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

Legal notice was lodged yesterday of intent to file a citizen law suit against Intertrade Holdings, Inc. for violations of US federal environmental laws. The notice was sent to federal and Tennessee regulatory authorities and to the company. 
 
Intertrade Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swedish-based Trelleborg AB and is in the process of being sold. The notice says the company has illegally discharged contaminated wastewater and metals into the Ocoee River from its sulfuric acid plant in Copperhill, Tennessee, in violation of the US federal Clean Water Act. 
 
Filing the lawsuit are twelve local residents and two local businesses who use the Ocoee River immediately downstream of the Copperhill plant. Among them are a landowner with property alongside the river, three fishermen, and a whitewater rafting company. 
 
&quot;The river is important to our community,&quot; said Lance Luke, who manages a rafting company that regularly uses the river and is one of the citizen plaintiffs. &quot;The Ocoee River received international attention as the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics kayak races and we still have regular competitions here. We need to make sure it is clean.&quot; 
 
The citizen lawsuit was acknowledged today in a statement issued jointly by the International Chemical Workers Union Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers whose research uncovered the violations. 
 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and its affiliated unions worldwide, particularly those in Sweden, have been pressing Trelleborg to resolve a long-running dispute at Copperhill. 
 
Workers have been on strike at Copperhill since April 30 1996 over a unilateral management attempt to impose sweeping changes in work rules. The workers and their unions were all the more incensed by the management's attitude because the Copperhill workforce had made major economic sacrifices in the early 1990s to keep the plant going. 
 
Worse was to come. The Copperhill management responded to the strike by &quot;permanently replacing&quot; the strikers - in effect, firing them and hiring strikebreakers instead. A legal loophole permits this practice in the US, provided the strikebreakers are dubbed &quot;replacement workers.&quot; Having handpicked the strikebreakers, the management then announced that its new &quot;workforce&quot; no longer wished to be represented by trade unions. 
 
On the pollution issue, Intertrade Holdings &quot;has admitted in reports to the state regulators that it is discharging pollutants in excess of the limits,&quot; lawyers for the complainants said. &quot;We are not talking about just one violation. There has been a pattern of violations stretching over years and it has continued unabated.&quot; 
 
On May 13 this year, Trelleborg announced that it had reached an agreement to sell Intertrade Holdings to Marsulex, Inc., based in Canada. 
 
Trelleborg has made repeated attempts to sell its US subsidiary in recent years, but unions in Sweden and elsewhere have emphasised that a sell-off would not absolve the parent company of its responsibility to tackle the industrial and environmmental problems at Copperhill. 
 
&quot;Once again, Trelleborg has shown itself to be a bad corporate citizen,&quot; said Nick Wimberley, secretary-treasurer of Boilermakers Local 586 and one of the citizen plaintiffs. &quot;Residents of this community welcomed Trelleborg and helped the company in every way we could when it came here in 1990, but we have been rewarded with a corporate policy from Sweden that has shown a blatant disregard for our environment and our way of life.&quot; 
 
Responding to the announcement of the company's sale, Wimberley said, &quot;We will insist upon corporate accountability to our community no matter who the owner is.&quot;

U.S. River Pollution: Trelleborg Subsidiary To Be Sued

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the ICEM-affiliated Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union CFMEU (Mining and Energy) have strongly condemned the recent lockout of US longshore workers on the West Coast of the USA. 
 
Mining and maritime unions pledged their support for US workers, members of the ILWU, at an international conference sponsored by the MUA and the CFMEU in Newcastle on September 19, 2002. The major conference, also attended by ICEM and the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF, together with a number of affiliated trade unions of both Global Union Federations unanimously adopted a strong declaration of support which, with regard to this dispute states: 
 
&quot;We further pledge our full financial, political and industrial support for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in the dispute with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) in the current struggle for a new contract for members on the West Coast. This support includes an organized international campaign on PMA shipping lines with the view of urging them to reach an agreed contract with the union.&quot; 
 
The two Australian unions immediately put these words into action with a joint delegation of a dozen rank and file Australian miners and maritime workers flying to Los Angeles to join ILWU pickets up and down the West Coast of the United States this week. 
 
