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Three leaders of Pakistan's electricity workers were arrested today in a violent raid by police and agents of the Federal Investigation Agency. Protest strikes have been called for tomorrow. 
 
Witnesses say the police and FIA agents broke windows and doors at the headquarters of the Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU) in Gujrat. (WAPDA is the Pakistani power utility, currently facing privatisation plans.) 
 
PWLU President Choudhry Riaz Ahmed, General Secretary Pirzad Imtiaz Syed and Assistant General Secretary Syed Zia Ullah Azam were taken away to an unknown place, apparently for interrogation. 
 
The reasons for the raid are unclear, but witnesses heard police officers speak of &quot;anti-state activities&quot; and &quot;treason&quot;. On a number of occasions, the union has stated its opposition to the use of nuclear power for military purposes. 
 
The police and FIA, who did not produce any warrants, searched the union's offices and took away its documents. A similar search, also without a warrant, was made at the General Secretary's home. 
 
According to the PWLU, some 300 trade unions and non-governmental organisations in Pakistan have condemned the arrests and have called for protest strikes tomorrow (Tuesday 16 October). 
 
This was the second FIA assault on the PWLU headquarters within five months. 
 
On 1 June, General Secretary Pirzada Imtiaz Syed was arrested in an FIA raid during which a union staffer had his arm broken, computers and other equipment were smashed and the PWLU's files were seized. 
 
Pirzada Imtiaz Syed was detained until 12 June, when a judge ordered his release. The union leader was immediately hospitalised as a result of the ill-treatment that he received during interrogation. This has prompted fears for the well-being of the three PWLU leaders arrested today. 
 
At the global level, the PWLU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
In a protest to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the three union leaders, assurances that they have not been harmed in any way, immediate return of all documents belonging to the PWLU, payment of full compensation to the PWLU for all damage sustained in both raids, and a clear guarantee that the union will not be harassed in future.

Pakistan Arrests Leaders of Power Workers&#039; Union

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

&quot;Without doubt, all the fundamentally market-based reforms of the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean have been a disaster for the economy of the region's countries.&quot; 
 
So said energy union leaders from the region, meeting in Rio last week. 
 
The Third Regional Energy Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean was sponsored by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Represented at the talks were energy unions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Trinidad &amp; Tobago and Uruguay. Union leaders from Canada, France, Portugal, South Africa and the United States also took part. 
 
 
Structural adjustment imposed on Latin America and the Caribbean had put at risk the redemocratisation of most countries in the region, the conference stressed. Criticising in particular the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the energy unions said the results had been social exclusion, increased concentration of wealth, a loss of sovereignty, the wholesale privatisation of infrastructure and services, the sacking of thousands of workers, and lower-quality service at higher charges to the consumer. 
 
The delegates called for &quot;a reversal of this process&quot;, an &quot;immediate halt to privatisations&quot; and the adoption of policies to counter poverty and mass exclusion. 
 
Action must, they declared, be based on solidarity among the region's peoples and &quot;a struggle against all forms of submission, based on the understanding that energy is a human right, a social good for all, and not a merchandise as it is regarded by the international bodies and the local governments that are subordinated to them.&quot;

Energy a Human Right: ICEM&#039;s Latin American/Caribbean Unions

Following yesterday's attacks in the USA, Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), has sent the following message to all ICEM-affiliated unions in the United States: 
 
 
On behalf of all ICEM affiliates across the world I wish to convey our horror and disgust at the carnage in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At this time we appreciate and share the shock and anguish your members must be feeling, and wish to express our deepest condolences to all the casualties, their families, friends and colleagues. 
 
The ICEM will continue to work tirelessly with the help of all our affiliates, through global trade union solidarity to play our part in seeking to prevent such outrages against innocent workers across the world. 
 
 
Higgs commented in Brussels today: &quot;I am sure that in the circumstances following the disastrous events in the US, all ICEM affiliates would show full solidarity and any support needed to our US colleagues.&quot;

Terrorism in US: ICEM Expresses Solidarity with American Colleagues

Two British unions have promised more industrial actions against French-based chemical producer Rhodia unless the firm drops its proposal to exclude new workers from a pension plan. Some 625 workers at two UK Rhodia plants - members of ICEM affiliates GMB and Amicus - struck late 17 July and 18 July at Oldbury, West Midlands, and Widnes, Chesire. 
 

