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A lingering labour dispute in Argentina with Bridgestone/Firestone has caused the ICEM to seek immediate assistance from global trade unions. The 20-million-member global union federation is asking affiliates and others to use 16-17 July as Days of Protest against the Japanese tyremaker's roughshod manner regarding Argentine labour law and rubber workers at a factory near Buenos Aires. 
 
In a mass circular, ICEM is asking supporters of labour rights to write letters of protest to Japanese embassies or missions in their respective countries, and to protest at Bridgestone/Firestone factories and other commercial sites on either 16 or 17 July. (List of Japanese missions attached to electronic version of this release.) 
 
The labour dispute is at a factory in Llavallol, Pcia, Buenos Aires. Bridgestone management circumvented its legal obligations under Argentina's labour code by refusing to bargain with ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentina (SUTNA) when the company imposed new work rules last year. Some 90 workers at the 700-worker plant were summarily dismissed. The collective agreement contained a stability clause preventing any workforce reduction without first negotiating with SUTNA. 
 
In the last quarter of 2003, the Labour Ministry for the state of Buenos Aires ordered the workers reinstated with backpay, but Bridgestone refused to obey that order. In February 2004, the National Minister of Labour harshly condemned the company's actions, and reaffirmed the order to abide by the labour agreement, recognise industrial relations policy of Argentina and to reinstate the workers. Bridgestone/Firestone again failed to comply. 
 
ICEM has written to Bridgestone managers in North America that oversee South American operations asking for clarification and adherence but that also was ignored. 
 
In the meantime, a dispute with the company is brewing in North America. ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers of America has been without a labour agreement since March 2003 for 6,000 Bridgestone workers at ten tyre plants in the US. 
 
The ICEM is asking affiliates and other sympathizers to stress the fact that the Japanese firm is ignoring Argentine labour law regarding its unilateral downsizing in Argentina. The ICEM further asks unions to handbill their letters of protest to workers at Bridgestone/Firestone plants and commercial sites across the world. The company maintains production operations in Thailand, Indonesia, France, Italy, Spain, US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

ICEM Seeks Urgent Action Against Bridgestone Rubber

T he ICEM today signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Paris, France, that will establish standards and criteria on which diamonds and precious stones are mined and traded. The signing between the 20-million-member global union federation, Antwerp-based Belgian Diamonds and Precious Stones Federation (BDPSF), and Global Witness came during an international gems conference organized by the European Precious Stones Conference. 
 
The Memorandum of Understanding establishes an international non-profit agency entitled the Bureau of Minerals and Gemology that will now undertake responsibility to establish rules, standards and guidelines for companies mining diamonds and precious stones, as well as traders, manufacturers and others involved in the industry. 
 
&quot;This is a very significant agreement, a first of its kind in this sector,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We're hopeful that not only the consumer, but industrial users of diamonds recognise that a standard will exist that assures internationally recognized workers' rights are in place and the products come conflict-free and corruption-free.&quot; 
 
Historically, the diamond trade has relied on a certification system characterized by the four Cs: cut, clarity, carat and color. The three organisations now hope to add a fifth C to certification-that of confidence, meaning that consumers and others can be confident diamonds and other gems are corruption-free, conflict-free, free of child labour, as well as mined, processed and polished under conditions in which workers' rights are upheld. 
 
Such standards have not previously existed in the diamonds and precious stones trade. 
 
Global Witness is a London-based non-governmental organisation that tracks exploitation of natural resources and human rights abuses. BDPSF is a trade group that encompasses diamond merchants and companies that buy and sell diamonds and precious stones. The ICEM is the dominant trade union federation in mining, energy and processed industries with over 400 affiliated unions in 125 countries.

ICEM Inks MOU Creating Standards for Diamond Sector

A fter five days of attempting to persuade corporate officials of a Taiwanese firm in intervene in a longstanding American labour dispute, five trade union members and representatives of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, Energy (PACE) Workers' Union, an ICEM affiliate, launched a hunger strike in Taipei today. 
 