US employer group PMA shut the gates on their workforce over the weekend and announced they would keep them locked out again after contract negotiations again stalled. 
 
The dispute is set to have major repercussions worldwide, with delegates to the Congress of the International Transport Workers' Federation in Vancouver in August pledging solidarity with the ILWU. October 2 saw the ITF reacting strongly to the latest news that US employers in the ongoing dispute had brought armed guards to a negotiating meeting the previous day in a serious escalation of the dispute. 
 
&quot;The decision by the employers to use armed guards during peace negotiations has seriously escalated the West Coast docks dispute. Not only has it forced the ILWU to walk out of the talks organised yesterday by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, it will also provoke an immediate and wide ranging international response&quot;, said ITF General Secretary David Cockroft. 
 
ICEM General Secretary, Fred Higgs, speaking from Washington where he was attending a meeting of ICEM North American affiliated trade unions, pledged full support to the ITF campaign in support of the ILWU and congratulated the Australian unions on their solidarity actions.

US West Coast Dock Strike: International Solidarity

In a historic first for the global mining industry, the world's leading gold producer, AngloGold and the 20-million strong international trade union federation, ICEM signed an agreement on the promotion and implementation of good human and industrial relations. The agreement, applicable to all Anglogold mines worldwide, was signed at the company's Johannesburg headquarters today. 

<img height="203" src="" width="380" alt="" />
At the signature of the Global Agreement, from left to right: 
AngloGold's CEO Bobby Godsell, ICEM's General Secretary Fred Higgs 
and NUM's General Secretary Gwede Mantashe. 

The key theme underlining the agreement is the &quot;development and sustainability of the gold mining industry worldwide&quot; and in upholding and implementing &quot;good human resources and industrial relations practices&quot;. The promotion and respect for human and trade union rights, health and safety, environmental protection and the promotion of good relationships with local mine communities are pivotal to the agreement. 
&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="86" src="" width="87" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="66" src="" width="120" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="80" src="" width="92" alt="" />
 
The agreement was signed by AngloGold CEO, Bobby Godsell, Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the ICEM) and Senzeni Zokwana, President of the ICEM's South African-based affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which facilitated the negotiations leading to agreement. 
 
Human and trade union rights, safety and training provisions of the new global agreement are specifically linked to the international standards set by the Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO, commonly referred to as the ILO core labour standards. The linkage to ILO standards is an important yardstick. It also ensures that the agreement is fully compatible with the UN's Global Compact initiative and will help to give further substance to the agreement. 
 
&quot;This is a major breakthrough for Africa and a giant step forward for the global mining industry. It acknowledges the importance of social dimensions of sustainable development, hot on the heels of the UN World Summit held only a few days ago in Johannesburg&quot;, said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
AngloGold has mining operations in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania, USA, Zimbabwe and of course South Africa. &quot;It ensures that ICEM-affiliated unions are fully recognised in the company's operations worldwide, and gives them a proper say implementing industrial relations best practice. 
 
&quot;I congratulate both our South African affiliate, the NUM and AngloGold management for their far-sightedness and providing leadership by example for the rest of the industry,&quot; Higgs added. &quot;We already have global agreements with the energy multinationals Statoil, Endesa, paper giant Norske Skog and the materials multinational Freudenberg. Others are currently under discussion. Globally mining is dominated by a few powerful multinationals. In their own interests, as well as those of their workers, we urge them to follow the example set by the South Africans.&quot;

AngloGold signs Global Agreement: First in Mining Sector, Africa

&quot;We challenge Rio Tinto to enter constructive dialogue with its critics. We issued that challenge publicly inside Rio Tinto's Annual General Meeting today and we will continue to do so. Given the arrogance of Rio Tinto's responses today, and the breadth of the opposition to the company's present behaviour, we do not feel that discussions behind closed doors would resolve the issues at this stage. The dialogue will have to be in the open.&quot; 
 
That was the reaction from angry trade union and community leaders following acrimonious exchanges inside Rio Tinto's Annual General Meeting in London today. 
 
