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As the world's labour unions get ready to observe 1 May activities, the ICEM salutes affiliate EGAT-LU in Thailand for its steadfast resilience in preventing the government thus far from privatising the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). 
 
Tomorrow marks the 66th consecutive day that EGAT-LU's 27,500 union members and tens of thousands of other Thai citizens have taken to the streets to protest the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra's plan to privatise the utility. And EGAT-LU members today concluded a three-day &quot;patriotic leave from work&quot; period with united protests across Thailand in opposition to the plan. 
 
As with all protests including the continued pickets around EGAT's headquarters in Bang Kruai, Nonthaburi, EGAT-LU has maintained its pledge to Thai citizens that electric power will not be cut during the strikes and protests. ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, on a visit to picket lines earlier this week at Bang Kruai, noted that EGAT-LU members are working their regular shifts at the utility and then joining strikes and protests in their off hours. 
 
&quot;Your struggle is an important struggle for workers in your industry throughout the world where we are opposing privatisation in many, many countries,&quot; said Higgs at a rally on 26 April. &quot;I join you in calling on the Thai government to abandon their misguided intention of privatisation.&quot; 
 
The momentum created by EGAT-LU to push the government off the privatisation track has been nothing short of astounding. In February, the union accurately detailed the lack of transparency in the government's plan to sell its stake to the listed energy firm Banpu. In return, Banpu had planned to secretly sell its 15% stake in Ratchaburi Holding Plc to EGAT so a privatised EGAT would hold a controlling stake of 60% in Ratchaburi. 
 
Union exposure and mass protests scuttled the plan. And then on 1 March, Prime Minister Thaksin announced that the listing of EGAT due to occur in May on the Thailand Stock Exchange would be delayed indefinitely. The announcement was seen as a response to the growing public street protests against the plan. 
 
And more recently, on 23 April, the new chairman of EGAT signed a memorandum with EGAT-LU that the state utilities of electricity and water would not be privatised, and the State Enterprise Act of 1999 that forms the legal basis for the government's privatisation plans would be abandoned. The Thaksin government on 26 April then created confusion by announcing despite the agreement, privatisation would go forward. 
 
Higgs promised anti-privatisation supporters on 26 April that the ICEM will be squarely behind EGAT-LU in its resistance. &quot;The ICEM will make sure that workers around the world are kept informed of the events of your struggle, and that the unions of the world will continue to express their support for your fight,&quot; said Higgs.

ICEM Heralds Affiliate EGAT-LU in Thai Privatisation Fight

The 20-million-member ICEM is calling on its 425 global affiliates to come to the assistance of Colombian oil workers, members of Uni&ograve;n Sindical Obrera (USO), who have been on strike now for eight days against the country's national oil company, Ecopetrol. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs is calling on trade unions across the globe to write to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to protest not only government actions that caused the strike, but the Uribe Administration's response to the strike. A day after the strike began on 22 April, the government declared the walkout illegal on the ill-conceived notion that petroleum refining is an &quot;essential service&quot; of a nation. 
 
&quot;Declaring the strike by members of USO illegal and citing petroleum refining as an essential service to Colombia contradicts ILO jurisprudence on what constitutes a nation's essential services,&quot; wrote ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs to President Uribe. &quot;Case after case has omitted oil refining from that category.&quot; 
 
Higgs also said in the letter the act of making the strike illegal, &quot;considering Colombia's volatile political circumstances&quot; has brought &quot;harsh repercussions&quot; to the striking oil workers. 
 
The strike, affecting 5,500 workers, is primarily over the government's decision to restructure Ecopetrol, which likely will mean a reduction in workers' benefits. USO is also seeking a new collective wage agreement through the strike. 
 
Since declaring the strike illegal, the Colombian government has placed legal sanctions on the officers of USO, arrested 17 strike leaders from different petrol plants and has threatened military force to bust the strike. Police have announced that anti-terrorism measures will be taken against striking workers, and the USO reports a great many death threats have been made against workers and USO leaders alike. 
 
