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Support to miners and other workers in Russia campaigning for payment of wage arrears was today reaffirmed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). In particular, the ICEM Executive Committee called upon all ICEM affiliates worldwide to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia. 
 
 

<img height="294" alt="" src="" width="200" />
&nbsp;Unpaid Russian miners blocking a railway line. 
&quot;We can no longer bear to look into our children's hungry eyes,&quot; their placard says. &quot;We have nothing to lose.&quot; 
(Photo: Vyacheslav Voyakin, Vladivostok News) 

Full text of the resolution unanimously adopted by the ICEM Executive in Blankenberge, Belgium, today: 
 
We, participants of the 3rd Executive Committee meeting of the ICEM, observe with great concern the developments in Russia. 
 
Our colleagues, the Russian miners, were brought to the edge of despair by systematic delays in wage payments and severe erosion of social benefits, which pushed them to launch nationwide protest campaigns involving strikes, blocking of coal supplies and paralysing railroad traffic in several regions of Russia. 
 
 

<img height="207" alt="" src="" width="319" />
 
The coal industry in Russia is in a very difficult situation: it is planned to close 120 mines in 1998, leaving 300,000 miners unemployed. Miners appear to be hostages of the unwise economic policy of the Russian government and that is the background against which miners are not paid their salaries on time. 
 
In the course of the campaign, there were several cases when union leaders were harassed and threatened with prosecution by local authorities and employers. The Russian government threatened to undermine the effectiveness of collective actions by importing additional coal into Russia. We raise our voice against any persecution of union activists in Russia, and also appeal to ICEM affiliates to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia. 
 
For the time being, coal miners have forced the government into extraordinary measures, which resulted in the paying out of wage debts in several regions, and we congratulate our colleagues on this victory. 
 
However, our Brothers and Sisters in other industries continue to suffer from the immoral policy of wage arrears. The ICEM, at the request of Russian affiliates, has several times expressed solidarity in support of their struggle and sent letters of protest to the Russian authorities with reference to wage arrears. The ICEM has launched a worldwide cybercampaign on the Internet supporting Russian workers and their struggle. 
 
Today, we, the representatives of workers of 115 countries united in the ICEM, declare that in future, the ICEM will use all its possibilities to support the just struggle of Russian workers for their rights. 
 
We urge the Russian authorities and employers not to bring workers and their families to the edge of rage and despair, but to solve all problems in a civilised way, on the basis of respect for human rights, justice and law.

Block Extra Coal Exports To Russia, Union International Says

The Indian and Pakistani governments should &quot;renounce nuclear weaponry,&quot; the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) urged today. The ICEM's worldwide membership includes workers in the civil nuclear industry. 
 
Full text of the resolution unanimously adopted by the ICEM Executive in Blankenberge, Belgium, today: 
 
Emphasising the position of the world's nuclear industry workers, as expressed at the last World Conference of Nuclear Industry Workers in Washington, USA, in March 1995, that this powerful technology should be directed towards the peaceful service of humanity; 
Understanding that the causes of fear and conflict in the world spring from social and economic injustice and are heightened by the impacts of globalisation; 
the ICEM Executive Committee, meeting in Blankenberge, Belgium, on 28-29 May 1998 
 
Expresses its alarm at the recent testing of nuclear devices by the governments of India and Pakistan; 
Calls upon the Indian and Pakistani governments to renounce nuclear weaponry in the pursuit of national interests and to cease any deployment of nuclear weapons as a threat to their neighbours; 
Pledges its support for the people and especially the workers of India and Pakistan in their just struggle to obtain a fair share of world production and resources to feed and to develop their nations.

Renounce Nuclear Weapons, Unions Urge India And Pakistan

Trade unions, environment groups and indigenous people's organisations today demonstrated peacefully in Melbourne, Australia, outside the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto. 
 
 

<img height="269" alt="" src="" width="380" />
 
The multinational, which is the world's biggest private mining company, is facing a broad-based campaign against its environmental damage and its violations of human rights. In particular, its attacks on trade union rights in many parts of the world have made it a priority target for networking by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Around 200 protesters in Melbourne today held placards saying &quot;Union Rights Are Human Rights&quot; and peacefully lined the route taken by shareholders attending the meeting. A large truck displayed posters saying &quot;North, South, East, West - Rio Tinto Fails The Test&quot;. 
 
