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" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM has adopted the&nbsp;issue of Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) as the main theme for activities on the Global Day of Action for Decent Work, 7 October 2008. Several other Global Union Federations have also decided to focus their activities on the issue of precarious work. 
 
As part of its ongoing campaign, the ICEM is asking affiliates around the world to centre activities on organising contract or agency workers in their respective countries. The Geneva-based federation is calling on trade unions to use 7 October as a starting date for union organising campaigns of such workers. 
 
Past, as well as soon to be released ICEM research material shows that precarious workers - including those employed through subcontracting companies, or working on an individual subcontracted basis, or working with a temporary contract, often through a private employment agency - need strong trade unions to protect their interests in an era when the growth of &ldquo;new ways of employment&rdquo; is fast becoming the norm.
<img height="103" alt="" src="" width="240" />
In addition, there is an obvious necessity for trade unions to specifically target such workers as future union members in order to remain representative and strong, and to better defend existing members&rsquo; interests. 
 
Many ICEM affiliates have already undertaken efforts in this regard, often with good results. Examples of this have been gathered and will soon be published in the upcoming &quot;ICEM Guide on Contract and Agency Labour&quot;. The manual was written not only to provide useful examples from various countries, but also to give useful background information on CAL, complete with statistics and strategy suggestions. 
 
The ICEM will also soon launch a new campaign website on the issue. 
 
Materials already available include the newly-published &ldquo;ICEM Short Guide for Negotiators on How to Deal with Contracting Out, Outsourcing and Agency Labour,&rdquo; which serves as a valuable tool for trade unionists at the company level. It provides practical suggestions on what to do when - or even before - a company plans to brings in&nbsp;outside staff on to a jobsite. It can be found on the ICEM website in <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0809ICEMCALNegotiatorsGuideEN.pdf">English</a>, <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0809ICEMCALNegotiatorsGuideFR.pdf">French</a>, <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0809ICEMCALNegotiatorsGuideSP.pdf">Spanish</a>, and <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0809ICEMCALNegotiatorsGuideRU.pdf">Russian</a>. 
 
Whereas the main focus of the ICEM&rsquo;s actions for 7 October is on organising CAL workers, the ICEM also encourages affiliates and their members to participate in the national and/or local trade union activities that are being organised around the world on October 7th. More information on national demonstrations and other activities can be found on the Global Day&rsquo;s web-site <a href="http://www.wddw.org">http://www.wddw.org</a>.

ICEM Links Decent Work Day with Direct Action on Contract and Agency Labour

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was joyous with the news that the country&rsquo;s Parliament elected Kgalema Motlanthe as President of the country two weeks ago. Motlanthe, a former NUM staffer and General Secretary, was sworn in on 25 September, replacing Thabo Mbeki who resigned. 
 
He will serve as South Africa&rsquo;s third president in post-apartheid era until at least next year&rsquo;s elections.
<img height="94" alt="" src="" width="140" />
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe 
Considered a master educational strategist and a voice of reason within the now tumultuous landscape of the African National Congress (ANC), Motlanthe stepped into a prominent NUM role in 1987 immediately after serving a 10-year prison sentence for activities within the then-outlawed ANC. He became the union&rsquo;s Education Secretary then, and was the prime architect in shaping the union&rsquo;s strong shop steward system. 
 
In January 1992, he was elected by the NUM&rsquo;s Central Committee to succeed General Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa when Ramaphosa was elected Secretary-General of the ANC. In 1997, he again succeeded the great Ramaphosa at the helm of the ANC, a position held now by former ICEM&nbsp;Executive Committee member&nbsp;and NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe. Motlanthe, now 59, was elected Deputy President of the ANC late last year after Jacob Zuma defeated Mbeki as leader of the ANC. 
 