Rio Tinto is the world's biggest private mining company. It has come in for massive criticism from a coalition of trade unions, environmentalists, human rights organisations, indigenous people&rsquo;s representatives and other campaigners worldwide. They cite the company&rsquo;s breaches of UN resolutions, its environmental pollution and its abuse of human rights - notably trade union rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. 
 
In campaigning for major reform of Rio Tinto's business ethics and practices, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the whole of the world trade union movement are allying themselves with organisations such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and the World Development Movement. 
 
Earlier, the ICEM and others had distributed a detailed, balanced but critical Stakeholders' Report to shareholders attending the meeting. 
 
 
 
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: CHAIRMAN'S ARROGANCE 
 
ICEM Australian Vice-President John Maitland was one of the international union leaders who acquired Rio Tinto shares in order to take part in AGM today. Maitland is National Secretary of the ICEM-affiliated Australian mining and allied workers' union CFMEU, which is involved in bitter disputes over Rio Tinto's attempts to deunionise its Australian mines and to end collective bargaining. 
 
In fact, Rio Tinto Chairman Robert Wilson invited Maitland to speak towards the beginning of the AGM. 
 
&quot;I made what I and others considered to be a moderate and responsible statement,&quot; Maitland commented afterwards. &quot;I emphasised that our stakeholders' report is part of our attempt to engage in proper, constructive negotiations with the company. I also pointed out that Rio Tinto's new statement of business principles, The Way We Work, will be relevant only if it is actually put into practice. 
 
&quot;Frankly,&quot; Maitland said, &quot;I was amazed by Wilson's reponse. Instead of answering my points, he launched into a series of arrogant character assassinations against officers of the ICEM and the CFMEU. He also accused us of engaging in misinformation. But in fact, his own comments were full of half-truths and distortions. For example, he said that Rio Tinto has no direct involvement and no personnel in the troubled Norwegian smelter Norzink. That is incorrect. He also told the meeting that a miners' strike in Indonesia ended within three days. That is correct - but he omitted to mention that the strike ended because it was broken up at gunpoint by the army. 
 
&quot;Then Wilson told the meeting that The Way We Work had been 'widely discussed' before being launched. But it was never discussed with unions at Rio Tinto or with environmental and civic campaigners. In fact, Rio Tinto did send a copy for comment to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, whose General Secretary Bill Jordan sent back a closely argued eight-page critique. Not one of Jordan's comments was ever mentioned by Rio Tinto, and not a single change was made to the document on the basis of Jordan's letter.&quot; 
 
From the AGM chair today, Wilson also launched into an attack on an ICEM conference in Johannesburg this February, where unions organising in Rio Tinto worldwide agreed to set up a network. In particular, Wilson strongly criticised former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke for taking part in the Johannesburg conference. 
 
&quot;Wilson's performance today showed him to be a very insecure man, obviously under a lot of pressure,&quot; Maitland commented. &quot;It seems he thought his only way out of a corner was to come out snarling.&quot; 
 
ICEM British Vice-President Fred Higgs agrees. &quot;Although Rio Tinto has very little in the way of operations inside the UK, it is a British-based company, &quot; said Higgs, who is National Officer at ICEM British affiliate the TGWU. &quot;Having been at the meeting and seen the disgusting way the chair distorted the views not just of the trade unionists, but of anyone who dared to criticise the company from the floor, I have to say I'm a little ashamed to be British today. This reinforces my view that international solidarity is vital in dealing with companies of this kind.&quot; 
 
