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Belgian unions FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV have boosted their joint project in Colombia to draw attention to human and trade union rights. The unions now have a petition drive underway on the project&rsquo;s website, aimed at the government of Colombia, including members of Parliament. The petition drive also addresses the management of both Colombian and multinational companies to take action. 
The project, called Syndicol, is operated by the two Belgian unions, in full cooperation with all three Colombian national labour centres, CUT, CGT, and CTC. A number of ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian affiliates are directly involved in the project.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
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Syndicol&rsquo;s action plan is to bring aid and solidarity to the workers of Colombia. Its aim is to build broad campaigns of information around the abuses of human and trade union rights in the South American country, including the many assassinations of trade union leaders. 
The current petition, located on Syndicol&rsquo;s French language website at <a href="http://www.syndicol.be/Petition">http://www.syndicol.be/Petition</a>, states that over 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated since 1990, and calls on government and business leaders to take immediate action to end this state of terror. 
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&ldquo;The flagrant and inadmissible violations of human rights and, in particular, of the rights and trade union freedoms are a denial of justice, and disgraceful for those who commit the crimes, as well as their protectors. The systematic assassination of trade unionists and human rights defenders is a throwback to another age and what&rsquo;s worse, the perpetrators enjoy impunity from the Colombian legal system and the country&rsquo;s authorities.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM affiliates and activists are encouraged to visit the website to sign the petition.

Belgian Unions Team on Colombia Petition Drive

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Three gold miners, jailed on 17 December, for illegal gold mining in the southern Zimbabwe region of Matabeleland, died six days after their arrest from exhaustion and starvation. The three died after days of filling trenches without being given food or enough water by the police forces of Robert Mugabe&rsquo;s government. 
 
In a country with 80% unemployment and an inflation rate that hit a new high of 1,281% in December, the three miners were arrested with 12 other gold diggers as part of the government&rsquo;s crackdown on illegal mining, called Operation Makorokoza Zvakwana by the Mugabe police forces. 
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One police officer told ZimOnline, Zimbabwe&rsquo;s independent news agency, that when the workers tried to resist the continuous trench filling, or complained of hunger, they were beaten &ldquo;because that&rsquo;s how our bosses had instructed us to treat them.&rdquo; 
 
The three died at separate times on 24 December after experiencing extreme dizziness before collapsing. 
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe&rsquo;s labour leaders, who were severely beaten in September after police forces broke up an anti-poverty rally, have sued top Mugabe aides for unlawful arrests and injuries incurred to them. Zimbabwe Council of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Sec. Gen. Wellington Chibebe and 14 other labour leaders sued Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, and several other police officers for Z$1.34 billion (US$9.13 million), which includes general damages, and unlawful arrest and deprivation of liberty. 
<img height="140" src="" width="120" alt="" />
ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe 
In the lawsuit, attorneys for the labour leaders cite violations of the Zimbabwe constitution, Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 of the African Charter for Human and People&rsquo;s Rights, Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatments. 
The labour leaders, on 12 and 13 September, were subjected to beatings that caused bone fractures, serious cranial/facial bruising, and head injuries. Some 256 ZCTU activists were arrested at the time. 
 
The current economic crisis in Zimbabwe, which saw the inflation rate jump a full 182% from November to December 2006, has caused mass labour strikes in the health care and education sectors, not to mention in mining and energy industries, because salaries have become miniscule compared to the vast inflation jumps. For example, staff of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority staged a two-day strike on 3-4 January, when an internal memo was released stating that salaries would only increase by 50%.

Mugabe Regime Starves Jailed Gold Miners

The 86-day strike by members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at 12 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plants in the US ended 29 December, after rubber workers voted to approve a new accord at America&rsquo;s biggest tyre producer by a two-to-one margin. USW announced yesterday that 10,000 of 14,000 striking union members voted in balloting, and that approval of the new three-year labour agreement was gained by a majority of members at all 12 branch locals.
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Some 500 Canadian USW members at four rubber accessory plants in the province of Ontario are voting on a separate contract proposal. Both the US and Canadian Goodyear workers have been on strike since 5 October 2006. 
 
&quot;It took a strike, but we achieved a fair and equitable contract that protects quality health care for active and retired members,&rdquo; said USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. &quot;And by winning major capital investment expenditures, it secures our jobs for the future.&quot; 

The strike in the US centered on heath care coverage and job security. USW won a guarantee from Goodyear that it would commit US$550 million in capitalisation investments at the 12 plants over the next three years. 

