English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

S hareholders 5 June at the AGM of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in Paris heard about the firm's anti-labour practices in the U.S. from American shop-floor and national leaders of affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) and the ICEM. 
 
The dispute centers on 17 months of futile bargaining the UAW has experienced in Worcester, Massachusetts, at Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc., a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The UAW won a representation election 406-386 in a vote conducted under U.S. labour code in August 2001. Following a failed appeal to overturn the vote, Saint-Gobain has engaged in &quot;surface bargaining&quot; utilizing a high-priced U.S. law firm to stall efforts toward a settlement. 
 
Supporting the UAW's cause prior to and at the AGM were French affiliates F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie Energie CFDT FCE-CFDT and F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT FO. FCE-CFDT's Patrick Mazeau and Michel Decayeux, the ICEM's Materials Section chairman, traveled to Worcester in March as part of a French solidarity delegation. 
 
UAW representatives in Paris were direct and forthright on the cause and effect of the dispute. &quot;We're here to let shareholders and corporate officials alike know that the money they're spending to squash the legitimate voice of workers in Massachusetts can be much better spent,&quot; said UAW Region 9A Assistant Director Bob Madore. &quot;We want them to realize that they supply parts and machinery to automakers, the UAW represents workers employed by automakers and that we will take our campaign for a labour contract to suppliers, to customers and, of course, to unions on a global level.&quot; 
 
Madore was joined today at a press conference and inside the AGM by the ICEM's Jim Catterson, along with UAW Bargaining Representative Carol Knox and a 30-year mechanic at the Worcester plant, UAW Local 4069 bargaining committee member Tony Quitadamo. UAW supporters handbilled outside the AGM. Inside, the unionists were representing the proxies of Boston Common, an asset management firm holding 126,000 shares of Saint-Gobain stock. 
 
&quot;Why don't you try to improve the social conditions in Worcester like you strive to do in France?&quot; questioned Quitadamo to top management. He said promises made by Saint-Gobain when they purchased the U.S. plant in 1990 have not been kept, and managers now are on a mission of harassing and intimidating workers. 
 
Earlier, Quitadamo described the company's bargaining style. He said attorneys from Jackson Lewis, a law firm specializing in union avoidance, openly told the UAW's negotiating team that Saint-Gobain intends to use collective bargaining to invalidate existing work rules and past practices that benefits workers. Saint-Gobain has unilaterally reduced the level of health care benefits, a fact that the UAW is pressing before the U.S. government in a labour law charge. 
 
The ICEM's Catterson, speaking at the AGM on behalf of Boston Common, read a declaration from the asset management firm. &quot;We believe that if Saint-Gobain does not resolve this situation quickly and amicably, then Saint-Gobain's reputation and public image will be damaged, thus harming long-term shareholder value.&quot; The ICEM's director of Organization also infomed Saint-Gobain's managers that the ICEM, UAW and AFL-CIO on 5 June have formally written to the National Contact Point of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) asking for an inquiry into the firm's industrial behaviour in Worcester. 
 
The request, penned to the U.S. Department of State's Office of Investment as OECD National Contact Point, alleges the firm has violated several Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as laid forth under the OECD's Employment and Industrial Relations Section.

UAW Questions Saint-Gobain&#039;s Labour Practices

L abour Activist Tian Chua was released 2 June from a Malaysian detention center, more than two years after being arrested under the country's archaic Internal Security Act (ISA). But final release wasn't expected until today (4 June) after he posted bail on three charges related to unlawful assembly. 
 

<img height="205" src="" width="172" alt="" />
Tian Chua is free 
The release from prison under ISA, a 1960 statute giving the Malaysian government power to hold someone up to two years without formal charges, came ten days after the ICEM Executive Committee publicly demanded his unconditional release for the second time. Tian Chua was held as a national security risk, but no evidence ever was made public against him. He is a widely-respected spokesman for labour rights on Asia's sub-continent who has worked frequently with the ICEM on a number of projects. 
 
