English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The announced 5.5% wage cut for 15,000 employees of Czech mining company OKD will not occur and instead, through negotiations with mining unions, a compromise has been reached. That compromise, occurring on 30 April, calls for a decrease in the number of agency workers used, and a partial reduction in the number of employees from supplier companies. 
 
The demand for cuts is due to the impact of the world&rsquo;s financial crisis. 

<img height="122" src="" width="120" alt="" />
The company originally proposed an across-the-board decrease in salaries of 5.5%, cancellation of some bonuses, and a reduction in staff of 2,600 regular employees and 900 workers employed by supplier companies. The negotiated compromise preserves all full-time jobs, with job reductions coming from among the 3,000 agency workers that OKD used and from staff of some suppliers. 
 
A mining union spokesman called the compromise the lesser of two evils. 
 
OKD, the Czech Republic&rsquo;s largest hard coal producer, is wholly owned by New World Resources of the Netherlands, an investment company focusing on assets in Central Europe. In 2008, OKD produced 12.7 million tonnes of coal, of which 7.4 million tonnes was coking coal.

Czech Mining Unions Preserve Pay; OKD to Cut Agency Staff, Suppliers’ Staff

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
On 15-16 April, the ICEM organised an Asia/Pacific-wide conference on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) in Singapore. The conference, attended by 50 trade unionists, was held with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. 
 
Participants spoke candidly on the ongoing problems of short-term contract and agency work, and other forms of precarious work, and how it affects their daily lives. The experiences expressed made it abundantly clear that the phenomenon is wide-spread, still on the rise, and detrimental to labour relations in Asia-Pacific countries. Such contributions, in addition to those from the ICEM and the FES, came from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Korea, as well as from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. 
 
An omnipresent problem is that, in almost every Asian country, regular, permanent, and direct-employed workers are being replaced by CAL workers, who are often paid less than permanent workers. They never get the same benefits, nor do they have much of a job future. In Malaysia, for example, it was said that CAL in the past used to be almost uniquely a problem for migrant workers. This is no longer so. In Pakistan, trade unionists note a sharp increase in the use of &ldquo;piece-rate workers.&rdquo; 

<img height="155" src="" width="240" alt="" />
A concurrent issue expressed by all participants is the fear factor. Contract and agency workers are afraid even to discuss union issues, let alone join a union, since this often translates to an end to their fixed-term contracts. It appears to be a simple matter for companies operating in Asia to remove workers from their workforce, or to shift them to less secure jobs. 
 
Among the numerous other problems mentioned was the lack of respect for law where there is some semblance of existing legal protections, such as in the Philippines, India, or Indonesia. Another problem voiced is that oftentimes there are too many unions in some countries, making cooperation difficult. 
 
The positive news is that unions, slowly but surely, are starting to deal with the problem at all three levels that the global ICEM campaign on CAL is aimed at: legislative changes that not only protect workers from abuses, but also leading to more direct and permanent employment (a promising bill is being readied in the Philippines); work at company level, including making the issue key in collective bargaining as well as an organising priority; and evaluating internal union structures to ensure that CAL workers can effectively join trade unions. This has occurred in Thailand, Malaysia, India, Singapore, and Korea. 
 
An important concern on this latter point, as acknowledged by all, is the need to organise more trade union work at industry or sector level, steering away from company-unionism, where it is often easy for employers to &ldquo;divide and conquer&rdquo; the two sets of workers. 
 
Unfortunately, there are currently still many more problems than success stories. One specific example is the continuing problem in stemming the number of CAL workers at Linde in Thailand, an industrial gases company, and granting full-time, permanent employment to such workers. 
 
Adverse examples given of &ldquo;CAL employment techniques&rdquo; in Asia include the use of standard 17-month contracts, in which the collective agreement calls for more rights and benefits for workers after 18 months. Another is supervisors who openly discriminate against CAL workers linked to a union. In the Philippines, companies have used blank resignation letters, asking CAL workers to sign before they even start work. Other workers have been asked to re-enter their current job, but under another name, thus preventing them from gaining increased benefits, or becoming part of the permanent workforce.