The union also pushed Goodyear in week-long talks beginning on 19 December to increase a health care trust fund for active workers and retirees. The US-based company agreed to place US$1 billion in a Voluntary Employees&rsquo; Beneficiary Association, from which medical and prescription drug benefits for current and future retirees will come. Future contributions into this fund will include diverted cost-of-living payments and profit-sharing plants. 
During the strike, Goodyear announced that it would close a tyre plant in Tyler, Texas, in 2007, thus making 1,100 workers redundant. USW and Goodyear agreed in the December talks that closure would occur no sooner than 2008, and the union won sizeable retirement buy-outs, enhanced severance packages, and medical coverage for Texas workers for a full two years beyond closure of the private-label tyre operation. It also won a guarantee that future manufacture of such tyres will be done in a plant that had been on strike. 
<img height="100" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The 12-week strike was marked by the company circumventing the union and appealing directly to USW members to abandon the walk-out and return to work. But there were few defections among the nearly 15,000 strikers, and that fact no doubt forced Goodyear to compromise its original demands. 

&ldquo;The credit really belongs to our members and their families, whose solidarity prevented the company from short-changing them, despite all of its attempts,&rdquo; stated USW President Leo Gerard. 
 
This week&rsquo;s contract ratification means workers will return to work on 2 January at both tyre and engineered rubber product plants in Akron, Ohio; St. Marys, Ohio; Marysville, Ohio; Gadsden, Alabama; Buffalo, New York; Lincoln, Nebraska; Topeka, Kansas; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; Tyler, Texas; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; and, Union City, Tennessee.

USW Ends US Goodyear Strike after Membership Vote Approval

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 18

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ICEM affiliate FUB/FS, Brazilian rubber workers union, invited delegates from several Latin American rubber workers&rsquo; unions to the recent conference of FUTINAL (Frente &Uacute;nico de Los Trabajadores en Las Ind&uacute;strias de Neum&aacute;ticos y Afines de Latinoamerica) at Praia Grande/Sao Paulo, from 5 to 7 December 2007. 
 
Roughly 100 delegates, mostly from ICEM affiliates, including from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and the USA held discussions,&nbsp;among other things&nbsp;on the need to set up more trade union networks for multinational companies. The USW explained&nbsp;the situation surrounding the Goodyear strike in the US and Michael Wolters, ICEM Rubber Industry Officer, reported on the last developments in the rubber sector as well as on the main strategies by the major global tire companies. 
<img height="106" alt="" src="" width="380" />
Unions organising Continental AG plants in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and USA, used the time to coordinate their ideas and activities for the coming International Action Day for all Continental tyre unions from the western hemisphere (13 December 2006) 
 
At the end of the conference, an action plan was adopted for future work. 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0612pptMichaelSaoPaulo.ppt">Click here for the ICEM's Presentation at the conference</a>

Latin American Rubber Workers Hold Conference

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In Iran, Mansour Osanloo was arrested again, on 19 November. Osanloo is the head of the trade union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company,. 
 
He was detained outside his home, by plain-clothed security officials, a day before he was summoned to appear in court. Officials beat him and forced him, at gunpoint, into a car. Osanloo is said to be held at the Evin Prison, where he may be in need of urgent medical treatment. He had had eye-surgery only days before he was detained, the result of injuries suffered during his previous arrest, earlier this year. 
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On 26 November, Osanloo appeared before an Iranian court, in the absence of his lawyer. No specific charges were cited, however. Osanloo had been released in August 2006, after an international campaign led by the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF). See: <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/1661-Iranian-Bus-Drivers-Given-Global-Union-Support">/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/1661-Iranian-Bus-Drivers-Given-Global-Union-Support</a>. 
 
According to a press communiqu&eacute; by the Tehran union, also known as Sherkat-e Vahed, three other unionists were also arrested on 3 December: Seyyed Davoud Razavi and Abdolreza Taraazi, members of the Executive Board, and Gholamreza Gholam-Hosseini, a union activist. The three men were detained as they were distributing leaflets. The first two were released later the same day. Gholamreza Gholam-Hosseini was only released this weekend. 
 