&quot;Naturally, we are pleased to hear the news of Tian Chua's release,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;But the ICEM now repeats its call for immediate repeal of Malaysia's Internal Security Act.&quot; The ICEM Executive also demanded his release in June 2001, and called on the government to abolish the ISA. 
 
Tian Chua was handcuffed and then brutally assualted by prison guards at the Kemunting prison in Perak state 9 May following the confiscation of a laptop computer. The 39-year-old Chua was studying for a Doctorate Degree while imprisoned. 
 
Besides the ICEM, lawmakers from Denmark, the United Kingdon and The Netherlands publicly called for the release of Tian Chua and others held under the ISA, and Amnesty International and the Internatational Confederation of Free Trade Unions were also vocal in seeking Tian Chua's release.

ICEM Applauds Tian Chua&#039;s Release

As organised labour combines its strengths, union mergers are on the increase worldwide. Big amalgamations in Japan and the USA are about to boost that trend. 
 
Japanese chemical workers' federations Goka Roren and Zenkoku Kagaku will unite this October to form the new Kagaku League 21. (Kagaku means chemical). The merged federation will have about 96,000 members. It will be affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), of which Goka Roren is already a member. 
 
In the USA yesterday, the executive board of the oil, chemical and atomic workers' OCAW approved a merger with the paper workers' UPIU. Both these American unions are ICEM affiliates. The UPIU executive gave the merger the go-ahead last month. 
 
The OCAW and UPIU will hold simultaneous conventions in January to ratify the agreement. The new 330,000-member union will be known as PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. Its headquarters will be Nashville. 
 
PACE's President will be Boyd Young, currently President of the UPIU. OCAW President Robert Wages will take office as PACE's Executive Vice-President.

Union Mergers In USA And Japan

Indonesia must repeal its old repressive labour legislation and replace it with a new law. That was the call from representatives of Indonesian trade unions and labour groups on 21 August at the end of an international workshop held inside the country. 
 
The demand was immediately backed by union internationals. In a joint statement issued in Indonesia on 21 August, the Asia-Pacific representatives of seven of the unions' sector-by-sector International Trade Secretariats declared that they &quot;look forward to working with Indonesian workers to build a democratic, strong and independent trade union movement.&quot; Such a movement will, they insisted, &quot;actively protect and enlarge the currently fragile democratic space opened up since May 1998.&quot; 
 
Signatories to the international statement include Phee Jung-sun, Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). He and the other internationals' regional officers were in Indonesia during the workshop, which was held by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). Other internationals signed up to the support statement are the food, agriculture and allied workers' IUF, the building and wood workers' IFBWW, the commercial, clerical, professional and technical employees' FIET, the education staffs' EI, the public service workers' PSI and the communication workers' CI. 
 
The union internationals demand an &quot;immediate end to military intervention in labour disputes&quot; in Indonesia. 
 
The Indonesian government must, they insist, ratify and implement all the main ILO Conventions that protect basic labour rights, notably freedom of association and collective bargaining for all workers. Women workers, as &quot;the most vulnerable and exploited segment&quot; of the Indonesian workforce must be guaranteed equality of treatment and opportunity and must be protected against discrimination and sexual harassment. 
 
&quot;Administrative procedures (for example, registration of unions) should not be tantamount to seeking permission from the state and should not be used to deny, undermine or discriminate against the establishment of unions and union structures of workers' own choosing,&quot; the internationals warn. 
 
They declare &quot;our solidarity with the millions of workers and the unemployed&quot; in Indonesia who &quot;face rapidly rising living costs and the loss of their livelihood which are the consequences of bad political and economic policies. It is necessary for an independent trade union movement to intervene in economic policy-making to ensure that these policies are directed at job creation, protection of workers' rights and livelihood and equitable development.&quot;

Indonesia: Internationals Back Union Freedom Call

Forced labour is &quot;widespread and systematic&quot; in Burma (Myanmar), says a major report published today by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). 
 
