07 December 2016
Workers at LafargeHolcim highlight human rights’ violations 07 December 2016
World: Workers at LafargeHolcim are holding a ‘global day of action’ in advance of International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2016 to draw attention to the world’s largest cement maker’s alleged widespread violations of workers’ rights, according to the IndustriAll Global Union federation. Workers in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas will ‘mobilise, take actions and demand’ that LafargeHolcim respect workers’ rights.
The union action intends to highlight alleged worker rights violations including an increase in workplace fatalities in 2015, an increasing use of precarious employment, illegal replacement of striking workers in Canada, use of child labour and targeting of union members for dismissal in Uganda, unfair treatment of displaced families due to the development of a plant in Ambuja in India and a ‘poor’ response to workplace accidents in Indonesia.
Unions in the federation are demanding that LafargeHolcim use less precarious work, cooperate better with trade unions on health and safety and restructuring, and enter into ‘meaningful’ negotiations with them about the future of labour relations and social dialogue.
“We expect that the world number one in the cement sector is not only number one in figures and cement sales, but also in labour standards and workers’ rights,” said general secretary of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) Sam Hägglund.
New order for Intercem placed by Sea Invest in Abidjan 07 December 2016
Ivory Coast: Intercem has been awarded an additional order by Sea Invest for the raw material transport at the 8000t/day cement grinding and packing plant that the contractor is building for Cim Ivoire in Abidjan. The transport system will link an Eco Hopper to the clinker silos and the additive storage at the site. Commissioning is planned for the fourth quarter of 2017.
The order includes the delivery of trough belt conveyors as well as all related components and the transfer tower on an engineering, procurement and construction base including the piling, the foundation works, the steel construction, the cladding of the building, the roofing of the belt bridges, the necessary filters and chutes to the electrical equipment, installation and the commissioning. The scope of supply contains the measurement of the local conditions with a 3D scanning system as well as the mechanical, electrical and civil engineering.
Gebr Pfeiffer announces first MVR mill for Iran 07 December 2016
Iran: Gebr Pfeiffer has released information about a MVR 4250 R-4 raw mill that will be installed at Biarjaimand Cement Company. The raw mill, with an installed drive power of 3000kW, is designed to grind 280t/hr of cement raw material to a product fineness of ≤ 12 % R 90µm. The contract was awarded in September 2016 and the order was placed through the Chinese general contractor Beijing Kaysun Trading, a subsidiary of CATIC based in Beijing. Gebr Pfeiffer staff will also supervise erection and commissioning. The delivery of the equipment is scheduled to start in the second half of 2017.
Cemex to meet debt reduction target in 2016 07 December 2016
Mexico: Cemex says that it has made progress towards reducing its debts in 2016. So far it has announced divestments of close to US$2bn, it has reduced its total debt plus perpetual securities by more than US$2bn and says it is on target to reach its leverage ratio target of about 4.25 times by the end of the year. Cemex is also on track to reach its debt reduction target of US$3 - 3.5bn by the end of 2017.
“Despite challenging market conditions, working on the variables we can control has allowed us to be well on our way to significantly strengthen our capital structure, and we expect to continue to be able to do so in the near future,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Cemex.