Motlanthe&rsquo;s tenure at the NUM &ndash; besides building lasting rank-and-file political education programmes &ndash; included negotiating two-year bargaining periods opposite the Chamber of Mines, negotiation terms still intact today. He also pioneered trade union investment mechanisms and was a leading and early proponent on laws vesting mineral rights with the state.
<img height="78" alt="" src="" width="170" />
At age 23 in 1972, Motlanthe when to Mozambique where he joined the banned ANC. He was arrested for 11 months in 1976 for his efforts to organise students, and then a year later began his 10-year prison term at Robben Island, where he was imprisoned with anti-apartheid stalwarts Nelson Mandela, Harry Gwala, Mac Muharaj, and Walter Sisulu, who became his mentor inside the famed lock-up. 
 
At the NUM&rsquo;s Congress in 2004, speaking during his second term as ANC Secretary-General, Motlanthe urged delegates to &ldquo;use the union&rsquo;s structure to enhance the struggles&rdquo; to deal with poverty and to transform a society that defends the rights of workers in order to overcome an economic divide.

NUM Welcomes ‘One of Its Own’ as Acting President of South Africa

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The ICEM was saddened to learn of the death, 22 September, of Golekanye Mogende, President of the Botswana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU). Mogende, 56, passed away unexpectedly in his home in Kopong. 
 
In March 2008, he was elected to head the prominent union, which represents miners at several enterprises, including the joint diamond-mining venture between the government and DeBeers called Debswana, and BCL, a copper, nickel, and cobalt company formerly called Bamangwato Concession Ltd. 
 
In fact, after joining the BMWU in 1995, it was at BCL where his union career was started. As BMWU chairman of the Selebi-Phikwe branch, a post he was elected to in the year 2000, he and three other bargaining committee members were sacked by the Botswana-based company in July 2004. Their crime: possession of financial information on the company, a common practice for any trained union negotiator and one essential for effective workers&rsquo; representation at the bargaining table. 

<img height="83" src="" width="180" alt="" />
Two months later, his integrity still intact, he was elected Deputy National Chairman of the BMWU. In 2006, he became the full-time chairman of the Salibi-Phikwe branch and was elected the peacemaker President in a fractious BMWU national election at last spring&rsquo;s congress. 
 
He was remembered by thousands of mourners, including Botswana Federation of Trade Unions President Japhta Radibe, in a memorial on 27 September. 
 
&ldquo;We understood Comrade Mogende to be a dedicated trade union leader, with an honest and direct approach to matters between labour and management that gave mineworkers &ndash; indeed, all workers in Botswana &ndash; earnest representation and a sincere commitment to workers&rsquo; rights,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, in a tribute letter to the BMWU . 
 
He is survived by his wife and two children.

ICEM Mourns Passing of Botswana’s Mine Union Leader

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
General Secretary Manfred Warda had a productive mission to Serbia 22-23 September where he addressed planned ICEM activities for the Central European Region, as well as hearing the problems and challenges of affiliates from Serbia and Croatia. 
 
Warda also met with Serbian Labour Minister Rasim Ljajic and impressed upon him the necessity of Serbia&rsquo;s government to be more engaged in encouraging Social Dialogue between trade unions and business enterprises. 
 
Warda also received a favourable response from the minister on Serbia moving to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. And his intervention on behalf of Serbian trade union affiliate Nezavisnost over an ugly paper-packaging factory dispute with Ljajic apparently resolved the dispute in the days that followed the meeting. 
 
The meeting with ICEM&rsquo;s Central European affiliates was facilitated by Freidrich Ebert Siftung (FES), the German labour-oriented foundation. Some 25 trade union delegates took part, and besides leaders from Nezavisnost, the Serbia affiliate, the Autonomous Union of Energy and Petroleum Unions, a former WFIW trade union, participated. From Croatia, leaders of EKN &ndash; the Power, Chemical, and Non-Metal Workers&rsquo; Union &ndash; were present. 

<img height="60" src="" width="120" alt="" />
The ICEM was privileged to have Nezavisnost President Milorad Panovic, Autonomous Energy, Petrochemical President Branislav Nedeljkovic, and EKN President Ivan Tomac leading the forum, as well as ICEM Central European Project Coordinator Mato Lalic. 
 