The report on the forced labour practices of the Burmese military junta was produced by a special ILO Commission of Enquiry after sifting voluminous evidence. It is one of the ILO's strongest ever condemnations of a national government - and probably the world's most detailed and careful compilation of evidence concerning Burmese forced labour. 
 
A &quot;saga of untold misery&quot; in Burma is described by the three-person Commission, which comprised former Chief Justices of India and Barbados and an Australian barrister. 
 
They note &quot;abundant evidence&quot; of &quot;the pervasive use of forced labour imposed on the civilian population throughout Myanmar by the authorities and the military.&quot; Women, children and the elderly are among those forced into work which is &quot;almost never remunerated or compensated.&quot; 
 
&quot;Forced labourers, including those sick or injured, are frequently beaten or otherwise physically abused by soldiers, resulting in serious injuries,&quot; the ILO report says. &quot;Some are killed, and women performing compulsory labour are raped or otherwise sexually abused by soldiers.&quot; 
 
In a clear warning to Burma's rulers and others concerned, the Commission points out that any person who violates the prohibition of recourse to forced labour in international law bears an individual criminal responsibility. 
 
The ILO findings will further increase the pressure on multinationals to withdraw from Burma for as long as the junta stays in power there. The call on firms to quit Burma was renewed today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The ILO report makes it quite clear that the Burmese economy runs on forced labour,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;Any company that stays in Burma is benefiting either directly or indirectly from that illegal and immoral system. There can be no justification for maintaining investments in Burma as things stand there today.&quot; 
 
The ICFTU also today called on the Burmese junta to resign and hand over power to a democratic, civilian-led government. 
 
The ICFTU coordinated international worker complaints which led the ILO to set up the special Commission. Support came from the ICEM and other union internationals. The complaints were based on ILO Convention 29, which prohibits forced labour. Burma has been a party to this Convention since 1955. 
 
 
 
ARCO QUITS 
 
A number of multinationals have already decided to quit Burma, the latest being the US-based energy corporation ARCO. The company's announcement on 12 August that it would not be renewing its remaining exploration lease in Burma is a major victory for Burmese and US campaigners. Oil and gas exports are the Burmese junta's biggest legal revenue earner - rivalled only by its lucrative illegal trade in heroin and other narcotics. 
 
Both the US and the EU already have a range of economic sanctions in place against the Burmese regime, due mainly to international trade union campaigning on the issues of forced labour and child labour. 
 
Prominent among the campaigners for oil companies to withdraw has been the ICEM-affiliated US oil, chemical, atomic and allied workers' union OCAW. 
 
&quot;We are proud of our rank and file members and ARCO workers who confronted management directly with this issue at the refinery and shareholders meetings,&quot; commented OCAW President Robert Wages. &quot;We also profess our admiration to all the activists who turned up the heat and made ARCO's Burma investment a lose-lose situation.&quot; 
 
 
 
ARRESTS AND TORTURE 
 
Wages condemned the recent arrest of 18 Burmese peace activists in Rangoon. &quot;We hold Unocal, Total and Arco directly responsible for these arrests,&quot; Wages said. &quot;It's the oil companies who prop up this corrupt narco-regime.&quot; 
 
Meanwhile, the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide are stepping up their pressure for the release of Burmese trade unionists U Myo Aung Thant and U Khin Kyaw. Both were arrested on 13 June 1997 and have been in jail ever since. U Myo Aung Thant has been sentenced to ten years in jail and given a concurrent life sentence for &quot;high treason&quot;. The &quot;treason&quot; was his attempt to form a trade union in the All-Burma Petrochemical Corporation, where he was employed. U Khin Kyaw, from the Seafarers' Union of Burma, was arrested with him and is apparently being held without trial. Both are reported to have been tortured in prison. 
 
 
 
OIL COMPANIES ACCUSED 
 
Oil and gas multinationals have been widely criticised for their economic support of the Burmese junta, but energy corporations have also faced specific accusations that they have directly benefited from forced labour. 
 
