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Started in 2009 with the support of the Dutch national labour centre FNV, ICEM&rsquo;s Organising and Social Dialogue Project in Turkey continued regional seminars last month in the city of Adana in the Cukurova region, where important trade union representation exists, particularly in ICEM sectors. 
 
Adana is an industrialized city in Turkey&rsquo;s south that has large-scale industries such as textiles, leather, oil and gas, electricity, chemicals, automotive, and food processing. In recent years, Adana&rsquo;s importance has increased due largely to the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil and gas pipeline from the Caspian region in Azerbaijan. Adana claims to be the future &ldquo;Rotterdam&rdquo; of Turkey, particularly since another new pipeline will come on line, this one from the Black Sea port city Samsun, which will move oil from Russia. ICEM&rsquo;s intensive trade union energy activities in the Caspian and the Middle East region are closely connected to Adana and the surrounding Mediterranean area. 

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With the overall objective to build Turkish unions&rsquo; ability to recruit new members, as well as to discuss the establishment of a base to create a functioning industrial relations system, prioritizing human and trade union rights, and to promote healthy social dialogue, this seminar of the FNV project was attended by more than 60 local trade union leaders, shop stewards, and militants from the ICEM affiliated unions. 
 
The seminar also welcomed several international trade union leaders from the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. Celil &Ccedil;oban and Mail &Uuml;rker of FNV Bondgenoten in the Netherlands, Marc Blanc of French FCE-CFDT, and Chris Vanmol of Belgium&rsquo;s CSC-Chimie Energie exchanged experiences and knowledge from their countries. ICEM Energy Officer Jim Catterson, who was on an oil and gas fact-finding mission in southeast Turkey prior to the seminar, shared his experiences from the UK, where he worked in the trade union movement prior to joining the ICEF/ICEM. 
 
The seminar also heard a presentation from the Turkish trade union expert &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of Education and Collective Bargaining of Lastik-İş, on union history and the current labour relations situation in Turkey. Later, the seminar focused on Power and Weak Points, Challenges and Opportunities, and Concrete Organising Targets inside Turkey, with contributions and inputs by participants from the different regions, namely Adana, Mersin, Adiyaman, Batman, and Elazig. 

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&Uuml;zeyir Ataman
&ldquo;This seminar in Adana has given great happiness and hope for the future,&rdquo; said ICEM Rubber and Chemicals Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, who coordinates the two-year project and did a workshop on globalisation and labour relations. &ldquo;The active involvement and enthusiasm of participants clearly shows that Turkish unions have an important role to play in shaping a society moving towards a real democracy based on fundamental human rights, which, of course, includes trade union rights.&rdquo; 
 
The FNV project will continue with further regional seminars in the Thrace region in April, and in Gebze in May. The Adana seminar was held 11-12 March.

ICEM’s Organising and Social Dialogue Project Continues in Turkey

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ICEM affiliates FCE-CFDT of France, FIA-UGT of Spain, and FEMCA-CISL of Italy established a joint entity called Association Pour L&rsquo;Europe Solidaire et Pour la Coop&eacute;ration Mediterranean, or the Association of Solidarity Europe and Mediterranean Cooperation (AESCOOMED). The new organization has an aim to develop a common European vision, and an information exchange between trade unions regarding economic, social issues, environmental matters, collective bargaining, industrial relations, and common social dialogue platforms. 
 
AESCOOMED&rsquo;s vision is to develop common work on European Works Councils, and promote the consultation and participation of workers within the member unions, as well as enhance cooperation with countries in the Mediterranean region. 
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The newly-formed organization held its first conference in Barcelona on 8-9 March 2010 under the banner &ldquo;Energy, Industrial Policy, and Social Dialogue in the Mediterranean Region.&rdquo; Trade unions from seven countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey, together with the presence of the ICEM, debated industrial and energy issues in the region during the initial meetings. 
 
Issues of energy supply security, energy conditions in industrial development, and the environmental impact in Mediterranean countries were discussed. Acknowledging the fact that the environment is fragile and deteriorating, protecting and improving eco-systems has become a key issue in the Euro-Mediterranean region, especially in view of new industrial dynamics. This Euro-Mediterranean cooperation includes issues of water scarcity and water quality, the reform of environmental standards, improving infrastructure, and preserving the environment. 
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The place and role of social dialogue in all countries of the Mediterranean was also highlighted. Common challenges were defined as population growth, aging population, job creation, modernization of labor markets, maintaining high levels of social protection, and dissemination of knowledge and innovation. All participants were convinced of the need to strengthen cooperation between the union organisations from countries bordering the Mediterranean basin. 
 
