coal

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Coal miners complain in labor courts against the RAG

End of 2018 film is in German shafts. But now there's trouble. Young boys are resisting a transfer.
Bottrop. The phase-out of coal mining until the end of 2018 already provides for trouble. Several hundred miners are afraid that they fall into the mountain free and have gone on the offensive, with the RAG. The dispute employs the labor courts in Herne, Wesel and Gelsenkirchen.

As part of the closure of the mines, older employees about the adaptation allowance (APG) to go into early retirement. Who after 1 January was born in 1973, does not fall under this rule. For them, the collective bargaining agreement governs the "socially acceptable" reduction of employees a transfer to the Employee Development Center (MEC) of the RAG. From there, the miners should be taught to new locations.

One of the victims is Kazim Yilmaz, who does not want to give his real name because he fears pressure of RAG. "We should go to the MEC, but did not know on what terms," ​​says Hauer. He continued: "This is all transparent, because we and our lawyer will not be allowed operating rules."

Doubt on dismissal
Dortmund for the Attorney Daniel Kuhlmann, the next Yilmaz represents more than 120 miners, a body such as the MEC makes sense though, but there was a risk that the new jobs pay significantly worse and are not permanent. Moreover, the collective dismissal stand until 2018 only on paper, because if the miners should refuse to accept any of the employer designated as a reasonable offer, no longer does the job protection and threaten early dismissals.

To get clarity, he asked a few months ago an insight into the social plans and other agreements. However, this was refused. Therefore he had filed lawsuits. Ten at the Labour Court Herne, but also in Wesel and Gelsenkirchen.

Reasonable jobs
RAG stressed that the rules of the workforce reduction were presented comprehensively to all employees. RAG and their social partners had arrived there in the negotiations to continue the good tradition of the German mining industry, where the job cuts will only socially acceptable. The Company's MEC care is about providing reasonable jobs available, on the other hand we expect that employees participate in the mediation process.

COMMODITIES
Greens want transparency in the coal business
Power companies to disclose the conditions under which their coal is mined. Keep the company in fact a human rights and environmental standards?

Coal workers in India
Companies that import coal to Germany to disclose the future, where they relate to the raw materials. That the Green group calls in their application "More transparency in coal imports," she still wants to bring to the parliament in October. The government should also consider what control tools and sanctions were possible.

Since the subsidies for domestic coal in 2018 expire, Germany will soon have to meet its full demand for coal from foreign sources, says the paper. The reduction would be "increasingly lucrative" for German energy companies relating already a large part of verheizten coal from abroad. At the same time there have been reports about "massive environmental pollution and human rights violations."

For example, in Colombia. The Green Party MP Oliver Krischer has visited the coal region there a few months ago. Neither there in Colombia clear criteria for the reclamation of mines, nor would the resettled people compensated properly, he says. Although some companies would give trouble to do the owners of the mega-mine El Cerrejon. "But the other draw back rather on formal positions." They declared then only to abide by the rules of the Colombian state. "But there are international groups, the company can claim to act sustainably., You are responsible for what they do."

More transparency in the extractive industries

To wait for the change-producing countries their rules under which natural resources are exploited is not useful. Krischer holds tougher transparency rules for the "only way".

The debate on transparency in the extractive industries is managed for a long time. Too often, the revenues from the mining seep into dark channels, promote corruption, destroy the environment and social structures or are fueling conflicts. The initiative "Publish What You Pay" is made for several years committed to disclose that mining companies should know to whom they pay money.

Likewise Governments of resource-rich countries through the international EITI transparency initiative to provide information on what to do with the revenue from the mining sector. Something you want to prevent corruption and ensure that the money is actually the starting point of sustainable development.

In the case of coal, it is very easy to trace the trade routes, says Oliver Krischer. "In other commodities, copper, for example, the connection from the mine to the consumer is much more difficult." For the Greens, the coal is therefore just a prototype to follow other commodities.