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A statement distributed at the US shareholders&rsquo; meetings of ExxonMobil and Chevron by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), representing 30,000 workers at some ten oil and related enterprises connected to the Southern Oil Co., demands that the multinationals cease their lobbying efforts for an ill-advised Hydrocarbons Law in the Middle East nation. 
 
The IFOU also called on the world to support passage of a new Labour and Social Security Law in Iraq, and for the world community to press for repeal of two draconian decrees inside Iraq. The 1987 Public Law No. 150, a Saddam-era decree still enforced by the occupational forces, prohibits workers employed in the public sector, including ICEM sectors oil, gas, and electric generation and distribution, from joining or forming unions. 
 
And the occupation&rsquo;s own Decree No. 8750 severely limits trade unionism in Iraq by prohibiting trade unions from holding funds, and denies unions the legitimate right to collect dues and maintain assets.
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IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad 
In the statement, IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad said: 
 
&ldquo;The Ba&rsquo;athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect and continues to be enforced against us. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted, and assassinated. Our rights as workers are routinely violated. This is an attack on our rights and the basic precepts of a democratic society. It is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.&rdquo; 
 
In a four-point demand, IFOU seeks withdrawal of all foreign troops; passage of the Labour and Social Security law; an end to meddling in Iraq&rsquo;s economic affairs by the US, UK, International Monetary Fund, and energy multinationals; and an end to efforts to pass the oil law, a measure that will pour further profits into the pockets of oil companies, while denying the Iraqi people the necessary funds to rebuild their country. 
 
The ICEM also believes the Iraqi people are the ones who should decide and control their oil resources and revenues.
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In a mid-May letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) also called for passage of the 2006 draft labour law, which was drafted with the assistance of the ILO. ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder said the Iraqi government must allow for a pluralistic trade union framework, and said the proposed law is consistent with core global labour standards.

Iraqi Oil Union Makes Case at Shareholders’ Meet of Two US Supermajors

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Some 500 truck drivers of two contract firms attached to Royal Dutch Shell in the UK voted overwhelmingly for industrial action last week. The drivers, represented by Unite and employed by Hoyer and Suckling Shell, haul petrol and other refined products for the multinational across the UK. 
 
Ron Webb, Unite&rsquo;s National Secretary for Road Transport, said the votes &ndash; 95% at Hoyer and 87% at Suckling Shell &ndash; reflect drivers&rsquo; feelings of increasingly being short-changed. &ldquo;These drivers are paying a hefty price for Shell&rsquo;s stratospheric profits,&rdquo; said Webb, noting they work 48-hour weeks and take home a mere &pound;23,000 after taxes.
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Unite is seeking a minimum gross salary of &pound;36,000 per year, about &pound;2,000 more than Shell drivers&rsquo; current gross pay. &ldquo;Shell would be far better placed if they were to stop stuffing their shareholders&rsquo; pockets and ensure their contractor Hoyer had the resources to conclude a deal that is acceptable to our members,&rdquo; said Webb. 
 
Unite and Hoyer are expected to meet for further negotiations in order to break the pay deadlock. The drivers work out of several UK terminals of the oil giant, and work under Shell fuels distribution contracts.

Contract Tank-Truck Drivers for Shell at UK Vote Industrial Action

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After 14 long months of struggle and dispute with American consumer products company Procter &amp; Gamble, 350 workers represented ably by Sindicato de Trabajadores de Procter &amp; Gamble Industrial Peru (SINTRA P&amp;G) have won their first collective agreement through arbitration. 
 
In the agreement, the union secured fundamental workers&rsquo; rights principles guaranteed under ILO standards, particularly the right of freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. In making the announcement, the Peruvian union thanked the ICEM and other organisations for assistance and solidarity since the new union began organising at the chemicals, soaps, and detergents factory in San Isidro, near Lima, in March 2007.
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&nbsp; 
The contract became viable through arbitration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru management had resisted going to arbitration throughout, despite the fact that it had engaged in previous such sessions with a predecessor union. 
 
SINTRA P&amp;G has now pledged to take up the cause of 39 trade unionists at the factory who had been fired for asserting their right to form a union. SINTRA P&amp;G stated that despite the resistance from management to form a union, &ldquo;It is now time to turn the page and encourage all to move forward on the right path&rdquo; of active trade unionism, referring to organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The union&rsquo;s intention now is work toward an improved second collective agreement, and SINTRA P&amp;G has opened its doors to all workers who seek healthy work lives. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru also utilizes 400 indirect workers in its production and distributions operations. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the recent success of its future Peruvian affiliate!

SINTRA P&amp;G Successful in First Contract at Procter &amp; Gamble Peru

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Prior to IF Metall&rsquo;s First Ordinary Congress in mid-May, ICEM&rsquo;s Swedish affiliate held a charged and enthusiastic two-day conference entitled &ldquo;Decent Working Conditions for All &ndash; Fair and Just Globalization.&rdquo; The conference, held 11-12 May in Stockholm, brought together hundreds of local Swedish trade union representatives with international union leaders. 
 