The restructuring, announced in June 2003, has seen the government sign new and extended contracts over exploration and production of oil fields with private sector operators, most of which are foreign based. USO contends that such rewritten contracts with relaxed terms will plunder Colombia's natural resources and eventually will lead to the privatization of Ecopetrol. 
 
&quot;We know that the national economy, the workers, and Colombian people in general will be seriously affected,&quot; said USO Secretary General Juan Ramon Rios in a public statement. 
 
USO calls the Ecopetrol dispute the most important strike in Colombia in over 20 years and is asking oil and petrochemical unions across the world to monitor exports of refined products to Colombia in the event the country's reserves dwindle. The union is also asking the global trade union movement to protest directly to Colombian embassies in their home countries. 
 
The ICEM issued a circular today to its affiliates asking them to write letters of protest to: Alvaro Uribe Velez, Presidente de la Rep&uacute;blica de Colombia, Casa de Narino, Bogota DC (obserdh@presidencia.gov.co).

ICEM Condemns Colombian Government over Oil Strike

The 20-million-member ICEM has called for more global exposure to the pro-democracy mass movement against the absolute monarchy of King Gyanendra in Nepal. The global trade union federation said despite a remote location with barely any international press coverage to the growing insurrection, the royal government in Nepal is trampling human and labour rights on a daily basis. 
<img height="225" src="" width="344" alt="" />
Binda Pandey, left, arrested on 21 April (photo: Gefont) 
Today, 22 April, marks the 22nd consecutive day that thousands of Nepalese citizens have taken to the streets to defy a government ban on protest and mass assembly. Some 4,000 have been arrested, including trade union leaders of GEFONT-the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions-as well as another national union, the Nepal Trade Union Congress. 
 
The political situation grows ever more dangerous as Nepal plunges closer to full martial law with royal authorities declaring riot zones and curfews now for the entirety of Katmandu and Lalitpur cities. The monarchy's troops and security forces have responded to peaceful sit-ins and marches by violently arresting the leaders of the trade union federations and political parties after dispersing mass assemblies with tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges. Those detained are held in crowded facilities, undergoing severe questioning and void of any charges brought upon them. 
<img height="189" src="" width="300" alt="" />
Binda Pandey, ICEM Vice-President, speaking at 
the ICEM Congress in Norway last August 
The vast majority of Nepal's populace is seeking an end to the October 2002 proclamation dissolving the country's elected House of Representatives and government, and replacing it with executive powers solely vested in the monarchy. Gyanendra has installed a loyalist as prime minister, Surya Bahadur Thapor. 
The list of trade union leaders who in April have been detained and then released a day or two after arrest numbers 30, including ICEM Vice President Binda Pandey who has three times been arrested-once on 10 April, held until 11 April, again on 13 April, and again once more on 21 April. Pandey, who also serves as ICEM Women's Committee vice chair, is an officer of the Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers' Union (NICIWU) and is education secretary of GEFONT. 
 
&quot;Dozens of the demonstrators are being injured and hundreds are being arrested every day,&quot; said Pandey. &quot;Mass participation is occurring every day and as that happens, suppression by the authorities grows each day as well.&quot; 
 
Besides Pandey, many other trade union leaders have been arrested including GEFONT Secretary General Bishnu Rimal, Vice Chairman Lalit Kumar Basnet, Treasurer Binod Shresthathus far in April been arrested include Secretary General Bishnu Rimal, NICIWU Member Radhika Khanal, ICEM-affiliated Garbage Cleaners' Union Central Member Madan Deula. The top leaders of NTUC including President Laxman Basnet, Deputy General Secretary Prem Singh Bohara, and Vice Presidents Puskar Acharya and Bam Bahadur DC have also been held. 
 
On 18 April, royal authorities arrested 160 journalists who gathered despite a no assembly ban in a Katmandu central square protesting the detention of 70 working journalists who had been rounded up on 16 April. 
 