<img height="264" src="" width="350" alt="" />
GMB General Secretary Kevin Curran (fourth from left) joined GMB and Amicus members on picket lines at Widnes on 18 July in their one-day industrial action against Rhodia. In foreground, at right, with sign is GMB Convenor Chris Wright. 
The two 24-hour walkouts are the first time British workers have struck to defend their pensions. Talks broke off 1 July when the specialty chemicals maker refused to address its pension curtailments on new employees. The company then failed to respond 11 July to a letter from the unions inviting the firm back to negotiations. GMB and Amicus members then immediately voted to take industrial action at the two plants. 
 
&quot;GMB members know that closing the scheme to new members puts the long term viability of the scheme at risk,&quot; stated GMB General Secretary Kevin Curran. &quot;Their security in retirement is being put in jeopardy by the decisions being made by the company now. 
 
&quot;Rhodia have refused to have a proper debate on our members' pensions and have left us with no option but to strike so their united voice can be heard.&quot; 
 
Amicus Joint General Secretary Derek Simpson added, &quot;This will be the first in a wave of strike actions that will gather pace as more and more workers realize that they face an old age of poverty. The workers at Rhodia are not just fighting for the future of the scheme, it is for the future of their children and their communities.&quot; 
 
By 21 July, the unions were again attempting to re-start talks with Rhodia to address the pension issue. Rhodia has been alerted that another 24-hour work stoppage at the Widnes plant is set for 15 August, while the Oldbury plant will be struck for a full day on 5 September. And intermittent, shift-long actions will occur every few days until then at both sites to protest the pension cuts. 
 
Companies have used dismal stock market performances by funds holding pension assets as an excuse to attack the sanctity of workers' pensions. And Rhodia's decision to restrict new workers from the pension plan and push them instead into a money-purchase scheme comes after years of the firm underfunding the pension plan. Rhodia has dropped its contributions from 18% to 14% over the past three years. 
 
Roger Lyons, Joint General Secretary of Amicus, said, &quot;The willingness to take action by Rhodia employees is the first rumblings of the groundswell of public opinion which will drown us all in old age unless we deal with the pension crises today.&quot; 
 
GMB's Curran added, &quot;Our members recognise that closing the scheme to new workers is just the first step to eventually stripping current workers of their hard-earned pensions. Employers need to get the clear message that they cannot back off from their duty.&quot; 
 
GMB represents process workers at the two plants in which industrial action occurred 17-18 July, while Amicus represents engineering staff. The Oldbury plant, employing 500, makes flame-retardants, water treatment products, food ingredients and various industrial chemicals. The Widnes plans employs 125 union members and manufactures food ingredients and industrial phosphate chemicals. 
 
The company was created in 1998 when Rhone-Poulenc S.A. spun off two major divisions, Chemicals &amp; Fibers and Polymers, to create publicly-traded Rhodia.

UK Unions Take Industrial Action at Rhodia

T he ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA) announced 23 June that union members at Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. (KUC)--a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc/Rio Tinto Ltd. of London and Melbourne--ratified a new six-year labour agreement with KUC by a margin of 80 percent to 20 percent in a heavy turnout. The Kennecott Coordinated Bargaining Committee (KCBC)--a coalition of local unions affiliated with five US-based international unions led by the USWA--negotiated the master agreement on behalf of 1,300 KUC workers. 
 
The agreement was achieved after a bitter labour dispute that dragged on for more than eight months, but did not result in any work stoppages. Despite the fact that KUC bargainers attempted to force what they called their &quot;last, best and final offer&quot; on the KUC workforce on 1 Oct. 2002, the new labour agreement achieved significant improvements over the imposed proposal and previous labour agreements. The improvements include: 
 
+ Wage gains that average $2.40/per hour over the life of the agreement, depending upon seniority and job classification 
+ Continued health insurance for retirees with improvements (a hotly-contested issue) 
+ Improved health insurance for active retirees 
+ Doubling of retiree life insurance and improved life insurance for active workers 
+ Strengthened arbitration language that especially affects the company's ability to contract out work, and prevents permanent replacement of union jobs by outside contractors 
+ US$6,000 early retirement bonuses for qualified workers and US$500 ratification bonuses 
+ Significant money to settle outstanding grievances (which will be dropped upon signing, along with litigation surrounding charged filed at the US National Labor Relations Board 
 
&quot;This agreement is by no means perfect. No agreement ever is,&quot; said USWA District 12 Director Terry Bonds, who led the negotiations for the KCBC. 
 