The three men are among the 50 bus workers that are currently still without pay since a January 2006 strike. In July, the ITF and the ITUC already lodged a formal protest before the ILO over Osanloo&rsquo;s initial detention, and over the crackdown on the union Sherkat-e Vahed.
<img height="92" alt="" src="" width="200" />
The ITF has called the re-arrest an &ldquo;outrageous attempt to crush both a brave individual and all attempts to assert basic trade union rights in the country.&rdquo; The ICEM fully supports the call of the ITF to continue to apply pressure on Iranian authorities over human and labour rights. 
 
For more information, including the possibility to take action, please click here: 
<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/Osanloo.cfm">http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/Osanloo.cfm</a>.&nbsp;

President of Tehran Bus Company Union Arrested Again

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The paper sector caucus for eastern Canada of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union has resolved to hold intact the pattern sector labour agreement without granting concessions to employers. Meeting in Montreal on 4-5 December, local branch leaders of the CEP&rsquo;s paper industry sector adopted a strong anti-concession stand to preserve the current agreement. 
 
&ldquo;Our local union leaders are telling us to draw a line in the sand,&rdquo; said CEP President Dave Coles. &ldquo;And that is exactly what we intend to do. I will be in touch with the major players in the (paper) sector, including Abitibi Consolidated and Bowater, to let them know we have no intention of negotiating concessions to our existing wages and benefits.&rdquo; 
<img height="102" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The CEP will instead call on forestry companies to join it in its pronounced campaign before the federal government, calling for real and meaningful answers to Canada&rsquo;s forest products crisis, a crisis that finds the government short on ideas, and lacking in economic initiatives to stem both the mass job losses and resulting rural destruction. 
 
Some 7,000 CEP members have lost their jobs over the past two years, with some 40 full or partial mill closures occurring in that period. 
 
Coles said that the wage and benefit portion of operation costs in any given mill is among the lowest of cost items faced by employers. &ldquo;We have had more than one employer tell us we could work for nothing and he would still close his mill because the union contract was not the problem,&rdquo; said the CEP&rsquo;s president. 
<img height="92" src="" width="200" alt="" />
CEP has engaged a national campaign inside Canada, calling on the federal government to adopt a national forest strategy. Stated goals are money for research and development, creation of alternate end uses for fibre resources, investment in initiatives to ensure sustainability of resources, and accelerated adjustment programmes for workers, their families, and the communities at-large, which have been the hardest hit by this national crisis. 
 
The CEP is currently in the middle of a five-year labour accord with pulp and paper manufacturers operating in the eastern half of Canada, covering some 25,000 paperworkers.

CEP Says ‘No’ to Weakening of Paper Sector Pact in Eastern Canada

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Dear Colleagues, 
 
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 4th World Congress of the ICEM. It is with a great deal of pride that we hold this Congress in Thailand, a country in which the ICEM has played a role in a number of labour and social causes. 
 
There has been discussion on why the ICEM would hold a Congress in a country that only a year ago experienced a military coup. We consulted with our Thai affiliates on this matter, and they assured us that our presence would be a symbol of hope and expectation that free and democratic elections will occur soon in Thailand. We take this as proof of both the quality of work that ICEM has done in Thailand, and the work that still must be done in this great nation. 
<img height="125" alt="" src="" width="101" />
Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM President
This Congress marks a historic moment for the ICEM. With forces of globalisation rapidly impacting the lives of workers in today's world, the global trade union movement has come together and made the commitment that it will unite to protect workers' interests. 
The ICEM's 4th World Congress will engage several major issues, including enhancing cooperation with the family of Global Union Federations and other world trade union organisations. 
<img height="125" alt="" src="" width="91" />
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 

We will begin a process to establish a strong sustainable development policy across all ICEM sectors, and we will reaffirm our commitment to challenge the growing threat of Contract and Agency Labour and the scourge of HIV/AIDS in our workplaces and in workers' lives. 
 
This Congress also marks the full integration into the ICEM of trade unions from the World Federation of Industry Workers. We welcome those unions and we know that your participation and involvement in our structures will make us stronger. 
 
Let us have great success at this Congress, and let us come away fully invigorated with the energy of Unity and Solidarity in order to fulfill the necessary work that we face! 
 
Fraternally,&nbsp;
Senzeni Zokwana and Manfred Warda

Fraternal Greetings to the ICEM&#039;s 4th Statutory Congress!