Today's AGM was &quot;a classic case of the corporate PR machine versus real people,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe, who also spoke during the AGM. &quot;Wilson, obviously, was arrogant and ill-mannered. But some of the shareholders weren't much better. It's a long way from British middle-class drawing rooms to the killing fields of Kalimantan.&quot; 
 
Thorpe saw one positive point in the meeting: &quot;Rio Tinto implicitly agreed that industrial relations are a matter of global corporate policy. Previously, they had always hidden behind local management's alleged right to manage. If Rio Tinto are now treating industrial relations globally, they should take the next logical step and start talking to the ICEM.&quot; 
 
John Maitland was impressed by another item on the AGM agenda. Rio Tinto's Board, already high up the world chart of corporate &quot;fat cats&quot;, decided to pay themselves an extra 33 per cent in bonuses if the company gets up to the midway point in the international industrial league tables. The bonus rise would go up to 100 per cent if the company makes it into the top four. 
 
&quot;On behalf of Rio Tinto's organised workforce in Australia, I would be happy to accept the same bet for the people who actually produce Rio Tinto's wealth,&quot; Maitland said. 
 
 
 
FACTUAL GENERAL MEETING: TALES OF TERROR 
 
Naturally enough, Rio Tinto's critics got a rather better hearing at their own counter-event this afternoon - the Factual General Meeting. It was held in London's Central Methodist Hall, which is very near the AGM venue. 
 
The Central Methodist Hall also, back in 1945, hosted the founding session of the United Nations. Three years later, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose fiftieth anniversary is being celebrated this year. In &quot;The Way We Work&quot;, Rio Tinto pays considerable lip-service to the Universal Declaration. 
 
In addition to trade unionists and environmentalists, speakers at the Factual General Meeting included representatives of indigenous peoples in Indonesia, Colombia and Nevada, USA. They told tales of exploitation and in some cases of outright terror as Rio Tinto connived with local authorities to take over their ancestral lands. 
 
A speaker from Colombia's Guajira people said Rio Tinto had &quot;despoiled&quot; their land. In particular, he pointed the finger at activities in the area of El Cerrejon. &quot;The name of El Cerrejon is a familiar one to us,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;It has been the scene of many a miners' strike - in some cases put down by military force. This is a good example of the community of interest between Rio Tinto's workers and the other people who suffer from Rio Tinto's operations.&quot; 
 
Also addressing the Factual General Meeting was British parliamentarian Michael Clapham. He and other legislators tabled a highly critical motion about Rio Tinto in the House of Commons last month. To applause, Clapham announced that he is preparing another Commons motion. This one, to which some fifty Members of Parliament have already signed up, will praise the responsible action of the ICEM and its allies in publishing the stakeholders' report and will call for continuing pressure on Rio Tinto to mend its ways. 
 
Despite Rio Tinto's provocations today, the unions and others are determined to maintain a calm, responsible approach. 
 
&quot;The idea is not to break the company but to turn it into a good corporate citizen, conscious of its responsibilities to its stakeholders,&quot; emphasised the ICEM's Vic Thorpe. &quot;We will continue to seek dialogue, but at the same time Rio Tinto must realise that its attitude has further cemented the broad alliance of those who insist on real change in the company's practices. More than ever, the company will be under scrutiny everywhere. 
 
&quot;Truly,&quot; Thorpe said, &quot;Rio Tinto has No Place To Hide.&quot;

Nowhere To Hide For Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is the world's biggest mining company. But is it the best? 
 
That is the stark question confronting Rio Tinto shareholders as they go into the company's Annual General Meeting in London this morning. 
 
Things have been going anything but smoothly for Rio Tinto, which faces one of the most sophisticated campaigns ever mounted to call a global company to order. 
 
Rio Tinto has come in for massive criticism from a coalition of trade unions, environmentalists, human rights organisations, indigenous people&rsquo;s representatives and other campaigners worldwide. They cite the company&rsquo;s breaches of UN resolutions, its environmental pollution and its abuse of human rights - notably trade union rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. 
 