ICEM Singapore Conference Illuminates Problems for Contract, Agency Workers in Region

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
ABD ile Kolombiya arasında yapılacak bir Serbest Ticaret Anlaşması &ouml;ncesinde, sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik cinayetlerin soruşturulmasında &Aacute;lvaro Uribe h&uuml;k&uuml;metinin sorumluluğunu tespite y&ouml;nelik &ccedil;alışmalar &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, ABD Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi, ge&ccedil;en ay cinayetlerle ilgili olarak tanık ifadesine başvurdu. 
 
Soruşturulan olaylardan biri, ICEM'den &ouml;nce maden sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde faaliyet g&ouml;steren Uluslararası Madenciler Federasyonu'nun (MIF) Kolombiya'daki koordinat&ouml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml;n&uuml; y&uuml;r&uuml;ten Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 2001'de katledilmesiydi. 

<img height="111" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Yessika Hoyos
Soruşturma sırasında, Washington'da, Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 25 yaşındaki kızı Yessika Hoyos tanıklık yaptı. Yessika Hoyos, polisin su&ccedil;un ger&ccedil;ek faillerinden iki kişiyi tutuklamasına rağmen, &ouml;ld&uuml;rme emrini verenlerin tutuklanıp kovuşturulması i&ccedil;in hi&ccedil;bir &ccedil;aba harcanmadığını s&ouml;yledi ve şunları vurguladı: &ldquo;Aralarında ordu mensuplarının da yer aldığı diğer faillerle ilgili kanıtlar bulunduğunu biliyoruz. Kanıtların &uuml;zerine gerektiği gibi gidilmiyor ve diğer failler saptanmıyor.&rdquo; 
 
O sıralar 61 yaşında olan Dar&iacute;o Hoyos 3 Mart 2001 g&uuml;n&uuml; Bogot&aacute; yakınlarında yaşadığı kent olan Fusagasuga'da paramiliter bir grubun a&ccedil;tığı ateş sonucunda &ouml;ld&uuml;r&uuml;lm&uuml;şt&uuml;. Hoyos 1984-1991 d&ouml;neminde MIF Kolombiya koordinat&ouml;r&uuml;yd&uuml;. Daha sonraki yıllarda &ouml;ğretmenlerin, banka emek&ccedil;ilerinin ve telekom&uuml;nikasyon emek&ccedil;ilerinin sendikalarında &ouml;rg&uuml;t&ccedil;&uuml; ve toplu s&ouml;zleşme danışmanı olarak &ccedil;alıştı. 
 
Şubat 2009'daki ABD Kongresi oturumunda, Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi şu saptamayı yapmıştı: &ldquo;Kolombiya h&uuml;k&uuml;meti sendika liderlerine karşı tırmandırılan şiddeti durdurmak ya da sendikacı cinayetlerinin &uuml;zerine gitmek i&ccedil;in yeterli &ccedil;aba harcamamıştır.&rdquo; Kolombiya Ulusal Sendika Okulu'nun bir s&ouml;zc&uuml;s&uuml; ise tanık olarak verdiği ifadede, d&uuml;nyadaki sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik t&uuml;m cinayetlerin y&uuml;zde 60'ının Kolombiya'da işlendiğini belirtti.

ABD&#039;de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
ICEM 24 Mart 2009'dan itibaren Cenevre'deki yeni yerine taşınmış olacak. Cenevre'de eski kent yakınlarındaki yeni işyerinin adresi ş&ouml;yle: 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva. 
 
İşyerinin genel telefon numarası, faks numarası ve b&uuml;t&uuml;n cep telefon numaraları aynı kalıyor. 
 
ICEM'in 570 metre karelik yeni işyeri mek&acirc;nı modern bir binanın iki katına yayılıyor. Nisan 2008'den bu yana &ccedil;alıştığımız 150 metre karelik eski işyeri mek&acirc;nına g&ouml;re yenisi daha işlevsel ve sendikal &ccedil;alışmaya daha elverişli. 
 
ICEM &uuml;yesi b&uuml;t&uuml;n sendikaları ve onların temsilcilerini Cenevre'ye geldiklerinde genel merkezimizi ziyaret etmeye &ccedil;ağırıyoruz.

ICEM 24 Mart&#039;tan İtibaren Cenevre&#039;deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Miners at Europe&rsquo;s largest coal company, Poland&rsquo;s Kompania Weglowa, are now taking measures that could lead to an early April strike following a 19 March mediation session. Those talks produced little movement in efforts to resolve 2009 wage negotiations. 
 
