BHP's Australia coal mines face week-long strike

Friday, 10 February 2012

Several of BHP Billiton Ltd.'s Australian coking coal mines will be hit by a seven-day strike from next Wednesday as a dispute over a new workplace agreement drags on, a labor union said Thursday.Workers will down tools at the Goonyella Riverside, Broadmeadow, Peak Downs, Saraji, Norwich Park, Gregory Crinum and Blackwater mines that BHP co-owns with Mitsubishi Corp. , the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said in an emailed statement.
Roughly 3,500 members of the CFMEU and two other unions jointly bargaining with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance staged rolling strikes over several months late last year. They suspended the action in December to continue negotiations.

Stephen Smyth, district president at the CFMEU, said the new round of work stoppages was necessary because BHP had failed to address workers' concerns despite 15 months of talks.
"The workers here feel they have been left with no choice but to ramp up industrial action," Smyth said. "BHP is making enormous profits out of its coking coal operations in central Queensland, but it doesn't want to listen to its workforce."

Marius Kloppers, chief executive of Melbourne-based BHP, Wednesday told analysts during a conference call--following the release of the company's half-year results--that the dispute wasn't about money, but centered on union demands that would impede the company's ability to manage the operations.

"It is extraordinarily important to have that right to manage if you are committing billions, perhaps tens of billions of dollars in expansion," Kloppers said. "So we would have liked this to end six months ago, but we must unfortunately insist that management's right to manage is sacrosanct."
Source: Market Watch

New wage pact sees 88% hike in CIL basic

Tue,Feb07, 2012

Kolkata: The new wage pact signed by the state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) last week has seen an 88 per cent increase in minimum basic of its employees to Rs 15,712 per month, as against Rs 8,360 during the previous deal.

The National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) IX covers the two public sector coal firms — CIL and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). The pact signed with trade Unions last week also saw a 25 per cent rise in wages, which put an additional burden of Rs 6,500 crore on the firm.

The hike, covering 3.63 lakh non-executive work force, would be effective retrospectively from 1 July 2011 is for a five-year period. “The minimum basic in NCWA IX now will be Rs. 15,712 per month, an increase of 88 per cent from Rs 8,360 of NCWA VIII. The other important highlights of the agreement are a special allowance of 4 per cent of revised basic; HRA of 2 per cent of the basic pay for those who have not been provided with residential accommodation in other than urban area; post retirement medicare scheme for retired non-executives and their spouses to be finalized within 3 months,” a CIL statement said.

The agreement was inked in Delhi between central trade unions — like the Congress-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Left backed-CITU and AITUC, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh — and the Kolkata-based firm’s management. “ As per the NCWA VIII, which came into effect from July 1, 2006 workers got a raise of 24 per cent in the wages, which had an impact of around Rs 2,500 crore, so this was more than what they had expected,” , R Mohandas, director (personnel) of Coal India Ltd (CIL) had said.

While CIL offered a hike of 10 per cent when the talks started, the workers unions were demanding a 50 per cent hike. (sourced BS)

Lucchini Trieste iron plant may shut from Feb -union

Sat Jan21, 2012

* Workers call strike for next week
* Servola plant halt may put Piombino plant at risk -union
* Meeting of parties involved will take place Jan. 24

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Italian steelmaker Lucchini may halt production at its Trieste iron and coke producing plant from Feb. 1 as it is owed an unpaid bill of about 45 million euros ($58 million), a union representative said on Friday.

Workers at the Ferriera Servola plant in Trieste, north-east Italy, have decided to call industrial action for next week against the decision to close the plant but will not put production at risk, Vittorio Bardi, national coordinator for steel at Italian union CGIL-FIOM, told Reuters.

Bardi said Lucchini's managing director, Marcello Calcagni, had told union representatives that a firm owing money had not been paying Lucchini since July.

"He announced that if the problem is not resolved the company will not have the financial means to continue production from Feb. 1."

Lucchini itself could not immediately be reached for comment.

Italian newspapers reported the situation was putting up to 1,000 jobs at risk at the plant, a major European iron producer.