The ICEM was invited to the two-day conference and was represented by Rubber and Chemicals Kemal &Ouml;zkan. He made a presentation on ICEM&rsquo;s activities regarding social dialogue on the global level and union building and union-support activities in the Middle East/North African Region (MENA). 
In conclusion, all participants welcomed the AESCOOMED initiative and measured the importance of international solidarity between workers.

Trade Unions Form Euro-Mediterranean Cooperative Organisation

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A unique happenstance followed an ICEM workshop on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) in Guinea recently: the Industrial Relations manager of Russian bauxite and steel producer RUSAL was expelled from the country following revelations at the conference of the company&rsquo;s horrid labour practices in Guinea. 
 
Mineworkers in Guinea, backed by leaders of the trade union federations, provided vivid evidence on working conditions, including child labour, at Compagnie des Bauxite de Kindla, RUSAL&rsquo;s joint venture bauxite mining concern with the government. 
 
The testimony resulted in the government, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to expel Anatoly Pantchenko from Guinea. 
 
Trade unionists told how the RUSAL manager had organized a culture of outsourcing at the mine and at RUSAL&rsquo;s wholly-owned Friguia alumina smelting plant. The company utilises some 120 outsourcing companies. Discussion centered on how the system has aggravated poverty and created extremely poor work conditions and salaries, leaving workers under RUSAL&rsquo;s umbrella with little means for improved living conditions. 

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From left to right: Ibrahima Fofana, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, Manfred Warda and Yamodou Tour&eacute;
The report was not new to the ICEM. In 2007, after street protests in Guinea loosened the dictatorial powers of President Lansana Cont&eacute;, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG), visited the ICEM in Brussels. She and other trade union leaders from Guinea then told how RUSAL relies heavily on &ldquo;phantom&rdquo; subcontracting companies that are tied to Cont&eacute; associates. 
 
In December 2008, following the death of Cont&eacute;, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and a team of military officers took over the country. They immediately forged relations with the three main trade union federations and pledged to end corruption in the mining sector. 
 
Since then, relations between RUSAL and the government have been tenuous, and ICEM&rsquo;s CAL workshops in May provided all the evidence Moussa Camara needed to expel RUSAL&rsquo;s top manager from Guinea. In mid-April, workers at the Friguia refinery staged a strike, and RUSAL &ndash; now the world&rsquo;s second largest steelmaker &ndash; said the work stoppage was instigated by the government. 

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The ICEM&rsquo;s CAL conference agreed on a plan of action for Guinea&rsquo;s mining sector, which will see trade unions and the government push for a review of the national mining convention, a code that became obsolete and neglected under the corrupt Cont&eacute; regime. Such a review will make it possible to properly address outsourcing, as well as to include guarantees on working conditions in employment contracts. 
 
A new committee was established with the government that is tasked with carrying out the review. The committee is composed of 13 members, two of whom are trade union leaders. 
 
The West African nation of Guinea holds two-thirds of the world&rsquo;s bauxite deposits. A second multinational bauxite miner, called Halco, also operates in Guinea. But trade unionists tell the ICEM that work conditions there are far superior&nbsp;to those existing at RUSAL. Halco is an enterprise 51% owned by US-based Alcoa World Alumina and Alcan of Canada, with the remainder owned by Guinea&rsquo;s government.

ICEM’s Contract Labour Forum in Guinea Forces Expulsion of Russian Mine Boss

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The ICEM calls on South African pulp, paper, and woodlands company Sappi to cease disciplinary matters against 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers at the Enstra mill in Gauteng province. The ICEM supports its South African affiliate, Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), in its rigorous defense of the 42. 
 
The paperworkers are charged with inciting three safety strikes in May at the 700-worker pulp, printing, and graphics paper mill near Johannesburg. The incident started when shop stewards prevented a worker from doing unsafe work. That worker is now one of the 23 workers still on the job that Sappi now wants to suspend for one week without pay, and issue final written warnings to. 
 
The 19 shop stewards, the mill&rsquo;s entire CEPPWAWU representation team, have already been suspended, and await further discipline at meetings on 7-8 July. 

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The safety strikes took place on 5 May, 8 May, and 28 May. The worker was assigned to do cleaning in a part of the paper mill that a piece of equipment normally performs. When shop stewards protested the unsafe act, management hardened and the safety strikes began. The matter was compounded when a joint labour-management report on the safety incident and subsequent strikes was ignored by the mill manager. 
 
In a 16 June ICEM letter to Sappi, the Global Union Federation told Sappi to drop the disciplinary procedures at the Enstra mill and to &ldquo;get on with building a trusting labour-management relationship at Enstra.&rdquo; The ICEM noted in the letter that Sappi had been engaged over the past six months in building a better labour relations climate at the mill, but failure to follow through with the findings contained in the joint investigatory report was a breach of trust. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM strongly believes the first and most important component in building a trusting and lasting relationship in labour-management relations must be safety,&rdquo; read the letter. 
 