Preamble 
Umicore has committed itself to a sustainable development strategy, aiming to make its economic, environmental and social objectives coherent. 
 
In this agreement, Umicore intends to bring together the priorities of its global social policy, in order to confirm its principles of sustainable development, as they relate to the social aspects. 
 
Umicore Management states that its employees are a crucial factor for the Group&rsquo;s global success, which involves establishing mutually beneficial relations and dialogue between all the partners contributing to its development. 
 
Umicore recognizes that its commitment to financial success must also take into account the broader economic, environmental and social impact of its operations. Its sustainable development policy therefore notably focuses on the priorities of safe and healthy working conditions, continual improvement of its environmental performance, management and remediation of risks that are the result of historical operations, recycling and disposal of its products and the respect of all ILO core labour standards. 
 
This agreement aims to support the Umicore&rsquo;s internationalisation in social matters, in accordance with The Umicore Way, its Code of Conduct and Human Rights Policy. 
 
In order to strive for a balance between growth, economic profitability and environmental and social wellbeing, Umicore undertakes to implement the procedures and principles defined in this agreement at the various national and local levels within a reasonable timescale. 
 
In order to contribute to the success of this approach, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) and their affiliated trade unions will participate constructively with the personnel in seeking and implementing the means to achieve the objectives referred to in this agreement and to respect the agreed commitments, the companies people and assets. 
1. Human rights 
 
1.1. Human rights 
 
In accordance with its Human Rights Policy, Umicore fully supports the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and commits itself to respect all International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards. 
 
1.2. Banning of child labour 
 
Umicore undertakes not to employ children in violation of conventions 138 and 182 of the ILO. In countries where the minimum age of employment would be below the age of 15, Umicore will apply the age of 15 as the minimum age for employment. 
 
Given the hazardous nature of most of Umicore production units, the minimal age for working in production facilities in Umicore is defined at the age of 18, except in the framework of internship- or vocational training programmes, organised in co-operation with schools and training institutes or approved by the competent authority. Special care will be taken that these young people, with a minimum age of 14, are fully protected and have received adequate safety training and instructions. 
 
1.3. Banning of forced labour 
 
In accordance with ILO conventions 29 and 105, Umicore will under no circumstances make use of forced or bonded labour, such as forced labour by persons placed in an institution, or compulsory labour including labour as a means of political coercion or education. 
 
1.4. Right to organise and collective bargaining 
 
In accordance to ILO conventions 87 and 98, Umicore recognises and respects the freedom of its employees to choose whether or not to establish or to associate with any employee organisation of their own choosing (including labour unions) without Umicore&rsquo;s prior authorisation. The employment of a worker is not contingent upon the condition that he/she joins or not joins a union or be forced to relinquish trade union membership. Furthermore, union membership shall not be the cause for the dismissal of - or otherwise prejudice against - a worker. Umicore will not interfere with or finance labour organisations or take other actions with the intent of placing such organisations under its control. 
 
Umicore subscribes the principles of ILO Convention 135 and Recommendation 143 and recognizes the right of its employees to be represented by labour unions and other employee organisations in order to collectively bargain on employment conditions. 
 
Umicore and the respective employee organisations will co-operate constructively in a spirit of good faith. Even in cases of dispute the goal shall always be to maintain viable co-operation in the long term. This implicates, amongst others, the mutual respect of agreed commitments. 
 
All parties acknowledge that all representative positions defined in the scope of the agreement require that position holders have sufficient knowledge and experience and correct behaviour to deal with sensitive issues. 
 
1.5. Equal opportunities / Non-discrimination 
 
In accordance to ILO convention 100 and 111, Umicore is committed to an inclusive work culture and appreciates and recognizes that all people are unique and valuable, and should be respected for their individual abilities. Umicore does not accept any form of harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, cultural background, social group, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, age or political opinion. 
 
Umicore shall provide equal employment opportunity and treat all employees fairly. Umicore employees and business units shall only use merit, qualifications and other professional criteria as basis for employee-related decisions in Umicore, regarding for instance recruitment, training, compensation and promotion. 
 
In countries that apply &ldquo;positive action&rdquo; programmes or quota on certain minority groups Umicore will follow the country legislation. 
2 Working conditions 
 
2.1. Remuneration 
 
It is acknowledged and agreed that all employees are entitled to adequate remuneration (ILO Convention No. 100). Remuneration and all the other benefits are based on the principle of fairness and comply with the individual national legal standards or the standards of the national branches or company collective labour agreements, which ever is higher. 
 
