Displaying items by tag: Staff

Kenya: A union representing 150 of East Africa Portland Cement Company’s remaining 270 employees, who it made redundant on 1 September 2020, has rejected the company’s offer to take back the workers on a three-year contract with a pay cut of 50%. The rehiring was to be the third phase in the producer’s programme to cut down its 936-strong workforce, according to the Business Daily newspaper.

Acting managing director Stephen Nthei said, “We ran into teething issues between ourselves and the union. There were a few unionisable staff who did not sign, and that is what we are still discussing and agreeing.” He added, “Whatever we will discuss and agree between ourselves and the union will apply to everybody, even those who have signed. It should not be a discriminative procedure.”

Canada: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada has dismissed an employee after a thorough investigation into a piece of racist graffiti ended in discovery of the guilty party. Canada Newswire has reported that the harmful drawing, which occurred at the company’s 1.0Mt/yr integrated St Constant plant in Quebec, has been removed. Lafarge Canada said, “To increase employee awareness and strengthen everyone's role in creating a positive work environment, we have communicated with all of our employees on all of our sites and encourage them to speak up if they see, hear or feel any concerns whatever.”

UK: The government has encouraged construction work to resume from 11 May 2020. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “Those who can’t work from home - thinking particularly the construction and manufacturing sectors - we are encouraging to go back to work now.” The advice follows the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech of 10 May 2020, in which he announced the easing of the nation’s coronavirus lockdown as it moves into its second phase. Johnson said that a second spike in infections would lead to a return to full lockdown.

Austria: RHI Magnesita has published a trading update in which it says that ‘the difficult market environment of the second half of 2019 continued into the first quarter of 2020, with limited impact from the COVID-19 outbreak.’ Demand remained consistent year-on-year, with its industrial division continuing to perform well, particularly in cement.” The company noted lower raw material costs due to ‘reduction in overall demand and uninterrupted supply from China.’ RHI Magnesita has increased its focus on cost management, temporarily closing one Mexican and three European plants, introducing short-time working and deferring at least Euro45.0m of capital expenditure in 2020.

In the second quarter 2020, RHI Magnesita said, “The trading environment has become increasingly challenging” as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which caused a drop in ‘customer activity and order book levels.’ In spite of this, cement sector sales ‘remained relatively resilient,’ with some producers ‘accelerating maintenance work in shutdowns,’ partially offsetting the effects of project postponements.

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings (CLH)’s net sales in the first quarter of 2020 were US$214m, down by 11% year-on-year compared to sales of US$240m in the same period of 2019. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) throughout the quarter declined by 12% year-on-year to US$46.0m from US$52.3m. Cement volumes over the period were 11% below their first-quarter 2019 level, however prices were 3% higher. Total debt decreased by 8% year-over-year, reaching US$766m as of March 2020.

Cemex Latam Holdings CEO Jesus Gonzalez 
said, “We came into 2020 with favourable demand momentum in Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, and a stabilising trend in Costa Rica. The coronavirus outbreak began to impact on this in March 2020. With respect to capex, US$20.0m has been postponed until 2021. Also, members of CLH’s Board and senior leadership have agreed to voluntarily waive a percentage of their second quarter salaries. Other employees voluntarily deferred a percentage of their salaries for the period. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support in these challenging times.”

Australia: Mideco’s Bat Booth 2.0 personnel de-dusting booth has given producers an edge in tackling the spread of coronavirus amongst employees by detecting a sign of infection, namely a raised temperature (over 37.8°C). A medically-calibrated infra-red sensor in the Bat Booth 2.0 takes the user’s temperature in under half a second, informing them of the need to isolate. Mideco says that the booth’s low-pressure compressed air dust removal feature further reduces the contamination risk from an infected person’s clothing. Mideco said, “At a higher level, senior management can track trends and monitor the wellbeing of their staff remotely.”

Mexico: Cemex has implemented more than 50 new safety protocols to minimise the risk of coronavirus spread in its cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates operations. Cemex said that it recognised ‘the importance of the construction industry in supporting the maintenance and service of essential infrastructure required to face the pandemic and contribute to the economy,’ and would resume or continue all possible operations in line with the regulations of the countries in which it operates.

“The health and safety of its employees is the company’s number one priority,” said Cemex. “Among the protocols implemented are the company’s Personal Hygiene Protocol, Physical Distancing Protocol, Screening at Workplace Protocol, Cemex Truck Drivers Protocol, Workplace Cleaning Protocol, and Commuting To and From Work Protocol,” all developed in line with advice from national and international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cemex has leveraged its Cemex Go digital platform to limit physical contact and ‘protect employees, customers and suppliers.’

UK: A team of Hanson employees has produced a sign from recycled materials from around the company’s 1.0Mt/yr Purfleet slag cement grinding plant. The 6m-long luminous sign, which reads ‘NHS Thank You,’ has been installed at the plant on the mill three tower overlooking the QE2 Dartford Crossing. Hanson Purfleet plant manager Warren Scott said, “The team wanted to show their appreciation for the NHS and key workers and came up with and executed this idea in their own time.”

Hanson has kept ‘a number of key sites’ open through the coronavirus outbreak in order ‘to supply key national infrastructure projects or to provide maintenance materials to critical sectors.’ Hanson has furloughed part of its staff under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Germany: Staff of HeidelbergCement in Germany will be employed on a ‘short-time’ basis, with hours reductions of up to 100%. HeidelbergCement says that it agreed upon the measure with employee representative bodies.

HeidelbergCement’s supervisory board and management board members have waived 20% of their fixed salaries in the second quarter of 2020 due to the financial impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has said that no employee will lose their job before July 2020 as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. It joins 3300 other employers across the country as part of the No Dismissals Movement. Votorantim Cimentos CEO Marcelo Castelli said, “Our goal is to reassure our employees and their families, and to help minimise the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.”