The state-run company&rsquo;s 65,000 miners at 16 colleries are led by ICEM affiliates NSZZ Solidarność and Kadra, and the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union, with some nine other smaller unions also involved. Miners engaged in a two-hour warning strike at Kompania Weglowa on 12 March. But during the 19 March talks, management&rsquo;s 4.6% wage offer still fell several percentage points short of miners&rsquo; demands. 
<img height="110" alt="" src="" width="110" />
Also locked in wage talks are 40,000 miners at two other state-owned coal servicing and production companies, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Both companies are seeking to impose a wage freeze on miners this year. At JSW, a formal labour dispute was declared on 19 March. 
 
A strike is also a distinct possibility at Poland&rsquo;s copper company, KGHM, after management also proposed a 2009 wage freeze. This dispute, also led by Solidarność, is fueled by management&rsquo;s decision to ignore recommendations made by workers&rsquo; representatives on the company&rsquo;s supervisory board in a 2009-2018 business plan. 
At Kompania Weglowa, management has threatened to lay off 3,000 workers if it was forced to meet the unions&rsquo; wage demands. The two-hour warning strike 11 days ago saw the company&rsquo;s coal output drop by 8,000 metric tonnes. Kompania Weglowa&rsquo;s annual production of coal is 47 million tonnes annually.

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Two ICEM Nigerian oil workers&rsquo; affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, are ready to shut down the Niger Delta&rsquo;s oil and gas industry beginning early on Wednesday, 25 March, because of government indifference toward rescinding a plan to deregulate the downstream sector. 
The unions, together with their national labour centres &ndash; the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trades Union Congress &ndash; issued a 21-day strike notice on 3 March following the decision by the Presidential Steering Committee on the Global Financial Crisis to divest the government of its four refineries. The committee&rsquo;s policy announcement also means withdrawing all petroleum subsidies to Nigeria&rsquo;s citizens. 
The industrial action will come in the form of a three-day warning strike. The strike is also aimed at growing insecurity in the Niger Delta region for oil workers, who have become targets of kidnappings. 
According to an action plan drawn up by the unions joint National Executive Council, &ldquo;all operations/ services are to be safely shut down beginning from midnight of 24 March. There should be no gathering of any kind by members during the strike. All members not in field/offshore locations should stay at home during the strike. 
<img height="103" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="95" alt="" src="" width="90" />
&ldquo;Members in field/offshore locations shall bring down the operation within the days and remain at those locations.&rdquo; 
The strike is also in protest to outsourcing of 21 export terminals by the government and a continuing dispute at Conoil-Belbop, a publicly-listed oil and gas exploration company, as well as a marketer of petroleum products. The company has been engaged in blatant union-busting since 2007. 
<img height="90" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Peter Akpatason
Regarding the sell off of the refineries and removal of fuel subsidies, NUPENG President Peter Akpatason argued that &ldquo;the timing of the deregulation is very wrong&rdquo; and it is being proposed at &ldquo;a period when salaries are stagnant and the value of a falling naira is working against Nigerians and would inflict hardship.&rdquo; 
Akpatason added, &ldquo;Our major concern is that we are increasingly seeing a situation where people with little or no knowledge about the petroleum industry are being charged with formulating policies for the sector.&rdquo; 
Former NUPENG General Secretary Frank Ovie Korkori also lent his voice against deregulation. He called the government&rsquo;s plans &ldquo;too simplistic, (too) pedestrian. (If) they deregulate now, you will see free market methodology Nigerian style and I don&rsquo;t support that because you cannot have a limitless or blanket deregulation in any economy.&rdquo; 
<img height="120" alt="" src="" width="80" />
Bayo Olowoshile
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile said protest rallies began simultaneously late last week by oil and gas workers in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Asaba, and the capital city of Abuja in preparation for the warning strike. Today, a final protest rally is scheduled for Abuja. 
In other Nigerian news last week, the Investments and Securities Tribunal granted an interim injunction for a restraining order against the country&rsquo;s Securities and Exchange Commission. The injunction is aimed at preventing the agency from divesting its 60% stake in the former downstream operations of Texaco, now Chevron Nigeria Holdings. The injunction expires 7 April. PENGASSAN is one of several bidders for the downstream operations of the company.