The charges have centred on the Tavoy pipeline, built to carry gas from the Yadana field off the Burmese coast to Thailand. The main partners in the Tavoy consortium are the energy multinationals Total and Unocal, together with the Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration and Production Company and Burma's state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). 
 
Two particular allegations were examined by the ILO Commission. One was a charge that helipads built by forced labour had been used by the oil companies. &quot;In a communication addressed to the Commission, TOTAL stated that most of the helipads situated on the pipeline route had been constructed by TOTAL or by companies working for TOTAL and applying its code of conduct, although TOTAL did not know under what conditions other helipads in the region had been constructed.&quot; 
 
The other charge concerns preparatory work on the pipeline site: &quot;There was evidence before the Commission in the form of secondary statements that forced labour was used until May 1995 for ground clearance work to provide access to survey teams for the Yadana gas pipeline project in Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division. In a communication addressed to the Commission TOTAL stated that it was wrong to claim that the preparatory clearing work could have been undertaken by forced labourers for the purpose of facilitating the access of the project teams. During the years 1993 and 1994, clearing work had been carried out by the Compagnie g&eacute;n&eacute;rale de g&eacute;ophysique (CGG).&quot; 
 
The ILO Commission ultimately found itself unable to rule on these allegations, because the junta refused it permission to visit Burma and investigate: &quot;In view of the contradiction between the facts presented, and since the Commission was denied access to Myanmar to supplement its evidence, no finding on this matter could be made.&quot; So for the present, these charges are neither proven nor rejected. 
 
 
 
&quot;STAND BY THE ILO&quot; - AUNG SAN SUU KYI 
 
But as to the Burmese junta itself and its forced labour system, the ILO's findings are conclusive and damning. 
 
Commenting in Burma on today's ILO report, Nobel Prize-winning Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said: &quot;What the ILO needs to do is not just put an end to forced labour in Burma but also to try to create conditions under which our workers can get a fair deal... It is for the international community to stand by the ILO and to insist that necessary changes be brought about in Burma.&quot;

Burma Slammed By UN Body Over Labour Abuses

Confusion surrounds moves by the Nigerian government to lift restrictions on the oil workers' unions NUPENG and PENGASSAN. The withdrawal of government administrators from the unions' offices was announced last week - but today the unions were still under government control. 
 
On 11 August, Nigerian Head of State General Abdulsalam Abubakar repealed decrees dating back to 1994, under which the two unions were kept under the tutelage of government-imposed &quot;sole administrators&quot; and union activities were severely circumscribed. The two unions' elected General Secretaries, Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi, had been detained in 1994 and 1996 respectively, and were held without trial until their release this June. 
 
On the phone from Lagos today, Dabibi and Kokori told ICEM UPDATE that they welcome the move to end government intervention in their unions - but that it has not so far been put into effect. 
 
In fact, the government has instructed its &quot;sole administrators&quot; to stay at their posts inside the unions for the time being. 
 
This has given rise to concern that the military-led government may attempt to convene union congresses and new leadership elections while PENGASSAN and NUPENG are still under its control. The two unions and their members could not accept this, Kokori and Dabibi warned today. First, the unions must be handed back to the current democratically elected leaderships, they insisted. Then congresses would be convened and elections held. 
 
A delegation from the UN's International Labour Organisation has now arrived in Nigeria to examine the trade union rights situation there. Dabibi and Kokori will be discussing these and related issues with the ILO representatives on Friday. 
 
&quot;Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori are right. Clearly, NUPENG and PENGASSAN must be handed back to democratic control without further delay,&quot; commented Vic Thorpe today. Thorpe is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the two Nigerian unions are affiliated. 
 
&quot;Oil and allied workers worldwide will continue to campaign on this issue until PENGASSAN and NUPENG have regained full trade union freedom,&quot; Thorpe pledged.

Nigerian Government To End Intervention In Oil Unions?

I n the wake of a coal mine disaster on 13 May in Anhui Province in eastern China that left 63 miners dead and another 23 missing, the 20-million-member strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union (ICEM) is calling on the world's mining industry to join with the global trade union federation in forming a &quot;rapid response&quot; team to investigate safety in China's mines. 
 