2.2. Working time and paid holidays 
 
Umicore makes sure that the national regulations and agreements on working hours and regular paid holiday are adhered to. 
 
2.3. Health and safety at work 
 
Umicore does not compromise on a safe and healthy working environment for all employees and is committed to offering safe and healthy workplaces in accordance with national legislation. It seeks continuous improvement of its occupational health and safety performance. 
 
2.4. Qualification 
 
The skills and knowledge of the employees are of outstanding importance to Umicore and its striving to safeguard the future. That is why Umicore is committed to promoting measures aimed at the qualification of employees to the extent that the broadening and consolidation of the professional and technical knowledge is relevant for a particular job. In this context, vocational training and employment training are of particular importance and can been seen as a shared responsibility on one hand for the employer to provide the necessary training, and on the other hand for each employee to take up the offered training. 
3 Environment 
 
Umicore integrates sustainable development considerations within the corporate decision making process. 
 
It implements risk management strategies based on valid data and sound science and seeks continual improvement of its environmental performance. 
 
Umicore actively participates in the management and remediation of risks that are the result of historical operations. 
 
It facilitates and encourages responsible design, use, re-use, recycling and disposal of its products. 
 
To achieve the international and individual national environmental standards and to comply with them in practise, Umicore co-operates with the relevant local institutions. 
 
By focussing on recycling, Umicore also strives to make efficient use of natural resources and energy. 
4. Implementation of the agreement 
 
4.1. The Sustainable Development Agreement applies to all companies of the group in which Umicore has operational control. 
 
It obliges senior management and employees at all levels to comply with, accept and promote the agreed objectives. The responsibility lies with the management of the individual operations, the employees and with the workers&rsquo; representatives, insofar as such a body exists. 
 
4.2. In the subsidiaries where Umicore has a significant presence, but does not exercise a dominant influence, Umicore undertakes to use all the resources at its disposal in order to promote the principles stated in this agreement. 
 
4.3. Umicore seeks business partners whose policies regarding ethical, social and environmental issues are consistent with our own Code of Conduct, which is complementary to this agreement. Umicore supports and expressly encourages its business partners (subcontractors and suppliers) to take into account and apply the ILO core labour standards in their own corporate policy. Umicore takes the view that in doing so it lays the basis for promising future business relations 
 
4.4. This Sustainable Development Agreement will be made available in the usual Umicore languages to the management, the workers&rsquo; representatives and employees of all operations throughout the Group within the first 3 months of signing. It is communicated via the intranet and via the Business Group - Business Unit reporting lines. All Units and sites ensure that the employees are properly informed and trained if needed.
5. Monitoring the agreement 
 
5.1. The unit/site management is first responsible for implementing and assuring that the site adheres to this agreement. 
 
5.2. According to Umicore&rsquo;s Code of Conduct, all employees have the right and duty to address issues and problems related to this agreement to their superior or, if they deem this is not to be appropriate, to the heads of the Corporate Legal or Internal Audit Departments. This will not be to their detriment neither will it entail any sanctions. 
 
The concerns or complaints may be reported in the preferred language. 
 
5.3. At Group level, a specific joint committee will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of this agreement. Within this committee, the management will be represented by the Corporate Senior Vice President Human Resources and the Corporate Senior Vice President Environment, Health and Safety who, in the framework of the joint committee&rsquo;s activities, will directly report to the Chief Executive Officer. Regarding the employees&rsquo; representatives, they will be represented by 1 representative of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), 1 representative of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) and the Chairman of the European Works Council. 
 
5.4. The joint monitoring committee will meet once a year. At this annual meeting, the external auditor of the sustainable development report will present his audit report. Major complaints about the implementation of this agreement, addressed to or about local and corporate management or employees&rsquo; representatives, will be reviewed, as well as correction measures taken. 
 
5.5. As part of their monitoring competencies, the employee representatives of the monitoring committee can have every year a meeting with the employee representatives of one Umicore site, where employees are represented by delegates of union organizations affiliated to the IMF or ICEM. 
6. Validity of the agreement 
 
This agreement enters into force as from &hellip;&hellip; for a limited duration of 4 years. 
 
