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Unions organising in the Novartis company today launched the first-ever worldwide network of trade unions within a pharmaceuticals multinational. 
 
Run through the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the network brings together unions representing Novartis employees on all continents. 
 
It will enable them to swap information and strategies, pool collective bargaining data and plan joint action when needed. Electronic networking will play a major part in these exchanges. 
 
The ICEM is gradually building up union networks within major multinationals in its sectors. ICEM-affiliated unions in the company concerned establish and run a network, with unions in the company's headquarters country often taking on a key role. 
 
In the case of Swiss-headquartered Novartis, the union network coordinator is Roland Conus, of the ICEM-affiliated Swiss industrial and construction workers' union SIB/GBI. 
 
&quot;We're often told that knowledge is power,&quot; Conus commented today. &quot;That's not quite right. In fact, knowledge plus the ability to communicate knowledge is power. That's what this network is all about. We can tell each other what we need to know in order to negotiate effectively with Novartis. And we can tell the world if Novartis engages in anti-social behaviour. In which case, the company board may have to get used to putting workers and society first and then, but only then, thinking about shareholder profits and executive pay-outs.&quot; 
 
That, Conus believes, can only be achieved through global union networking. &quot;Basically, our motto is the same as the company's: Think Globally, Act Locally.&quot; 
 
A slimmed-down Novartis is currently ranked ninth in the world pharmaceutical company league, based solely on its 2000 prescription drug sales of US$ 10.7 billion. 
 
The spin-off of its agrochemicals interests into the Syngenta joint-venture with Zeneca in November 2000 - and the job cuts in both companies that accompanied this restructuring - marked the abandonment of the group's earlier &quot;life science&quot; concept. 
 
Pharmaceuticals now account for 63 per cent of Novartis' revenues, but for 80 per cent of its operating profit. Other operating divisions cover consumer health (food chemicals and neutricals), generics, eye-care and animal health. 
 
The company has encountered a number of problems over the past year, says the first issue of the ICEM Novartis Network News. So &quot;management may be tempted to seek scale through acquisition, plunging a joined workforce into yet another round of unwelcome restructuring. In the face of such uncertainty, employees need to be able to count on a well-organised union that can negotiate with management from a position of strength.&quot; 
 
For Novartis workers and their unions, the network says, the way forward is clear: &quot;In a global marketplace, union organisation needs also to be global in its reach, but local in its knowledge and effectiveness. It is for exactly this purpose that the Novartis Union Network has been formed.&quot;

Novartis Unions Launch Global Network

Brazilian oil workers' and seafarers' unions have launched a new Solidarity Pact with US mariners who are fighting for the right to join a trade union. 
 
Signed in Rio de Janeiro, the pact pledges international cooperation to promote fairness, justice and a voice at work for mariners working on US-flag vessels of Trico Marine Services, Inc. 
 
In addition, maritime unions throughout Latin America have agreed to support the campaign. 
 
This is a new phase in worldwide action by mariners and oil workers. The unions involved are affiliates of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Together, they are supporting a campaign to secure trade union rights for American workers employed by Trico, which supplies shipping and other services to offshore oil producers. 
 
The Pact says: &quot;The Brazilian and US unions call peacefully and lawfully on the customers of Trico not to engage in any further contracts with Trico from this day forward until Trico ceases its anti-union activities and, upon demonstration of majority support, recognises the OMU as the Union representing mariners working on the company's US Gulf of Mexico fleet and negotiates in good faith a collective bargaining agreement providing these workers all the protections of union representation.&quot; 
 
It was backed by maritime unions from all over Latin America who were taking part in an ITF conference in Rio. They resolved to &quot;support OMU and the Bilateral Solidarity Pact by taking steps to persuade Trico Marine to end its campaign of intimidation, including any and all steps sanctioned by applicable law which would have the effect of limiting Trico's ability to expand its operations anywhere in Latin America, until such time as Trico Marine recognises the rights of its employees to organise and bargain collectively through the representatives of their choice.&quot; 
 
The OMU is a coalition of American mariners' unions. 
 
Trico Marine operates a fleet of nearly 100 vessels worldwide in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea and off Brazil. Trico mariners in the North Sea and Brazil enjoy the protection of a union contract. US workers are not so lucky. 
 
&quot;For over a year, Trico mariners have sought a union,&quot; explains David Heindl. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU). 
 
&quot;Trico has responded by firing union supporters, blocking union representatives from visiting ships... and finding all manner of ways to prevent their mariners from being able to communicate with our unions,&quot; Heindl says. &quot;Further, Trico has run a strong campaign of harassment, intimidation, interrogation and pressure to scare mariners away from their aim of having a union.&quot; 
 
One country where Trico workers have full union rights is Norway. The Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF has mounted a sustained campaign to back their American colleagues' right to organise. Details in ICEM Update 56/2001. 
 
