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As part of the cooperation and alliance between ICEM and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) in the oil and gas industry, the two Global Union Federations (GUFs) cooperated in an ILO tripartite sector meeting called &ldquo;Promoting Social Dialogue and Good Industrial Relations from Oil and Gas Exploration and Production to Oil and Gas Distribution.&rdquo; 
 
Lars Myhre, from Norway&rsquo;s Industri-Energi (IE) Union and the ICEM Energy Industries Chairman, was elected chairperson of the Workers&rsquo; Group, while spokesperson Mick Dolman from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) was elected as Workers&rsquo; Group vice chairman. Dolman chaired one of the plenary sessions of the meeting. 
 
ICEM Energy Officer Jim Catterson was elected secretary of the Workers&rsquo;Group. Ingo Marowski of the ITF closely followed all the discussions and worker delegates from both GUFs participated in both the plenary sessions and the working party, which produced tripartite conclusions following extensive negotiations. 

<img src="" width="330" height="186" alt="" />
The Workers&rsquo; Group ensured that as well as a strong focus on trade union rights and the ILO Core Conventions, there was detailed discussion of health and safety issues, especially the adverse long-term health effects of diving on workers. Helicopter safety to and from offshore rigs, given a recent spate of accidents in the Brazil, Canada, and UK, also was a prominent agenda item. 
 
A special solidarity message was sent by the Workers&rsquo; Group to the Offshore Divers&rsquo; Union in Norway, an organisation that includes many IE-organised divers. The organisation is presently engaged in compensation litigation. Other issues debated at length included the situation of contract and sub-contract workers, the respective responsibilities of operators and contract companies, and the specific problems of contract workers in the Mexican oil industry. The latter was a major issue for ITF, which had nominated both a worker delegate and an advisor from their Mexican affiliates. 
 
The agreed conclusions and report of the meeting&rsquo;s deliberations, as well as the detailed background report provided at the meeting are available from the ICEM Secretariat. However, it should be noted that the conclusions and report need to be approved at the next meeting of the ILO Governing Body before becoming official documents. 
 
ICEM has begun discussions with the ILO regarding follow-up work from the meeting.

ILO’s Oil and Gas Meeting Promotes Social Dialogue

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ICEM Indonesian affiliate, Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas (FSP2KI), conducted training on collective bargaining and labour law from 4-5 July in Karawang with 30 participants. The union represents workers across the country&rsquo;s pulp and paper sector. 
 
The training was attended by workplace leaders of Asia Pulp &amp; Paper&rsquo;s PT Indo Deli, PT Graha Cemerlang, Asia Pacific Resources International&rsquo;s (APRIL) Riau Andalan paper and power operations, and DSS Karawang. 

<img src="" width="293" height="144" alt="" />
The workshops had the expertise of Akhirnya Asfinawati, the leader of the legal aid service LBH Jakarta; Khamid Istakhori from the Congress States Labour Congress of Indonesia (KSBI); and Odie Hudaya from the Labour Working Group, an Indonesian workers&rsquo; training institute. FSP2KI shop-floor leaders were instructed on bargaining techniques and legal procedures as outlined under Peneltian Hukum Indonesia, the country&rsquo;s legal information guide. 
 
The union intends to provide follow-up training to the 30 participants in order to give maximum protections to trade union members. 
 
Etin Rodiana serves as General Secretary of FSP2KI and Irzan Zulpakar is the President.

Indonesian Pulp, Paper Union, FSP2KI, Conducts Training for Mill-Level Leaders

The ICEM lodged strong protest early this week demanding Turkey President Abdullah G&uuml;l veto a bill giving &ldquo;Private Labour Offices&rdquo; broad rights to place temporary workers in enterprises. On 9 July, President G&uuml;l did veto the bill, and now the ICEM demands the Turkish Parliament not bring it back. 
 
The bill was submitted by Parliament to G&uuml;l in late June after it cleared the legislative body without hearings or direct input from the country&rsquo;s labour federations. The ICEM calls attention to this anti-social fact because global unions are targeting actions in&nbsp;Turkey and Thailand on Day of Decent Work, 7 October 2009, specifically over the precarious labour issue. 
 
The legislation, as written, would have given fees to labour brokers and it would have created a slave market composed of short-term contract workers. The proposal read that any person or entity could establish a private labour hire agency with a modest investment of TL 20,000, or &euro;9,250. 
 