In campaigning for major reform of Rio Tinto's business ethics and practices, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the whole of the world trade union movement are allying themselves with organisations such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and the World Development Movement. 
 
Rio Tinto has also recently been the subject of highly critical motions and questions in the British and Australian parliaments. Similar parliamentary moves are likely in a number of other countries where the mining multinational operates. 
 
 
 
STAKEHOLDERS' REPORT 
 
Shareholders arriving for the AGM in London this morning were handed a glossy 56-page book which bears a more than passing resemblance to the company's own annual report. 
 
But this is the Stakeholders' Report: RIO TINTO - TAINTED TITAN - now also available online. 
 
And stakeholders are not only those who put money into the company. At least as important are the people who contribute their labour and the people whose lives and environment are deeply affected by Rio Tinto's worldwide operations. 
 
None of these groups is at all happy with Rio Tinto's behaviour. Nor, the stakeholders argue, should shareholders be particularly delighted about the company's prospects. 
 
Among those handing out the stakeholders' report was British Member of Parliament Michael Clapham. Last month, backed by fellow-parliamentarians Eric Clarke, Tony Benn, Ken Purchase, Ernie Ross and Ann Clwyd, Clapham tabled a highly critical House of Commons motion about Rio Tinto. More than 20 other British legislators have signed up to the motion, which describes Rio Tinto as &quot;probably the most uncaring and ruthless company in the world&quot; and urges shareholders to drum some ethics into the multinational. 
 
In-depth analysis of a different kind was provided this morning by a JCB mechanical excavator cruising in front of the AGM venue. &quot;Rio Tinto Dumps On Human Rights,&quot; a banner on the JCB proclaimed. Hardly a scoop - but it was hanging from the scoop. 
 
 
 
FINANCIAL PROSPECTS 
 
Rio Tinto's profit for 1997 - an increase of 11 percent over 1996 - is a &quot;creditable financial performance,&quot; the stakeholders' report says. But future profits could be at risk because &quot;there are relatively few commodities and regions in which the company is performing well in terms of profitability.&quot; 
 
More significantly, the report cites a number of growing risks for Rio Tinto, including: 
 
a focus on cost-cutting rather than value-adding 
costly technical problems associated with very large-scale project 
exposure to Asian markets which are expected to either contract or fail to grow over the coming years 
increasing financial exposure at head office to environmental and occupational health and safety problems in subsidiary operations 
politically and financially costly conflicts with indigenous peoples 
numerous and lengthy industrial disputes caused by a reluctance to recognise the legitimate role of trade unions and collective bargaining in its operations (disputes in the Australian coal industry alone have cost Rio Tinto up to 70 million US dollars so far). 
The financial section of the report also questions the level of Rio Tinto's financial commitments to the communities in which it operates: &quot;The [company's] 1997 Annual Report states that US$31.9 million were 'invested in the community', a significant increase on its 1996 contribution (US$22.7 million) but still only 0.4 percent of turnover and 2.6 percent of net profits. In sharp contrast, the band of 15 men who are Rio Tinto's directors received total remuneration in 1997 of 15.1 million Australian dollars (US$11.2 million at average 1997 exchange rates) ... The level of remuneration of directors has led to Rio Tinto being considered to be amongst the worst corporate offenders in the 'fat cat' league table.&quot; 
 
In a detailed analysis of Rio Tinto's assets and prospects, the stakeholders' report warns shareholders: &quot;With limited prospects for either new investment or greater profits from existing operations in 1998, the easiest way for the company to increase share prices is through its proposed share buy-back. Fewer shares for the same amount of assets leads (other things being equal) to an increase in share price.&quot; But this strategy &quot;is also contingent on debt financing costs remaining low... Increasing debt levels purely for the purpose of massaging the balance sheet is a highly artificial manoeuvre unrelated to operational performance and has caused concern amongst some analysts.&quot; 
 
The report goes on to examine some of the problems confronting Rio Tinto: 
 