Five major political parties inside Nepal have unified over the call to reverse the absolute powers of the monarchy. The two major trade union centers, cutting across all segments of work that employ much of Nepal's 24 million populace, also have unified and are in concert with the political coalition seeking an end to the monarchy's abolishment of Nepal's Constitution and its implementation of emergency decrees banning free speech, assembly and other means of peaceful dissent. In a recent joint declaration, the two trade union centers issued a joint plea for &quot;all working people and trade unions in every level for a nationwide go-ahead against this inhumane act of the government which has kicked all norms and limitations of constitution and rule of law.&quot;

ICEM Calls for More Attention to Nepal

The 20-million-member ICEM has pledged total support to our member trade unions stand with the pro-democracy movement in Nepal. The Brussels-based global union federation of 425 affiliates--including four in Nepal--also condemned harsh government acts in attempting to put down peaceful, pro-democractic demonstrations that have erupted in April in opposition to the actions of Nepal's absolute monarchy. 
<img height="200" src="" width="260" alt="" />
&quot;We are in constant contact with our affiliates. Together with Nepal's five-party coalition they are defying government repression by seeking a democratic state, and they have our whole and undivided support,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
Nepal's monarchy has banned political dissent, including assembly and print literature in recent days. The Royal Administration authorities have posted curfews in certain areas and the monarchy's troops and security forces have met marches and rallies with rubber bullets, tear gas and baton charges. 
<img height="197" src="" width="258" alt="" />
 
The pro-democracy masses have defied the crackdown by staging sit-ins in public areas and at major traffic intersections, resulting in nearly a thousand arrests over the past few days including trade union leaders and leaders of the five-party coalition opposed to total control by King Gyanendra.
&quot;We strongly oppose the continued beastly suppression of the peoples democratisation by this unconstitutional royal government,&quot; stated a joint release of two national trade unions centers of Nepal on 5 April. &quot;We appeal to all working people and trade unions in every level for nationwide go-ahead against this inhumane act of the government which has kicked all norms and limitations of constitution and rule of law.&quot; 
 
Despite a government ban ICEM affilates responded by launching a 9 April protest march from Asan to Naradevi inside Katmandu that was met with the arrests of seven National Executive members as well as others. 
 
The ICEM's Higgs also issued severe condemnation against Nepal for imposing the archaic Essential Services Act of 1957 on Nepalese society, which effectively bans trade union rights of workers. &quot;Nepal's monarchy must know that applying restrictive bans on democratic rights and on internationally-recognised labour rights is totally unacceptable to the international community. We demand the immediate release of all those arrested and join our affiliates call for the resignation of this royal government&quot; 
 
 
INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL, ENERGY, MINING AND GENERAL WORKERS' FEDERATION (ICEM) 
NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE IN NEPAL 
 
April 5, 2004 
 
JOINT PRESS RELEASE 
 
Through the Royal step of Retrogression in October 2002, the nation has been continuously being pushed towards autocracy. The attack has been intensified on the rights gained through the popular mass movement of 1990 and on the constitution. The latest example is the imposition of Essential Services Act 1957 in order to ban the trade union rights of workers. 
 
The Royal Government is trying to suppress the peaceful popular mass movement of five major political parties launched for democracy and progress. Currently, the royal government has attempted to suppress the fast moving phase of the movement being conducted from April 2, 2004 in an inhumane &amp; savage manner. Hundreds of activists and leaders of the political parties have been injured by the cruel lathi-charge, tear gas full of hazardous chemicals and plastic bullets. Even the workers working in the factories/offices and coming to and from office including general people walking on the streets have been victimized by the inhumane suppression. 
 
We strongly oppose the continued beastly suppression of the people's demonstration by this unconstitutional Royal government. We appeal all working people &amp; trade unions in every level for nationwide go ahead against this inhumane act of the government, which has kicked all norms, and limitations of constitution and rule of law. Through this statement we call our local Affiliates/Committees, member and working masses to come forward against retrogression and in favor of democracy &amp; peace. Only in democracy, rights of the working class can be ensured and work can be run smoothly. So we request all entrepreneurs and employers as well to participate and assist this movement from their own places and stands. 
 
