By Doug Cunningham

An around the clock rescue operation has managed to bring most of the 3200 trapped South African gold miners back to the surface safely. Hundreds were still trapped Thursday, but the rescue efforts were ongoing and all were expected to be rescued. The miners were trapped when a water pipe collapsed a shaft. The operation to free the trapped miners is expected to conclude today. There were no deaths. The mine will be closed for a few weeks for repairs. Peter Bailey of the National Union of Mineworkers says the gold mining industry in general is very negligent on safety. The union says this should be a wake-up call for the industry.

By Doug Cunningham

Thirty-two hundred South African miners were trapped underground Wednesday when a pipe fell, damaging the mine shaft at the Elanstrand mine operated by Harmony Gold Mining Company. The mines are among the deepest in the world and 113 miners there were killed last year in various accidents and earth tremors. Food and water is being lowered to the miners, who are gathered in an emergency assembly area deep underground. Harmony says an adjacent mine shaft has to be “reconfigured” to rescue the 3200 miners. The trapped miners will have to be rescued in cages that will carry them up the adjacent shaft to the surface. And Harmony says it doesn't know how long that will take.

By Jesse Russell

South Africa is in the midst of a massive fuel shortage as petroleum workers enter day seven of a country wide strike. Workers represented by the Chemical and Energy union are demanding a wage increase of 9.5 percent while management is offering 8 percent. The Association that monitors fuel supplies in South Africa says they country has plenty of reserves, but the shortage is due to interruptions in distribution.

A month long and crippling public sector strike in South Africa came to an end on June 28 with organized labor claiming victory. Jesse Russell reports:

The often heated strike by 700,000 workers across the nation of South Africa came to an end on June 28 when the Congress of South African Trade Unions accepted a final offer from the government which included a 7.5 percent pay increase, a 10 percent increase to the housing allowance, and a 30 percent increase in the minimum wage. The union was originally seeking an increase of 12 percent but COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi called the raise a success because it still represented “progress and gains.”

More unions have joined the already massive public sector strike in South Africa. Jesse Russell has more:

Calls by the public sector union for more workers to join the South African strike were answered Wednesday as the country entered a third week of being mostly shut down. An estimated one million workers – ranging from teachers to nurses – are now on strike in the southern most African country – the largest nationwide strike since the end of apartheid. Schools and hospitals remain closed and transportation lies dormant in most cities as workers march through the streets with the demand of a 10 percent pay increase. The government is concerned that municipal workers may be next to walk off the job. Those workers handle the trash and power. According to the New York Times what started as a wage demand has turned into a demonstration of labor power as the African National Congress, the ruling political party in the country, prepares for a key leadership meeting.

By Jesse Russell

Southern Africa could be headed for a crippling metal industry strike. 270,000 employees could walk off the job if deadlocked negotiations between the employer and the trade union Solidarity don’t improve on June 5 and 6. The union has issued a statement that if negotiations are unsuccessful then they will apply for a formal strike certificate.

By Jesse Russell

Shell oil platforms in the Niger Delta have been shut down. Villagers have seized the platforms, accusing the company of failing to provide promised aid. A nearby Chevron platform also shutdown as a preemptive measure. It is unclear what has happened to the workers who were on the platform at the top of the occupation. Militants have taken hostage oil workers in the past to demand ransom or increased local control of oil wealth.

By Jesse Russell

A new film making the festival circuit is a wakeup call for coffee drinkers. Titled "Black Gold," the film focuses on the exploitation surrounding the world's second most valuable trading commodity after oil. It tracks the journey of Tadesse Meskela as he seeks to save more than 75,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy in his home country of Ethiopia. Meskela is the founder of the Oromia Co-operative Union, which seeks to bypass the international trading system and find buyers willing to pay a higher price for quality coffee. Meskela explains:

[Meskela]: The main reason is to bypass the people who are benefiting for the sake of coffee. To bring back the profits to the grower - to improve their earning of the money they get from sales of coffee.

By Doug Cunningham

Roughly 80,000 gold miners are on strike in South Africa - the first strike uniting black and white workers as they struggle for higher wages. The mining companies being struck are Harmony, Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti. The last gold strike in Sout hAfrica was in 1987. In that strike the whites-only mineworkers union sided with the gold mining management.

Hundreds of men and women occupied a Chevron-Texaco oil terminal in Nigeria on Friday, possibly resulting in the death of two protesters. Nearby villagers used rafts to takeover the terminal, seeking to force the company to honor a pledge it made two years ago during a similar incident. In July of 2002, hundreds of women occupied the same terminal demanding that the company provide jobs and development projects for local villages. The occupation ended when Chevron promised to meet demands. During Friday's incident, police and military quickly moved in to disperse the protesters. The incident is under investigation by the oil company.