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Three and a half thousand workers took to the streets on 23 April, in Hanover,&nbsp;Germany, to demonstrate for site preservation. Continental AG&nbsp;workers from across Germany, France, and Mexico turned out in solidarity for their IGBCE, IG Metall, and Verdi colleagues. The 3,500 demonstrated in front of the Conti-Shareholders' Annual General Meeting, for the preservation of the nearly 2000 jobs threatened. 
Several delegations of the European Forum of Continental AG (European Works Council), from Regensburg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, demonstrated alongside trade unionists. 
Werner Bischoff, a senior leader of the ICEM affiliate IGBCE, announced that the Corporate Executive Board can not make decisions alone, on matters of site closure. 
<img height="166" alt="" src="" width="125" />
Werner Bischoff 
As reported in InBrief No. 128, both factories recorded excellent financial figures for the year 2008. The ICEM supports the common declaration of the 2-3 April meeting of Continental AG workers&rsquo; representatives, in describing the proposed job cuts as &ldquo;morally despicable.&rdquo; 
 
One German trade unionist at the protest stated, &ldquo;It's the first time that French union members and German members of the BCE union have come together against the shareholders, who, as we have already said, are talking just about money, whereas we are talking about our families and our hearts&rdquo; 

<img height="116" alt="" src="" width="154" />
German labour representatives read a statement to shareholders that said &quot;we do not accept that the life of thousands of families, when suppliers are included, are sacrificed to your boundless appetite.&quot; 
Continental management has said that no definitive decision has yet been taken on the closure of the Clairoix plant. French workers have staged repeated protests over previous weeks, including the ransacking of administrative offices at the plant. The company had previously pledged to keep the French factory open until 2012 at least. 
<img height="105" alt="" src="" width="140" />
Workers are unanimous that if closure does occur, Continental will have to guarantee solid compensation packages for its employees. 
 
Continental slashed around 8,000 jobs worldwide last year, and 6,000 more in the first three months of 2009.

Hanover Demonstration to Preserve Continental Jobs

&nbsp;<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Following mass meetings by members of UK&rsquo;s Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (TGWU) and two other unions, Amicus and GMB, on 27 and 28 September, workers at Imerys&rsquo; English China Clay operations in South West England have given union leaders a mandate to ballot membership for industrial action in the coming months. 
The reasons cited include an extremely tight-fisted redundancy package, and the refusal by the Paris-based company to seriously address job retention and job creation opportunities in the face of Imerys&rsquo; July announcement to cut some 40% of 2,000 jobs in the UK. 
<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="62" alt="" src="" width="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="70" alt="" src="" width="70" />
TGWU and the company have held several statutory consultation meetings since the July announcement, during which the company&rsquo;s intransigence in producing a fair redundancy package became clear. Another consultation session is scheduled for today, 2 October. The 90-day consultation period ends on 5 October. Amicus and GMB, which represent smaller numbers of Imerys workers, have also been part of the discussions. 
At a session in mid-September, the company presented what it called its final offer. The offer of ₤13,500 for the average worker (age 46) barely exceeds the statutory requirement, which is considered exceedingly low by most standards. Imerys also insists on capping the redundancy package at 20 years of service. Many workers in the South West have upwards of 40 years of service. 
 
&ldquo;Imerys has failed to negotiate meaningfully with the unions on redundancies,&rdquo; said TGWU National Secretary Jennie Formby. &ldquo;It also has been extremely callous in its regard for the livelihoods of workers, as well as to the communities of the South West as a whole.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM is actively engaged in building a global trade union network of Imerys workers in preparation for possible industrial action. A meeting in Brussels on 25 September with union leaders from the UK and the F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Force Ouvri&egrave;re (FO) Mat&eacute;riaux, C&eacute;ramique, and Thermique, the major union in France inside Imerys, produced genuine vows of solidarity.

Imerys’ Attitude Could Bring Industrial Balloting in UK’s Cornwall Region

The meeting was opened by Mohammad Jadallah of the General Union of Petroleum, Mining and Chemicals Workers in Palestine. Guests from Jordanian trade unions and fraternal organizations also addressed the meeting. 
 