Signatories 
Mr. Janak Chaudhary President of NICIWU 
Ms. Bina Shrestha President of IGWUN 
Mr. Kumar Ojha President of NEAEU 
Mr. Ramkumar Shrestha President of NEAE

ICEM Backs Pro-Democracy Efforts in Nepal

A mass rally in the city of Izmit underscored the unease of the Turkish government's continued insistency to intervene on the side of employers in a labour dispute. 
 
Some 10,000 members and supporters of ICEM affiliate Lastik-Is march and rallied 24 March against both severe concessions proposed by tyre manufacturers and Turkey's decree of 21 March banning a strike by the country's petrol, chemical and rubber union, citing that such a strike would be a threat to &quot;national security.&quot; 
<img height="263" src="" width="350" alt="" />
Leaders of Lastik-Is at 24 March rally in Izmit 
The union and multinational tyre producers Goodyear, Pirelli and Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci entered collective bargaining in December for renewal of labour agreements covering 4,000 workers at six tyre factories. But the negotiations proved one-sided at the outset as the employers presented a set of concessionary demands and refused good-faith bargaining. 
 
Lastik-Is issued a call to strike for 22 March at Turkey's largest tyre producer, Italian-based Pirelli in Izmit. But a day prior, the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued the decree under Article 33 of Turkey's Law on Collective Agreements, Strikes and Lockouts. 
 
It was the third consecutive set of negotiations since year 2000 that the Turkish government has used Article 33 to prohibit a strike in the tyre industry. 
<img height="266" src="" width="354" alt="" />
Earlier, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs wrote the prime minister and warned that prohibiting the right to strike violated ILO Conventions 87, 98 and 158, core labour principles that Turkey has ratified. 
 
&quot;Tyre employers have made unacceptable demands on Lastik-Is,&quot; said Higgs in his letter. &quot;Such demands, if imposed, would lower the living standards and increase the work-life burdens of workers in the industry, thus reducing working terms and conditions in this particular sector to far below those of European standards.&quot; 
 
In the tyre producers only exchange with the union, employers seek to remove paid health insurance from workers, seek an increase in working hours by changing shift schedules and seek the unlimited use of temporary workers. Employers also want a separate salary structure for new employees, and propose decreases in current salaries and social payments for current employees. 
 
&quot;If the employers want to continue this forced agenda of their demands, then our fight will increasingly continue,&quot; said Lastik-Is General President Abdullah Karacan. &quot;I do believe that our will and resolve, together with international solidarity, will be the winner in this dispute.&quot; 
Meeting in Brussels on 24 March, the governing board of ICEM, the Presidium, pledged full support to affiliate Lastik-Is and issued a call to all global affiliates to protest the government's decree in protest letters to Prime Minister Erdogan.

Turkish Government Bans Strikes in Tyre Industry

American union rights and the environment took centre stage at a shareholder assembly in Taiwan yesterday. There were brief scuffles inside the meeting when security guards tried to stop protesters from criticising the labour and environmental practices of the Continental Carbon Company. 
 
Continental Carbon is a subsidiary of Taiwan-headquartered multinational the China Synthetic Rubber Company (CSRC). Lobbying CSRC's shareholders and board members at its annual general meeting in Taipei yesterday were Taiwanese, American and international trade union representatives, together with environmental campaigners. 
 
Continental Carbon is majority-owned by CSRC and the Taiwan Cement Company, both of which are controlled by Taiwan's powerful family-run Koo Group. Three Continental Carbon plants in the US are currently the subject of environmental agency enforcement actions and/or pollution lawsuits. And at Continental Carbon's Ponca City plant in Oklahoma, union members have been locked out of their jobs since May 2001. 
 
The Ponca City workers are members of the American union PACE, which is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). PACE is leading a global campaign to end the lock-outs, with strong support from the ICEM, the ICEM-affiliated Taiwan Petroleum Workers' Union (TPWU) and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions. 
 
