Displaying items by tag: Union

India: The employees union of state-owned Meghalaya Cherra Cement has given the government two weeks to pay back salary from 2015 to 2016 and overtime payments since 2013. Union president S Diengdoh criticised the state-owned plant for poor management and low production, according to the Sentinel newspaper. The union alleges that the plant has an utilisation rate of only 30% and poor levels of safety.

Spain: The Ministry of Industry and two unions have asked Cemex to keep the Gádor cement plant in Almería open. However, the Mexican cement company has rejected the pleas although it has said it will make a ‘definitive’ decision shortly, according to the Expansión newspaper. The company is due to start mandatory consultations with the unions in early November 2018. Cemex announced in mid-October 2018 that it was closing two of its seven cement plants in the country.

Kenya: Simon Ole Nkeri, the managing director of East African Portland Cement (EAPC), has been questioned by the National Assembly Trade, Industry and Cooperative committee of the Parliament of Kenya. He told the committee that the company has considered the almost US$14m it owes it workers but he was unable to provide a payment schedule, according to the Business Daily newspaper. In August 2018 the Labour Court allowed the Kenya Chemical and Allied Workers Union to recover the money owed to over 400 workers. In late September 2018 the Court of Appeal gave the EAPC 30 days to make a deposit of the owed funds. However, the cement producer resorted to legal means to delay paying the deposit, as it would ‘cripple’ its business operations.

Uruguay: Production has resumed at the Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcoholes y Portland’s (ANCAP) Minas and y Paysandú cement plants following a strike, according to the El Espectador newspaper. The disruption ended following negotiation between management, the union, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. In April 2018 it was reported that production at the Minas plant had stopped for two months due to union action.

Trinidad & Tobago: Union members from the Trinidad Cement branch of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union have protested at the Port of Chaguaramas over cement imports from Turkey. A union member claimed that a batch of imported cement had no import duties paid, according to the Trinidad Guardian newspaper. Trinidad Cement has taken legal action in the Caribbean Court of Justice against Turkey’s Sonmez Cimento for breaking local tariff rules. In 2016 Trinidad Cement made an official complaint to Caricom, the Caribbean Community organisation, about tax concerns for a cement import from Turkey.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement says that production has restarted at its Djebel Ressas plant. NLSupervision, a subsidiary of Denmark’s FLSmidth that holds a contact to operate the plant, resumed activity on 14 April 2018. Carthage Cement has also started marketing the cement locally once again. Production at the unit stopped in early April 2018 following a dispute between NLSupervision and staff. The company’s owners put the plant on sale in late 2017.

Tunisia: Production remains suspended at Carthage Cement due to a dispute between the NLSupervision and the staff. The management of NLSupervision, a subsidiary of Denmark’s FLSmidth that holds a contact to operate the plant, and union representatives have met several times to try and resolve the matter, according to the Tunis Afrique Presse. On 4 April 2018 NLSupervision shut down the plant for 60 days.

Uruguay: The Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcoholes y Portland’s (ANCAP) Minas cement plant has been shut for two months due to union action. The cement producer has been forced to supply cement from its Paysandu plant instead, according to the El Pais newspaper. If the situation continues then ANCAP may need to buy cement from its competitor Cemento Artigas.

ANCAP’s cement division has accumulated debts of US$207m since the early 2000s. Revenues have been reportedly lower than costs since 2004. ANCAP started a restructuring plan at the cement producer in 2017.

Tunisia: Clinker production at Carthage Cement’s plant in Djebel Ressas has stopped due to union action by the staff of NLSupervision. Concrete production, aggregate production and clinker export is proceeding as normal. The cement producer said that the management of NLSupervision and union representatives are currently meeting to resolve the issue. NLSupervision, a subsidiary of Denmark’s FLSmidth, holds an operation and maintenance contract for the cement plant.

UK: Strike plans by truck drivers working for Hanson Cement have been cancelled following a revised pay offer. The planned industrial action scheduled for 26 – 27 February 2018 was expected to negatively effect deliveries from the Padeswood cement plant, according to the Daily Post newspaper. The Unite union said that its members at eight depots across the UK had voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to accept an improved two-year pay deal.

About 240 workers have accepted the overall package that will mean an increase of 3.7% from 1 January 2018 and for 2019, an increase that could range from 3.4 - 4.4%. The union members of Hanson subsidiary Castle Cement are based at eight depots in the UK at Avonmouth, Bellshill in North Lanarkshire, Birmingham, Clitheroe in Lancashire, Kings Cross in London, Middlesbrough, Mold and Stamford in Lincolnshire. The company delivers bulk and ready-packed cement to customers across the UK.