The ICEM also believes Sappi violates global labour standards at Enstra, not least of which was suspending all CEPPWAWU shop stewards and discrimination in bringing separate sets of charges against the 23 workers and the 19 duly-elected shop stewards. 
 
Some 90% of Enstra workers are CEPPWAWU members.

ICEM Calls on Papermaker Sappi to Halt Safety Discipline

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The ICEM hosted leaders of its two oil and gas workers&rsquo; unions of Nigeria on 18 June. Elected officers from NUPENG, the blue-collar union, and PENGASSAN, representing white-collar workers, visited the ICEM&rsquo;s headquarters in Geneva. 
 
With General Secretary Manfred Warda and Energy Officer and Director of Organisation Jim Catterson present, the Nigerian trade unionists discussed the difficulties of security for workers in the Niger Delta brought on violence and kidnappings, and also the growing casualisation arising in oil and gas in Nigeria. 
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Taking part in the discussions were PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile and NUPENG General President Peter Akpatason, as well PENGASSAN leaders Stephen Ereyukomhen, Sunday Oginni, and Adamu Unoru. 
 
On the issue of physical security in the Niger Delta, the trade union leaders said it was wrong for the government to be shifting responsibility to the oil and gas operators in the region. The Nigerians also outlined labour law changes enacted over the past few years that are detrimental to workers. 

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Regarding casualisation, there is constant abuse of agree-upon quotas for expatriate workers, and the oil and gas workers&rsquo; leaders emphasized that with the use of more and more casual workers, career development and job careers for Nigerians is being marginalized. 
 
They also expressed concern that outsourcing is being directed at incompetent and poorly trained workers, and that is creating safety hazards in the industry. They expressed regret that the government has not committed to stem the growing use of casual workers. 
 
Finally, NUPENG and PENGASSAN leadership discussed with the ICEM the rising number of Chinese exploration and development companies that are entering the oil patch of southern Nigeria.

ICEM Hosts Nigerian Union Leaders from NUPENG, PENGASSAN

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Two miners in South Africa died on 20 June deep inside South Africa&rsquo;s biggest gold mine, the Driefontein mine owned by Gold Fields. They died when an earth tremor, registering 3.5 on the Richter scale, caused a shift of rock. Eight other miners were rescued, three of whom were hospitalized. One miner is suffering with serious injuries. 
 
It was the second accident caused by a shift ground at Gold Fields&rsquo; mines in a month. On 20 May, two miners died deep in the earth at the company&rsquo;s Kloof mine near Westonia in West Rand. A day earlier, one miner at Kloof died in a similar but separate accident. 

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The tragedy that occurred 20 June at Driefontein near Carletonville caused mine production to halt for four days. The spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Lesiba Seshoka, called the latest accident deeply disappointing. &ldquo;There doesn&rsquo;t seem to be any willingness to improve safety,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Gold Fields, the world&rsquo;s fourth largest gold miner with operations in Australia, Ghana, Peru, and South Africa, said in a statement to financial markets late last week that it has had 20 mining fatalities since July 2008. All have occurred in South Africa. In the first six months of 2008, 23 of 87 mine fatalities in South Africa occurred in mines operated by Gold Fields.

Gold Fields Struck by 5 South African Mining Deaths in Past Month

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Germany&rsquo;s two biggest industrial unions, ICEM affiliate IGBCE and IG Metall, urgently called upon elected officials and employers within Germany to begin a constructive dialogue on overcoming the consequences of the current global crisis. The unions recently issued a joint statement to draw attention to the fact that economic and industrial policy challenges cannot be undertaken with mere &quot;cosmetic adjustments without a genuine substance.&quot; 
 
In cooperation with the Hans B&ouml;ckler Foundation, IGBCE and IG Metall organised a joint conference in Oberhausen, Germany, entitled &ldquo;Industrial Policy for Tomorrow.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The industrial base of our economy must be strengthened to lay the foundations of sustained growth and prosperity,&rdquo; said IGBCE board member Michael Vassiliadis. 

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Added Berthold Huber, President of IG Metall, &ldquo;We need a bridge over the crisis and it must lead to the other shore and not back to the same shore. We must now have a model for a sustainable industrial policy.&rdquo; 
 
In the joint statement, the unions warn of the danger that industrial cores could be lost and entire value-chains in industrial processes might collapse. Therefore, the unions call on the German government to provide &ldquo;short term loans and guarantees, and to generate additional demand.&rdquo; 
 
Specifically, IGBCE and IG Metall call for a public equity fund, effective protections for companies to secure jobs, the adoption of a sustainable industrial policy that would replace unregulated markets, comprehensive social-democratic participation rights, decent work, regulated labour markets, and a coordinated industrial policy for all of Europe.