 
&quot;My intentions today are to make the stockholders aware that the CSRC board of directors has more interest in continuing this assault against union workers than providing maximum financial returns for its shareholders,&quot; said locked-out PACE member Todd Carlson. He displayed thousands of petition signatures from Ponca citizens asking the Koo family to use its influence to end the labour dispute and address the company's environmental problems. 
 
Leslie Koo, chairman of China Synthetic Rubber, refused to allow Carlson and members of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions to voice their concerns to stockholders. Union and environmental representatives were forcibly removed from the meeting by CSRC guards when they displayed a large banner in support of the locked-out workers and Taiwanese environmentalists. 
 
&quot;CSRC actions against workers and the environment are bad for all Taiwanese,&quot; Huang Ching-hsien told a large group of demonstrators gathered outside the shareholders' meeting. Huang, who is President of both the TPWU and the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, added that that CSRC was &quot;undermining the relationship between citizens of the US and Taiwan.&quot; 
 
Phee Jungsun, the ICEM's Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary, told the demonstrators that the international will expand the global campaign against China Synthetic Rubber Company because of its anti-labour and environmental practices. 
 
Press packets were distributed, including letters to Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian from ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and John Sweeney, President of the American national labour federation AFL-CIO. Also handed out was a community report written by the mayor of Ponca City, a local state senator and a clergyman who blamed Continental Carbon for the lock-out of local citizens and for damaging the environment.

US Labour Activists Protest At Taiwanese Shareholder Assembly

Danish employers should now &quot;broach the subject of a sixth week's annual holiday&quot; as a way of relaunching the country's stalled bargaining process. The proposal came from a union leader as Denmark's massive industrial dispute entered its third day. 
 
Some 400,000 Danish workers are on indefinite strike after union members voted to reject a mediated bargaining proposal covering a wide range of industries. Prominent among the unions involved are affiliates of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Affected by the conflict are more than 200,000 workers in manufacturing and process industries, and a similar number in the transport and building sectors. The unions involved include the general workers' SiD and the women workers' KAD, both of which are affiliated at the global level to the ICEM. 
 
Danish employers must now put something new on the bargaining table, SiD President Poul Erik Skov Christensen insists. &quot;It would be illusory to think that the dispute can be resolved within the limits of the mediation proposal that was rejected by the membership.&quot; He suggests the employers should reopen the question of increasing annual leave entitlements from five weeks to six. This was one of the key labour demands that were not met in the mediation proposal. 
 
At the request of the Danish national trade union federation LO, the SiD had put out new feelers to employers in its sector, but without any positive results. Talks should now be started at the level of the LO and the national employers' confederation DA, the SiD believes. 
 
As the strike bites, the unions have made it clear that truly essential services will be maintained. Without compromising the effectiveness of their action, they are prepared to make case-by-case exemptions in a number of areas, including fuel supplies to emergency and social services, distribution of essential medicines and the provision of hospital cleaning and laundry services where these are clearly vital to the maintenance of hygiene. 
 
At the same time, unions have warned that they will be maintaining their vigilance against strikebreaking. ISS, the cleaning and environmental services multinational, has been cited by the KAD union as one example of an (unsuccessful) attempt to bring in strikebreakers.

&#039;Make New Offer&#039; the Call to Bosses as Danish Strike Bites

Worker rights in its operations worldwide are guaranteed by leading paper multinational Norske Skog under a global agreement signed with trade unions today. This marks a further important step forward in the globalisation of industrial relations. 
<img height="41" alt="" src="" width="150" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="78" />&nbsp; 
Employment conditions and union rights are covered by the new package, which the company signed in Oslo with the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Norwegian union Fellesforbundet facilitated the agreement and is a co-signatory. Fellesforbundet organises Norske Skog workers in the company&rsquo;s home country, Norway, and is the largest trade union in the private sector in Norway. 
<img height="241" alt="" src="" width="341" />
(photo: Knut Vadseth for Norske Skog)
Norske Skog is a leading producer of wood-containing publication paper, particularly newsprint. It employs some 11,000 people worldwide. 5,820 of these are in Europe, including 2,950 in Norway. 
 
