Displaying items by tag: Staff

India: Dalmia Bharat subsidiary Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has shifted its recruitment procedures towards hiring more local people in Maharashtra, Bengal, Orissa due to labour shortages throughout the Covid-19 outbreak. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that local labour now makes up a majority of the workforce at multiple cement plants belonging to the company.

Dalmia Bharat group head of human resources Ajit Menon said, "In our Bengal plant, we have 90 - 95% local workers now versus 20 - 25% earlier, while in Orissa it is almost 100% local labour. Covid-19 has accelerated the intake of local workforce.” He added, “This has also given us the opportunity to give employment to people in the locations neighbouring our factories - many of whom are tribal people and are from underprivileged communities."

Spain: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim España has informed the works council and employees of its Jerez de la Frontera cement plant of possible planned changes to the plant’s production structure. The company intends to convert the cement plant into a grinding-only facility. The reasons for the decision were regional overcapacity, falling export volumes and prices and reduced allocations of EU CO₂ emissions credits. It says that under the plan the new grinding plant would continue to serve the market in the region. The communication constitutes the beginning of a collective dismissal process.

General director Isidoro Miranda said that the company wants “to work with the social partners to reach an agreement that allows the continuity of our activity in the town of Jerez.”

Jamaica: Caribbean Cement has signed a new retroactive three-year collective labour agreement with the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE). Under the agreement, employees will receive an 18% pay rise over the three-year period ending on 30 June 2021. The Jamaica Observer newspaper has reported that the deal will also provide a 10% raise in call-out pay, a transportation allowance and scholarships for employees’ children. It also alters the existing profit sharing scheme, housing benefits and loan programmes.

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.’