Major problems discussed included oil and gas restructuring in state-owned companies; trade union exclusion in ongoing Serbian-Russian energy cooperation; and efforts by small and mid-sized companies to reduce wages and social benefits and harassment of workers &ndash; the paper-packaging plant being a prime example. 
 
As well, problems exist within the downstream operations of Russian oil company Lukoil in Serbia. The ICEM pledged to take these concerns to the parent company in the structure of the Global Framework Agreement between ICEM, Lukoil, and the Russian Oil and Gas Workers Union (ROGWU). 
 
There was agreement among participating trade unions on the need for more unity, including withICEM affiliate EPS Trade Union of Serbia, the most representative union in the electric and coal-mining sectors of Serbia, which was not present at the conference.

ICEM Work Explained to Serbian, Croatian Affiliates in Belgrade

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The ICEM-affiliated Coal Mining Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPA) held its Third Congress in Kiev on 17-18 September, and celebrated passage and enactment of the &ldquo;Law on Enhancing the Prestige of Miners&rsquo; Labour.&rdquo; 
 
The law, years in the making, was passed by Ukraine&rsquo;s Verkhovna Rada without a dissenting vote on 9 September, and became law when President Victor Yuschenko signed it on 11 September. 
 
PRUPA celebrated the passage at its quintennial Congress in Kiev, with ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addressing the delegates and giving his congratulations on work done to enact the measure. Leaders of Ukraine&rsquo;s largest mining union also re-elected Victor Turmanov as President.
<img height="203" src="" width="200" alt="" />
Turmanov said that while the law, which gives miners unprecedented benefits, is a major accomplishment, it is still different from a first draft. We thus have &ldquo;room for improvement,&rdquo; he said. Miners of both FRUP and ICEM affiliate, the Independent Miners&rsquo; Trade Union of Ukraine, lobbied the Rada hard for passage. 
 
On 3 September, a day after the legislative body opened its current term, the unions declared a Miners&rsquo; Day holiday and thousands flooded Kiev to lobby passage of the bill. Both Turmanov and the Independent Miners&rsquo; Union Chairman Mikhail Volynets are members of the Rada. 
 
The &ldquo;Law on Enhancing the Prestige of Miners&rsquo; Labour&rdquo; grants underground miners an immediate reduction on their state income tax from 15% to 10%; gives them a means to gain additional pay with the mining base rate pegged at 30% higher than the country&rsquo;s minimum wage; mandates that pension benefits cannot be less than 80% of the coal industry&rsquo;s average wage for miners after 15 years of service; and gives miners with three years of service free higher education stipends, as well as granting children of workers with 15 years service in mines free higher education credits.
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
Passage of the measure signifies government recognition of the fact that there is significant shortage of manpower in the Ukraine&rsquo;s burgeoning coal industry. The new law is aimed at recruiting young workers into mining. The bill was passed through amendments to the 2008 Ukrainian budget. 
 
The &ldquo;Prestige of Miners&rdquo; law also grants trade union health and safety representatives the right to halt production when major breaches of safety or health concerns occur. The ICEM also is strongly encouraging its mine union affiliates and the Ukrainian government to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

Ukraine’s Mineworkers Re-Elect Turmanov, Herald New Rada Law on Compensation

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month, leaders of five energy unions &ndash; comprising the ICEM&rsquo;s Caspian Sea Energy Union Network &ndash; drafted and issued the nine-point &ldquo;Declaration on Social Standards for Workers of MNCs Operating in the Caspian Region.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM-affiliated energy unions from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan took part. The meetings also had the active involvement of Germany&rsquo;s Friedrich Ebert Siftung, with Azerbaijan Country Director Rashad Huseynli participating. 
 