This August, the Norwegian pressure brought a first breakthrough, when Trico promised NOPEF that the company would provide all its US employees with the contact details of the relevant American trade unions. This is &quot;a step in the right direction,&quot; NOPEF President Leif Sande said. He added that &quot;as long as we experience progress in what we see as negotiations&quot;, NOPEF would not launch a boycott of Trico's Norwegian operations. 
 
Trico Marine also operates approximately 15 vessels in the Brazilian offshore market. Most of these are under contract to the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras. 
 
Renato Martins, the ICEM Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, commented in Rio: &quot;Signing this pact jointly is a concrete act of solidarity to dissuade Trico from continuing its unacceptable anti-union practices. Also, it is an opportunity to join together in the fight for maritime workers.&quot; 
 
And Antonio Fritz, Interamerican Regional Secretary of the ITF, said: &quot;This resolution and the commitments made by these maritime unions throughout Latin America are very important actions. They demonstrate that the international solidarity of our unions is not restrictive and is not limited. International trade union solidarity is real and it is strong!&quot;

Trico: Latin American Workers Join Battle

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
A strike by Energy and Petroleum Workers&rsquo; Union (CGTM) of Mauritania continues against contracting firm El Majabaat El Koubra Tours (MKT). The two sides were before the Labour Inspectorate of Mauritania on 27 October in efforts to settle the 14-day strike, but recommendations put forward by the ministry were rejected by MKT. 
The company, a transport and logistics provider for Australian exploration and development company Woodside Petroleum, sacked 16 workers earlier in October after it signed a protocol agreement with the union that included a first of November date for union elections. Ten of the 16 workers were to stand for union election
&nbsp;

Mediation Fails to Resolve Contractor Strike in Mauritania

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
Thousands of trade unionists &mdash; including many members of ICEM Ukrainian affiliates &mdash; marched on the country&rsquo;s Rada, or Parliament, 20 October to protest neo-liberal policies contained in the government&rsquo;s 2006 draft budget. 
The picketing, led by Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FTUU) Chairman Alexander Yurkin, involved a wide range of other Ukrainian trade unions and depicts the mass concern by Ukrainians over a proposed budget that would strip away social safeguards, including decreased funding to the country&rsquo;s coal sector. 
Trade union leaders backed by workers demand that the minimum wage be made equal to Ukraine&rsquo;s subsistence level and then increased next year, and that social security spending be increased. Lawmakers voted by 306 to 77 to reject the draft budget on the day of the protest, and the Ukrainian parliament has instructed that an adjusted budget be submitted to the Rada on the first day of November.

Ukrainian Trade Unions Lead Fight to Protect Social Standards

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
Five members of Colombian oil workers&rsquo; Union Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petroleo (USO) are now in their ninth day of a hunger strike over the planned privatisation of Ecopetrol&rsquo;s oil refinery in Cartagena. 
The Uribe government has broken a promise made in spring 2004 that, in part, ended a 38-day strike by USO at Ecopetrol over privatisation of the state-run company, by proceeding with a 51% ownership transfer of the Cartagena refinery, Colombia&rsquo;s second largest.

Hunger Strike in Colombia by USO Union Members

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
Union members at the Esso Union of Petroleum and Chemical Workers Federation of Thailand (PCFT) are in a pay dispute with Esso Thailand Co. Ltd. The 354 union members at a refinery in Sti-racha, Chonburi province, have staged protests at ExxonMobil&rsquo;s Thai offices since 10 October over Esso&rsquo;s refusal to meet adequate pay demands. 
Despite record profits and high petroleum prices, the company has stonewalled union demands to match pay increases equal to Thailand&rsquo;s inflation rate. PCFT has reduced its pay demands in two government-conducted conciliation sessions and arbitration on the pay matter is scheduled for 4 November. 
Under Thai labour law, the Esso Union of ICEM affiliate PCFT is prohibited from striking because of its strategic importance in the energy industry.

Thai Affiliate in Pay Dispute with ExxonMobil

Dear visitor,
The dispute has been settled since we issued this solidarity alert. 
Action is no longer required.
Thank you for your support. 
 
Since 4 June, union members of Local 28, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada, have been on strike against Invista at a chemical plant in the province of Ontario. The plant manufactures nylon fibres, and Invista is global spin-off of DuPont that Koch Industries of the United States purchased last year. 
<img height="244" alt="" src="" width="294" />
The union and management of Invista had a tentative agreement that would have ended the strike in September, but included in the final settlement was a back-to-work agreement that would have, amongst other things, removed seniority. 
 