All those attending the meeting were also given a copy of the major report on the company released by the ICEM - Rio Tinto - Tainted Titan - 1997 Stakeholders Report. Interestingly, a number of shareholders indicated they had already read the report via the Internet, as part of the ICEM'S Rio Tinto cybercampaign. 
 
A large number of stakeholder campaigners - around 70 - entered the meeting proper, using small shareholdings or roxy forms. The total size of the meeting was between 400 and 500 people. 
 
 

<img height="444" alt="" src="" width="319" />
Australian miners' leader John Maitland addressing protesters outside the Melbourne AGM. 
 
Rio Tinto turned down his proposal that the company should sit down with the various stakeholder groups to discuss their allegations. 

The meeting was conducted exclusively by John Uhrig, the chair of the Australian company. He allowed no other directors (all of whom were present) to answer questions. The chairman was questioned intensively by stakeholders over issues such as: 

<ul>
 <li>
 <div>relations with the Indonesian armed forces and human rights abuses around the Grasberg copper mine </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>relations with Aboriginal people in Australia - particularly the distress and community division caused by the company's negotiations around the Century Zinc proposal </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>the Hunter Valley coal mine dispute and the refusal of the company to recognise the recent vote (93%) against the company's proposal for a non-union enterprise agreement </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Rio Tinto's persistent refusal to consider a return to collective bargaining at its Hamersley Iron operations despite a recent survey result showing that 80% of workers polled wanted to return to a collective bargaining process (and away from the individual staff contracts). </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>the refusal of the company to link performance bonuses to such issues as environmental and human rights performance </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>the refusal of the company to justify why its new bonus scheme rewarded directors for only average performance by the company. </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>John Uhrig repeatedly fumbled and failed to answer questions. He frequently relied on pre-prepared replies to questions which did not actually answer the questioner. He did not appear to be a chair either in command of the meeting or in possession of the relevant facts about the company. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
His conduct was often arrogant and patronising to questioners. John Ondawame, representative of the Amungme people from near the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, was especially poorly treated in this manner. Uhrig specifically singled out the &quot;Tainted Titan&quot; report and asked shareholders to note the company's response. He also tried to make an issue of the disclaimer attached to the stakeholders' report, but this point was refuted by Damien Roland of the ICEM who stated that the disclaimer was a standard one and similar to Rio Tinto's own disclaimer on its web site. 
 
The meeting concluded in some acrimony although the conduct of the overall meeting showed a very reasonable attempt by stakeholders to put their case. The chair concluded the meeting even though many questions remained unanswered. The final question allowed by the chair was from John Maitland. He is ICEM Vice-President and National Secretary of the ICEM-affiliated mining and allied workers' union CFMEU. His union is currently facing one of Rio Tinto's most sustained attempts to deunionise mines and end collective bargaining. 
 
In his question to the AGM, Maitland proposed to Rio Tinto that it sit down with various stakeholder groups to discuss the allegations against the company. This proposal was rejected with a flat &quot;no&quot; by the chairman, who then went on to say they would only discuss matters with individual groups in isolation.

Rio Tinto: Stakeholders Protest At Australian AGM

Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining company, is under renewed scrutiny this week as protests by a worldwide coalition of labour, environmental, human rights and indigenous people's organisations hit home. 
 
In the build-up to the company's Annual General Meeting in Melbourne tomorrow, Australian newspapers are this week giving extensive coverage to criticisms of Rio Tinto by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Due to its anti-union stance in many parts of the world, Rio Tinto is currently one of the main targets for the ICEM's global networking. ICEM Australian affiliate the CFMEU is facing one of Rio Tinto's most sustained attempts to deunionise its mines and end collective bargaining. 
 
The latest media coverage was sparked by the Australian launch today of the Rio Tinto Stakeholders' Report. Published by the ICEM, the 56-page report is entitled Rio Tinto - Tainted Titan. It takes a cool but critical look at the multinational's financial performance and prospects as well as Rio Tinto's record on human rights, health, safety and the environment and relations with indigenous peoples. 
 
The stakeholders' report had also been launched earlier this month in London to coincide with Rio Tinto's AGM there. The company is dual-listed in the UK and Australia. The London AGM witnessed sharp exchanges between union representatives and company chairman Robert Wilson - see ICEM UPDATE 45/1998. The Australian media are predicting more fireworks in Melbourne tomorrow. 
 
