak at BASF in UK Injures 37, One Seriously

<img height="40" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" />
Belgian unions FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV have boosted their joint project in Colombia to draw attention to human and trade union rights. The unions now have a petition drive underway on the project&rsquo;s website, aimed at the government of Colombia, including members of Parliament. The petition drive also addresses the management of both Colombian and multinational companies to take action. 
The project, called Syndicol, is operated by the two Belgian unions, in full cooperation with all three Colombian national labour centres, CUT, CGT, and CTC. A number of ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian affiliates are directly involved in the project.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
<img height="42" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Belgiumfgtb.jpg" width="123" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="71" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/BelgiumACV.gif" width="120" align="absMiddle" />
Syndicol&rsquo;s action plan is to bring aid and solidarity to the workers of Colombia. Its aim is to build broad campaigns of information around the abuses of human and trade union rights in the South American country, including the many assassinations of trade union leaders. 
The current petition, located on Syndicol&rsquo;s French language website at <a href="http://www.syndicol.be/Petition">http://www.syndicol.be/Petition</a>, states that over 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated since 1990, and calls on government and business leaders to take immediate action to end this state of terror. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Colombia.png" width="250" />
&ldquo;The flagrant and inadmissible violations of human rights and, in particular, of the rights and trade union freedoms are a denial of justice, and disgraceful for those who commit the crimes, as well as their protectors. The systematic assassination of trade unionists and human rights defenders is a throwback to another age and what&rsquo;s worse, the perpetrators enjoy impunity from the Colombian legal system and the country&rsquo;s authorities.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM affiliates and activists are encouraged to visit the website to sign the petition.

Belgian Unions Team on Colombia Petition Drive

<img height="40" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" />
Three gold miners, jailed on 17 December, for illegal gold mining in the southern Zimbabwe region of Matabeleland, died six days after their arrest from exhaustion and starvation. The three died after days of filling trenches without being given food or enough water by the police forces of Robert Mugabe&rsquo;s government. 
 
In a country with 80% unemployment and an inflation rate that hit a new high of 1,281% in December, the three miners were arrested with 12 other gold diggers as part of the government&rsquo;s crackdown on illegal mining, called Operation Makorokoza Zvakwana by the Mugabe police forces. 
<img height="111" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Zimbabwe20ZCTU.gif" width="107" />
One police officer told ZimOnline, Zimbabwe&rsquo;s independent news agency, that when the workers tried to resist the continuous trench filling, or complained of hunger, they were beaten &ldquo;because that&rsquo;s how our bosses had instructed us to treat them.&rdquo; 
 
The three died at separate times on 24 December after experiencing extreme dizziness before collapsing. 
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe&rsquo;s labour leaders, who were severely beaten in September after police forces broke up an anti-poverty rally, have sued top Mugabe aides for unlawful arrests and injuries incurred to them. Zimbabwe Council of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Sec. Gen. Wellington Chibebe and 14 other labour leaders sued Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, and several other police officers for Z$1.34 billion (US$9.13 million), which includes general damages, and unlawful arrest and deprivation of liberty. 
<img height="140" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0609ZCTU3.jpg" width="120" alt="" />
ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe 
In the lawsuit, attorneys for the labour leaders cite violations of the Zimbabwe constitution, Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 of the African Charter for Human and People&rsquo;s Rights, Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatments. 
The labour leaders, on 12 and 13 September, were subjected to beatings that caused bone fractures, serious cranial/facial bruising, and head injuries. Some 256 ZCTU activists were arrested at the time. 
 
The current economic crisis in Zimbabwe, which saw the inflation rate jump a full 182% from November to December 2006, has caused mass labour strikes in the health care and education sectors, not to mention in mining and energy industries, because salaries have become miniscule compared to the vast inflation jumps. For example, staff of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority staged a two-day strike on 3-4 January, when an internal memo was released stating that salaries would only increase by 50%.

Mugabe Regime Starves Jailed Gold Miners

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