The US unionists have been locked off their jobs in Ponca City, Oklahoma, by Continental Carbon Co. (CCC), a subsidiary of the giant Koos Group of Taiwan, since 8 May 2001. The PACE contingent arrived in Taiwan on Monday expecting a meeting with senior members of the Koo family to resolve the dispute. They did meet 10 June with company officials from China Synthetic Rubber Co. and Taiwan Cement-the two Koo companies that control carbon black producer CCC-but a second meeting with senior officials of the Koos Group was denied. 
 
Instead, the Taiwanese conglomerate issued a statement on the visit by the American trade unionists, accusing them of distorting the truth about the lockout and environmental problems surrounding the Oklahoma plant. &quot;Such action has misled the people of Taiwan and has caused great harm to the reputation and public image of our two companies,&quot; the statement read. &quot;With this in mind, we have asked the Taiwan government and law enforcement agencies to use all available legal means to protect the interests of our companies.&quot; 
 
The hunger strike by PACE members still legally employed by CCC and union representatives began after the Annual General Meeting of Taiwan Cement where the US visitors together with Taiwanese supporters staged a protest. 
 
&quot;We are appalled that a company will call upon all the instruments of the state in order to silence legitimate protests by people whose livelihoods are at stake,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We are confident that Taiwanese officials will not be provoked by such rash and hostile statements.&quot; 
 
The Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) is giving local support to the American protestors. Earlier in the week, the PACE members and representatives, together with the TCTU, met with officials of the Taiwanese labour ministry and officials of the Ministry to Foreign Affairs to explain to them the circumstances surrounding the three-year lockout in Oklahoma, as well as environmental lawsuits against CCC brought by PACE and the Oklahoma's Ponca Tribe of Native Americans.

US Unionists Begin Hunger Strike in Taiwan

T he 20-million-member ICEM, the leading global union federation in the chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors, warned the Serbia-Montenegro government of Vojislav Kostunica to halt immediately the holding and interrogation of trade union leaders by the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs. 
 
Between 18-20 May, trade union representatives of the Federation of Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy &amp; Mining Industries, the ICEM-affiliated section of national union NEZAVISNOST, were questioned about the collective agreement and privatisation agenda of Icelandic generic drug-maker Actavis Group HF, formerly known as Pharmaco, and ICEM contends this is blatant intimidation. 
 
&quot;This incident is completely illegitimate and unlawful,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter to the Serbian government this week. &quot;We demand an immediate stop to these police activities. This type of action is an open and flagrant violation of human and basic trade union rights.&quot; 
 
The ICEM acted in response to a request from the chemical section of NEZAVISNOST. ICEM's letter of protest was also directed to Dragan Jocic, Serbia-Montenegro Minister of Internal Affairs, and Slobodan Lalovic, the minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy. 
 
&quot;The Serbian government puts itself in a very tenuous position by restricting trade union rights,&quot; Higgs said today. &quot;The ICEM calls on the government to fully respect, and not to impede trade union activity as Serbia grows in trade and development.&quot; 
 
The ICEM's letter to Serbia-Montenegro officials was also sent to trade union leaders in Iceland. Actavis (formerly Pharmaco) is a company that has become a prominent pharmaceutical producer in Eastern and Central Europe's generic drug market. In November 2002, it purchased a 70% stake in Serbian drug-maker Zdravlje, and less than a year later bought a 15% share in Serbian drug distributor Velefarm. 
 
In addition to the ICEM's letter to the Serbian government, the global union federation also has called on all 390 affiliated trade unions globally to register complaints with the Serbia-Montenegro government over its restrictive trade union practices.

ICEM Calls Attention to Serbian Labour Harassment

A delegation of trade unionists from the United States along with ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary Phee Jungsun began an effort today in Taiwan to end the three-year lockout by Continental Carbon Co. (CCC) of union members in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Workers represented by ICEM US affiliate Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical &amp; Energy (PACE) Workers Union will attempt to meet with leading members of the Koo Group to resolve the longstanding conflict. 
 