The 380 union members voted to reject this proposal because, quite simply, their jobs are at stake. The company&rsquo;s back-to-work protocol included language stating if a worker was not called back to work within 12 days of the strike&rsquo;s ending, he/she would be on indefinite layoff. A large section of the plant was completely shut during the strike. A start-up is not expected for some time. Invista&rsquo;s intention is to subvert the union&rsquo;s entire seniority system. 
 
In mediation sessions since the rejection, Invista has been unwilling to amend this harsh provision.&nbsp; 
 
The ICEM is calling on all its affiliates to take two actions: 
 
1.) <a href="#unio">Write a message of solidarity</a> to CEP Local 28 expressing your union&rsquo;s support and appreciation for its courageous stand to protect an essential part of any union&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement; and 
2.) <a href="#comp">Lodge a protest with Invista</a>. The same protest can be sent to Invista&rsquo;s parent company, Koch Industries. 
 
We include model letters of each that can be used. Please modify your letters as you see fit. And please copy ICEM&rsquo;s Chemicals Sector Officer, Michael Wolters, at <a href="mailto:michael.wolters@icem.org">michael.wolters@icem.org</a>&nbsp;with all correspondence. 
 
Thank you very much for your co-operation. 
<hr />
More information on this dispute
ICEM Inbrief (3 October 2005) 
<a href="/?id=78&amp;doc=1431&amp;la=EN">CEP Members in Canada Reject Invista Contract </a> 
 
ICEM Inbrief (5 september 2005) 
<a href="/?id=78&amp;doc=1300&amp;la=EN">Invista Unions Rally Behind CEP at Canadian Chemical Plant Strike 
</a> 
ICEM InBrief (11 July 2005) 
<a href="/?id=78&amp;doc=599&amp;la=EN">CEP Members Strike Former DuPont Plant in Canada</a> <a name="comp"></a>
<hr />
Mr. Jeff Walker <a name="comp"></a> 
Chairman and CEO 
Invista 
41 23 East 37th Street North 
Wichita, KS 67220 
USA 
 
Fax: +1-316-828.11.60 
invistainfo@invista.com 
 
And: 
 
Charles Koch 
Chairman and CEO 
Koch Industries 
4111 East 37th Street North 
Wichita, KS 67220 
USA 
 
Fax: +1-316-828.57.39 
<a href="mailto:kochc@kochind.com">kochc@kochind.com</a> 
and 
<a href="mailto:comments@kochind.com">comments@kochind.com</a> 
 
 
Dear Sir, 
 
I am writing to lodge a serious protest with your company&rsquo;s labour relations posture in Canada. Our union has learned of an ongoing strike in the province of Ontario by the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP), an important ally of our union. 
 
We understand that a strike at one of your Ontario chemical plants, ongoing since 4 June 2005, could have been settled in September with a mutually acceptable labour agreement. 
 
Instead, management at this plant attempted to insert a back-to-work protocol, which would drastically change the seniority structure of this plant. We take deep exception to this affront on workers&rsquo; rights. The notion of a seniority system, particularly in a chemical plant in which a high level of skill and knowledge is necessary for safety and productivity, is an essential element in a well-run worksite. 
 
We strongly call on you to change your company&rsquo;s position on this issue at this struck worksite in Canada. 
 
Sincerely, 
<hr />
Brother Steve Armstrong <a name="unio"></a><a name="unio"></a> 
CEP 
Local 28 
Highway 29, PO Box 231 
Brockville, Ontario 
CANADA K6V 5V2 
 
Fax number: +1 613.498.1562 
 
Brother Armstrong and Members of CEP Local 28, 
 
Our Trade Union has heard of your five-month strike against the chemicals company Invista through our affiliation with the ICEM. 
 
We write to bring greetings of Solidarity and Unity to your members who are striking for very justified reasons at this company in Canada. We understand that a labour agreement was nearly in place to end the strike, but that management inserted unacceptable language that would severely damage your member&rsquo;s seniority provisions. 
 
The principle of seniority in the collective bargaining system is a sacred provision that assures a systematic and uniform progression of the workforce. It also assures the highest quality of skills and experience for a company, and it is hard to understand why a company such as Invista would disregard this. 
 
Again, please accept the Solidarity and Best Wishes from the entire membership of our Union. We stand with you in your pursuit of justice on the jobsite and for the protection of your rightful work rules. 
 
