Deadly Georgian mine closed after multiple fatalities

IndustriALL affiliate the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG) reports that on 16 July, the ceiling of a the tunnel in the Mindeli mine collapsed, apparently due to a methane gas explosion. Four miners were killed on the spot as a result of serious injuries. Six miners were burned and taken to hospital. Two are in a particularly serious condition.
 
A criminal investigation has been launched against mine owner Saknakhshiri GIG, the coal subsidiary of Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), under the second part of Article 240 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which implies a violation of safety rules in mining, construction or other works. The offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years. Mine management was summoned to the police station for questioning.
 
The Prime Minister of Georgia declared 16 July a day of mourning due to the tragedy. All production sites of the two mines in Tkibuli will be closed until the investigation is completed. Miners' salaries will be paid during the downtime.
 
Previously, on 5 April, the collapse of lateral rocks of a tunnel at the Mindeli mine lead to the death of six miners, while three were injured. TUMMCIWG engaged international engineering expertise, inviting specialists from Ukraine. According to them, the accident was mainly caused by the wrong organization of work and the health and safety systems.
 
Tamaz Dolaberidze, TUMMCIWG president, stated:

“The Prime Minister’s statement about the government decision repeats the demands made by the Georgian trade unions after the tragedy of 5 April. We demanded a temporary stop of operation at the mines, studying the risks and dangers with the involvement of foreign experts, taking preventive measures on the results.

“We also demanded that the miners are provided with a salary for the period of forced downtime. If the government had taken this decision immediately when the unions asked, we would have avoided the accident on 16 July”.

There are no alternative jobs in Tkibuli, and local residents are forced to work in mines with high risk of danger.
 
According to the Georgian Trade Union Confederation, 18 people were killed in workplace accidents in Georgia in the first quarter of 2018.
 
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says:

''We mourn the dead and wish a speedy recovery to all those affected by this terrible tragedy. We share the concerns of our affiliate about health and safety issues and call on the Georgian government to take effective measures according to the results of the investigation, which is currently underway.''
 

South Africa: Six workers die in underground fire at copper mine

On 15 July, when the mine was supposed to be on shut down, management sent 200 workers underground to increase production. According to IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the fire could have been caused by high underground temperatures. Workers say switching off the fire suppression system, including the water supply, because of the shutdown, is what made the fire difficult to control.

The conveyor belt is also suspected to have been sub-standard. Regulations stipulate that a conveyor belt should be fire resistant and self-extinguishing which was not the case at Palabora.

For these reasons, the union wants the management “to tell the truth” on the cause of the fire, and why workers were exposed to such dangerous working conditions.

The NUM is also calling upon the department of mineral resources to investigate the incident and play its oversight role to ensure that the mining company complies with mining health and safety regulations. According to the Mines Health and Safety Act the employer must ensure that the mine provide “conditions for safe operation and a healthy working environment” and this applies to the mine’s construction activities and equipment as well. Failure to do so can result in the employer being charged of “negligent failure” for not providing a safe working environment for the workers.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said:

“It’s unacceptable for mining companies to be negligent on health and safety issues especially when workers continue to die from avoidable mine accidents. Workers’ rights to life must be respected and cannot be traded at whatever cost.”

Minister of mineral resources Gwede Mantashe said in a statement:

“It is unfortunate that, as a country we have lost so many lives in this disaster. These deaths add to an already high number of lost lives in the industry since the beginning of the year.”

Since January 55 mineworkers have been killed in mine accidents. With the increasing deaths and injuries, the Mining Health and Safety Council’s goal of achieving “zero harm” is becoming elusive.

Bangladesh Accord arbitration cases – resulting in millions-of-dollars in settlements – officially closed

The brands have met all terms of the settlements, including paying more than US$2.3 million towards remediating unsafe conditions in Bangladesh ready-made garment factories. The Accord will distribute the money to eligible factories.

“These cases prove the Accord’s power to hold companies accountable and make work safer across the supply chain,” said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union. “Because of the legally-binding nature of the Accord, tens-of-thousands of potentially deadly hazards have been fixed and more than one million workers have been trained. That is why we will continue to rigorously enforce the Accord and continue to look at innovative, effective ways to resolve disputes with brands.”                         

The arbitrations were filed in July 2016 and October 2016 to bring recalcitrant brands into compliance with the terms of the Accord. The brands did not require the contracted factories to remedy hazards in a timely manner—leaving thousands of workers in dangerous conditions. The unions also charged that the brands did not ensure that contracted factories had the financial resources to fix ongoing safety issues.

The first brand reached a settlement in December 2017, and the second, in January 2018.