The delegation will also include members of the Native American Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, which together with PACE has brought environmental lawsuits against CCC over alleged land and air violations. The Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions is hosting the visit. 
 
&quot;After three years, not a single member of the Koo family has agreed to meet with the union about the lockout or with persons who have been suffering from CCC's pollution,&quot; said PACE Director of Special Projects Joe Drexler. &quot;Our purpose is not only to have a meeting but to find a way to end the lockout and pollution of our land, air and water.&quot; 
 
On 8 May 2001, CCC, wholly-owned by the Koo Group, locked 85 workers off their jobs in Ponca City. Management was seeking wage cuts, an increase in workers' health care contributions of 300-500% and contractual language that would effectively eliminate most full-time workers and replace them with contractors. 
 
CCC manufactures carbon black, a binding material used in the rubber industry. The Ponca City plant lost its largest customer in September 2002 when Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. dropped the firm as a supplier following a shipment of alleged defective carbon black. Replacement workers have operated the Ponca City plant since the lockout. In April 2004, Cooper Tire, CCC's third largest customer, announced it would no longer use the firm as a supplier of carbon black. 
 
PACE has sent some 60,000 tire safety alerts to manufacturers, retailers and other entities on potential defects in tire made with defective carbon black. &quot;Goodyear and Cooper's actions to drop Continental Carbon certainly reveal a much more sensitive position on tire safety,&quot; stated Drexler. 
 
The current visit by the American trade unionists is the third such trip to Taiwan in efforts to involve members of the Koo family to resolve the dispute. In June 2002, locked out workers and PACE representatives attended an AGM of the holding company, but were escorted out of the meeting by security guards when they attempted to speak on the Oklahoma lockout.

US Union Visits Taiwan in Attempt to Resolve Lockout

The ICEM's Executive Committee, the global union federation's governing body, interrupted its annual session in Brussels today to stage a demonstration at the Embassy of Thailand in Belgium. Some 120 trade union leaders from 40 countries converged on the embassy in protest against the government's continued privatisation push of the nation's electric and water services. 
<img height="228" alt="" src="" width="350" />
The noon-hour demonstration was part of an &quot;International Week of Action&quot; on behalf of ICEM affiliate EGAT-LU and Thai unions Metropolitan Electric-City Authority Union (MEA) and Provincial Electric-City Authority (PEA). The unions have succeeded to date in delaying the privatisation of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), but the government of Prime Minister Thaskin Shinawatra is still intent on making EGAT a publicly traded company. 
<img height="158" alt="" src="" width="350" />
 
After pushing up to the door of the Thai embassy with letters of protest from their respective unions, Brussels police informed the ICEM's union leaders that a 50-meter distance rule exists on mass assembly in front of a nation's foreign mission. The delegates then crossed a boulevard and ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, President John Maitland and ICEM Vice President Paul Lootens from AC/CG-FGTB in Belgium entered the embassy with the letters. 
 
&quot;We were received by the first secretary of the embassy in the absence of a Thai ambassador in Belgium at this time,&quot; said Higgs, who visited the ongoing protests by the Thai unions in Bangkok in late April. &quot;We were able to convey the views of the international trade union movement on the Thai government's intent to privatise and the officer assured that responses to the letters would be forthcoming.&quot; 
 
ICEM affiliates throughout the world used 24-28 May as a week in which to register their protests with Thailand over the privatisation matter. 
 
In Thailand, the week of action produced more protests and more direct action against the government's plans.

Protest at Thai Embassy in Brussels over Privatisation

The ICEM has today strongly criticized the Colombian government for its brutal attempts to break the near month-long strike at Ecopetrol, the national oil company. Expressing support to Colombian trade union Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petr&oacute;leo (USO), ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs stated in a letter to President Alvaro Uribe that Colombia's use of &quot;armed military personnel in and around Ecopetrol's petroleum facilities has escalated the conflict,&quot; making it even more difficult to resolve.&nbsp;
<img height="280" src="" width="200" alt="" />
USO march at Barrancabermeja refinery
To date, some 100 USO members and leaders have been fired for participating in the strike. There are reports of arrests death threats and other forms of harassment against USO trade unionists and supporters. In criticizing the government for creating a climate of hostility toward the union and its members, the world's predominant oil and energy trade union federation again called on President Uribe to change course and &quot;find common ground with USO in order that a fair and equitable resolution to this dispute is found.&quot; 
 