IGBCE, IG Metall in Germany Combine to Demand Sustainable Industrial Policy

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This month&rsquo;s 98th Session of the ILO Conference adopted a landmark Global Jobs Pact on 19 June. The accord, called a Jobs Pact, was agreed to by governments, trade unions, and employers, and lays out a template for economic recovery and reform. 
 
Jobs, workers&rsquo; rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability are at the heart of the proposal for a new system of global governance, said International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder. 

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ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder
Global labour unions fear that the ILO will return to a course of business as usual, and that world economic institutions will continue with the failed policies of free-market radicalism. Some commentators say that the financial crisis has already bottomed out and recovery is now imminent, but voices at the 19 June ILO session argue that the affect of lost jobs will be lasting and devastating. 
 
The Jobs Pact is seen as an alternative to shocking ILO projections that the crisis will push 50 million workers into unemployment, and that 200 million of the world&rsquo;s population will be pushed into extreme poverty. The creation of sustainable jobs is essential, as is the fight against climate change. 
 
Another aspect of the Jobs Pact is the high level of importance given to tripartite dialogue, social dialogue, and collective bargaining. High standards of working conditions and improved wages are vital, along with education and training programmes for the unemployed. The Jobs Pact calls for increased implementation of public-sector job creation schemes. 
 
The Global Jobs Pact signifies an important and significant step forward. Implementation must now occur. The ICEM supports demands for concrete results before the next G20 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on 24-25 September 2009.

ILO’s Jobs Pact; a Solid Proposal for Exiting the Financial Crisis

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The ICEM reviewed and extended its Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with French-based chemical multinational Rhodia covering 15,000 workers in March 2008 with a series of new initiatives. One of those includes a joint initiative on workers&rsquo; health and safety through a global safety partnership committee. 
 
ICEM and Rhodia agreed to have an addendum to the agreement that clarifies terms and conditions of the global committee. This is expected to be finalised this autumn following ICEM consultations with its affiliated unions that represent Rhodia workers. 
 
While the discussions are ongoing, a first-ever joint activity regarding health and safety was held at Rhodia&rsquo;s subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany, on 19 June. 

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The ICEM was represented by Chemicals and Rubber Officers Kemal &Ouml;zkan and Health, Safety, and Sustainable Development Officer Brian Kohler, and representatives from German affiliated union IGBCE, which represents workers at the plant, attended. The IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Wolters from union headquarters in Hannover was present, as was IGBCE regional representative Wilfried Pernshorn, and Works Council members Cornelia Kainz and Hans Peter Rich. 
 
Rhodia was represented by Yolene Coppin, Jacques Kheliff, and Jean Paul Perez, all from the company&rsquo;s Paris headquarters, and by Raimund Hinsen, Uwe M&auml;nnel, and Hans-Ulrich Lutz, managers at the Freiburg plant. 
 
That facility, called Rhodia Acetow, produces chemicals such as filters, flakes, and anhydrides. The joint mission heard presentations on the plant&rsquo;s economic and employment situation, and on health, safety, and environmental indicators. After touring the various sections of the plant, the group made an evaluation on the current situation of Rhodia Acetow and discussed a future action plan. 
 
&ldquo;This is an important step forward in the GFA with Rhodia,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Dealing with health and safety at the global scale, using the substantial contributions offered on a plant by plant basis, will keep standards high and serve to harmonise the standards across all company plants throughout the world.&rdquo;

ICEM, Rhodia Take Health, Safety Agenda to Shop Floor in Freiburg, Germany

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Following last October&rsquo;s release of the English version of the &ldquo;ICEM Guide on Contact and Agency Labour (CAL),&rdquo; the Global Union Federation has now released an Arabic version. Further language versions are in the works. 
 
The Arabic version can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/09-02-09%20Word%20version%20ICEM%20CAL%20Guide%20in%20Arabic.pdf ">here</a>. 
 
The CAL Guide describes numerous short-term contract, agency labour, and other precarious work situations from around the world. It contains a number of best practice examples, as well as worrying situations, such as the horrid work terms and working conditions that temporary workers fine themselves in. 
 
The guide also provides an overview of some of the most recent changes in national and international labour laws and standards. It further deals with combating the phenomenon at company level through collective negotiations. Useful and encouraging examples, together with union strategies are also provided. 
 
The English version of the manual, as well as the ICEM&rsquo;s CAL campaign website can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/">here</a>.&nbsp;

ICEM Releases Contract and Agency Manual in Arabic

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