&ldquo;We applaud President G&uuml;l and his administration for doing the right thing to veto this,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We now call on the global community to assist our Turkish comrades to make sure this bill does not surface again.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM credits Turkey&rsquo;s three trade union federations for immediate and effective opposition to the legislation. The ICEM now calls on the Turkish Parliament to abandon this anti-people measure. 
 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&uuml;rk-İş), said accurately it would render existing mechanisms between unions and government useless. Kumlu, an ICEM Executive Committee member, said &ldquo;social rights, social security, and other benefits&rdquo; would disappear under this legislation. 
 
In the 7 July letter to G&uuml;l, Warda said creating such a labour system in a society is equivalent to &ldquo;placing dynamite under the social structures.&rdquo; He called it a &ldquo;21st century employment relationship based on slavery.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM work leading up to 7 October and after will partly focus on Turkish failure &ndash; in the eyes of the ILO &ndash; to implement Labour Conventions that the country has already ratified. A focus will also ensure that transparency and fairness become full partners in all social discussions leading to possible Turkish ratification of ILO Convention 181, the Private Employment Agencies Convention. 
 
The ICEM said in the letter to the Turkish government that the proposed law is not in compliance with the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Work, a standard passed in October 2008 that the ICEM insists must be adhered to by Turkey. The ICEM also labels the legislation a misguided response to the economic crisis, and an inhumane practice to even pronounce it as a measure to reduce operating costs. 
 
For further information, contact the ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan at <a href="mailto:Kemal.ozkan@icem.org">Kemal.ozkan@icem.org</a> of +41 79 734 9044, or Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:Dick.blin@icem.org">Dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 79 734 8994.

Turkey: Labour Hire Veto Applauded, More Work Demanded

<img alt="" src="" width="102" height="88" />&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="93" height="90" />&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="150" height="71" />
MEXICO CITY, JULY 10 &ndash; Day one of the five day delegation saw Parliamentary and trade union leaders from 13 countries, including Manfred Warda and Jyrki Raina, General Secretaries of the ICEM and IMF, join Mexican union leaders and legislators yesterday to call for an end to the persecution of the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union and its leader, Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia. 
 
The international delegation with members of the special commission of the Mexican Senate established to investigate the strike at the Cananea mine, which has been ongoing for nearly two years. The meeting also included federal deputies and leaders of the National Union of Workers (UNT) and Mexican Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union (SME). 
 
Jack Layton, leader of Canada&rsquo;s New Democratic Party, raised the delegation&rsquo;s concerns in a meeting with Mexico&rsquo;s Labor Secretary. &ldquo;We made it clear that the government&rsquo;s interference in union governance, its jailing of union leaders and freezing union bank accounts, declaring strikes illegal and failing to prosecute the killers of union leaders, are serious and unacceptable violations of basic human rights,&rdquo; he stated. 
 
Layton, Australian Labor MP Graham Perrett, and a group of union leaders also met with Marcelo Ebrard, chief executive of the Federal District (Mexico City). 
 
Members of the delegation held meetings with the Embassies of Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, and the United States to inform them about the Mexican government&rsquo;s actions. The delegation&rsquo;s message, according to United Steelworkers District 7 Director Jim Robinson, was that &ldquo;when NAFTA was passed, we were told that it would raise wages for Mexican workers. Now the Mexican government and Grupo Mexico are trying to destroy the Mineworkers because they are doing just that.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda emphasized the importance of the delegation, &ldquo;The ICEM and the International Metalworkers Federation here represents over 45 million workers worldwide. Ours is a unified voice of staunch solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Mexico, in their fight for the right to freely form trade unions and bargain collectively&rdquo;.&nbsp;&nbsp;
See the previous press release on the Mexican delegation <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3299-PARLIAMENTARY-UNION-LEADERS-VISIT-MEXICO-TO-SUPPORT-MINEWORKERS-UNION">here</a>.

PARLIAMENTARY, UNION LEADERS DEMAND MEXICAN GOVERNMENT CEASE ATTACKS ON MINEWORKERS

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Uluslararası &Ccedil;alışma &Ouml;rg&uuml;t&uuml; ILO&rsquo;nun bu yılki 98. Konferansı'nın 19 Haziran g&uuml;n&uuml; yapılan oturumunda, K&uuml;resel İstihdam Paktı adlı &ouml;nemli bir belge kabul edildi. H&uuml;k&uuml;metlerin, sendikaların ve işverenlerin kabul ettiği pakt, ekonomik toparlanma ve reform konusunda bir &ccedil;er&ccedil;eve getirmektedir. 
 