Separately, a source at Lucchini Group, which is an affiliate of Russia's Severstal, said it is producing steel at about 65 percent of its capacity, down from 80 percent a year ago, due to weakening demand.

Italian authorities have planned a meeting between the parties involved in the difficulties at the Trieste plant for Jan. 24 to seek a solution, the union said.

The plant produces pig iron and coke, part of which go to the Piombino plant to be processed into steel, with the remaining volume sold on the international market.

"It is vital to keep the Servola plant working otherwise there will be problems at the Piombino plant too," Bardi said.

OUTPUT CUTS

Lucchini Group is among a number of European companies that have been forced to cut capacity due to sluggish demand and a deteriorating economic outlook.

"Things are not looking too good in Europe," the source at the group said.

"The outlook is pretty negative: raw materials prices are still too high and clients have no liquidity," the source added.

The Lucchini Group, which included an Italian and a French business unit, produced about 2.4 million tonnes in 2010.

In 2005, Severstal acquired a majority stake in the Italian steel producer, previously owned by the Lucchini family, through recapitalisation.

In 2010 the Russian company sold a majority stake in Lucchini to Severstal's owner, Russia's second-richest man Alexei Mordashov, for 1 euro, to facilitate the sale of the debt-burdened company to a third party.

Last summer Lucchini sold its French business unit, Ascometal, to U.S.-based Apollo Global Management, a move that helped to reduce the debt.

Shareholders and creditor banks of the Italian steel maker reached a final agreement on the restructuring of the group's debt in December last year. Lucchini had been locked for months in debt restructuring talks with Italian banks. ($1 = 0.7740 euros)
(sourced Reuters)

Exxaro reached agreement with s Arnot coalmine workers

Saturday, 14 Jan 2012

Reuters reported that South Africa Exxaro Resources said a planned strike by workers at its Arnot coal mine has been called off after it reached agreement with the union late on Thursday.

More than 1,000 mineworkers had planned to down tools from Friday, protesting employment conditions.

Exxaro is South Africa second-largest coal producer and a major supplier to power utility Eskom.

(Sourced from Reuters)

Xstrata, miners’ union reach deal over disputed share scheme

Warring parties strike a deal just in time for the seven-day deadline set by the Department of Mineral Resources

Thu, 3 Nov. 2011

Diversified miner Xstrata and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have reached an agreement over Xstrata’s disputed employee share-ownership scheme, the Department of Mineral Resources said on Wednesday.

Over the past seven days, the department has been facilitating discussions to resolve the two parties’ dispute over Xstrata’s share scheme, which the NUM rejected on the grounds that it was rigged in favour of managers.

Xstrata held firm to its decision to allocate these shares using three different employee bands, which prompted members of the NUM to go on strike on October 16.

With no end in sight, the department summoned both parties to its offices last week and gave them seven days to hammer out their differences in meetings facilitated by advocate Sandile Nogxina, the department’s former director-general and special adviser to Minister of Mineral Resources Susan Shabangu .

The union suspended the strike to facilitate these negotiations.

The parties struck a deal resolving the dispute, which will see Xstrata allocating shares equally over all staff levels and the department recognising the share scheme as compliant with the requirements of the Mining Charter, giving Xstrata the credits it needs to meet its 26% black economic empowerment ownership obligations across both its coal and alloys divisions.

The agreement will also see the NUM calling off its strike with immediate effect.

"We applaud both NUM and Xstrata on the co-operative spirit that they demonstrated during these negotiations in the national interest," said Mr Nogxina.

Commenting on the deal, NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said Xstrata could have avoided the strike by "simply doing what they have done now, which is acceding to our demand".

"We had initially conceived this (share-ownership plan) as an incentive scheme, but during the discussions, we recognised the opportunity it provided to fulfil the spirit of the Mining Charter, as it provides a shareholding to Xstrata’s workers, 84% of whom are historically disadvantaged South Africans," said Songezo Zibi, corporate affairs manager at Xstrata. "This means Xstrata South Africa is fully compliant with the 26% ownership requirement of the charter."