 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
&quot;The most serious indictment against Rio Tinto is that the company has allowed, or even actively collaborated in, the denial of basic human rights enshrined in international conventions. Rio Tinto has passively accepted the intervention of the military or police using brutal and repressive actions to quell legitimate protest against some of its mining operations.&quot; 
 
Indigenous peoples' land rights are a particular concern here, and the report includes detailed case studies from Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia. In addition to land grabs, Rio Tinto is accused of destroying indigenous peoples' sacred sites. &quot;How would you consider it if Rio Tinto were to suggest a diamond mine under Cologne Cathedral?&quot; asks the stakeholders' report. &quot;What if gold was found under Westminster Abbey? These are not facetious questions, but important issues for shareholders to confront.&quot; 
 
Trade union rights are another big issue. 
 
In Australia, its largest area of overseas operations, Rio Tinto is well-known as the biggest anti-union company in the country. It has been repeatedly found by independent bodies to have actively de-unionised its workplaces, to have discriminated against workers who bargain collectively, and to favour workers who surrender their right to be represented by a union. 
 
A senior Rio Tinto executive, Mike Angwin, was seconded to the Australian federal government to draft anti-union legislation which was subsequently adopted. That legislation was seriously discredited by the recent court rulings in favour of unfairly dismissed Australian dockers. It has also been condemned by a panel of international legal experts within the UN&rsquo;s International Labour Organisation. 
 
Other countries where Rio Tinto has had industrial disputes in the last two years are Norway, Portugal, Chile and Indonesia. South African, Zimbabwean and Namibian unions also have a series of grievances against the company. 
 
 
 
ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH &amp; SAFETY 
 
In the past year, Rio Tinto has expanded or embarked on mining projects in a number of environmentally sensitive regions. The report includes critical case studies of the company's environmental impact in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the United Kingdom and Madagascar. 
 
Rio Tinto's record on occupational health and safety is also scrutinised. In particular, the stakeholder's report cites the case of Edward Connelly, a Scots engineer who is currenly suing Rio Tinto in the British courts. He alleges that lax safety procedures at the company's R&ouml;ssing uranium mine in Namibia caused him to contract cancer. 
 
The stakeholders' report is already drawing considerable attention from shareholders and the media. 
 
 
 
QUESTIONING CONTINUES 
 
The questioning of Rio Tinto's activities will continue today. Campaigners, including international trade union leaders, have acquired company shares that should permit them to raise questions inside the AGM. 
 
And from 13.00 UK time today, the campaigners will hold a Factual General Meeting of their own nearby - in London's Methodist Hall. The Factual General Meeting will be open to the public. Various guests have been invited to attend and give their views. One invitation went to Rio Tinto CEO Leon Davis, who is unfortunately otherwise engaged. Speakers will include indigenous people&rsquo;s representatives and trade union leaders from various countries in which Rio Tinto operates. A documentary on Rio Tinto, called Naked Into The Jungle, will be screened continuously in the FGA entrance hall. 
 
ICEM UPDATES on the AGM questions and the Factual General Assembly will be issued as details become available.

Rio Tinto - Tainted Titan

Unions representing more than 5,000 American and Canadian workers employed at Dow Chemical Co. and Dow Corning Corp. have formed a North American inter-union network for their &quot;mutual defence and advancement.&quot; 
 
The decision was announced by leaders of seven unions meeting in Midland, Michigan, yesterday. Midland is the site of Dow's global corporate headquarters. 
 
Together, these unions represent workers employed at 17 manufacturing facilities of Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, and DuPont Dow Elastomers LLC in the US and Canada. The conference was organised by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), the 20-million-strong global union federation that represents chemical workers around the world. 
 
Union leaders at the meeting raised concerns that Dow is systematically attempting to undermine trade union organisation in its US operations. In response, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs will be urgently seeking a meeting with Dow's CEO in order to establish a dialogue on these issues.