The ICEM today has written the Chinese government and the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) offering assistance on the basis of a frank and open dialogue. 
 
&quot;Serious mining accidents are regrettably a regular feature of the Chinese mining industry,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;For this reason, the ICEM has written the ACFTU and the responsible minister in China to call on all parties to take immediate and serious measures to address the parlous state of health and safety in China's mines. 
 
&quot;We also call on the world mining industry to join with us in our attempts to improve the health and safety record of Chinese mining,&quot; added Higgs. Brussels-based ICEM is the preeminent trade union organization at the global level in the mining industry. 
 
The 13 May disaster at the state-run Luling mine in Huaibel city, Anhui, is being blamed on a natural gas explosion. The 86 miners were working 500 meters inside the mine. The Luling mine employs 7,000 to 8,000, and produces 2.4 million tons of coal annually. 
 
Figures from China's work safety bureau cite nearly 15,000 deaths occurred last year due to explosions, floods and cave-ins. In the first two months of 2003 alone, official figures cite 1,600 miners as having died in the country's mines. And a rash of accidents this spring has pushed this figure much higher. 
 
On 17 April, floods trapped and killed 14 at the Jiangshuping mine in the coal-rich northern province of Shanxi. A natural gas explosion on 30 March at the Mengjiagou mine in Liaoning Province killed 25 miners, and another gas blast on 22 March at the Mengnanzhuang mine in Shanxi killed 72. The Mengjiagou mine explosion was caused when managers failed to evacuate miners after shutting off power to adjust voltage. The outage shut off units used to ventilate natural gas from shafts as it seeped from the coal bed. 
 
&quot;The miners of the world are not prepared to sit back and allow this unacceptable loss of life in China,&quot; said Higgs. &quot;We're hopeful that with a joint labour-employer international team in place, coupled with the cooperation of the Chinese, comprehensive health and safety solutions can be found.&quot;

Action Needed on Chinese Mine Safety

A second round of industrial actions organised by the Federation of Austrian Trade Unions (&Ouml;GB) was held 13 May to protest the ruling conservative-far-right coalition government's regressive pension reform plan. The 13 May labour actions and strikes, joined by the ICEM affiliate Austrian Metal and Textile Workers' Union, come one week after initial actions by workers were held to protest the government's refusal to get consensus from social partners over pension changes. 
 
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel introduced the draft law 29 April that would raise Austria's retirement age and decrease pay-outs. Representatives from the &Ouml;GB and employers group then met proposing a delay in any reform until late September in order to submit suggestions to the draft law by the social partners, as is customary in Austrian lawmaking. Schuessel has refused, and his aim is to bring the measure to Parliament in early June. 
 
Pension reform as proposed would prolong the period of contributions from 40 to 45 years, as well as change the way in which pay-outs are calculated by taking an average of contributions over 40 years rather than the 15 most recent or most advantageous years. The government's reform would phase out early retirement, abolishing it altogether by year 2008. It proposes retirement age be raised to 65 years, whereas most Austrian men now retire at age 59 and women at 57. 
 
Metal and Textile Workers' Union President Rudolf N&uuml;rnberger commented on the government's plan: &quot;For they know not what they do. A man who works one year longer, so pays longer into the system, still gets less pension. This reform punishes those who have worked over their whole lives.&quot; N&uuml;rnberger addressed over 5,000 workers, mostly employees of Siemens and Henkel, at a rally on 6 May in Vienna. 
 
The Metal and Textile Union conducted some 307 different actions across Austria on that day that included 57,500 workers. In all, Austria's labour unions informed some 120,000 workers of the planned degradations to then pensions in workshop meetings leading up to the 6 May and 13 May job actions.

Industrial Actions in Austria

&quot;We need democracy in Nigeria, and the pro-democracy movement is gathering strength every day. But even once we achieve political democracy, we will need to maintain the pressure so that we can have a cleaner society.&quot; 
 
Nigerian oilworkers' leader Milton Dabibi emphasised this in a phone interview with ICEM UPDATE this evening. Dabibi had just arrived in Port Harcourt after his release from prison earlier this week. He had been detained without charge or trial for more than two years. 
 