(sourced Businessday)

Xstrata and S Africa union talks fail to end strike

Tuesday, 25 Oct 2011

Reuters reported that global miner Xstrata had met with South Africa National Union of Mineworkers in a bid to end a strike at its coal and alloys operations, but the talks were unsuccessful.

Thousands of workers have been on strike for over a week in protest over an employee share ownership programme.

Mr Songezo Zibi spokesman said "Unfortunately no agreement was reached between the parties and NUM has decided to continue its strike action."

Xstrata last week withdrew its proposed share policy due to the strike and the company said on Monday that the industrial action was now considered illegal and unprotected.

(Sourced from Reuters)

S.Africa mine union rejects revised Implats offer

Fri Aug 19, 2011

By Agnieszka Flak, Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers members at Impala Platinum on Friday rejected a revised pay rise offer from the world's second largest producer of the precious metal and will refer the dispute to arbitration.

The platinum sector is the latest to be affected by a wave of disputes in the country's mid-year "strike season" after stoppages in the steel, fuel and mining sectors threaten to dent growth in Africa's biggest economy.

"The members unanimously rejected the revised offer. We insist on a double-digit increase across the board," said Eddie Majadibodu, the NUM's chief negotiator at Implats.

Implats had raised its offer to between 8 and 10 percent, while the union has been asking for 14 percent, nearly triple the inflation rate. NUM workers in the gold and coal sectors have already reached deals for 7 to 10 percent increases, which could serve as benchmarks in the platinum talks.

The labour disputes are likely to unnerve investors already wary about putting money into the country due to steep power tariff hikes and a debate around nationalisation of the country's mines.

Talks at Amplats are set to continue on Friday. The two sides moved closer as the company raised its offer on Thursday to 7.5-8 percent, while the union lowered its demands to between 11 and 12.5 percent.

Implats and bigger rival Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) account for two-thirds of global platinum supply and any strike could push prices higher.

BURNING TRASH

In a separate dispute, more than 200,000 water, sanitation and refuse workers seeking 18 percent wage increases are expected to march in Johannesburg on Friday after setting fires and looting vendors at rallies in Cape Town this week.

The NUM, with more than a quarter million members in various sectors, has also threatened a strike at state utility Eskom, which supplies almost all of the country's power, after rejecting a 7 percent pay rise offer.

Any significant pay rises would affect the utility's strained balance sheet and could lead to further steep rises in electricity tariffs.

Further wage hikes will make it more costly to hire the workers needed to bring power by 2014 to the 25 percent of the country's households that still have no access to electricity.

Wage deals over the past years of double to triple the inflation rate have made the country less competitive by driving up the cost of a workforce which is already more expensive and less efficient that those in emerging market peers.

But the ruling African National Congress, which is in an alliance with organised labour, does not want to antagonise a group that has supplied it with millions of votes, by pushing workers to accept more modest pay increases.

Powmex Steel DGM burnt alive by workers on labor dispute

Friday, 04 Mar 2011, By DHNS

DHNS reported that in a gruesome incident, DGM of a mid size privately run steel plant was killed when a group of agitated workers set his vehicle on fire in Titlagarh town in western Orissa Bolangir district on Thursday afternoon over labour dispute.

According to reports, the DGM of Powmex Steel, Mr RS Roy was coming out of the plant during lunch break when a group of 25 workers stopped his vehicle and dragged the driver and another employee of the plant out. They then poured kerosene and petrol on the vehicle and set it on fire while the DGM was still inside. The security men of the plant rushed to the spot and rescued Mr Roy. However, by that time he had already received serious burns on his body. Mr Roy was immediately rushed to the government hospital in Titlagarh and subsequently shifted to the district hospital in Bolangir town where he succumbed to his injuries.

The local police have begun an investigation after registering a case. No arrest had been made till the filing of this report.

The plant has witnessed labour unrest for the last one and half years. According to the labour unions, the incident could have been avoided had the local labour office intervened in the labor unrest which was going on in the factory since long and made an attempt to settle the dispute between the management and the workers.

The incident has sent a shockwave in the industrial circles of the state.