The declaration was the natural outgrowth of efforts by the host union, the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Azerbaijan (OGWUA), to bring trade union rights and better social benefits to workers of contracting firms in the Caspian&rsquo;s oil and gas development areas.
<img height="225" src="" width="300" alt="" />
&nbsp;Delegates to the ICEM's Caspian Sea Energy Union Network 

The two-day conference was led by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and ICEM Energy Sector Chairman Lars Myhre, the Norwegian Industri Energi trade union leader who played a key role with OGWUA President Jahangir Aliyev in organising the first of the Caspian Sea contract workers through a strike against McDermott International in 2005. 
 
The declaration pledges to defend the civil, social, and economic rights of energy workers in the region. It states, using &ldquo;multilateral and bilateral discussions, our resolve (is) to defend through our consolidated activities&rdquo; the nine civil, social, and economic rights inherent in all work.
<img height="173" src="" width="230" alt="" />
Signing of the Declaration, at left ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda; right, seated: ROGWU's Lev Mironov
Those nine include: a &ldquo;guaranteed right of workers to organise as the key component of human rights in the sphere of work&rdquo;; decent remuneration and promotion of job opportunities for people in the countries where the MNCs operate; gender, race, and youth equality, with &ldquo;non-acceptance of all manifestations of discrimination at work.&rdquo; 
 
Also, to resist the employment practices of temporary and seasonal work; to promote uniform qualification requirements by MNCs; promote best practice health, safety, and ergonomic policies; adhere to national labour law observances; full compliance with ILO core labour standards, and the OECD Guidelines for MNCs; and to seek Global Framework Agreements with MNCs &ldquo;as a tool to guarantee uniform social and economic standards, and civil rights for workers of the Caspian Region.&rdquo; 
 
Besides the ICEM and OGWUA&rsquo;s Alyiyev signing the Declaration, it was also signed by Tlekkabyl Kabdulov, President, the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Kazakhstan; Lev Mironov, President, the Russian Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union; and Mustafa Oztaskin, General Secretary of Turkey&rsquo;s Petrol-Iş.

ICEM’s Caspian Energy Network Formulates Work Rights Declarations

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
On 16 September, 23 regional representatives of ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Region met in Douala, Cameroon, and developed an ambitious agenda around project work, organising, and health, safety, and environmental matters. The forum was headed by Regional Chairman Rayford Mbulu, General Secretary of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia, and served as the Executive Meeting of the region. 
 
Delegates took up the dire political situations on the continent, including the power-sharing agreement now in place in Zimbabwe between political parties headed by Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. The committee gave a cautious nod toward the arrangement, but did call it a step in the right direction for Zimbabwe. The ICEM African union leaders called for monitoring of the power-sharing commitment by the world&rsquo;s political leaders.
<img height="151" src="" width="180" alt="" />
ICEM&nbsp;Sub-Saharan Africa Region Chair Rayford Mbulu&nbsp;
The Sub-Saharan African committee also expressed concern over political situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Somalia, and Sudan. 
 
The committee gave whole-hearted support to the inauguration of an ICEM project on Contract and Agency Labour in the region, with trade unionists from the former WFIW present promising to explore avenues of additional funding. They also discussed the possibility of development of a project around Chinese investment in Africa, as well as a separate women&rsquo;s project.
<img height="92" src="" width="200" alt="" />
They also took up a situation involving a uranium mining project in Malawi. An NGO, Citizens for Justice Malawi, has brought the project before the ICEM region on environmental and workers&rsquo; rights grounds. The project, by Australian Paladin Energy Ltd., is expected to begin extraction early in 2009. The regional committee will dispatch a fact-finding team consisting of ICEM Regional Coordinator Fabian Nkomo and Derrick Elbrecht, the General Treasurer of South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). 
 
Besides ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana of NUM, other representatives of ICEM affiliates present at the 16 September regional Executive Meeting includes comrades from Botswana, Cameroon, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

ICEM’s Sub-Saharan African Region Shapes Priorities at Cameroon Meeting

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
A forum to highlight, before the ILO, the social unravelling that comes with the widespread use of Contract and Agency Labour &ndash; and all forms of precarious work &ndash; was held 3 October in Geneva. The half-day programme was intended to give notice to the ILO that it must address the issue in order to preserve its work relationships agenda. 
 
