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FNV Bondgenoten, an ICEM affiliate, and Christian union CNV Chemie will strike Shell Nederland this week after the company on 28 October refused to withdraw a demand over changes in energy workers&rsquo; pension scheme. 
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Workers are to meet on 31 October at an oil refinery in Pernis and a chemical facility in Moerdijk to finalize strike plans, and Shell workers at other locations are expected also to commence strikes. Shell has proposed to the Central Works Council and to the unions that the pension age be raised from 60 to 65, with all Shell workers paying contributions on future pension premiums. Currently, Shell employees earning &euro;60,000 or less annually are exempt for payments toward early retirement. 
The unions contend Shell itself must maximize premium payments to ensure adequate pensions for workers choosing to retire early. Workers at NAM Nederland BV in Groningen, the joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil that is Europe&rsquo;s largest onshore gas field, also fall under the Shell pension scheme and also are considering a strike.

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

ICEM-JAF Conducts Informative 30th Anniversary Congress 
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The Japanese Affiliates Federation of ICEM (ICEM-JAF) conducted its 30th Anniversary Congress on 28 October in Tokyo and together with ICEM trade union affiliates from 14 other Asia-Pacific nations, held an action-oriented seminar the day prior on the growing menace of HIV/AIDS in the region. 
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Both ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator Hans Schwass presented ICEM&rsquo;s ongoing work on the pandemic to the assembled trade union leaders, who vowed to strengthen the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s work on the issue both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific Region. The union leaders will organise a broad and high-developed workshop in HIV/AIDS in 2006 in the Asia-Pacific Region. 
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The 27 October seminar also focused on REACH, the European Union&rsquo;s proposed directive on the regulation of chemicals. On REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals), delegates discussed an international response to the directive, focusing on the effect REACH will have on Asia-Pacific&rsquo;s chemicals industry. At the European level, ICEM&rsquo;s sister trade union federation EMCEF is coordinating trade union responses there on the directive and with ICEM, has briefed trade unions globally on REACH developments. 
 
&ldquo;Asia-Pacific is unique in ICEM terms because it is a region with modern and developed economies with strong and vibrant trade unions, as well as one with developing economies and newly organised trade unions,&rdquo; stated Higgs. 
 
&ldquo;Historically, ICEM-JAF has engaged with us on global projects, and the 30th Anniversary commemoration today reflects a renewed commitment of continued assistance to the ICEM for coordination with all our trade union affiliates across the region,&rdquo; Higgs added. 
 
Kiyoshi Ochiai chairs ICEM-JAF, and Toshio Sato is general secretary. 
 
Founded in the mid-1970s, ICEM-JAF encompasses nine Japanese unions, representing a total of one million workers. ICEM, based in Brussels, Belgium, represents 20 million workers that are affiliated to 389 industrial unions in 122 countries.

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

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The first issue of ICEM&rsquo;s e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS was published in early October and can be found on the GUF&rsquo;s website, <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>. 
The e-bulletin will be a regular monthly feature to ICEM&rsquo;s information strategy on the pandemic, and gives useful links to materials and websites for union activists who desire to deepen their knowledge on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ICEM&#039;s HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

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Not Walking the Talk: DuPont&rsquo;s Untold Safety Failures is the name of a report issued by the USW in the US. The report challenged the chemical company&rsquo;s behaviour-based safety programme. 
USW asserts in the document that DuPont encourages under-reporting of injuries, and the company&rsquo;s own safety and environmental record belies a division inside DuPont that sells safety programmes to other chemical companies. Copies of the full report can be obtaining by visiting the union&rsquo;s DuPont website, www.dupontcouncil.org.

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont&#039;s Safety

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The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), together with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a number of NGO's has called on two South Korea companies to divest their interests in Burma. 
At a 14 October press conference and rally in Seoul, the centers called on Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corp. to review human rights, workers&rsquo; rights and environmental destruction being carried out by the Burmese military government. 
FKTU also asked the South Korean government, as a member of the ILO, to review its relations with Burma, and to take preventative measures against possible violations of human and labour rights.

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

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Government-certified leaders of the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) were escorted off property of Debswana&rsquo;s largest diamond mine, Orapa, on 4 October by security guards. 
Chimbidzani Chimidza and Jack Tlhagale were on site to conduct elections for BMWU&rsquo;s Orapa branch committee, per the union&rsquo;s constitution. Debswana, the joint diamond-mining enterprise of DeBeers and the government of Botswana, is refusing the recognise the union&rsquo;s new leadership, several of whom have been unjustly sacked by the company and BCL, a separate zinc and copper mining employer in the southern African nation.