US, Canadian Unions Form Dow, Dow Corning Network

T he nearly two-year-long labour dispute between ICEM affiliate and leading Turkish glass producer Sisecam Group ended this week. 
 
A signed agreement between the company and Turkey's dominant glass workers' union reinstates 350 union members sacked at a plant in Eskisehir, grants pay increases for both 2003 and 2004 to workers, and gives Kristal-İş full recognition rights at most Sisecam glass factories, the underlying principle in the lengthy dispute. 
 
The accord comes after both the ICEM and the European Mining, Chemical, Energy Workers' Federation (EMCEF) brought full attention to the dispute both globally and within the European community. It also came following the Turkish government twice prohibiting Kristal-İş from mounting a strike in the country's glass sector despite a Supreme Court ruling that such a strike was lawful. 
 
 
 
The main points to the settlement: 
 
&middot; Sisecam agreed to withdraw its legal obstacles to recognizing Kristal-İş in some 13 of 15 glass factories that employ 5,000 workers; 
 
&middot; The two parties agreed that social dialogue and goodwill will now become the norm for solutions to future problems; 
 
&middot; The 350 union activists who were sacked last September at a Pasabahce plant in Eskisehir following some 700 workers and contractors becoming Kristal-İş members will be reinstated; 
 
&middot; A shop steward who was also fired for his union activities will be reinstated; 
 
&middot; In line with Turkey&rsquo;s consumer price index, glass workers will receive a retroactive pay increase of 14% for the first half of 2003, 10% for the second half, and 12% for 2004. 
 
&quot;The ICEM applauds the determination and endurance of Kristal-İş members and their leaders in the most successful end result of this dispute,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We are delighted to have played a role, but the credit truly goes to Turkey's glass workers and their union for mobilizing and persevering in the face of nothing less than an orchestrated union-busting effort.&quot; 
 
In an era when more and more companies use contractors to avoid unionization, Higgs commended Kristal-İş for organising into its ranks contract workers at the Eskisehir plant. 
 
Kristal-İş President Mustafa Bagceci and Sisecam CEO Dogan Arikan released a joint communiqu&eacute; in which they promised to start a new phase of social dialogue in labour relations. &quot;This settlement means a new starting point between Kristal-İş and Sisecam,&quot; stated Bagceci. &quot;We have decided to look ahead instead of at the past.&quot; Bagceci added that international initiatives played a vital role in reaching the agreement and expressed appreciation to ICEM and EMCEF for strong support and solidarity.

Victory for Kristal-İş in Turkish Glass Dispute

&quot;People before Profit&quot; was the message over and over as union members from five labour organisations protested DSM NV reorganization at a stop-work march/rally 12 March in Limburg, NL. The unions, led by ICEM affiliate FNV Bondgenoten, are demanding a stop to DSM's decision to sack 1,000 core workers at industrial chemical worksites in Geleen, and replace them with 500 contractors.
<img height="210" alt="" src="" width="350" />
Some 2,500 workers, families and supporters attended the &quot;Stop the Breakdown of DSM Employment in Limburg&quot; march/rally, which circled the streets of Heerlen-DSM headquarters-and ended with a loud, spirited, united assembly on the plaza of the DSM headquarters building. 
 
The event marked the first such stop-work action at DSM. 
 
&quot;For us as unions, we've had enough,&quot; said Henk van Rees, a Bondgenoten officer. &quot;That's why we have called upon staff to down tools and go to Heerlen.&quot; 
 
In the 1980s, DSM operations in Geleen employed some 15,000 workers. Prior to last month's announcement from Heerlen, chemical operations in Geleen employ 5,000 workers. DSM also sacked 420 jobs at its DNP (Nutritional Products) former Roche plant in Sisseln, Switzerland, a fact not lost on those at the rally who see DSM overreaching into non-traditional business sectors.