The Global Union Federations ICEM, Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF), International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and Union Network International (UNI) took part, as did the Council of Global Unions, the umbrella organisation of the GUFs, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Trade Union Advisory Council of the OECD.
<img height="111" alt="" src="" width="260" />
The forum had input from representatives of the Bureau of Workers&rsquo; Activities (Actrav) of the ILO. 
 
Speaker after speaker emphasized the threat to core ILO Conventions 87 and 98 by the ever-growing use of short-term contract and temporary workers by employers. With that, came a common outcry, a lowering of living and working conditions is sure to follow. 
 
In introducing the subject, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda equated the current &ldquo;precariousness&rdquo; of the global financial situation, and the hopeful end to &ldquo;blind faith&rdquo; markets, with the necessity for the ILO to begin the process to introduce global standards on precarious work.
<img height="165" alt="" src="" width="120" />
&nbsp;ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda 

&ldquo;The issue of precarious work is fundamental to the very essence of the ILO,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;The erosion of employment structures robs workers of the will and capacity to join unions, and it gives families a permanent feeling of insecurity.&rdquo; 
 
Warda stressed that the ILO must begin serious discussions with its employer constituencies and governmental units to establish recommendations and standards on the issue. 
 
ICEM testimony also came from Danish trade union leader J&oslash;rgen Juul Rasmussen, the General Secretary of Dansk El-Forbund. He said the practice of employing contract or agency workers is now common in both developed and developing nations. &ldquo;Our experience, which is not always easy, is to identify the primary employer, and then use all means to enforce the law regarding health insurance, pension rights, and other social criteria on behalf of agency workers.&rdquo; 
 
The strategy of Dansk El-Forbund, an electrical workers&rsquo; union, said Rasmussen, is to be pro-active in organising agency workers and so-called subcontractors.
<img height="253" alt="" src="" width="380" />
Dansk El-Forbund Gen. Sec. J&oslash;rgen Juul Rasmussen&nbsp;
BWI General Secretary Anita Normark said companies engage temporary workers to cut costs, increase their flexibility, and to have less responsibility. 
 
Global trade unions and the ILO, she said, must engage governments and companies &ldquo;on what this is leading to in society. For governments, this is fast becoming an issue on how to secure the economies of their nations.&rdquo;
<img height="308" alt="" src="" width="230" />
IMF Gen. Sec. Marcello Malentacchi&nbsp;&nbsp;
IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi called attention to an ILO complaint that his federation, together with the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union, brought before the Committee on Freedom of Association over falsification of contract workers. He said at the Kiryung Electronics factory, an operation cited in the complaint, only 5% of workers in the plant are permanent workers and they are male. 
 
&ldquo;Nearly all the (others) are women earning 47% less than their male colleagues.&rdquo; 
 
He added, &ldquo;Our unions are facing an uphill battle and they need the support of the ILO. The best hope for precarious workers to improve their situation is to unionise.&rdquo; 
Other case study experiences were shared by Alke Boessinger and Claire Parfitt of UNI and Peter Rossman of IUF. Rossman used examples of Nestle globally and Unilever regionally to prove that &quot;a declining (unionised) bargaining unit means declining conditions for all ...&nbsp;and shrinking applicability of the core labour standards.&quot; 
 
The forum opened with endorsement of a process toward ILO debate on the subject by Actrav Director Dan Cunniah, who said there should be an ILO Convention on precarious work and that more can and should be done to achieve one. 
Raquel Gonzalez of the ITUC&rsquo;s Workers&rsquo; Group called the 3 October discussions important because the issue is a major obstacle to the decent work relationship. She said the ILO&rsquo;s declaration from June 2008, the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation, has several provisions which tie in with precarious employment. 
 