The report is available from the ICEM. 
 
It can also be accessed in full on this site, as part of the ICEM'S Rio Tinto cybercampaign. 
 
The cybercampaign is attracting growing attention and support worldwide. It includes a forum where everybody can exchange comments on the company's behaviour and performance. Messages posted so far include one from a Rio Tinto executive - who has not, however, so far registered for a continuing free exchange of views. 
 
 
 
MORE PARLIAMENTARY EMBARRASSMENTS FOR RIO TINTO 
 
Meanwhile, the stakeholders' report was praised in a motion tabled in Britain's House of Commons the day after the London meeting. Moved by Member of Parliament Michael Clapham and backed by many other British legislators, the motion is &quot;That this House congratulates the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, which represent 20 million workers in 114 countries on their lobby of Rio Tinto's Annual General Meeting on 13th May and on the publication of the Stakeholders' Report - Rio Tinto Tainted Titan, presented on the same day at the Stakeholders' Factual Meeting in the Methodist Central Hall, which examines the company's human rights record and scrutinises the environmental and health and safety performance of its operation; and calls on the company to honour the rights laid out in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which it claims to have adopted into its business practice.&quot; 
 
The Universal Declaration enshrines everybody's right to form and to join trade unions. 
 
The mining multinational faced further embarrassment in the House of Commons last Thursday, when a parliamentary foreign affairs committee criticised Rio Tinto, British Petroleum, Shell and Unilever for failing to adopt policies that would prevent the exploitation of child labour. Conservative Member of Parliament Sir John Stanley, himself a former Rio Tinto employee, asked representatives of the four multinationals if they had a global minimum age for the hiring of staff. When told they did not, he condemned their &quot;thoroughly woolly&quot; policy on child labour.

Rio Tinto: World Protests Hit Home

First prize in a competition run by leading design magazine Creative Review has gone to a mining safety poster. 
<img height="335" src="" width="236" alt="" />
 
Issued by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the winning poster was created by Fiona Macintosh of London-based design firm Artloud. 
 

<img height="334" src="" width="237" alt="" />
 
It shows miners and their families in a protective group. Surrounding them is the slogan THE STRONGER THE UNION, THE SAFER THE MINE. 
 
Creative Review's judges selected the design from several hundred entries on a wide range of social campaigning themes. The competition brief was to show that graphics can &quot;do some good&quot;. 
 

<img height="335" src="" width="236" alt="" />
 
The poster is &quot;bright, bold and totally unpretentious,&quot; commented one of the judges, advertising copywriter Chas Bayfield. &quot;I love the simplicity and it also conveys a real sense of community - I want to be in that huddle. In fact, I want a union, why can't I have a union?!&quot; 
 
The 20-million-strong ICEM is using the design in its campaign to get all governments to ratify and implement Convention 176 of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). Adopted in 1995 by union, employer and government representatives within the ILO, Convention 176 and the accompanying Recommendation 182 set important international standards for mining health and safety. The Convention is the result of hard campaigning by ICEM predecessor the Miners' International Federation.

ICEM Poster Wins Design Contest

On September 16 over 800,000 workers participated in a National Day of Action organized by the Colombian trade unions including ICEM affiliates. Demonstrations and strikes took place throughout the country. The unions were protesting against a decree adopted by the new Colombian President, Alvaro URIBE, introducing more 'flexibility' in working relations. This will inevitably lead to many redundancies, as well as reducing salaries and cutting pensions. 
 
 

<img height="151" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Activists and ICEM Vice-President Paul Lootens 
demonstrate in front of the Colombian Embassy in Brussels (Photos: Lieven Vanhoutte, AC-CG) 
In a letter to President Uribe, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs warned against the kind of crisis that has hit other Latin-American countries: 'You must desist from the intention to cut rights obtained by workers through a tradition of struggle. Your proposals will inevitably lead to lower wages for the workers and this will in turn paralyze production as no-one can afford it.' Higgs further expressed the full support of the 20 million-strong ICEM for the Day of Action in Colombia and urged President Uribe to fully guarantee the democratic rights of Freedom of Assembly and the Right to Organize. 
 