The 25 women attending the meeting were between 21 and 52 years of age, with many young women present. The women&rsquo;s expectations for the meeting ranged from making recommendations to support women leaders in Palestine to exchanging information and experience to develop themselves as trade unionists to empowering working women in Palestine to creating awareness among Palestinian women about their rights. 
 
Turid &Oslash;ygard, NOPEF, made a presentation about women in Norway. The presentation covered women&rsquo;s rights, women in trade unions, women in society and NOPEF&rsquo;s future merger. Although it would seem that women are equal with men in Norway, there is still a long way to go there, too. 
 
Men still have plenty of privileges in Norway. For example, women still do not earn the same as men. Turid recommended to the women that in order to make progress in their society, they should use their right to vote. They should build up their self-confidence and self-esteem. 
 
She reminded them that if they wanted to earn the same as men, then they would need to work full-time and share family responsibilities with men. Even for gender equality at work, family life must be changed and fathers must spend more time at home. Women&rsquo;s participation in trade union life in Norway seems to be stagnating, and it is not easy to identify the reasons for it. It may be that women simply have too much to do with their jobs and their families. And trade unions are often seen as just too much a man&rsquo;s world. 
 
Carol Bruce, ICEM, introduced the topic of women&rsquo;s health. Health is just one more reflection of gender equality or inequality, not least on the job. The term gender refers to the fact that everything affects women and men differently &ndash; privatization, unemployment, the environment, extremism, health &ndash; all things affect women differently from men. 
 
All in all poverty and unemployment are the greatest risk factors for poor health. An abbreviation to describe gender differences in health are that men are the norm, and women are invisible. This phenomenon is just one more reflection of job segregation. Standards are developed with men in mind. 
 
Safety equipment and tools are based on men&rsquo;s needs, and women often have accidents when using them. Women&rsquo;s health hazards are less obvious to the naked eye than are men&rsquo;s, who work, for example in mining. Stress disorders are greater among women than among men, including musculoskeletal disorders. Men develop deafness more frequently as a result of working in generally louder environments. Men suffer more injuries and accidents at work. 
 
Women are more likely to report work-related sickness than men. In general women are less present in research, which means that women must boost their representation. Nevertheless all of these problems pale before the danger represented by HIV/AIDS. Any real solution to the AIDS pandemic will only be by empowering women. 
 
The women did an activity in groups called body mapping and risk mapping. The women drew a front and back picture of a woman&rsquo;s body and placed dots on the parts where they had felt illnesses or stresses. The body map was supposed to reflect their job-related injuries, illnesses and exposures, bearing in mind, however, that women&rsquo;s lives are not necessarily clearly broken down between working life and home life, but that the one spills over into the other. 
 
After that activity the women drew their workplaces to indicate where they had suffered accidents, illnesses, stress, etc. After the group work, the women were asked whether they had taken these complaints to the union to be solved. There was some disagreement about whether the union had taken action or not. 
 
On the second day the women played a game about negotiating. Group 1 played a mother who wanted her son to stay home and study, but the son wanted to go play football. Group 2 played a husband that wanted to buy a scooter, but the wife wanted a refrigerator. 
 
Group 3 played a mother who wanted the daughter to stay home to look after her sisters and brothers, but the daughter wanted to go out with her friends. After playing these negotiations out, the groups analysed what they had learned. They realized it was necessary to collect arguments and persuade the other side. 
 
Carol Bruce introduced the topic of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is now more important than ever since most companies do not want regulations imposed by governments. Negotiations can be at all levels, local, branch, national, etc. ICEM even negotiates with multinationals on so-called global agreements to lay down basic standards. 
 
These agreements generally contain what are called ILO core labour standards. But in trade unions women must already negotiate to get their demands on the collective bargaining agendas. Sometimes it is even more difficult to negotiate with male colleagues than with employers. Women&rsquo;s committees in trade unions should develop women&rsquo;s demands in the unions and pass them on to the negotiators. Research also must be done to see what women&rsquo;s demands can be met. 
 
The women went into groups to decide on what their priorities would be if they were going to negotiate. The list was: job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours, more money, maternity leave, occupational safety and health, childcare, programmes for ending discrimination, pension, training, sexual harassment. 
 