DSM Dutch Workers Protest Outsourcing

M onday, 8 March, is International Women's Day, and the ICEM is encouraging affiliates, institutions and the general public alike to carry a workplace Human Rights message through to 1 May and beyond. That message is &quot;Respect for Workers' Rights, Respect for Women Workers.&quot; 
 
 
Artwork from Confederaci&oacute;n 
de Comisiones Obreras, Spain 
The 20-million-member ICEM, composed of over 400 affiliates in 125 countries in the oil, mining, chemical, pharmaceutical and processed industries, has joined with other global union federations and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to promote a season of action in which the theme is &quot;Unions for Women, Women for Unions&quot; will be used to organize workers employed in the burgeoning informal sectors of both developed and developing countries. 
 
In the heavily unionized global sectors in which many members of ICEM affiliates work, some 30% of those workers are women. &quot;Against the background of rising militarisation and continuous attacks on Women's Rights, it is now more important than ever that the world commemorate International Women's Day as a day to say 'We can do better,'&quot; stated ICEM Women's Officer Carol Bruce. 
 
The ICEM points to appalling circumstances the world over that need immediate attention and remedies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is a common military tool to use rape to terrorize, humiliate and punish an enemy. In free trade zones in Central America and Central Europe, worksites exist in which women must produce their sanitary towels each month to prove they are not pregnant. 
 
Women make up over 50% of all HIV/AIDS victims, and in many cases the cause is infection from their own husbands. Because of lack of empowerment, they do not dare insist that their husbands use a condom, nor do they dare refuse sex with their husbands. 
 
Besides the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the ICEM has identified challenges in its own sectors. Women workers in Thailand in the diamond industry who work in sweatshop conditions need a living wage. In Russia, one out of two women working in the chemicals industries are exposed to hazardous conditions with high gas and dust content. Many trade unions still do not provide for women's representation by statute. In the global pharmaceuticals industry, not nearly enough women are organized in trade unions that would bring higher pay and a better level of benefits. 
 
On International Women's Day, the ICEM does herald notable achievements. In South Africa, a negotiated commitment between ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers and the country's Council of Mines has been made to bring the level of women workers in mining up to 10%. Pharmaceutical companies operating in Central Europe now have record numbers of women managers. Women are putting forward their own demands in collective bargaining in Brazil as negotiators. 
 
The ICEM urges affiliates and others to make visible the message &quot;Respect for Workers' Rights, Respect for Women Workers&quot; through the 1 May holiday, and then to practice this message in everyday life.

8 March: Working Women Need Improvements at their Jobs

J ustice has finally arrived for a group of mineworkers in Australia-but more than five-and-a-half years late. 
 
Four of 16 miners at three Rio Tinto coal mines in Central Queensland who were sacked 21 July 1998 will walk back to their jobs Monday at the Blair Athol mine. The miners are members of ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia, and the union will mark their return with a Guard of Honour at the workplace entrance. 
 
The four were part of 16 staunch trade unionists sacked by Rio Tinto subsidiary Pacific Coal in 1998. The miners were discharged after the company conducted one-sided &quot;performance reviews&quot; that effectively placed them on a black list in the mining areas of Queensland. 
 
Two others will be reinstated by Rio Tinto at its nearby Hail Creek mine on 8 March. The fate of ten others is still in the hands of Rio Tinto. After some three years of legal wrangling, the Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission ruled last year that the 16 were unfairly dismissed and must be given re-employment preference by Rio Tinto. 
 
Although the company is appealing that ruling, it has complied with reinstatement of the six. 
 
&quot;Rio Tinto should go the whole hog and get them all back on the job,&quot; said the Miners Union General President Tony Maher. &quot;These men and their families have suffered more than enough. It's time Rio did the right thing and get them all back on the job so their families can finally rebuild their lives and look to the future with the confidence they deserve.&quot; 
 
&quot;Hopefully, this puts closure to one of the sorriest chapters in mining labour relations the world over,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;The ICEM now calls on Rio Tinto to put this whole dispute behind and recall the remaining the ten workers.&quot;

Blair Athol Miners Return to Work in Australia

Archive