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Global worker No1 2022

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The month-long strike by Norway&rsquo;s NOPEF union that is beginning to cripple energy production across the country&rsquo;s oil patch will get an airing today before a state mediator. It will be the government&rsquo;s second attempt to resolve issues that prompted NOPEF to strike a selective list of oil service companies on 21 June. 
 
Efforts just prior to the start of the strike by the state mediator failed.
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&nbsp; 
The strategic strike by 87 NOPEF trade unionists is aimed at normalising the national oil services&rsquo; work agreement with other national contracts inside Norway&rsquo;s energy sector. Work schedules and working terms and conditions common to other staff inside the sector remains the central issue to the strike. 
 
The striking NOPEF members are employed by Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Oceaneering. Other oil service companies such as Aker Kvaerner, Geoservices, and Acergy are also affected. Major oil companies that are losing time and money on well development projects, new drilling exploration, and maintenance include Statoil, ConocoPhillips, Norsk Hydro, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. 
 
Work has been interrupted at Statoil&rsquo;s Snorre and Stratford platforms, and at the Norwegian state company&rsquo;s northern Sn&oslash;hvit and Kristin oil fields, while the strike has slowed work at Norsk Hydro&rsquo;s Heidrun and Oseberg platforms, and at ConocoPhillip&rsquo;s Ekofisk platform.

Mediation Today in NOPEF’s Oil Services Strike

The UK&rsquo;s Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (TGWU) has enlisted a core of allies, including the ICEM, to resist 800 job redundancies and closures to English China Clay (ECC) operations in the South West by Imerys. TGWU has mapped a comprehensive community and global campaign against the French-based building materials group, which purchased ECC in 1999, in efforts to block the sackings.
<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="51" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp; <img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
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The TGWU, together with two other UK trade unions representing Imerys workers in the South West, Amicus and the GMB, have already placed the dire economic consequences of the sackings squarely in front of both local and national government officials. They will now engage a full community awareness campaign aimed at pressuring Imerys to honour a pledge made two short two years ago. That pledge, made after some jobs were lost in the South West, promised that 800 other jobs would remain. 
 
The campaign will consist of mass meetings, rallies, and a petition that will be taken door-to-door across towns and villages of the region. The campaign is also aimed at the British government in hopes that initiatives can be put in place to retain the jobs. The ICEM will head up the campaign on the global level. 
 
The proposed restructuring plan of Imerys fell like a bombshell on the economic fragile South West, where the average Imerys worker earns an annual salary of ₤23,000, some ₤4,500 higher than the local incomes average. Imerys&rsquo; surprise announcement in early July said that by the start of 2008, nearly all ECC mines and processing facilities across Cornwall, Devon and Lee Moor would be shuttered, as it moves production of kaolin and high-grade coatings for the paper industry to Brazil. The company cited high energy costs as the reason. 
 
At an emergency debate session in the House of Commons on 11 July, MP Matthew Taylor from the South West said one in five households in the region would be directly affected by the proposed restructurings, &ldquo;and the number is probably one in three when the knock-on effects are taken into consideration.&rdquo; Taylor said besides the 800 direct jobs on the line, 800 other jobs likely would be lost due to reduced spending power in the South West.
<img height="119" alt="" src="" width="120" />
&nbsp; 
The European Works Council (EWC) of Imerys responded with a terse 17 July message directed at the company. The statement condemned an Imerys decision to close a 100-member workplace in France, as well as the proposed mass layoffs in the UK. The EWC &ldquo;objects against the recent decisions of the group of closing a site in France and a huge restructuring in the United Kingdom,&rdquo; read the statement. 
 
&ldquo;This strategy of de-localisation of the activities, here to Hungary and to Brazil, is guided only by the search for higher profits. The members of the EWC Committee require Imerys, which is in excellent economic and financial health, to assume the full social consequences of these decisions, both in France and in the United Kingdom. The EWC will also be extremely vigilant on the conditions of employment for the workers in Hungary and Brazil. 
 
&ldquo;It is not enough that the director of Human Resources for the group, challenged on these subjects during the meeting of 6 July, claims to be open to social dialogue and negotiation. It is also his responsibility to make certain that this policy is applied by the local HR directors. As regarding social relations and also issues of health and safety, local management has carried out actions in total contradiction with principles posted by the Imerys group.&rdquo; 
 
The overall financial health of Imerys, according to first quarter 2006 disclosures, has not been affected by high global energy prices. The company&rsquo;s first quarter results show that sales had increased 10.8% over the same period in 2005, and net income was up 13.2% over that of the first quarter of last year.