The Uribe government declared the 22 April strike illegal, citing petroleum refining as an &quot;essential service&quot; in Colombia. In a 30 April letter to President Uribe, Higgs and the ICEM asserted the government was wrong: ILO has traditionally ruled on cases in terms of oil refining not classified &quot;essential service.&quot; 
 
The USO strike against Ecopetrol is over the government's restructuring of oil reserves and production in which rewritten contracts have been awarded to several of the oil multinationals creating more favorable terms. The union contends such policies will rob Colombia of the wealth from its natural resources and is the initial move toward selling off Ecopetrol. USO is also seeking a new collective wage agreement through the strike, something the government and company claim will not be addressed. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM agrees with USO that the current strike at Ecopetrol is a crucial and important strike in modern Colombia and is asking trade unions across the world-particularly in oil and energy sectors-to monitor the dispute and to lend support.

Colombian Oil Strike Intensifies

Within a day of a Turkish Supreme Court ruling that a strike to the nation's tyre industry is not a threat to national security, some 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Lastik-Is at six plants have a new collective agreement. The new contract contains none of the concessionary demands of the major tyre employers-Goodyear, Pirelli and Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci-and, in fact, the union posted satisfying gains in the two-year accord. 
 
The Supreme Court ruled 12 May that the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan overstepped its bounds by decreeing on 21 March that a planned strike the next day at Pirelli's factory in Izmit is illegal. Within hours of the court's decision last week, Turkey's labour minister called the two sides together and the agreement was put together in marathon bargaining over the next 23 hours. With the threat of a strike back on, bargaining momentum was in favor of Lastik-Is. 
 
&quot;The ICEM congratulates the leaders and members of Lastik-Is for their resolve in reaching this contract,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;You challenged a decision that was unjust and unfair and on winning the court matter, you have won at the bargaining table.&quot; 
 
The contract, to cover the years 2004-2005, is void of any industry-proposed concessions. The tyre firms were seeking employer-paid health coverage removed from the contract, unlimited use of temporary workers, a separate and lower wage schedule for new employees, and a decrease in salaries and social payments. 
 
All working conditions in the prior agreement will remain in force, and a wage increase every six months will occur that is tied to the actual rate of inflation for the period preceding. All Lastik-Is members receive a lump sum payment amounting to 3.5 billion Turkish Lira (&euro; 2,000). In addition, the union won three added paid holidays-two religious days and New Year's Day. 
 
&quot;This is a result of our spirit of struggle, will and determination,&quot; said Lastik-Is President Abdullah Karacan. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to our fight and supported us. A special thanks must go to our brothers and sisters who cordially conveyed their support to us from abroad.&quot; 
 
The ICEM and EMCEF lodged official complaints to the Erdogan government, the European Union and to the ILO.

Lastik-Is Wins Tyre Dispute in Turkey

As ICEM Thai affiliate EGAT-LU prepares for a 17 May public hearing to block privatising the nation's electric and water industries, the Brussels-based global union federation-on the request of EGAT-LU-has declared 24-28 May as &quot;International Week of Action.&quot; Trade unions across the world are asked to express a visible means of support for EGAT-LU and other unions in Thailand that are resisting the government's rush to privatise the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). 
 
 
&quot;The members of EGAT-LU, as well as members of the Metropolitan Electric-City Authority Union (MEA) and the Provincial Electric-City Authority City (PEA), have brought common cause to all citizens of Thailand in calling on the government to abandon this misguided privatisation effort,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
&quot;The ICEM has pledged to the Thai unions that it would keep workers around the world informed of their struggle and would continue the expressions of solidarity. Throughout the last week of May, we're asking the world's trade unions to take direct action.&quot; 
 
Specifically, ICEM is calling on unions to write protest letters to the Thai embassies in their countries, and to plan demonstrations at those embassies in support of the agenda of EGAT-LU, MEA and PEA. Unions are encouraged to utilize other innovative means of protest to the Thai government as well. 
 