It can be terminated by any of the signatory parties by registered letter, subject to an advance notice of six months. 
 
Unless terminated within the period of validity of 4 years, the agreement is automatically extended for another 4 years. 
 
In the event of differences between the various language versions, the English version will be deemed authentic. 
 
This agreement is governed by Belgian law. Consequently, any disputes will fall within the exclusive competence of the Belgian courts.&nbsp; 
 
 
Signed by&nbsp;Umicore, the International Metalworkers For the International Federation of Federation (IMF) Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM).
Co-signatories: ACV, ABVV, ACLVB

Text of the Global Framework Agreement between Umicore and ICEM/IMF

Umicore, a Belgian metals group specialising in metal technology, chemicals, and catalysts systems, today signed a Global Framework Agreement jointly with the International Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) in Brussels. 
The agreement, initiated by the Belgian union, Centrale Chr&eacute;tienne du M&eacute;tal de Belgique (CCMB), is for a 4-year period and contains language establishing a joint committee to review and monitor the agreement. 
<img height="97" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="86" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The framework agreement was co-signed by Belgian labour unions/federations Metaal/FGTB-ABVV, CGSLP-ACLVB, and CSC-ACV, the federation which affiliates CCMB. 
 
&ldquo;We are pleased to join with the IMF in establishing global standards with Umicore,&rdquo; said ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Umicore is a company that crosses into a number of sectors, including those both in ICEM and IMF&rsquo;s range.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The significance of the agreement for us is this is our first joint agreement with another global union federation,&rdquo; said IMF Gen. Sec. Marcello Malentacchi. &ldquo;We are confident that both the IMF and ICEM, through our affiliates, will uphold the very best in social practices at Umicore.&rdquo; 
<img height="253" alt="" src="" width="380" />
From left, Kemal Ozkan and Manfred Warda, ICEM; Thomas Leysen and Ursula Saint-L&eacute;ger, Umicore; and Marcello Malentacchi, IMF 
The agreement contains 6 articles: Human Rights, Working Conditions, Environment, Implementation of Agreement, Monitoring, and Validity of Agreement. Under Human Rights, Umicore pledges to adhere to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, as well as adherence to ILO core labour standards. 
The latter specifically includes ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and other Conventions regarding child labour, forced labour, and non-discrimination and equal opportunities practices.
<img height="260" alt="" src="" width="390" />
Under Working Conditions, the company agrees to ILO Convention 100 on fair and adequate remuneration, and pledges not to compromise on safety and health conditions in any workplace, as well as striving to post continuous improvements in all occupational health and safety performance. The Environmental principles include a 6-point plan centred on sustainable development issues. 
 
In initiating the Global Agreement, the Belgian union CCMB steered Umicore into discussions with the ICEM and IMF. Those negotiations started in earnest in January 2007 and were included in June. The agreement marks the ICEM&rsquo;s 13th such framework pact with a transnational company, while IMF has now ratified 17 such agreements. 
 
Brussels-based Umicore employs 14,000 staff in 35 countries. It began in 1906 as a Belgian mining company in the Congo, and in 2001 changed its name from Union Mini&eacute;re to Umicore. With significant divestment in the 1990s, the company since 2000 has focused on 4 businesses: advanced materials, precious metals services, precious metals products and catalysts, and zinc specialities and alloys. 
The text of the agreement can be found <a href="/index.php?id=187&amp;doc=2411&amp;la=EN">here</a>. 
 
For further information, please contact 
Dick Blin, ICEM: +32-474-88.00.54. or <a href="mailto:Dick.blin@icem.org">Dick.blin@icem.org</a> 
Kristyne Peter, IMF: +41-79-205.44.58 or <a href="mailto:kpeter@imfmetal.org">kpeter@imfmetal.org</a>

ICEM, IMF Sign Global Accord with Umicore

Archive

Belgian Unions Team on Colombia Petition Drive

Mugabe Regime Starves Jailed Gold Miners

USW Ends US Goodyear Strike after Membership Vote Approval

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 18

Latin American Rubber Workers Hold Conference

President of Tehran Bus Company Union Arrested Again

CEP Says ‘No’ to Weakening of Paper Sector Pact in Eastern Canada

Fraternal Greetings to the ICEM's 4th Statutory Congress!

Text of the Global Framework Agreement between Umicore and ICEM/IMF

ICEM, IMF Sign Global Accord with Umicore

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