In Solidarity,

Local Union of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada Needs Solidarity Assistance in Strike

ICEM Solidarity Appeal: Canadian CEP Local 28&#039;s 5-Month Strike Against Chemical Firm Invista

<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM calls attention to grave injustices involving labour violations that are occurring in the fledging oil and gas sector in Mauritania. Energy and Petroleum Workers Union (CGTM) of Mauritania has been on strike against El Majabaat El Koubra Tours (MKT), a travel, transport and logistics provider to Woodside Petroleum Ltd. of Australia, since 14 October. 
 
The strike is over MKT&rsquo;s sacking of 16 trade union activists just days after the company signed a protocol agreement with the union that included a first of November date for election of union delegates to the MKT unit of Energy and Petroleum Workers Union. Ten of the 16 workers were set to stand for union elections in that vote. The ICEM is calling for immediate reinstatement of the workers. 
 
The firings are a blatant violation of Mauritania labour law, as well as in violation of ILO Core Conventions 87 and 98, universally accepted labour standards involving Freedom of Association and the Right to Bargain Collectively. 
 
The Energy and Petroleum Workers Union, which is receiving strong support in its quest for justice from its national labour center, the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM), has lodged complaints with the Labour Minister, who has investigated the matter. 
 
He reported to leaders of CGTM and the Energy and Petroleum Workers Union on 18 October that MKT&rsquo;s response to the inquiry was the Mauritania-based travel company realizes the firings are illegal, but is willing to face the consequences of its action &ldquo;even if it comes to social unrest.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The actions and subsequent attitude of this oil services contractor are appalling, and this is something we will not tolerate,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We will not stand idly by while a contractor in one of our primary industry sectors blatantly breaks the law and then flaunts it,&rdquo; added Higgs. 
 
The ICEM has lodged an official complaint with the government of Mauritania over MKT, specifically citing the breach of ILO Conventions. &ldquo;We call on the unconditional reinstatement of workers abusively dismissed and urge you to use your good offices to have the fundamental labour rights as defined by the ILO respected,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s letter to the chairman of the military council that is now ruling the west African country. 
 
MKT provides transport and other logistical support to Woodside Energy&rsquo;s offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration and development in Mauritania. Woodside is the lead company in several separate offshore joint ventures for deepwater drilling off Mauritania in which reserves of 700 million barrels of oil exist. It also has tenders with the Mauritania government to explore onshore blocks of the Taodeni Basin along the border with Mali. 

Read the <a href="/index.php?id=3&amp;doc=1463&amp;la=FR">ICEM's letter to the Chairman</a> of the Military Council in Mauritania (In French)
Click <a href="http://www.cgtm.org">here</a> to go directly to the web site of the CGTM in Mauritania&nbsp;(in French): <a href="http://www.cgtm.org">http://www.cgtm.org</a>

ICEM News release No. 23/2005

ICEM Supports Mauritanian Union in Strike Against Contractor

Trouble in Mauritania’s Oil Sector

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
In Poland, workers of nine trade unions at KGHM Polska Miedz S.A., a publicly-traded copper and silver mining company in which the state holds 45% stake, won an extra month&rsquo;s salary in collective negotiations due to the high copper prices. 
The unions demanded the increases for 17,000 workers after the company stated its 2005 profit projections would be doubled. After first offering a half-month&rsquo;s extra pay, KGHM&rsquo;s board met the demands of the unions, and the extra paycheck will be awarded prior to 4 November.

Polish Copper Workers Score Pay Gains

<img height="55" src="" width="138" alt="" />
The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued labour law violations against Asarco LLC, the Grupo Mexico copper subsidiary that 1,550 USW members struck in early July in the states of Arizona and Texas. 
The violations include illegally intimidating workers, which the NLRB says had provoked and prolonged the strike. Grupo Mexico, the world&rsquo;s third largest copper mining concern that placed Asarco in US bankruptcy proceedings following the strike&rsquo;s start, said 2005 would be a record-breaking year for profits. High metal prices are expected to bring the company net earnings of US$2.5 billion.

Labour Code Citations in US Mining Strike

Archive

Novartis Unions Launch Global Network

Trico: Latin American Workers Join Battle

Mediation Fails to Resolve Contractor Strike in Mauritania

Ukrainian Trade Unions Lead Fight to Protect Social Standards

Hunger Strike in Colombia by USO Union Members

Thai Affiliate in Pay Dispute with ExxonMobil

ICEM Solidarity Appeal: Canadian CEP Local 28's 5-Month Strike Against Chemical Firm Invista

Trouble in Mauritania’s Oil Sector

Polish Copper Workers Score Pay Gains

Labour Code Citations in US Mining Strike

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