Displaying items by tag: Workers

India: India's 'core industries,' including cement, steel and fossil fuels, employ just 8% women across the total workforce. The Free Press Journal has reported that gender equality body UN Women found the proportion of women to be as low as 3.9% at UltraTech Cement. JSW Cement owner JSW Group employs 5.3% women. Meanwhile, Holcim, which left the Indian market in September 2022, operates with a 13% female global workforce.

Cement companies joined in celebrations of International Women's Day on 8 March 2023.

US: 100 Workers at Continental Cement's Hannibal cement plant in Missouri are on strike against alleged unfair labour practices. IndustriALL Global Union has accused the producer of restricting employees' say in schedules, overtime and cross training requirements at the plant, as well as of withholding information necessary for bargaining. The union additionally alleged that the company was discriminatory in its termination of contracts. The workers have continued to work amid on-going contract renegotiations following the expiry of a collective agreement between them and the producer in May 2022.

IndustriALL Global Union said "Continental Cement’s actions have left workers no other options but to make their voices heard by striking against unfair labour practices. We are determined to fight for the fair contract. It's time for Continental Cement to follow the law and negotiate in good faith for a fair contract.”

India: Police arrested 50 truck drivers and union leaders at protests outside Ambuja Cements’ Darlaghat cement plant in Himachal Pradesh on 1 February 2023. The events marked the 50th day of on-going protests against Adani Group’s closure of the Darlaghat and Gagal cement plant following its acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC in September 2022. The Times of India newspaper has reported that cement truck driver’s unions are now threatening to escalate the protests to a ‘chakka jam’ demonstration across Himachal Pradesh. This would involve blocking roads at five planned locations in the state. Union representatives will meet Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on 3 February 2022. Sukhu has repeatedly expressed support for protestors, saying that the state will not tolerate exploitation.

United News of India has reported that protestors on 1 February 2023 voiced criticism of Indian ‘lawlessness’ and of Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) power ‘monopoly’ in the country.

India: The India Cements will pay each of its 500 cement plant workers an additional US$736/yr, effective retroactively from the start of the 2023 Indian financial year on 1 April 2022. This will subsequently rise by up to another US$736/yr from the start of the 2026 financial year. The Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the move is the result of talks with workers' unions. The India Cements additionally agreed to pay a total US$202,000/yr in premiums on medical insurance policies for all cement plant employees.

The India Cements operates 10 cement facilities in India.

Italy: Colacem has issued notices of dismissal to the remaining seven employees at the site of the former Maddaloni cement plant, now a cement storage facility. The Il Mattino newspaper has reported that the producer has offered all workers bonuses in exchange for their resignations.

Cement production at the Maddaloni site in Campania ceased in late 2021, after a period of grinding-only operations following the shutdown of the kiln in 2019.

South Korea: The government ordered 2500 cement truck drivers to return to work on 29 November 2022. The Korea Herald newspaper has reported that drivers in the sector who continue their strike will be subject to criminal sanctions of up to three years in prison or a US$22,600 fine, and will have their truck driving licences suspended. The government explained that the order is justified due to cement truck drivers' failure to present 'good cause' for the industrial action.

President Yoon Suk-Yeol said "Taking the livelihoods of ordinary people and the national economy hostage to look out for their own needs is not justifiable."

Cement truck drivers make up 35% of a total 7080 truck drivers from 200 companies across the South Korean economy participating in the strike, which began on 24 November 2022.

Namibia: 200 Cheetah Cement employees have gone on strike to protest low wages and lack of pensions and medical aid. The Namibia Press Agency has reported that salaries have fallen behind inflation, having remained level for four years.

Cheetah Cement general manager Kevin Lee called strikers’ demands ‘unrealistic’ and said that the producer had done everything in its power, but now ended in a ‘deadlock’ with workers.

Argentina: A man has died in a concrete silo collapse at Holcim Argentina’s Malagueño cement plant in Córdoba Province. Pedro Rivero, 67, had been working on the site at 11am on 15 June 2022 when the disaster occurred. Local press has reported that the collapsing silo crushed the crane which Rivero had been operating.

An investigation by the Argentinian Judicial Police into the causes of the event is currently underway.

Canada: Workers at St Mary’s Cement’s Port-Daniel-Gascons cement plant have voted in favour of taking strike action in a dispute over matters including wages and pensions. Local press has reported that workers and the company, a subsidiary of Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos, will sit in negotiations on 13 and 14 June 2022. Employees previously rejected a ‘final and comprehensive’ offer from the company earlier in May 2022.

India: An explosion at a cement plant in Gujarat’s Rajkot district has killed three workers. The Times of India newspaper has reported that police have detained two engineers on suspicion of criminal negligence.