Gonzalez also said the growth of temporary work must be central in discussions next year during the ILO Labour Conference&rsquo;s focus on Gender Equality, &ldquo;since women are over-represented in this type of work.&rdquo; 
 
In the mid 1990s, the ILO did take up the issue of temporary and agency labour, but the discussions were dropped due to lack of consensus, within the tripartite structures, over definitions, terms, and language related to non-regular work.

Global Union Federations Bring Contract, Agency Labour Issue Squarely Before the ILO

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Stemming out of a European Commission-funded project, European trade unions representing workers of French cosmetics producer L&rsquo;Oreal conducted a second seminar in Brussels on 1-3 October on social conditions of the company. On the second day, following a general presentation on Global Framework Agreements by ICEM&rsquo;s Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, participants discussed a draft agreement, which had been circulated among them, of a possible global agreement with L&rsquo;Oreal. 
 
French FCE-CFDT Leader Marc Ferrand brought forward the multi-unions&rsquo; global agreement with French electricity producer EDF. Serious discussion then ensued on bringing the draft to senior L&rsquo;Oreal management.
<img height="93" src="" width="100" alt="" />
ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT and Belgian affiliate CSC Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union developed the early October project, aimed at getting the attention of L&rsquo;Oreal&rsquo;s trade union representatives from its European Works Council (EWC). Funded by the European Commission, the project also includes ICEM affiliates from Italy (FEMCA-CISL), Poland (Solidarnosc), and Spain (FIA-UGT). 
 
The objective of the project is to enhance the expertise of trade union representatives over industrial and organisational changes, compensation policies, and new European rules regarding cosmetics. Based on the assessments made during the discussions, the main aim of the project is to re-energise the EWC and to open a dialogue with the company on social responsibility on the global level. 
 
Also included in the project in the early October discussions were IGBCE of Germany, la Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale (FGTB/ABBV) of Belgium, CC.OO of Spain, FILCEM-CGIL of Italy, and CGT and CGT-FO, both of France. 
 
The first seminar inside the project occurred in Paris from 17-18 April 2008. Then, 50 delegates from five European countries took part.

L’Oreal European Unions Discuss Proceeding to Possible Global Framework Agreement with Company

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Established in 2006, the South-East European Energy Union Network held its second general assembly in Istanbul on 18 October, and the ICEM participated. Hosted by ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-İş, the weekend meeting was attended by 90 delegates and observers from 16 trade unions in 13 countries. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin, and Turkish Tes-İş President Mustafa Kumlu opened the conference, and spoke on common trade union strategies in the region, as well as issues regarding against MNCs in the chemicals, oil, gas, and electric sectors. Tes-İş is the Energy, Water, and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union in Turkey, while Petrol-İş covers the oil, petrochemicals, and chemicals industries.
<img height="225" alt="" src="" width="300" />
&ldquo;In today&rsquo;s globalised world, energy is very crucial and strategic,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;Securing energy supplies and establishing the best social standards for workers in these industries is crucial. 
 
&ldquo;To create international solidarity around the globe, we welcome regional efforts like this one to coordinate and advocate on behalf of workers&rsquo; issues,&rdquo; Warda added. 
 
The regional energy network&rsquo;s general assembly addressed problems arising from the deepening of sector integration, as well as EU energy policies on the South-East European Region. Delegates also confirmed participation at next month&rsquo;s EU social-partner conference in Albania. They pledged to put the issue of privatisation before this conference, as one the major challenges faced by trade unions. 
 
The conference also evaluated campaigns to recruit pipeline workers in the region, with targeting of some energy MNCs that operate in the region. 
 
At the close of the meeting, delegates elected Franc Dolar of Slovenia as acting chair of the network, with Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin taking up the vice-chairman position. Nikos Orfanos of Greece serves as general secretary for the network. 
 
Trade unions from Albania, Bosnia-Herzergovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Macedonia, Greece, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey participated in the 18 October conference.

South-East Europe’s Energy Unions Meet in Turkey Over the Weekend

Archive