In Thailand, the unions will also observe the week by bringing mass numbers of rural citizens to picket lines in front of EGAT; the unions with consumer groups will coordinate protests outside the offices of the IMF and World Bank in Thailand; the use of yellow ribbons will increase as the symbol against privatising essential public services; and industrial actions will escalate, although the unions remain steadfast that electricity supplies will be maintained. 
 
The 17 May public meetings in Bangkok before the Senate Commission of Inquiry will be the first public hearings since January and February when the government sent low-level bureaucrats to staff the hearings. At a hearing 25 January at EGAT offices in Bang Kruai, many EGAT-LU members were denied the opportunity to speak, resulting in a demonstration and abrupt halt to the hearing when workers walked out. 
 
EGAT-LU, MEA and PEA are seeking adherence to a 23 April memorandum between the unions and the new chairman of EGAT stating that privatising state utilities of electricity and water will not occur, and the State Enterprise Act of 1999 that enables the privatisations be abandoned. Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra negated that commitment on 26 April by announcing privatisation would go forward. 
 
The unions also seek a return to negotiations where they are prepared to propose new and broader efficiencies for the utilities. The unions also will spell out corrupt practices inside the utilities such as the insider trading schemes and other irregularities, and ask for full disclosure on government plans to expand EGAT into Laos and Burma, as well as clarifications on IMF loans and the conditions of those loans. 
 
The ICEM asks that global trade unions cover those points in letters to Thai authorities. The unions have adopted the theme &quot;Don't Sell Us Out&quot; as their battle cry for this phase of the escalating campaign to block privatisation inside Thailand.

Global Week of Action to Support Thai Electric Union

S afety and health in the volatile industrial sectors in which workers represented by ICEM affiliates are employed continues to be major focus of the 20-million-member global union federation. The predominant trade union federation covering mining, chemicals, energy and process industries vows on 28 April 2004-Workers' Memorial Day-to continue its work in promoting a safe and healthy work culture worldwide. 
 
28 April is officially known as the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, and has seen official legislation adopting that day as such by 12 nations. The ICEM in early March issued a circular to its 400 affiliates in 125 countries encouraging them to draw attention to the day in some official manner. 
 
&quot;Workers' Memorial Day is gaining local, national and international recognition with each passing year,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;But, important as the day is to draw attention to those who perished or have been injured at work, April 28th must become a day in which we focus on what workers and their unions can do to improve everyday workplace health and safety.&quot; 
 
Higgs added that the ICEM has committed to carrying forward-looking health and safety language into all the Global Framework Agreements it signs with multinational firms. &quot;Such agreements crucially contain a commitment to the development and promotion of the highest health and safety standards in the company concerned,&quot; said Higgs. 
 
The ICEM's Global Agreements now numbering eight provide the framework for ongoing dialogue, information exchange and joint activities with signatory companies that are vital components of a longer-term programme for health and safety improvements. 
 
The ILO estimates 2.2 million people die annually due to their work. That amounts to 6,000 deaths a day, or one every 15 seconds. In addition, workers suffer 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year. The ILO also states that twice as many men than woman die at work because they are more likely to perform dangerous tasks. 
 
On 28 April 2004, the ICEM has endorsed a twin theme for workers and affiliates to follow: a World Day for Safe and Healthy Work, and Employer Accountability. The Safe and Healthy Work theme focuses on promoting a clear position on a world asbestos ban, as well as stringent actions in safe use of pesticides, industrial compounds and byproducts such as PCB variations and dioxins. The goal is to link safe use and union activities promoting such with the principles drawn from work performed by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. 
 
Employer Accountability calls on private sector employers to adhere to the key institutional mechanisms such as ILO Conventions, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN's Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative. This also relates to all levels of governments since they are both employers and guardians of the public interest regarding private sector enterprises.

28 April: A Day to Focus Improvement on Safe, Healthy Worksites

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