Botswana Mining Leaders Given Boot by Debswana

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ExxonMobil revealed unfavourable employment plans at two European sites last week. 
In the UK at the Fawley oil refinery, ESSO announced it would recruit foreign labour for contract maintenance, prompting threat of strike action by trade union GMB. Esso said in a statement that consultations with the union to find flexibility in the UK working agreement failed, and that it would reach beyond British workers to find contract labour. Fawley employs 900 full-time staff and 500 contractors. 
In Belgium, the company announced cuts of 550 jobs on 13 October at the ExxonMobil Chemical Films plant in Virton. The firm said excess capacity of polypropylene films, used for food and other labeling, would cause two of 11 production lines to shut in January. Management has been in dialogue with unions since early this year on the restructurings. A union at the plant in southern Belgium did not rule out industrial action.

Job Cuts, Outsourcing for ExxonMobil in Europe

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History was made in the North American offshore oil industry 30 September. Some 120 members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada won the continent&rsquo;s first offshore oil collective agreement at Terra Nova, a platform 350 kilometers off Newfoundland that is a consortium of seven oil companies led by Petro Canada. 
The agreement came through first contract arbitration in accord with labour law in Newfoundland, which prohibits strikes or lockouts in an initial contract period. &ldquo;It has taken years of patience and solidarity to get to this point,&rdquo; said CEP President Brian Payne. &ldquo;We had hoped for a freely bargained collective agreement but this legally imposed arbitrated settlement is an important stepping stone in improving working conditions.&rdquo; 
The platform workers chose CEP representation by an 84% vote in April 2003, 19 months after workers at another North Atlantic installation called Hibernia voted for CEP, becoming the first NA offshore group to unionise. 
A contract for the 430 workers there is currently before the same arbitration process. Besides Petro Canada, companies with a stake in Terra Nova include ExxonMobil, Norske Hydro, Husky Oil, Murphy Oil, Mosbacher Operating, and Chevron.

First Collective Agreement in NA Offshore Sector

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ICEM energy workers&rsquo; affiliate in Argentina, Federation of Private Oil &amp; Gas Workers (FASPYGP), will launch a nationwide strike beginning today in order to gain pay increases achieved in the oil-producing region of Chubut, Patagonia province. 
Since a month ago, Argentine workers there achieved significant wage increases by striking oil producers such as Repsol YPF of Spain, Pan American Energy, a company 60% held by BP, and Vintage Petroleum, a US independent now merging with Occidental Petroleum. FASPYGP warned there could be fuel shortages in Argentina within 48 hours of any nationwide strike occurring.

Argentina Oil Union Threatens Strike

In what ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Is is calling the end of &quot;a long, hard march,&quot; a favourable settlement was reached between the union and Jotun A/S, a Norwegian chemicals company which operates a paint factory in Cerkeznoy, Turkey, called Jotun Toz Boya fabrikasi. 
 
The settlement ends an eight-month dispute that saw 45 Petrol-Is members sacked in December during a strike at the factory. The settlement in part was brought about by ICEM efforts to illuminate the labour dispute in Norway, as well as to bring senior managers of the company directly into the dispute. The efforts of ICEM Norwegian chemical workers affiliate, Norsk Kjemisk Industriarbeiderforbund, were also crucial in resolving the dispute. 
 
The negotiated agreement means reinstatement for 20 Petrol-Is members, while the remainder will be paid proper severance payments. 
 
According to Petrol-Is, a settlement is directly attributable to the sustained international efforts of the ICEM as the dispute was in progress. Since the December strike, ICEM kept regular contact between the two parties that not only included several letters directed at Jotun Group Worldwide in Sandefjord, Norway, but also Norwegian trade union affiliates and the Norwegian media. 
 
&quot;The ICEM is pleased to have played a role in ending this dispute satisfactorily for our Turkish affiliate,&quot; said General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;The cooperation between the ICEM, Petrol-Is in Turkey and our chemical workers' affiliate in Norway was a key factor in bringing this to an end.&quot; 
 
The dispute began last September when, following a two-day strike, Jotun Powder Coatings in Turkey came to a collective agreement with Petrol-Is. But management immediately began violating terms of the agreement by increasing the number of workers outside the bargaining unit in order to dilute the union's strength. When the December strike occurred, management immediately sacked the strikers and replaced them with inexperienced contract workers. 
 
ICEM pressure on Norwegian senior managers also forced the company to join Kiplas, the Turkish chemicals and rubber employers' group, which also was involved in the settlement.

ICEM Plays Role in Agreement at Paint Factory in Turkey

Archive

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

ICEM's HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont's Safety

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

Botswana Mining Leaders Given Boot by Debswana

Job Cuts, Outsourcing for ExxonMobil in Europe

First Collective Agreement in NA Offshore Sector

Argentina Oil Union Threatens Strike

ICEM Plays Role in Agreement at Paint Factory in Turkey

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