Under today&rsquo;s agreement, Norske Skog and the unions will work together &ldquo;locally, nationally and internationally&rdquo; on the basis of the company&rsquo;s core values &ndash; openness, honesty and cooperation. &ldquo;This ensures the possibility for the employees to influence decisions through consultations with the management,&rdquo; the agreement says. 

<img height="213" alt="" src="" width="315" />
(photo: Norske Skog/Creative Partners Tasmania; 
Norske Skog Gilbey)

The main points: 
 
Union rights: All Norske Skog workers &ldquo;shall have the right to be members of trade unions&rdquo; and the employer &ldquo;shall take a positive attitude to trade union activities, including organising.&rdquo; Unions will be recognised for collective bargaining purposes. There will be no discrimination against workers&rsquo; representatives, who will have all necessary access rights to the company&rsquo;s premises. 
 
Equality of opportunity and treatment &ldquo;regardless of race, colour, gender, religion, political conviction, nationality, cultural origin or other irrelevant factors.&rdquo; 
 
Health and safety: Norske Skog will &ldquo;work with the employees, their representatives and trade unions, to continually improve the company&rsquo;s health and safety performance.&rdquo; 
 
The company will not use child labour or forced labour. 
 
&ldquo;Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week shall at least be sufficient to cover the basic needs of the worker and his or her family.&rdquo; 
 
Employment &ldquo;shall, as a main rule, be based on permanent employment.&rdquo; Temporary and part-time employees &ldquo;should as a main rule receive the same relative terms and conditions as full-time permanent employees.&rdquo; All employees &ldquo;shall have the opportunity to take part in relevant educational and training programmes.&rdquo; 
 
<img height="244" alt="" src="" width="359" />
Signing up in Oslo (left to right): 
Fellesforbundet President Kjell Bj&oslash;rndalen, Norske Skog's President and CEO Jan Rein&aring;s and ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
(photo: Hege Vatnan/Fellesforbundet)

These are described as &ldquo;minimum rules&rdquo;. On the company&rsquo;s side, responsibility for ensuring compliance will rest with &ldquo;the top manager for each business unit&rdquo;. The agreement applies to all operations directly controlled by Norske Skog. However, the company also undertakes to encourage full compliance within operations where it does not have a controlling interest, as well as by its subcontractors and suppliers. 
These are described as &ldquo;minimum rules&rdquo;. On the company&rsquo;s side, responsibility for ensuring compliance will rest with &ldquo;the top manager for each business unit&rdquo;. The agreement applies to all operations directly controlled by Norske Skog. However, the company also undertakes to encourage full compliance within operations where it does not have a controlling interest, as well as by its subcontractors and suppliers.
As with all the ICEM&rsquo;s global agreements, the touchstones for compliance are the detailed worldwide standards adopted by the UN&rsquo;s International Labour Organisation (ILO). The relevant ILO Conventions are cited by number in the new agreement with Norske Skog, which is also designed to meet the requirements of the Global Compact initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 
 
Importantly, compliance with the agreement is subject to annual review at a joint meeting of the signatories. There is also a step-by-step complaints procedure, leading up to the global level where necessary. This is the crucial difference between the ICEM&rsquo;s global agreements and the internal codes of conduct adopted by many multinational companies. 
 
The company undertakes to provide all the information, access rights and training needed to ensure proper monitoring of the agreement. 
 
Signing up for the ICEM in Oslo today was General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We are proud to have achieved this agreement with a leading paper manufacturer like Norske Skog,&rdquo; Higgs said. &ldquo;I am confident that we will maintain our excellent relationship with this company, and that we will soon go on to sign further global agreements with other enlightened multinationals. 
 