Uluslararası Sendikalar Konfederasyonu (ITUC) Genel Sekreteri Guy Ryder, ILO &ccedil;er&ccedil;eve paketini ş&ouml;yle tanımladı: &ldquo;Yeni bir k&uuml;resel y&ouml;netim sistemi kurmayı ama&ccedil;layan teklifin &ouml;z&uuml;n&uuml; istihdam, iş&ccedil;i hakları, sosyal koruma &ouml;nlemleri ve s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilirlik oluşturuyor.&rdquo; 
 

<img alt="" src="" width="129" height="97" />
ITUC Genel Sekreteri Guy Ryder 

K&uuml;resel sendikalar, ILO'nun tekrar işveren &ccedil;evrelerinin y&ouml;r&uuml;ngesine oturmasından ve uluslararası ekonomi kurumlarının başarısızlığı kanıtlanmış serbest piyasa anlayışını s&uuml;rd&uuml;rmesinden endişe duymaktadır. Bazı yorumcular, finansal krizin artık dibe vurduğunu ve toparlanmanın yakın olduğunu belirtirken, 19 Haziran'daki ILO oturumunda s&ouml;z alan temsilciler, kaybolan istihdamın etkilerinin kalıcı ve yıkıcı olacağını vurguladılar. 
 
İstihdam Paktı, krizin 50 milyon iş&ccedil;iyi işsizliğe, 200 milyon insanı yoksulluğa iteceği yolundaki şaşırtıcı ILO tahminlerine bir se&ccedil;enek olarak g&ouml;r&uuml;lmektedir. İklim değişikliğiyle m&uuml;cadele gibi, s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilir istihdam yaratılması da hayatı bir &ouml;nem taşımaktadır. 
 
İstihdam Paktı'nın bir başka y&ouml;n&uuml;n&uuml; ise &uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; diyaloga, sosyal diyaloga ve toplu pazarlığa b&uuml;y&uuml;k &ouml;nem vermesi oluşturmaktadır. &Ccedil;alışma koşullarıyla ilgili standartların y&uuml;kseltilmesi ve &uuml;cretlerin iyileştirilmesi, işsizlere y&ouml;nelik eğitim ve yetiştirme programlarıyla birlikte yaşamsal bir &ouml;nem taşımaktadır. İstihdam Paktı, kamu sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde istihdam yaratma planlarının uygulanmasını &ouml;ng&ouml;rmektedir. 
 
K&uuml;resel İstihdam Paktı ileriye atılmış &ouml;nemli ve anlamlı bir adımdır ve hemen uygulanması gerekmektedir. ICEM 24-25 Eyl&uuml;l 2009'da ABD'nin Pennsylvania eyaletinin Pittsburgh kentinde yapılacak bir sonraki G20 toplantısından &ouml;nce somut sonu&ccedil;lar alınması talebini desteklemektedir.

ILO’nun İstihdam Paktı: Krizden Çıkış İçin Önemli Bir Açılım

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
T&uuml;rkiye'deki ICEM &uuml;yesi 14 sendika, &ldquo;&Ouml;rg&uuml;tlenme ve Sosyal Diyalog&rdquo; konusunda bir dizi &ccedil;alışma toplantısından oluşacak kampanya projesini başlattı. ICEM'in geliştirdiği projeyi Hollanda ulusal sendikal merkezi FNV ile onun uluslararası birimi olan FNV Mondiaal desteklemektedir. 
 
Kasım 2008'de ICEM T&uuml;rkiye Koordinasyon Kurulu'nun onayladığı proje, 15-16 Haziran'da Ankara'da d&uuml;zenlenen konferansla başladı. 100'&uuml; aşkın sendika y&ouml;neticisi, uzman ve temsilcinin katıldığı konferansta, sendikal &ouml;rg&uuml;tlenmeyi kolaylaştıracak ara&ccedil; ve y&ouml;ntemler, &ccedil;eşitli &uuml;lkelerdeki deneyimler &uuml;zerinde duruldu. 
 