“Prior to the Accord, a settlement of this size and scope on supply chain worker safety was unthinkable,” said Jenny Holdcroft, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “The Accord has the power to fundamentally change the way garments and textiles are produced.”

Both settlements were made possible by pro bono representation provided to the two global unions by Marney Cheek and her team at Covington & Burling. 

The Accord, which covered 2.5 million workers in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry, was established by IndustriALL and UNI in 2013 following the Rana Plaza disaster that killed over 1,100 garment workers and injured more than 2,000. It was the first agreement with a legally-binding mandate requiring fashion brands to require their contractors to eliminate fire, structural, and electrical safety issues. It expired on 31 May 2018.

A second agreement with nearly 200 brand signatories, the 2018 Transition Accord, went into effect June 1 of this year. It extends the Accord’s protections until 31 May 2021, unless a joint monitoring committee (comprised of Accord brand signatories, Accord trade union signatories, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the International Labour Organization, and the Government of Bangladesh) unanimously agrees that a set of rigorous conditions for a handover to a national regulatory body have been met prior to then. 

More information about the Accord’s progress can be found here: www.bangladeshaccord.org. Read the PCA’s release here: https://pcacases.com/web/sendAttach/2435. More about the case is available here: https://pca-cpa.org/en/cases/152/. 

South Africa: Footwear strike for a living wage enters second week

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) and the National Union of Leather and Allied Workers, who organize the 10,000-plus workers in the sector, called for the national strike to demand living wages.
 
Instead of engaging with the unions, some employers are resorting to intimidation which the unions have rejected as “illegal, provocative and not conducive to the promotion of sound industrial relations”. This came after Allie Kramer, a chargehand at Bagshaw Footwear factory in Port Elizabeth, fired live ammunition at close range to where the striking workers were gathered. The unions have since called for his suspension and sanction thorough disciplinary action for putting the lives of workers in “serious danger”.
 
Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL director for the textile and garment industry said:
 
“We support the workers’ demands for living wages and for employers to consider the increasing cost of living that is eroding workers incomes. Labour peace and social dialogue will not be possible if the employer opts for intimidation. We strongly condemn the use of guns to intimidate workers.”
 
Clothing, textile, footwear and leather are a labour absorbing sector which employs more workers than any other manufacturing sector in South Africa. According to SACTWU, the sector makes an important contribution by reducing unemployment and poverty as well as providing jobs mainly to women who make up about 82 per cent of the workforce. The women are employed especially in small towns where there are fewer jobs thus promoting gender equity. Therefore, living wages will make a difference to workers and their families.
 
Upskilling and further training of workers is important for the sector. However, SACTWU, says the sector faces threats from customs fraud in which duty for imported goods is avoided and evaded when goods are imported through a third country among other illegal schemes sometimes even with the involvement of government officials. The goods are then smuggled into the country and sold at low cost undercutting local factories and threatening jobs.
 
The sector also suffered from global competition which has seen local production being displaced by imports. However, the government-supported Clothing and Textile Competitive Programme boosted the sector and brought some stability.

Fiat Chrysler/CNHi Union Network adopts three-year work plan and calls on the company to recognize the trade union body

On 11 and 12 July, over 70 delegates from 12 countries from all of the business units of FCA/CNHi (Fiat, Chrysler, Case, New Holland, Iveco, Magneti Marelli and others) met to hold their annual trade union network meeting at the ILO Training Center in Torino, Italy.

This year the group focused on elaborating a new three-year plan. The plan re-confirms the relevance of the Global Network as a fundamental tool to protect jobs and workers’ rights everywhere on the globe. This includes the ability to deal with the uncertainty related to the future structure of the group and the on-going process of transformation in the automotive industry and in the manufacturing sector in general.

Core elements of the plan are:

The outstanding lack of recognition of the network and the missing input by the company was the single most mentioned issue at the meeting. The unions therefore decided to send a further communication to the top FCA/CNHi management urging them to enter into meaningful discussions with the trade union group toward future cooperation.

The group also discussed global trade and related agreements. Delegates concluded that trade agreements are setup for business purposes and rarely reflect the interest of workers such as decent income and working conditions and the freedom of association.

The group finally analyzed latest business announcements of the company and exchanged country reports.

India: Six workers die at Gerdau steel plant

The accident of leakage of poisonous gas at the Gerdau steel plant happened at around 5 pm on 12 July. While workers were cleaning a tunnel, some workers fell unconscious and two others who went to rescue their colleagues also collapsed. Subsequently all who were affected by the gas leak were taken to the hospital. Two workers died on the way to the hospital while four others passed away at the hospital. Three workers are said to be under treatment. 