&ldquo;Such agreements are vital to the interests of workers worldwide,&rdquo; Higgs added. &ldquo;But they are also of great benefit to the companies and their other stakeholders. Global agreements give substance and credibility to corporate ethics. Local presence, global strength is Norske Skog&rsquo;s slogan. We are sure this agreement will provide exactly that, to the benefit of all concerned.&rdquo; 
 
 

<img height="109" alt="" src="" width="350" />
(photo: Norske Skog/Creative Partners Tasmania) 

Kjell Bj&oslash;rndalen, President of Fellesforbundet stated, &ldquo;For us living in Norway, it is an obvious thing that the workers&rsquo; rights are protected through legislation and collective agreements. But in many parts of the world, this isn&rsquo;t the case. The agreement now concluded, will ensure all employees of Norske Skog worldwide, basic human and trade union rights. This means for instance the right to be members of trade unions recognised for the purpose of collective bargaining, the right to information and minimum standards for health and safety.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The agreement with Fellesforbundet/ICEM is an expression of our will and ability to think innovatively in our efforts to be a good employer and a company aware of its social responsibility,&rdquo; said Norske Skog&rsquo;s CEO and President Jan Rein&aring;s. &ldquo;We take it for granted that all Norske Skog's activities should respect basic human rights and fundamental ILO Conventions on the protection of employee rights. The agreement harmonises well with our core values of Openness, Honesty and Cooperation,&rdquo; he added, pointing out that this agreement commits the company to observe basic human rights and to guarantee good working and cooperation conditions. &ldquo;This is what we do at Norske Skog, and it is an absolute requirement for our entire global organisation,&rdquo; said Jan Rein&aring;s.

Norske Skog Signs Global Labour Agreement

Some 400,000 Danish workers launched an indefinite strike yesterday (27 April). 
 
The action comes after union members voted to reject a mediated bargaining settlement covering a wide range of Danish industries. Prominent among the unions involved are affiliates of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The dispute concerns unions within CO-industri. This is an umbrella grouping which covers most of Denmark's industrial workers. Every other year, CO-industri bargains at the national level with the federation representing Denmark's private industry employers. 
 
Affected by the conflict are more than 200,000 workers in manufacturing and process industries, and a similar number in the transport and building sectors. The strike follows rejection of the official mediators' proposal by a majority of union members in a postal ballot. The proposal had included a new collective agreement. 
 
Overall, 56 percent of those voting rejected the proposal. Within the ICEM-affiliated general workers' union SiD, the &quot;no&quot; votes reached 62.3 percent. Workers involved also include 52,000 members of the ICEM-affiliated women workers' union KAD. 
 
Two main points are at issue in the strike. 
 
First of all, the collective bargaining process this spring has been particularly difficult. At one point, the employers brought the negotiations almost to a standstill with their demand that a new agreement should not increase company costs in any way. But the Danish economy is booming and companies are posting excellent results. So the employers' stance obviously caused particular resentment among union members. 
 
Secondly, union members' clear wish for more time off was not adequately met by the agreement proposed. 
 
The Danish unions have declared their willingness to re-enter negotiations with the employers, but up to now this offer has been rejected. 
 
The dispute comes at a sensitive moment for the European Union. Denmark, an EU member, is due to vote next month in a referendum on the Amsterdam treaty, which governs the next phase of European integration. Prolonged industrial action and lock-outs would disrupt preparations for the treaty vote and could limit the availability of print media in the run-up to the referendum. 
 
The strike is expected to continue for at least two weeks. Employers are also likely to extend the disruption through a lockout involving the distributive and commercial sectors as well. 
 