<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="124" />
FNV Bondgenoten Başkanı Henk Van der Kolk 

A&ccedil;ılış oturumunda FNV Bondgenoten'in Başkanı Henk Van der Kolk sendikal &ccedil;alışmada uluslararası işbirliğinin &ouml;nemini vurguladı. &ldquo;Sendikalar d&uuml;nyanın her yerinde g&uuml;&ccedil; kaybediyor&rdquo; diyen Van der Kolk s&ouml;zlerini ş&ouml;yle s&uuml;rd&uuml;rd&uuml;: &ldquo;İşe başladığınızda bir sendikaya katılmak artık olağan bir şey değil. ILO s&ouml;zleşmelerinde &ouml;ng&ouml;r&uuml;len temel insan ve iş&ccedil;i haklarına saygı olmadan sosyal bir Avrupa, sosyal bir d&uuml;nya olamaz. &Ouml;rg&uuml;tlenme &ouml;zg&uuml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml; ve toplu s&ouml;zleşme &ouml;zg&uuml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml; temel haklardır. Aynı şey asgari &uuml;cret, g&uuml;venli iş ve sosyal koruma hakları i&ccedil;in de s&ouml;z konusudur.&rdquo; 
 
Hollanda ve T&uuml;rkiye sendikalarına teşekk&uuml;r ederek s&ouml;zlerine başlayan ICEM Genel Sekreteri Manfred Warda &ouml;rg&uuml;tlenmede uluslararası &ccedil;alışmanın &ouml;nemini belirtti. &ldquo;Bu alanda &ccedil;ok &ouml;rnek vardır ve bunlardan biri i&ccedil;in T&uuml;rkiye'ye bakmak yeterlidir&rdquo; diyen Warda devamle şunları vurguladı: &ldquo;Novamed &ouml;rneği ve Antalya serbest ticaret b&ouml;lgesindeki bu şirketin cesur kadınlarına verilen destek bunun somut &ouml;rneğidir. Bu t&uuml;r &ouml;rneklerle T&uuml;rkiye'de ve d&uuml;nyada sendikal hareketi g&uuml;&ccedil;lendirmemiz gerekiyor.&rdquo; 
 
ILO ve OECD'nin mekanizmaları, BM K&uuml;resel Haklar Anlaşması ve D&uuml;nya Bankası'na bağlı Uluslararası Finans Kuruluşu'nun performans standartları, ayrıca &ccedil;okuluslu şirketlerdeki sendikal ağlar ve k&uuml;resel &ccedil;er&ccedil;eve s&ouml;zleşmeler konuları ele alındı. 
 
Konferansa Asya/Pasifik B&ouml;lgesi'nden, Almanya, Fransa, İspanya, Hollanda, Danimarka ve ABD'den delegeler de katıldı. Hepsi T&uuml;rkiye'deki sekt&ouml;r sendikalarıyla &ouml;rg&uuml;tlenme ve sosyal diyalog konusundaki deneyimlerini paylaştılar. 
 
16 Haziran'daki son oturumda, T&uuml;rkiye'deki sendikaların temsilcilerinden oluşan bir tartışma grubu T&uuml;rkiye'deki durumla ilgili bir değerlendirme yaptı. 
 
Ankara'daki bu ilk konferanstan sonra, proje, sendikaların yerel &ouml;rg&uuml;t temsilcilerinin ve işyeri temsilcilerinin katılacakları b&ouml;lge seminerleriyle s&uuml;recek. İlk seminer 8-9 Ekim'de İzmit'te, ikincisi ise 5-6 Kasım'da İzmir'de yapılacak. 
 
Konferans programı i&ccedil;in <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/FNV%20Turkey%20agenda%20Turk.pdf">burayı</a> tıklayınız.

Hollanda Sendikal Merkezinin Desteklediği ICEM Örgütlenme Projesi Türkiye&#039;de Başladı

&ldquo;National Project Conference of Turkey: 
Organising and Social Dialogue&rdquo; 
 
15 &ndash; 16 June 2009 
Ankara, Turkey 
 
A g e n d a 
 
 
15 June 2009, Monday 
 
09:30 - 10:30 Opening : 
 
Bayram Eren, General Education Secretary of Tes-İş 
Henk Van Der Kolk, President of FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/henk.fnv.speech.pdf">speech</a>) 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 
 
10:30 - 11:00 Break 
 
11:00 - 12:30 First Session: &ldquo;Organising and Social Dialogue: International Mechanisms&rdquo; 
 
G&uuml;lay Aslantepe, ILO Turkey Representative 
Zerg&uuml;l &Ouml;zbilgi&ccedil;, Undersecretariat of Treasury, General Directorate of Foreign Capital, Head of Department of International Relations (OECD Turkey National Contact Point) 
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary and Board Member of &ldquo;Global Compact&rdquo; (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.manfred.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
12:30 &ndash; 14:00 Lunch 
 
14:00 &ndash; 16:00 Second Session : &ldquo;Organising and Social Dialogue : International Trade Union Tools&rdquo; 
 