Victims of the fatal accident have been identified as K Manoj Kumar (24), B Ranganath (21), SM Wasim Basha (26), K Siva Maddileti (26), K Yugandhar (37) and G Guruvaiah (45). Among six workers who died, only two are permanent workers and remaining four workers include contract and apprentice workers. Many of these workers recently got married while some of them are survived by young children. 

Local government authorities are investigating the accident and are expected to provide a report in a few days. Initial reports suggest that the leakage of carbon monoxide in the tunnel occurred as the gas was being used for reheating after repair work. Apparently local authorities have announced that compensation to the dead will be provided based on work experience. As four of the victims are precarious workers, it remains unclear as to what compensation they will receive. 

Appropriate safety measures and regular safety inspection by the government authorities at the Gerdau plant at Tadipatri could have averted the accident. The accident led to major protest in the region demanding appropriate compensation for victims and their families and punishment of those who are responsible for the accident. Currently the plant does not have a labour union. An earlier attempt to form a union a few years ago was unsuccessful.

Gerdau is one of largest steel producers in the world and has a poor health and safety record. In less than a year in 2017, ten workers were killed at Gerdau’s Ouro Branco plant in Brazil. In a May 2018 meeting of the Gerdau workers’ world council, union representatives highlighted numerous problems faced by Gerdau workers including the anti-union practices of the company. 

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL general secretary said:

“Gerdau must improve health and safety measures at its plants across the world. It is unacceptable that avoidable fatal accidents continue to claim Gerdau workers’ lives. We stand in solidarity with families who lost their loved ones and demand that Gerdau management provide appropriate compensation to victims’ families. Gerdau should not try to block workers from organizing a union at their plant in India. The company must work with the Gerdau workers’ world council to address health and safety concerns across the globe.”

Turkish court sentences Soma bosses up to 22 years in prison over deadliest mine disaster

The verdict by the Akhisar court, which is 50km from Soma in western Turkey, was announced on 11 July following a trial lasting three years.

The mine's general manager Ramazan Dogru and technical manager Ismail Adali were sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison, and operations manager Akin Celik and technical supervisor Ertan Ersoy were jailed for 18 years and nine months. 

The mine’s CEO, Can Gurkan, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Alp Gurkan, father of CEO Can Gurkan, and chairman of the Soma Mines Company which owned the mine, was acquitted along with 36 other suspects. Out of 51 suspects on trial, nine other mine managers were given jail terms of six to 11 years.

Prosecutors had demanded prison terms of 25 years for each of the 301 victims.

However, families of the victims, civil society and trade unions are angry that the suspects were charged with negligence, rather than murder, which had originally been requested by prosecutors when the trial began in April 2015.

The 301 miners died needlessly at the Soma mine due to exposure to carbon monoxide and toxic gasses following an explosion at one of the pits. Reports showed that coal had been smoldering for several days before the 13 May 2014 explosion leading to a buildup of deadly gas.  

“Public conscience was not relieved,” said the Turkish Trade Unions’ Confederation (Turk-Is), to which IndustriALL’s affiliate Maden-Is affiliated. Maden-Is is the union representing mineworkers in Soma. “When the reasons and results of the disaster in Soma are analysed, we repeatedly underlined that this was not an accident, but a massacre. All the evidences showed that there was a gross negligence at the level of intent much more than imprudence and carelessness.”

“Justice in Soma has been hammered,” said the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK) expressing outrage. “Our pains in Soma are still fresh. It is impossible for us to accept this verdict. We will not forget. We will not lie down. We will not forgive.”

A damning official report into the Soma disaster showed that the mine was a death trap. Warning sensors were ignored, safety reports fabricated and ventilation systems faulty, among other severe safety breaches.

“This verdict is completely unacceptable as it is far from expectations of the public opinion given the size of this disaster,” said IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, adding:

“It is certain that families of the killed miners will be outraged with this decision. Together with key mining trade unions from around the world, we visited them in their villages, and justice was their chief expectation. But, as the Turkish saying goes – the mountain has brought forth a mouse. IndustriALL Global Union will continue to follow this case until there is real justice.”

Unions form global network and seek to expand partnership with ArcelorMittal

Seventy leaders from unions at ArcelorMittal in eighteen different countries meeting in Luxembourg this week on 10 and 11 July, launched the IndustriALL ArcelorMittal Global Union Network. The unions represent tens of thousands of ArcelorMittal workers at nearly all of the company’s major mines, steelmaking, and steel processing facilities across Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Latin America and North America.

The leaders committed to a programme of communication, collaboration and coordination amongst unions in the ArcelorMittal global network.

“Unions at ArcelorMittal recognize the importance of collaborating across borders. A number of them called at our Base Metals Steering Committee meeting last September for forming a global union network, and now they’ve launched it and committed to actively participating in it. IndustriALL will strongly support their efforts,” said IndustriALL General Secretary Valter Sanches.