Dabibi is General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, which is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM led a worldwide trade union campaign for his release and for that of Frank Kokori, General Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Dabibi and Kokori were among the first nine Nigerian detainees to be released this week. About a hundred political prisoners are still being held in Nigerian jails. 
 
&quot;Without the ICEM and the world trade union movement, I wouldn't be alive today,&quot; commented Dabibi, who said he now felt &quot;fine&quot; after a few days' rest. &quot;I wasn't allowed to see anyone while I was in prison, not even my wife. But brief notes smuggled in to me occasionally let me know you were all out there pushing for my release. It was the feeling that people somewhere cared about me that enabled me to endure. I don't have the words to express my thanks to trade unionists everywhere.&quot; 
 
He paid tribute to his wife for her tireless campaigning on his behalf, and to the work of Amnesty International, which adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. 
 
Dabibi said that, before commenting in detail on the current trade union and political situation, he wanted &quot;time to size up the civilised world again first.&quot; 
 
However, he had already had the opportunity to talk to PENGASSAN officers and members. &quot;What is clear is that they want a real union again. The union has been castrated. The presence of a government-imposed administrator means that the membership can't decide freely on the future of the union and of its leadership. So first of all, we have to convince the government to withdraw the administrator.&quot; 
 
This would be achieved, he thought, although &quot;not within one or two days.&quot; 
 
&quot;We are working side by side with the democracy movement people here,&quot; Dabibi said. &quot;And that means that trade union rights are on the democracy movement's agenda. If they prevail, we will prevail. We need freedom of association. We need freedom of the press. We need free and fair elections. We need a police force that is used only to protect civil society. And if there really still has to be a national security service, then it should concern itself with national security - not with chasing trade unionists and democrats.&quot;

Nigerian Oilworkers &quot;Want A Real Union Again&quot; - Milton Dabibi

Brazil's legislators yesterday voted unanimously to grant an amnesty to oil unions facing massive fines. The amnesty still has to be approved by the Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. 
 
Fines imposed on the oil unions for holding a legal strike three years ago now total more than 60 million US dollars. At the time, Brazil's Higher Labour Court ruled that the unions bore legal responsibility for a fuel shortage resulting from the strike. This decision led to the sequestration of oil union assets and the freezing of union bank accounts. 
 
 
<img height="245" src="" width="372" alt="" />
Brazil's oilworkers: 
Fined 60 million dollars for a legal strike. 
(Photo: ICEM) 

The local unions involved are members of the Brazilian oil workers' federation FUP, which in turn is part of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ICEM has been pressing the Brazilian government to overturn the &quot;scandalous&quot; verdict, and the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) has repeatedly ruled that the fines violate international standards on collective bargaining and the right to strike 
 
In fact, this is not the first time the Brazilian parliament has voted to waive the fines and unfreeze the oil unions' accounts. But to general consternation, the parliament's previous attempts to bring in an amnesty were vetoed by the President. 
 
Now, though, the prospects are brighter, according to the FUP's Carlos Spis. He says the amnesty legislation has been more tightly drawn this time, so that it would apply purely to the oil sector, and he is optimistic that President Henrique Cardoso will sign it into law. The measure is due to go to the President next week, after which he has fifteen days to consider it.

Brazil: Fines Amnesty For Oil Unions?

Archive

UAW Questions Saint-Gobain's Labour Practices

ICEM Applauds Tian Chua's Release

Union Mergers In USA And Japan

Indonesia: Internationals Back Union Freedom Call

Burma Slammed By UN Body Over Labour Abuses

Nigerian Government To End Intervention In Oil Unions?

Action Needed on Chinese Mine Safety

Industrial Actions in Austria

Nigerian Oilworkers "Want A Real Union Again" - Milton Dabibi

Brazil: Fines Amnesty For Oil Unions?

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us