&quot;The members have spoken, and have spoken clearly,&quot; commented SiD President Poul Erik Skov Christensen. The &quot;no&quot; vote on the mediators' proposal was, he said, &quot;caused mainly by the employers' tactical games. The employers centralised the collective negotiations to an unprecedented degree, and our members reacted against that.&quot; 
 
&quot;Now that we are going into a dispute,&quot; he pointed out, &quot;it's good that such a big proportion of the membership took part in the vote and that the outcome was so clear. So we are now going to make sure that the dispute is conducted as effectively as possible. We are well prepared, both financially and organisationally.&quot; 
 
Any resolution of the conflict would depend on &quot;the employers' seizing the opportunity,&quot; Skov Christensen said. &quot;At the same time, I strongly warn the politicians against meddling in the dispute, which is a matter between the labour market partners [unions and employers].&quot;

Mass Strike in Denmark

Already seriously damaged by the collapse of its bid to deunionise the country's ports, the Australian federal government now faces searching questions over its very close relationship with the world's biggest mining company, union-hostile Rio Tinto. 
 
A crushing victory has been won in the courts by the port workers' Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). The judges ruled that the mass sacking of dockers by Patrick Stevedores, the country's second-biggest stevedoring firm, was illegal. The court ordered the workers' reinstatement. 
 
The Howard government - and particularly Peter Reith, the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business - had strongly backed Patrick Stevedores' attempt to deunionise the ports by sacking its workforce and bringing in non-union strikebreakers. The courts are now moving on to examine charges of an illegal conspiracy between Patrick and the government, and the judges have already indicated that there is a strong case to be answered on that. 
 
All of which leaves the Australian government's union-busting laws in tatters. Rio Tinto played a decisive part in the drafting of that legislation, which was recently condemned by an international panel of lawyers within the UN's International Labour Organisation. The ILO lawyers ruled that the legislation breaches international labour rights conventions ratified by Australia. 
 
Minister Peter Reith, whose future hangs in the balance, will now have to deal with some awkward parliamentary questions about the government's relations with Rio Tinto. 
 
Among the questions put to the minister by Australian Member of Parliament Bob Brown [direct quotes]: 
 
Has his attention been drawn to claims that Rio Tinto (a) has earned a reputation for conflict with local communities, trade unions, human rights and environmental groups in places where it is engaged in mining and (b) is being sued in the UK for compensation for cancer allegedly resulting from working conditions at its uranium operations in Namibia? 
Has his attention also been drawn to criticism of Rio Tinto by Amnesty International and the Australian arm of Oxfam for its treatment of indigenous people in Indonesia? 
Is it a fact that Rio Tinto (a) is attempting to de-unionise its operations in Australia and (b) has made awards to workers at an Australian coal mine for producing coal without union involvement? 
Did Rio Tinto provide specialist staff to assist the Government to draft industrial legislation; if so, was the legislation subsequently found by the International Labour Organisation Committee of Experts to breach international labour law regarding the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively? 
What measures will the Government implement to ensure that Rio Tinto operates in Australia (a) with full respect for human rights and labour rights and (b) to high standards for occupational health and safety and environmental protection? 
[end of quotes] 
 
 
 
Parliamentary questions in countries where Rio Tinto operates are part of a global campaign to drum some ethics into the multinational's operations worldwide. 29 British parliamentarians recently signed up to a highly critical motion about Rio Tinto (see ICEM UPDATE 24/1998). The company's global corporate headquarters is in London. 
 
The multinational's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for a global trade union campaign coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM and its worldwide affiliates, including Australian mining and allied workers' union the CFMEU, are allying themselves with a wide range of campaigning organisations on environmental issues and human rights, notably worker rights and indigenous people's rights. Rio Tinto is currently under heavy fire on all these counts. 
 
In Australia, the company is attempting to de-unionise its mines and end collective bargaining there. This has been made easier by the Howard government's industrial legislation. Rio Tinto executive Mike Angwin was loaned to the government to help draft this law. 
 
This week, meanwhile, Rio Tinto faced the latest in a long string of worldwide industrial problems when workers at its part-owned Lihir goldmine in Papua New Guinea walked off the job in a dispute over risk allowances and unhealthy working conditions.

Australian Government Crisis: Rio Tinto Allegations Add to Pressure

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Australian Government Crisis: Rio Tinto Allegations Add to Pressure

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