The Luxembourg Minister of Labour Nicolas Schmit addressed the meeting and expressed support for the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal participating in global social dialogue with unions, calling for it to serve as a model for other companies.

ArcelorMittal Executive Vice President and Head of human resources Bart Wille also spoke at the meeting and addressed questions and comments raised by participants.

Wille shared ArcelorMittal’s commitments to social dialogue at all of its operations, to open and transparent dialogue with respectful communications, to strong employee relations, to safe, healthy and quality working lives for all its workers, and other commitments the company has made by adhering to the Global Deal.

IndustriALL Global Union has had a joint global health and safety agreement with ArcelorMittal since 2007. A committee established through this agreement met the day after the global union network meeting to discuss a new training program it’s developing for local joint health and safety committees.

The ArcelorMittal Global Union Network identified as a key aim a written commitment from the company to a more formal, structured and regular global social dialogue, including a global committee supported by the company, to pursue matters of global concern in addition to health and safety.

“We appreciate the participation and support provided by ArcelorMittal for this meeting, as well as the company’s recent openness to dialogue with IndustriALL about concerns we have at some of their operations. We also fully support the commitments ArcelorMittal has made to positive industrial relations. We believe that, through partnership with the ArcelorMittal Global Union Network and IndustriALL, we can jointly make those commitments a reality,” added Sanches.

Norwegian oil company to collaborate with Ghanaian unions

Aker Energy, which has vast experience from the Norwegian continental shelf, will work closely with unions on defining the labour requirements with sub-contractors and along the value chain. Further, it will prioritise the employment of Ghanaian workers, fair working conditions, and sourcing of inputs locally.  

At a recent meeting in Accra, Aker Energy, which has signed a global framework agreement (GFA) with IndustriALL Global Union, said it will extend the agreement to its Ghana operations when production starts in 2021. The company, which has an agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) that reviews investment conditions and licencing, wants to work with Ghanaian unions in similar ways to how it works with unions in Norway.
 
The collaboration will be supported by Industri Energi, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate in Norway, which will provide training of shop stewards from its sister affiliate, the Ghana Transport and Chemicals Workers Union (GTPCWU). The support will include monitoring and reporting on the GFA as well as exchange visits and the forming of solidarity networks between oil and gas workers in Ghana and Norway.
 
Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa said:

The meeting laid a solid foundation for collaboration between IndustriALL and Aker Energy. Further, the solidarity and support between GTPCWU and Industri Energi is an important model on how IndustriALL affiliates can work together globally by using GFAs as a tool for building strong unions and union-to-union solidarity.

The Ghana oil and gas industry is still in infancy, having only started production in 2010 at the Jubilee fields with reserve estimates of up to one billion barrels. According to Aker Energy, the Tano Cape can produce an estimated 550 million barrels of Brent Crude and has potential for a further 400 million barrels. The oil fields will also produce at a break-even price of US$35. Currently Brent Crude is selling at $74.24 per barrel.

Zambia: Mining union on recruitment blitz

Sinazongwe is 685 km from Kitwe, where IndustriALL Global Union affiliate MUZ is based, and about 12 hours’ drive by road but this is not a deterrent to recruiting more workers. MUZ has unionized 127 workers out of 150 at Smech Engineering, which is subcontracted to maintain the Maamba coal thermal power station that produces 300 megawatts of electricity into the Zambian national grid.

The recruitment is part of the activities for IndustriALL’s union building project in Zambia. Besides Zambia, the union building project includes Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe.

Formed in 1957, MUZ is amongst the oldest unions in Zambia and recently held its 14th national congress under the theme: “Growth, retention, unity and quality service to member”. It has 15,343 members from the mining sector of whom 5,094 are precarious workers with no permanent contracts. Nationally, it is affiliated to the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions.

Says Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa:

“The strength of the union comes from its members which is why it is important to continue with efforts to increase numbers. We applaud efforts by MUZ who are going the extra mile to recruit members.”

The Zambian economy is anchored on mining, wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing. Recently, it was affected by low copper prices and electricity supply shortages.  Mining has also spread from the Copperbelt Province to other provinces including the North Western Province where it is said to be low cost. Nevertheless, plans are underway to increase production at some old mines including Mopani’s copper and cobalt mines in Kitwe and Mufulira where MUZ has organized many workers and is the majority union.

The government of Zambia is hoping to turn the economy around through an economic recovery “Zambia Plus” programme aimed at improving domestic resource mobilization, fiscal governance, accountability and transparency, restoring budget credibility and raising confidence in the private sector. The Industrialization Strategy (2013) aims to create more jobs and diversify the economy and thus reduce the risk caused by over reliance on mining.