The three groups had the following top priorities: Group 1 &ndash; job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours. Group 2 &ndash; health insurance, job security, occupational safety and health, equal pay. Group 3 &ndash; respect on the job, more money, controlling working hours, job security. In the analysis we told the women that in the United States and Norway the women&rsquo;s priorities would most probably have been to have more money. 
 
Turid &Oslash;ygard introduced the topic of trade union democracy. The women went into groups to discuss how their unions worked and how people were nominated to trade union boards. We found that some of their practices were limiting, such as not allowing any contract workers to be in the union, or only allowing people to be union members who had worked for five years. 
 
The women had to find mechanisms to have their voices heard, instead of simply leaving things up to leadership or planners. Leyla Shream from Jenin explained her experiences in detail as a trade union leader. 
 
The women all gave their views of what the problems were for women to participate in trade unions. Their culture does not easily allow women to participate together with men and to participate in unions. 
 
It is difficult to reconcile family and trade unions. People are more concerned with earning money. According to customs and traditions men are superior to women. Women are seen as inferior. 
 
According to their culture women are ashamed. Women&rsquo;s environment is a factor. Women have no self-confidence, or if a woman has it, she can be destroyed. Women can only accept traditions; they are complacent, they are not ready to fight. 
 
The intifada influences women. Women cannot move because of all the restrictions, the separating wall, the seizure of land, all the pressures. Women&rsquo;s husbands are imprisoned or killed, so women must care more for the children. Men have power and authority. Women have too many tasks; they cannot do their jobs properly if in addition they go out to do volunteer work. Women do not support women. Women feel inadequate. Women need awareness workshops. Women need to know they can manage the role. Men need to support women; their support will help. Women can benefit from their precursors. Men need to have awareness of women&rsquo;s role. 
 
Society and the environment are masculine, and women already need encouragement at home. Women are already stressed in transport. Women should take the initiative and not leave everything up to men. 
 
On the last day the women all stated their conclusions. The political situation is imposed, and thus women must be more positive toward themselves. Women must not leave leadership up to men. Women cannot eradicate situations and traditions; they are born with them. 
 
Women must have self-confidence and determination and must be empowered and work hand in hand with men. We need workshops together with men and families to make it more possible to move. Families need awareness. Society must also change. The best way is to go door to door. 
 
Educational curricula should be modified to reflect new realities, and the importance of cooperation between men and women must be stressed. Women must make alliances to achieve their goals. Men must have awareness and realize what women can do. Women must fight for their rights. 
 
Women need more training on decision-making. In the short term women need training, and in the long term curricula must be changed to raise awareness of women&rsquo;s role. Women must have more strength than men. We must destroy the walls that separate us from each other. 
 
Palestinian women are strong. Women should have centres to support women. Women need more self-esteem. Women say they are weak, but they can improve themselves as leaders. Women must support women. Women must increase confidence. We must eradicate gender discrimination and get rid of the stereotype that men are everything. We need joint seminars between women and men in order to convince men union leaders to accept partnerships with women. Men must give women the freedom to participate. We should use the media to talk about women leaders. All women would benefit. 
 
The recommendation for future work was to continue with such workshops, but it was emphasized that the next time men must be along. Things will never change until men are made aware of women&rsquo;s needs. Men must also see how capable women are as leaders. It would also be worthwhile broadening the scope of the countries involved. 
 
The women did an evaluation of the workshop on a point system from 1 to 10, with 1 lowest and 10 highest. The questions were the following: did the workshop meet your expectations? This question scored 7. Did you like the subjects? This question scored 9. Did you like the method? This question scored 8. Did you find the workshop useful? This question scored 8. Will you use it? This question scored 8+. 
 
The seminar ended by passing out diplomas to all the women. Then each woman wrote down on a piece of paper something that she wanted to get rid of, ripped the paper up and threw it in the waste basket in the middle of the circle. Then all held hands and said one word about something that they wanted to fight for such as just peace or gender equality or solidarity.

Meeting report - ICEM/NOPEF Training for Palestinian and Jordanian Women

The meeting was opened by Mohammad Jadallah of the General Union of Petroleum, Mining and Chemicals Workers in Palestine. Guests from Jordanian trade unions and fraternal organizations also addressed the meeting.
The 25 women attending the meeting were between 21 and 52 years of age, with many young women present. The women&rsquo;s expectations for the meeting ranged from making recommendations to support women leaders in Palestine to exchanging information and experience to develop themselves as trade unionists to empowering working women in Palestine to creating awareness among Palestinian women about their rights. 
 