Acts of repression were reported in many regions. ICEM's Belgian affiliate La Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB - De Algemene Centrale ABVV had sent an observer. This activist witnessed several serious acts of repression and was himself briefly detained. 
In their continued support to Colombian workers, La Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB - De Algemene Centrale ABVV (AC-CG), participated in a demonstration at the Brussels Colombian embassy on September 16 to coincide with the actions in Colombia. Demonstrators expressed their support for the Colombian workers' struggle for democracy and trade unions rights. AC-CG's Federal Secretary and ICEM Vice-President, Paul Lootens, handed the Ambassador an appeal to the Colombian President. In his letter, Lootens insisted that the Colombian President should 'encourage a political solution to the internal armed conflict, guarantee the constitutional right to expression and mobilization and fully protect the human rights of the struggling workers'. 
 
ICEM will continue to monitor the situation in Colombia and to support actions in favor of peace, democracy and trade union rights. 
<a href="/index.php?id=26&amp;la=ES&amp;doc=1236">For the full text of Fred Higgs' letter to President Uribe (in Spanish), click here.</a>

Solidarity with Colombian Workers

Oil multinational Mobil will raise issues of democracy and human rights with Nigeria's military regime. 
 
That was the pledge yesterday from Mobil Chairman Lucio Noto. He was speaking at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Fairfax, USA. 
 
And, say observers at the meeting, Noto specifically undertook to raise the cases of jailed Nigerian oilworkers' leaders Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi. 
 
Noto is due to meet leaders of Nigeria's military regime this autumn. While promising to raise rights issues with them, Noto yesterday denied that Mobil has any great influence with the Nigerian government. 
 
This view was countered by two Nigerian women who intervened in the debate from the floor of the meeting. 
 
Mobil and other oil multinationals have enormous clout, insisted Cordelia Kokori, because &quot;the Nigerian government eats, breathes and sleeps oil.&quot; In an emotive speech, she appealed directly to Noto to help bring about the release of her father, Frank Kokori. He is the General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' NUPENG, and he has been held without charge or trial by the Nigerian regime since 1994. His colleague Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, has similarly been detained without charge or trial since January 1996. Both men's health is continuing to deteriorate. Both are recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. 
 
Cordelia Kokori told the Mobil shareholders that she could not now return to Nigeria, as she would immediately be arrested. &quot;I don't know when I will see my father and mother again.&quot; 
 
The other Nigerian speaker at yesterday's meeting was Hafsat Abiola. Her father, detained politician Moshood Abiola, is thought to have won the Nigerian presidential elections that were annulled by the regime in 1993. Her mother, Kudirat Abiola, was also a politically prominent Nigerian. Kudirat was gunned down in 1996 while campaigning for her husband's release. 
 
Oil money &quot;purchased the guns to assassinate my mother,&quot; Hafsat Abiola told Noto. 
 
Yesterday's debate was sparked by a shareholder resolution pressing Mobil to review its investments in Nigeria in the light of continuing human rights violations there. 
 
The two Mobil shareholders tabling the motion were Franklin Research and Development Corporation, a US-based socially responsible investment firm with 500 million US dollars in client assets, and the Service Employees International Union Master Trust. 
 
Also backed by New York City's pension funds, another important Mobil shareholder, the motion asked the board of directors to review and develop guidelines for company investments in countries where &quot;there is a pattern of ongoing and systematic violation of human rights; a government is illegitimate; there is a call by human right advocates, pro-democracy organisations or legitimately elected representatives for economic sanctions; and Mobil's long-term financial performance may be potentially threatened by international criticism, economic sanctions and boycotts by consumers and local governments.&quot; 
 
The resolution notes that all of these factors are in place in Nigeria. Mobil is in direct partnership with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and has made payments, including royalties, fees and taxes, to the military government. The resolution further notes that the UN's International Labour Organisation has found Nigeria in violation of internationally-accepted labour standards and has demanded the release of Kokori, Dabibi and others held incommunicado without charge or trial. 
 
&quot;We welcome Mobil's commitment to take action on behalf of Kokori and Dabibi,&quot; said Andrew Stern, President of the 1.1-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU). &quot;Reports from Nigeria indicate that these union leaders are very sick and may die in jail.&quot; Mobil, he insisted, must &quot;use its influence with the Nigerian government to seek the release of the duly elected leaders of its Nigerian employees.&quot; 
 
Like NUPENG and PENGASSAN, the SEIU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which is leading a worldwide campaign to secure Dabibi's and Kokori's release. 
 