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.kemal.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
Marc Ferron, EDF Global Agreement TU Secretary, France (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.ferron.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
Y&uuml;cel Top, Coordinator of Turkey-EU Trade Union Integration Com. 
Jorgen Juul Rasmussen, Danks El-Forbund, Denmark (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.jorgen.pres.pdf">presentation</a>)&nbsp; 
 
Discussions 
 
16:00 - 16:30 Break 
 
16:30 &ndash; 17:30 Third Session : &ldquo;Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue&rdquo; : Experiences from North America and Asia 
 
Joe Drexler, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.drexler.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
Phee Jungsun, ICEM Materials Industry Officer (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.phee.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
19:00 &ndash; 22:00 Dinner 
 
16 June 2009, Tuesday : 
 
09:30 &ndash; 10:30 Fourth Session : &ldquo;Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue&rdquo; (continuation) : Experiences from Europe-1 
 
Michael Wolters, IG BCE, Germany (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.wolters.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
Marc Blanc, FCE-CFDT, France (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.blanc.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
10:30 - 11:00 Break 
 
11:00 &ndash; 12:30 Fifth Session : &ldquo;Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue&rdquo; (continuation) : Experiences from Europe-2 
 
Isidor Boix, FITEQA-CC.OO., Spain (<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fnv.bois.pres.pdf">presentation</a>) 
Lob&eacute; Gevaerts &ndash; Mail &Uuml;rker, FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands 
 
Discussions 
 
12:30 &ndash; 14:00 Lunch 
 
14:00 &ndash; 15:30 Sixth Session : &ldquo;In line with discussions, Strategy and Action Plan for Developing Organising and Social Dialogue in Turkey&ldquo; 
 
Fikret Sazak, T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş (mining) 
&Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Lastik-İş (rubber and chemical) 
İsmail Hakkı Kurt, Petrol-İş &amp; Belediye-İş (oil/public service) 
Resul Limon, Tes-İş (Energy) 
Bahri Top&ccedil;u, T&uuml;rkiye &Ccedil;imse-İş (Materials) 
 
15:30 &ndash; 16:00 Break 
 
16:00 - 17:00 Wrapping-up of two-day works and Proposals for the future 
 
17:30 End of the Conference

FNV Turkey Project Conference

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Members of the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee discussed and deliberated on the effects of the world&rsquo;s financial crisis on day two of the statutory body&rsquo;s annual meetings 24 June. The discussion started with ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda outlining the unified strategy that Global Union Federations (GUFs), together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and TUAC of the OECD, are pursuing in order to shift from the failed policies of global capital. 
 
Those strategies include stricter engagement with the world&rsquo;s financial institutions in order to make meaningful structural changes. The ICEM invited Peter Bakvis, the GUFs&rsquo; and ITUC coordinator in Washington, DC, who monitors activity of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the regional development banks. 
 
Bakvis gave the underlining causes to the crisis, and the warning signs that were given by global labour to the institutions in the years leading up to the 2008 crisis. He also told ICEM Executive members of the trade union response since the collapse of last autumn. His presentation can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/icem%20pb%20geneva.bakvis.pdf">here</a>. 

<img alt="" src="" width="337" height="181" />
ICEM Executive Committee, Tuesday 23 June
Some 25 members of the Executive then gave overviews and crisis responses from their unions and countries. Their testimony saw reviews of safety nets in various countries for the growing number of unemployed, as well as specific situations within ICEM sectors that have been deeply affected. 
 
A resolution on the crisis was presented. That document was amended by delegates to warn against governments adopting stringent protectionist measures, and it also denounced trends toward racism, xenophobia, and any move toward political parties that reflect such anti-social conduct. 
 
Delegates also denounced companies which have used the crisis as a pretext to implement destructive social measures. The ICEM Executive Committee&rsquo;s Resolution can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ExecResFinCri2009EXEC.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM will continue to update trade union responses to the financial crisis on its website under &ldquo;Financialisation,&rdquo; and the first effort in that regard can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/EFFECTS%20of%20the%20GLOBAL%20FINANCIAL%20CRISIS%20on%20WORKERS.pdf">here</a>.

Financial Crisis Effects Key Focus of ICEM Executive

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Early this week, workers of a transportation subcontractor at the world&rsquo;s largest open-pit coal mines, Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n in Colombia, will present their demands to managers. Backed by powerful Sintracarb&oacute;n, the ICEM affiliate representing 4,000 Cerrej&oacute;n miners, one of those presenting the demands will be Vincente Pomarico, the leader of a transport workers&rsquo; organising effort who was summarily dismissed recently on expiration of his short-term contract. 
 