Campaign Mounts to Block Shift of UK Jobs by Imerys

&nbsp; English: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf</a>French: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf</a>Spanish: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf</a>

Training Manual on HIV/AIDS Bargaining

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The 2008 Olympics are still a full two years away, but ICEM Finnish chemicals union affiliate Kemianliitto-Kemifacket has already made an event out of a resolution it proposed &ndash; and passed &ndash; at the recent Congress of SASK, the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland. 
<img height="233" alt="" src="" width="350" /> 
 
SAK's Lauri Ihalainen takes aim, while Kemianliitto President Timo Valliitu points the way
The resolution is coupled with an example of what &ldquo;Fair Play&rdquo; means when it comes to clothing, shoes and sporting equipment for the Beijing Games. Kemianliitto-Kemifacket showcased such ethically made apparel by sponsoring a Youth-10 girls football team whose players are outfitted with clothing made in Finland, and play only with balls certified by the Fair Trade Association. 
 
The 50,000-member trade union calls its campaign a public awareness effort to draw Nordic attention to the lack of bargaining rights and worker protections in many of the countries where big-name sporting companies produce their goods.

Finnish Chemical Workers’ Union Begins “Fair Play” Drive Toward Olympics

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Some 200 workers at a paper mill and converter owned by Smurfit Kappa Packaging in Argentina are on strike over the company&rsquo;s failure to pay a scheduled wage increase. The strike is at the company&rsquo;s mill and converting operations in Bernal and Espora. 
 
The workers, represented by a union affiliated to ICEM affiliate Federaci&oacute;n de Obreros y Empleados de la Industria del Papel, Cart&oacute;n y Qu&iacute;micos, struck because a 12% pay increase that was won in a long struggle after numerous social dialogue sessions with Smurfit has never been paid. 
<img height="99" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The company now is hiding behind the national work agreement in Argentina for the paper sector, and refuses to honour past commitments. Blas Juan Alari, Secretary General for Federaci&oacute;n del Papel, told the ICEM that the early promises made to workers are an acquired right, and that workers are refusing to bend to the pressure by the company.

Argentine Paperworkers Strike Smurfit Kappa over Non-Payment of Salary Agreement

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The steering committee of ICEM&rsquo;s Bridgestone Network met in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26-27 June, and resolved to prepare a comprehensive health and safety declaration at local plants, with support and cooperation from managers, for presentation at next year&rsquo;s conference. 
 
ICEM trade union affiliates from Brazil, Japan, South Africa and the US are represented on the steering committee, and Gomurengo, the Japanese Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union Confederation, chairs the network. 
This sixth meeting of the steering committee heard about the economic situations in each country, received reports on tyre sector activity, and reviewed industrial policies of the Japanese company within the different plants. 
<img height="144" alt="" src="" width="100" />. 
ICEM's Michael Wolters
ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Sector Officer Michael Wolters presented the main report on current developments inside the rubber industry, as well as on major technical innovations in tyre manufacture. Wolters also presented, and the steering committee, discussed a recent UN report stemming from an investigation on working and living conditions at a Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia.

ICEM’s Bridgestone Network Meets

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The Peruvian government has stipulated a wage and bonus, thus ending a strike by a union of FNTMMSP, ICEM&rsquo;s mining and metals affiliate in Peru. The nine-day shut down of the country&rsquo;s only iron ore operation forced the government to impose terms on Shougang Hierro Peru SA, which is wholly-owned by the Chinese government through its Shoulda Iron and Steel Group. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The government ordered a pay increase of more than half of what the union was seeking, and also imposed a one-time bonus. Shoungang&rsquo;s 800 miners had earned about US$13-per-day, while the average mining wage in Peru is $33-per-day. The imposed settlement for this year amounts to an 8% salary increase, and a bonus payment that exceeds US$300. 
 
The Chinese state-run company argued during talks that free water and electricity provided to iron ore miners offset the difference in pay schemes with other mining companies operating in Peru. Under Peru&rsquo;s labour law, the regional labour agency can intervene once a work stoppage has been declared legal. The strike lasted from 19-28 June.

Peru’s Government Imposes Wage Deal to Settle Iron Ore Strike

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An eight-week long mining and copper smelting dispute in Poland that included a 28 June threat to strike was resolved last week. Managers of state-owned KGHM Polska Miedz SA, a giant copper and silver conglomerate, agreed to a performance-based bonus plan tied to the company&rsquo;s handsome profits for the first five months of 2006. 
 