Turid &Oslash;ygard, NOPEF, made a presentation about women in Norway. The presentation covered women&rsquo;s rights, women in trade unions, women in society and NOPEF&rsquo;s future merger. Although it would seem that women are equal with men in Norway, there is still a long way to go there, too. 
Men still have plenty of privileges in Norway. For example, women still do not earn the same as men. Turid recommended to the women that in order to make progress in their society, they should use their right to vote. They should build up their self-confidence and self-esteem. 
She reminded them that if they wanted to earn the same as men, then they would need to work full-time and share family responsibilities with men. Even for gender equality at work, family life must be changed and fathers must spend more time at home. Women&rsquo;s participation in trade union life in Norway seems to be stagnating, and it is not easy to identify the reasons for it. It may be that women simply have too much to do with their jobs and their families. And trade unions are often seen as just too much a man&rsquo;s world. 
 
Carol Bruce, ICEM, introduced the topic of women&rsquo;s health. Health is just one more reflection of gender equality or inequality, not least on the job. The term gender refers to the fact that everything affects women and men differently &ndash; privatization, unemployment, the environment, extremism, health &ndash; all things affect women differently from men. 
All in all poverty and unemployment are the greatest risk factors for poor health. An abbreviation to describe gender differences in health are that men are the norm, and women are invisible. This phenomenon is just one more reflection of job segregation. Standards are developed with men in mind. 
Safety equipment and tools are based on men&rsquo;s needs, and women often have accidents when using them. Women&rsquo;s health hazards are less obvious to the naked eye than are men&rsquo;s, who work, for example in mining. Stress disorders are greater among women than among men, including musculoskeletal disorders. Men develop deafness more frequently as a result of working in generally louder environments. Men suffer more injuries and accidents at work. 
Women are more likely to report work-related sickness than men. In general women are less present in research, which means that women must boost their representation. Nevertheless all of these problems pale before the danger represented by HIV/AIDS. Any real solution to the AIDS pandemic will only be by empowering women. 
 
The women did an activity in groups called body mapping and risk mapping. The women drew a front and back picture of a woman&rsquo;s body and placed dots on the parts where they had felt illnesses or stresses. The body map was supposed to reflect their job-related injuries, illnesses and exposures, bearing in mind, however, that women&rsquo;s lives are not necessarily clearly broken down between working life and home life, but that the one spills over into the other. 
After that activity the women drew their workplaces to indicate where they had suffered accidents, illnesses, stress, etc. After the group work, the women were asked whether they had taken these complaints to the union to be solved. There was some disagreement about whether the union had taken action or not. 
 
On the second day the women played a game about negotiating. Group 1 played a mother who wanted her son to stay home and study, but the son wanted to go play football. Group 2 played a husband that wanted to buy a scooter, but the wife wanted a refrigerator. 
Group 3 played a mother who wanted the daughter to stay home to look after her sisters and brothers, but the daughter wanted to go out with her friends. After playing these negotiations out, the groups analysed what they had learned. They realized it was necessary to collect arguments and persuade the other side. 
 
Carol Bruce introduced the topic of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is now more important than ever since most companies do not want regulations imposed by governments. Negotiations can be at all levels, local, branch, national, etc. ICEM even negotiates with multinationals on so-called global agreements to lay down basic standards. 
These agreements generally contain what are called ILO core labour standards. But in trade unions women must already negotiate to get their demands on the collective bargaining agendas. Sometimes it is even more difficult to negotiate with male colleagues than with employers. Women&rsquo;s committees in trade unions should develop women&rsquo;s demands in the unions and pass them on to the negotiators. Research also must be done to see what women&rsquo;s demands can be met. 
 
The women went into groups to decide on what their priorities would be if they were going to negotiate. The list was: job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours, more money, maternity leave, occupational safety and health, childcare, programmes for ending discrimination, pension, training, sexual harassment. 
The three groups had the following top priorities: Group 1 &ndash; job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours. Group 2 &ndash; health insurance, job security, occupational safety and health, equal pay. Group 3 &ndash; respect on the job, more money, controlling working hours, job security. In the analysis we told the women that in the United States and Norway the women&rsquo;s priorities would most probably have been to have more money. 
 