Trade unions in Africa's last true monarchy are entering a second-day of strikes aimed at democratic reforms. Swaziland has begun drafting a constitution that the Federation of Trade Unions says will give the monarchy more power. King Mswati the Third has been criticisized of living a rich lifestyle while most of the countries population lives in poverty. More than a third of Swazis are HIV positive. The union is seeking a constitution that will include separation of power between branches of government. As well as respect women and human rights.

Nigerian workers at a Malaysian owned oil company in the city of Port Harcourt are blaming two foreign managers for cuts in benefits. The unions for the workers have demanded that the managers be fired and leave the country. Union officials say police have been used to intimidate workers and the managers used derogatory language. Some staff at the company have already walked off the job and their are talks within the unions to expand the strike to other foreign-owned firms such as Shell and ChevronTexaco. Port Harcourt is the hub of Nigeria's oil industry and a strike there could cut the countries output by 500,000 barrels per day. The country is the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the United States.

Crude oil prices fell to a two month low on Tuesday in part due to the Nigerian oil workers union halting a planned general strike. The Nigerian government made an 11th hour concession to increase domestic fuel subsidies by seven percent.

Niyi Shomade (Nee-yee Show-ma-day) is a Nigerian environmentalist. He says impoverished Nigerians can't afford fuel because of IMF and World Bank polices. Seventy percent of Nigerians live on less than a dollar a day.

[Shomade1] "The IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs tells us to reduce our so-called subsidies. The problem is when you do the research, you find that the cost of petroleum in Nigeria compared to what we're selling it at is actually very low. We're the fifth largest oil producer in the world, yet we're paying very high prices for gasoline."

A national oil strike that would have crippled the world's seventh largest oil exporter has been temporarily averted. Nigeria's main labor union has decided to give that countries government a second chance after it promised to lower domestic fuel prices. Nigeria exports 2.5 million barrels of oil a day and is the fifth-leading supplier of U.S. oil imports. The Nigerian oil workers union had pledged to specifically target Shell Oil in their protest. In other news from Africa, cocoa workers on the Ivory Coast are concerned about their livelihood. The ports in the Ivory Coast ship 40 percent of the world's cocoa and the threat of continued unrest and upheaval has worried traders during the markets main harvest season. Anti-French riots had recently closed the ports for six days.

Nigerian oil workers who plan to completely shut down that countries ability to export oil, have been threatened with job loss. Nigerian Labor Minister Hassan Lawal says workers who participate in the nation wide strike, "not only forfeit their pay, but also lose their right to continuous employment." Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports and exports more than 2.5 million barrels a day. The country's oil refineries are disrepair and cannot produce enough fuel to meet domestic demand, forcing the government to import oil and sell it at a loss.

Nigerian oil workers who plan to completely shut down that countries ability to export oil, have been threatened with job loss. Nigerian Labor Minister Hassan Lawal says workers who participate in the nation wide strike, "not only forfeit their pay, but also lose their right to continuous employment." Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports and exports more than 2.5 million barrels a day. The country's oil refineries are disrepair and cannot produce enough fuel to meet domestic demand, forcing the government to import oil and sell it at a loss.

Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets in Lagos on Wednesday, to support an upcoming general strike against fuel price hikes. Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria Labor Congress addressed the throng of supporters saying that on November 16 the people were going to, "begin the fight against poverty, unemployment and dictatorship." The union is calling for a complete shut-down in the production of the fifth-biggest source of oil for the United States. At the rally, Joseph Eva a leader of a group that represents the Ijaw tribe in the Niger-delta "threatened that any oil worker seen at a flow station would be attacked or kidnapped." The union also announced it's intention to specifically target the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.

Nigerian oil union leaders are promising a peaceful four-day strike starting today. Nigeria is Africa's leading crude oil producer, but two-thirds of the country live in poverty. Strikes last year resulted in violence with at least 11 protestors killed by police. Strikers have been instructed to stay at home during this strike as the workers protest government imposed fuel price hikes.

A nationwide stoppage at diamond mines across Botswana has entered it's fourth day. Thusands of miners continue to defy a court order to go back to work in Botswana, the world's leading producer of uncut diamonds. Union leaders are set to face charges of launching an illegal strike today. The strike came after a dispute over wage and bonus demands with Debswana mining company, owned partially by the country and partially by De Beers group, could not be resolved. The workers complain of a large gap between their wages and those of their managers.