Opposed by Noto, the resolution nevertheless garnered more than the 6 percent of shareholder votes needed to reintroduce it next year if necessary. 
 
For the Franklin Research and Development Corporation, Simon Billenness emphasised that Noto &quot;specifically committed to bringing up the cases of Milton Dabibi, Frank Kokori and other prisoners. 
 
&quot;This is what we've been pressing Mobil to do,&quot; Billenness said. He felt &quot;sure that Mobil will live up to its commitment.&quot; 
 
&quot;Mobil's new pledge is certainly very welcome, and we congratulate them on their clear view of their own longer-term interests in Nigeria,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;We also congratulate the ICEM's American affiliates on their continuing campaign of pressure for our Nigerian brothers' release. 
 
&quot;The other major oil companies operating in Nigeria should now publicly make the same commitment as Mobil. The ICEM also renews its call to the world's governments to impose sanctions on Nigeria, including an oil boycott, unless the regime moves immediately to release the detainees and to restore full human rights, including trade union rights. In particular, we call on the heads of government of the G8 countries, meeting in England this weekend, to announce decisive and effective sanctions against the Nigerian regime until the repression ceases.&quot;

Nigerian Detainees: Mobil Mobilises

Trade unions representing Latin American energy workers have joined forces to combat &quot;neoliberal policies.&quot; They are pledged to defend union rights and workers' interests as privatisations and restructurings continue apace within Latin America's energy industries. 
 
24 electric power, oil and gas workers' unions from 14 countries attended the Regional Energy Conference held in Rio de Janeiro on May 11-14 by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The conference was part of a long-term ICEM project on &quot;Energy Policies and Trade Union Strategies for Latin America and the Caribbean&quot;. 
 
The unions adopted a three-year action programme to defend public energy entreprises through modernisation and the elaboration of alternative proposals on energy policies and industry structures. They will be training a group of negotiators to help unions to formulate proposals and to campaign in favour of them. Unions will seek alliances with social groups and non-governmental organisations to ensure broadly based support. 
 
Strong regulatory frameworks are essential to ensure democratic control over this strategic sector, instead of leaving it to multinational energy companies, said the unions. 
 
&quot;As the privatisations in Latin American energy industries show, implementing neoliberal policies designed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will only lead to massive loss of jobs, higher prices and increasing inequality,&quot; said Luiz Gonzaga, President of the Brazilian Urban Workers' Federation (FNU). Gonzaga was elected to lead the work of the electricity workers' network in the region. 
 
The oil and gas workers' group will be coordinated by Hernan von Hausen, President of the Chilean Oil Workers' Federation (Fenatrapech). 
 
The ICEM energy project also aims to examine processes of regional integration and the impact of reforms on health, safety and the environment, and to promote the participation of women in union activities. Latin American unions will join ICEM global networks for energy companies. 
 
Representatives of Spanish and French unions were present in Rio to discuss major investments made in the region by companies such as Electricite de France, Endesa and Ibedrola. 
 
The conference pledged support to energy workers facing disputes in Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Trinidad. 
 
While the conference was going on in Rio, two members of the oil workers' union USO were assassinated and a local union leader wounded in an attack in Colombia. A special protest was sent to the President of Colombia, urging efficient measures to end violence and violations of trade union rights. 
 
In a separate meeting, the energy unions' commission of Mercosur (the common market linking Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) decided on concrete measures to deepen cooperation in this sub-region. Mercosur energy unions will campaign in support of the Uruguayan electricity workers, who are out to obtain a referendum on a new law concerning the regulatory framework ofr the Uruguayan power industry. If 25 percent of the electorate turn out for a consultative vote on June 17, the Uruguayans will have a chance to plebiscite on the draft law. 
 
As the unions point out, the law, designed mainly by a global consultancy, would open the way for privatisation and deregulation. This is against official government policies and flouts the outcome of a referendum in 1992, in which the people rejected the privatisation of public services in Uruguay.

Latin American Energy Unions Step Up Action

Canadian-headquartered Hurricane Hydrocarbons faces global trade union protests over its anti-labour stance in Kazakhstan. Unless the dispute is resolved quickly, it may spark a complaint to the OECD. 
 
&quot;Regular violations of workers' rights&quot; are committed at Kazakh oil refiner OAO ShNOS, says the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). ShNOS is managed by Hurricane Hydrocarbons. 
 