Direct pressure on Polish ministry officials, as well on as the enterprise&rsquo;s supervisory board, produced the bonus, which came close to the month&rsquo;s salary that unions operating inside KGHM companies were seeking. The nine unions, all operating under the umbrella Trade Union of Copper Industry Employees (ZZPPM), together with a smaller grouping, ZZPP, won a bonus of 90% of the average monthly salary for the 17,000 KGHM workers. The bonus will be awarded this month. 
<img height="109" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The unions held a joint industrial action meeting and referendum from 28-30 June, which included a 95% strike vote, and on 30 June, thousands of KGHM workers took to the streets with an angry protest march on Poland&rsquo;s Finance Ministry. ZZPPM and ZZPP demands also include a tightening of the political turn-over plaguing KGHM&rsquo;s supervisory board, a fact playing a negative influence on the company&rsquo;s performance. The unions are also seeking more funds for the company&rsquo;s social fund. 
 
KGHM has benefited from high prices of copper on the international market, and saw a net earnings result of &euro;370.5 million for the first five months of 2006. 
 
Coal miners in Poland, represented by ICEM affiliate Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers Union of Solidarnosc, among other unions, also won a bonus award in late May. That payout was based on 2005 profits from a number of state-owned coal companies, including Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, Kompania Weglowa, and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Part of the government&rsquo;s deal in awarding the bonus is to establish uniform collective agreements in Poland&rsquo;s hard coal sector.

Polish Copper Workers Win Bonuses Based on State Company’s Profits

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The strike by ICEM oil and gas affiliate NOPEF against oil service companies on Norway&rsquo;s continental shelf has intensified. The Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF), representing the companies, and NOPEF have not met since the start of the strike on 21 June. 
 
The selective strikes against a handful of oil service firms, including Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Oceaneering, has had serious impact on drilling, exploration and well maintenance for a number of companies. Statoil, ConocoPhillips, and Norske Hydro have been seriously impacted to date, with Statoil forced to halt drilling at its Sn&oslash;hvit and Kristin fields. 
<img height="75" alt="" src="" width="100" />
If the strike lasts too much longer, drilling and development efforts undertaken by ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell will be impacted. OLF said the strike has disrupted production of 37,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day. 
 
The strike was caused when the oil service providers refused to harmonise its national collective agreement in Norway with other national contracts in the oil sector. That has been the central demand by NOPEF, which seeks to win for workers regular weekly schedules and such items as compensation for waiting time, something that is common in other oil sector agreements.

NOPEF Strike against Oil Service Providers Continues in Norway

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Oil fields workers&rsquo; in southern Chad launched a three-day strike against Esso-Tchad, US-based ExxonMobil&rsquo;s operating unit there, over wage discrimination and neglect over implementation of a career development plan by the oil and gas supermajor. Oil workers in Chad are also upset that the money produced through their labours is not reflected in their socioeconomic standing. 
 
The strike by over 400 workers lasted from 4 to 6 July in the Doba oil fields of Kome, Miandoum, and Bolobo. Oil workers served notice that future strikes would occur, possibly production of the 200,000 barrel-a-day output sent through the three-year-old Chad-Cameroon pipeline, unless workers&rsquo; demands are met. The strike was caused by Esso-Tchad when it placed an inferior pay offer before the workers a day before the walkout began. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" />
Management offered a pay increase of only 7.5%, while workers are seeking 25% in order to bring pay levels closer to oil workers on the transit side of the upstream development in Cameroon. Chad&rsquo;s national labour centre, Union des Syndicats de Tchad (UST), is assisting oil workers in talks. 
 
In March, the union representing the workers issued demands in the form of a statement that called out the unequal pay practices between oil workers in Chad and Cameroon, and charged that a phantom &ldquo;career progression plan had never been seen by the Chadian personnel, who continue to receive a salary that is not equivalent to the services rendered or the socioeconomic situation.&rdquo; Esso-Tchad made no response to those demands. 
 
The Doba fields, connected to the Cameroon port of Kribi by a 1,063-kilometre pipeline, belong to a consortium of oil companies, with ExxonMobil holding 40%, Malaysia&rsquo;s Petronas 35%, and US-based Chevron a 25% stake. The World Bank-funded development project became mired in controversy when, in January 2006, Chad&rsquo;s government changed the bank&rsquo;s financial arrangements, and diverted monies away from poverty relief and social programmes to counter civil strife, leading to a mass of refugees entering eastern Chad from the Sudan. 
 
With a stalemate brought by the World Bank&rsquo;s dispute with Chad&rsquo;s government, ExxonMobil decided to stop royalty payments to the government of Chad, worth some US$20 million per month, which further choked resources in one of the world&rsquo;s poorest countries. 
 
The World Bank-sponsored Chad-Cameroon pipeline has been plagued by other labour and human rights problems as well. In September 2005, Chad&rsquo;s national gendarmerie broke up peaceful protests by contract workers who had been denied overtime pay while employed by Chad-Cameroon Constructors, the oil companies&rsquo; consortium building the pipeline. The police action left three dead and three seriously injured.

Chad’s Oil Workers Target ExxonMobil for Strike Action

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