The new union, called SINTRAS, would be the first union of subcontractors at Cerrej&oacute;n, owned jointly by BHP Billiton, AngloAmerican, and Xstrata, to organize. Sintracarb&oacute;n, recognizing the social harm inflicted by a key contractor who only gives fixed-term contracts to its workers of six months or up to one-year, seeks to make that happen and set a precedent for workers employed by other subcontracting firms on the mine site. 
 
SINTRAS, now counting some 80% of 150 drivers and others as bonafide members, has met fierce resistance in gaining recognition from SOTRANS, the transport company that grew from a very small Guajira department transport firm to a major service-provider at the world&rsquo;s richest coal reserves. Contract workers, together with Sintracarb&oacute;n members, have not backed down, conducting recent mobilizations, marches, and meetings with several work groups at Cerrej&oacute;n. 

<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
The contract company has shown willingness to talk with workers&rsquo; representatives, but has adamantly refused to enter into a collective agreement. 
 
Firstly, workers are unionizing because they want stability in employment. They want full-time and permanent status. Besides Pomarico, one other SOTRANS worker saw his employment severed because he was promoting the union. Both have been designated as bargaining committee members. 
 
Secondly, workers want pay increases and levels of social benefits that meet minimum standards in Colombia. SOTRANS workers deserve monthly salaries that are better than the US$250 they now receive, particularly with the profitability of the company. 
 
Contract workers are receiving much assistance from Sintracarb&oacute;n and its President, Jairo Quiroz Delgado, as well as from the regional committee of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (CUT) in Guajira department. Who they are not receiving support from is the multinational Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n. 

<img height="89" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s Jairo Quiroz rejects his employer&rsquo;s &ldquo;passive&rdquo; stance on the matter, and states that Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s claim of &ldquo;enterprise autonomy&rdquo; is unacceptable, considering the mining concern&rsquo;s own social pact with his union and miners and communities in the region. Jairo Quiroz says many contract employees at Cerrej&oacute;n are employed in &ldquo;semi-slave or enslaved&rdquo; conditions. 
 
CUT-Guajira charges SOTRANS with denial of basic freedom of association by coercing and frightening workers. It also challenges Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n to fulfill its social obligations by pressing for the right of trade union representation at its transport contracting agent. 
 
The ICEM supports formal establishment of the new transportation union, SINTRAS, and pledges to monitor the rights of contract employees at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n.

Sintracarbón Seeks Unionisation for Subcontractor at Cerrejón in Colombia

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The ICEM has again registered sharp complaint to the Iraqi government over anti-social conduct at its State Company for Petrochemical Industries&rsquo; set of plants in Basra. The latest incident finds a new state manager harassing, and then filing police charges against Mohammed Zaki Ibrahim, the leader of ICEM affiliate Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra. 
 
Last month, Mohammed Zaki was verbally assaulted by the new general manager, who stated his trade union activity was an &ldquo;obstacle&rdquo; to the way he intended to operate the company. The manager also charged Zaki with being under the influence of &ldquo;external forces.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM was compelled to harshly condemn that violation of freedom of association in a letter to Iraq&rsquo;s Minister of Industry and Minerals. 
 
The letter also pointed out that after Zaki left the abusive meeting &ndash; witnessed by other managers &ndash; he was immediately charged by police with trade union activity, and labelled as a danger to the Iraqi national economy. As the Zaki case illustrates, managers have been vindictive in upholding Saddam&rsquo;s decades-old decree banning trade unions in the public sector, a draconian labour code that continued under the occupation forces. 
On 28 January, a workers manifestation over wage arrears at the enterprise resulted in management calling in the army. Managers targeted four union leaders with leading the protest, and then brought cruel and unjust discipline on to one of them: Kareem Johi Sahan was banished from the petrochemicals enterprise for six months and his pay grade was lowered. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM has paid close attention to events at the Basra facility,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;The Iraqi government must also. This must become a worksite where trade union rights are respected and we will continue working from the outside with trade unionists on the inside to fulfil that.&rdquo; 
 
The state-owned petrochemical facility employs 5,000 workers and contains six plants making ethylene, polyethylene, vinyl chloride, and other chemicals. The Basra Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union is affiliated to the Iraq Oil Workers&rsquo; Federation (IFOU).

Iraq: ICEM Again Condemns Union Harassment at Basra Petrochem

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