A number of actions by ShNOS management run counter both to Kazakh law and to international standards, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs points out in a letter to Hurricane's President and CEO Bernard Isautier: 
 
- ShNOS has consistently blocked the collective bargaining process for the past three years, in contravention of Kazakh labour laws. 
 
- Women workers on maternity leave are being prevented from returning to work. This too is illegal. 
 
- An elected union official, T. Tsareva, editor of the local newspaper, has been sacked. This violates Kazakh laws which forbid the harassment of elected union officials. It also breaches similar worldwide standards set by the UN's International Labour Organisation and ratified by Kazakhstan. 
 
ShNOS, despite its steadily increasing income, has refused to compensate workers for inflation over the past three years. Moreover, Higgs states, a &quot;planned outsourcing policy and massive redundancies have put at risk the jobs of hundreds of employees and the lives of their families&quot;. 
 
Two important breaches of OECD corporate governance principles are pinpointed in the ICEM's letter: 
 
- ShNOS &quot;refuses to supply economic information to the union needed for collective bargaining&quot;. 
 
- The company &quot;refuses to allow the local union to take part in negotiations on restructuring of ShNOS (outsourcing), which touches vital interests of a considerable number of workers and their families&quot;. This refusal violates local law as well as OECD guidelines. 
 
Isautier should &quot;immediately intervene, personally&quot; in the situation at ShNOS, Higgs urges. &quot;In the event of your failing to remedy your gross violations of Kazakh law and codes of international practice, I wish to inform you that we are considering raising a case at the OECD concerning your company's behaviour.&quot; 
 
The ICEM will be keeping in touch with affiliated unions in both Kazakhstan and Canada over developments.

Hurricane Reaps Whirlwind Over Kazakh Oil Workers&#039; Rights

Pay for German chemical workers is to go up by 2.4 percent under an agreement reached on Saturday (9 May). 
 
The deal is backdated to 1 March, 1 April or 1 May, varying from state to state, and will run for 14 months. It applies to the 590,000 chemical workers in Germany's western states. There are separate bargaining arrangements for the country's eastern &quot;new federal states&quot;. 
 
Workers covered by the new agreement will also receive a one-off extra payment equivalent to 1.1 percent of one year's basic pay. But firms facing difficult financial situations will have the option of lowering and/or postponing this payment - provided they have the prior agreement of the works council. Works councils are the elected representative bodies for the employees in each German workplace. 
 
The overall increase in pay volume under the agreement will be 3 percent. 
 
It was also agreed to boost existing opportunities for older workers to move to part-time working. Workers aged 55 and over who opt to work half-time are already guaranteed at least 85 percent of their previous full net earnings. The length and coverage of this arrangement will be extended. 
 
Traineeships in the sector will be further increased under the agreement. Between 1995 and 1997, the number of apprenticeships in western Germany's chemical industry was increased by more than 20 percent. The employers have undertaken to ensure a further rise of at least five percent in traineeships between 1997 and the end of the year 2000. Apprentices' pay will remain at the present level under the agreement, but they will receive a one-off extra payment of 200 deutschmarks. 
 
Other provisions in the agreement lay the foundations for additional extra-legal pensions to be built into collective agreements. 
 
&quot;We have moved into new territory with the structure of these pay rises,&quot; commented Werner Bischoff. He is in charge of collective bargaining at the chemical, mining and energy union IG BCE. The two-part structure would, he said, make it possible to &quot;react much more strongly than up to now to the economic situation.&quot; All in all, he emphasised, the agreement marks &quot;the continuation of our bargaining policy - it's all about safeguarding existing jobs, creating new ones and strengthening purchasing power.&quot; 
 
At the global level, IG BCE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

German Chemicals Pay Rise

Archive

Block Extra Coal Exports To Russia, Union International Says

Renounce Nuclear Weapons, Unions Urge India And Pakistan

Rio Tinto: Stakeholders Protest At Australian AGM

Rio Tinto: World Protests Hit Home

ICEM Poster Wins Design Contest

Solidarity with Colombian Workers

Nigerian Detainees: Mobil Mobilises

Latin American Energy Unions Step Up Action

Hurricane Reaps Whirlwind Over Kazakh Oil Workers' Rights

German Chemicals Pay Rise

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