Turid &Oslash;ygard introduced the topic of trade union democracy. The women went into groups to discuss how their unions worked and how people were nominated to trade union boards. We found that some of their practices were limiting, such as not allowing any contract workers to be in the union, or only allowing people to be union members who had worked for five years. 
The women had to find mechanisms to have their voices heard, instead of simply leaving things up to leadership or planners. Leyla Shream from Jenin explained her experiences in detail as a trade union leader. 
 
The women all gave their views of what the problems were for women to participate in trade unions. Their culture does not easily allow women to participate together with men and to participate in unions. 
It is difficult to reconcile family and trade unions. People are more concerned with earning money. According to customs and traditions men are superior to women. Women are seen as inferior. 
According to their culture women are ashamed. Women&rsquo;s environment is a factor. Women have no self-confidence, or if a woman has it, she can be destroyed. Women can only accept traditions; they are complacent, they are not ready to fight. 
The intifada influences women. Women cannot move because of all the restrictions, the separating wall, the seizure of land, all the pressures. Women&rsquo;s husbands are imprisoned or killed, so women must care more for the children. Men have power and authority. Women have too many tasks; they cannot do their jobs properly if in addition they go out to do volunteer work. Women do not support women. Women feel inadequate. Women need awareness workshops. Women need to know they can manage the role. Men need to support women; their support will help. Women can benefit from their precursors. Men need to have awareness of women&rsquo;s role. 
Society and the environment are masculine, and women already need encouragement at home. Women are already stressed in transport. Women should take the initiative and not leave everything up to men. 
 
On the last day the women all stated their conclusions. The political situation is imposed, and thus women must be more positive toward themselves. Women must not leave leadership up to men. Women cannot eradicate situations and traditions; they are born with them. 
Women must have self-confidence and determination and must be empowered and work hand in hand with men. We need workshops together with men and families to make it more possible to move. Families need awareness. Society must also change. The best way is to go door to door. 
Educational curricula should be modified to reflect new realities, and the importance of cooperation between men and women must be stressed. Women must make alliances to achieve their goals. Men must have awareness and realize what women can do. Women must fight for their rights. 
Women need more training on decision-making. In the short term women need training, and in the long term curricula must be changed to raise awareness of women&rsquo;s role. Women must have more strength than men. We must destroy the walls that separate us from each other. 
Palestinian women are strong. Women should have centres to support women. Women need more self-esteem. Women say they are weak, but they can improve themselves as leaders. Women must support women. Women must increase confidence. We must eradicate gender discrimination and get rid of the stereotype that men are everything. We need joint seminars between women and men in order to convince men union leaders to accept partnerships with women. Men must give women the freedom to participate. We should use the media to talk about women leaders. All women would benefit. 
 
The recommendation for future work was to continue with such workshops, but it was emphasized that the next time men must be along. Things will never change until men are made aware of women&rsquo;s needs. Men must also see how capable women are as leaders. It would also be worthwhile broadening the scope of the countries involved. 
 
The women did an evaluation of the workshop on a point system from 1 to 10, with 1 lowest and 10 highest. The questions were the following: did the workshop meet your expectations? This question scored 7. Did you like the subjects? This question scored 9. Did you like the method? This question scored 8. Did you find the workshop useful? This question scored 8. Will you use it? This question scored 8+. 
 
The seminar ended by passing out diplomas to all the women. Then each woman wrote down on a piece of paper something that she wanted to get rid of, ripped the paper up and threw it in the waste basket in the middle of the circle. Then all held hands and said one word about something that they wanted to fight for such as just peace or gender equality or solidarity.

Archive

Czech Mining Unions Preserve Pay; OKD to Cut Agency Staff, Suppliers’ Staff

ICEM Singapore Conference Illuminates Problems for Contract, Agency Workers in Region

ABD'de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

ICEM 24 Mart'tan İtibaren Cenevre'deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

Hanover Demonstration to Preserve Continental Jobs

Imerys’ Attitude Could Bring Industrial Balloting in UK’s Cornwall Region

Meeting report - ICEM/NOPEF Training for Palestinian and Jordanian Women

Meeting report - ICEM/NOPEF Training for Palestinian and Jordanian Women

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us