USWA International president Leo Gerard stated: &quot;In the mid-1990s, unions that represent workers at Rio Tinto operations around the globe united to form the Rio Tinto Global Network to defend workers against the company's union-busting in Australia, southern Africa and elsewhere. We also began cooperating with environmental groups and human rights groups to stave off Rio Tinto's worst abuses against the enviromental and indigenous communities in the less-developed world. This struggle has only strengthened those ties. 
 
&quot;Our Network has become an active, effective Global Network that is playing, and will continue to play, an important role in the operations of a global corporation in a global economy.&quot; 
 
Besides the USWA, other US-based unions invloved in the KCBC include the ICEM-affiliated International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), the International Association of Machinists (IAM), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). The new labour agreement expires 30 Sept. 2009.

Steelworkers Ratify Pact at Rio Tinto Copper Mine

F or the third year running, the 20-million member ICEM and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the umbrella federation covering 2.3 million working Canadians, joined forces at the shareholders meeting yesterday of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. in Vancouver, British Columbia. The union federations continue to press the renegade mining firm to end its joint venture in Burma with the ruling military junta there. 
 
And on the day of the meeting, Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) released an updated list of global companies engaged in various forms of business transactions in Burma, and Vancouver-based Ivanhoe is one of seven Canadian firms on the list of 375. ICFTU, representing 158 million workers in 231 affiliated organizations in 150 countries, broadened its denuniciation of the Burmese regime to bring further international pressure against a regime that on 31 May re-arrested Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the political party that won the last free elections in Burma. 
 
&quot;The list provides proof that, despite the increase of human rights violations in the country, some companies are still taking a 'business as usual' approach with this oppressive regime,&quot; said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder. &quot;Governments should act together to end investment and to end this trade with tyranny. Business should be responsible and act immediately to pull out.&quot; 
 
Ivanhoe, publicly traded but majority controlled by Robert Freidland, is involved in a joint venture operation called Monywa Copper Project with Burma's ruthless military junta, a regime notorious the world over for murder, torture, ethnic cleansing and use of slave labor. Ivanhoe is now pushing forward on extending its mining operations to a larger field called Letpadung, as well as a new gold mine at Moditaung. The firm's annual meeting 12 June saw union members combine with Burmese refugees, religious leaders and human rights activists in protest. 
 
&quot;Events in Burma in recent weeks are impossible to ignore,&quot; stated CLC President Ken Georgetti. &quot;They cannot be glossed over by the public relations spin of companies like Ivanhoe or additional noises of concern from the Canadian government. To do so requires a moral blind spot too large to live with.&quot; Georgetti predicts strong public support if the Canadian government were to react with full and effective economic sanctions against investment in Burma. 
 
Many companies have responded positively to the call for disinvestment in Burma including Premier Oil, Triumph International, ChevronTexaco, Arco, PepsiCo, Eastman Kodak, Motorola and Best Western. 
 
&quot;The recent abduction of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi not far from the Monywa mine and the nationwide crackdown on the pro-democracy movements provides ample evidence that this dictatorship is not serious about reform,&quot; said ICEM North American Coordinator Ken Zinn. &quot;It is well past time for Ivanhoe to disinvest from Burma.&quot; 
 
Besides Ivanhoe, other Canadian firms on ICFTU's list of businesses in Burma include Air Canada, CHC Helicopter Corp., East Asia Gold Corp., Lee Capital Corp.'s Anber-gems, Oracle and TG World Energy Corp.

Protests Again at Canada&#039;s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

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

Archive

Pakistan Arrests Leaders of Power Workers' Union

Novartis Unions Launch Global Network

Trico: Latin American Workers Join Battle

Energy a Human Right: ICEM's Latin American/Caribbean Unions

Terrorism in US: ICEM Expresses Solidarity with American Colleagues

UK Unions Take Industrial Action at Rhodia

Steelworkers Ratify Pact at Rio Tinto Copper Mine

Protests Again at Canada's Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

UAW Questions Saint-Gobain's Labour Practices

ICEM Applauds Tian Chua's Release

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