In opening the conference, IF Metall National President Stefan L&ouml;fven stressed that the 400,000-member union favours global free trade, but only if free trade ensures good and favourable work conditions for all. The conference heard from Jan Eliasson, chairman of Sweden&rsquo;s Social Democratic Party&rsquo;s Foreign Affairs Advisory Committee, and Kari Tapiola, Assistant Director-General of the ILO.
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IF Metall President Stefan L&ouml;fven 
It also featured a number of workshops on day two, including &ldquo;Trade Union Solidarity in a State of Change,&rdquo; &ldquo;Global Cooperation in Practice between Companies and Trade Unions,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Political Platform of the EU &ndash; Today and in the Future,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The State of the International Trade Union Movement &ndash; a Challenge and Need for Change.&rdquo; 
 
Participating on panels across those workshops were ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda; General Secretary Neil Kearney of the Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF); Horst Mund, Head of International Department, IG Metall, Germany; G&ouml;ran F&auml;rm, Swedish Member of the European Parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party; and Ingrid Schullstr&ouml;m, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for H&amp;M, the Swedish department store chain. 
 
Earlier, on day one, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi delivered an address on &ldquo;Activities of the Global Union Federations,&rdquo; emphasizing that today, international trade union work is a part of everyday life on the local level. He shared a session with AB Electrolux President and CEO Hans Str&aring;berg, called &ldquo;The Role and Task of Multinational Companies in a More Global World, Their Contribution Towards a Fairer Globalization.&rdquo; 
 
During IF Metall&rsquo;s Congress proceedings, Malentacchi and the union&rsquo;s International Secretary, Mats Svensson, denounced Swedish multinational Ericsson AB&rsquo;s contract labour practices in Bangladesh. Recently in Bangladesh, a contract worker fell into an unprotected zinc and acid tank. Ericsson manufactures components for telephones in Bangladesh.
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&nbsp;IF Metall International Secretary Mats Svensson

IF Metall and IMF used a press conference to insist that Ericsson go beyond its own code of conduct by engaging in discussions toward a Global Framework Agreement with the IMF. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s clear in this case that (Ericsson&rsquo;s) unilaterally adopted rules for the environment and security of employees is not working,&rdquo; stated Svensson. 
 
He added that if decent work conditions are to become real, there must be cooperation between multinationals and employees&rsquo; global union representatives. &ldquo;An agreement signed between a multinational and an international trade union organisation is a tool for social justice,&rdquo; said Svensson. &ldquo;The company puts itself at the negotiating table, and creates a tool that ensures&rdquo; proper and decent work conditions are observed. 
 
At the Congress itself, IF Metall&rsquo;s 300 delegates ratified initiatives supporting Global Framework Agreements and for Sweden to adopt ILO Convention 94, the Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention. Fifty-nine countries have ratified the 1949 Convention, which calls for social and labour clauses to be inserted into public procurement clauses, but Sweden has not.
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&nbsp;Raising of the Flag: Solidarity, Socialism, Equality 

In other Congress business, IF Metall delegates called for a change of government in Sweden&rsquo;s next elections, and criticised the centre-right coalition that currently rules the government for its sharp reductions in unemployment insurance. 
 
The Congress reaffirmed its approach on sustainable development, that an integrated approach must take hold that includes research, innovation, new technology, and lifelong learning and skills development. The Congress also called for a halt to the decommissioning of nuclear power facilities. 
 
President Stefan L&ouml;fven was re-elected President, and Veli-Pekka S&auml;ikk&auml;l&auml; won election as the new National Bargaining Secretary. The Congress featured an address by the President of Colombian ICEM affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n. Jaime Deluquez Diaz thanked the Swedish union for providing strength and knowledge to his 4,000-member coal miners&rsquo; union in Colombia.

‘Fair and Just Globalization’ Workshops Organised by IF Metall in Sweden

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ICEM Turkish trade union affiliate Lastik-İş made good on its 8 May strike notice by calling 4,000 tyre manufacturing workers out at four factories, operated by three multinational tyre companies. The strikes began late on Saturday, 31 May. 
 
Negotiations continued until the early morning hours of that day, with the employers&rsquo; association offering last-minute wage and social payment proposals to avert strikes. Those offers were presented to rank-and-file members of Lastik-İş, but were rejected by an accumulative 80% vote.
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Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan 
 

The strikes then began at factories of Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci and Pirelli, and two plants operated and majority- owned by US-based Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co. The four tyre plants are in the Turkish cities of Izmit and Adapazari. The union and management association has been negotiating since September 2007 on a new labour agreement. 
 
&ldquo;The decision to strike was taken by workers and I believe we shall overcome the employers&rsquo; intransigence,&rdquo; said Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. &ldquo;The salary offer made by employers is far from meeting the work performed by tyre workers. Our decisiveness for gaining our demands is resolute.&rdquo; 
 
The union is seeking a 12% wage increase for the first six-month period of a two-year labour agreement, and the Turkish rate of inflation for each six-month period thereafter. The tyre companies are resisting inflation-rate payments for the three six-month periods. The two sides differ also on various social payments customary in Turkish work schemes.
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Striking Rubber Workers at Pirelli Factory&nbsp;
All agenda items within the 59-article labour contract, save for the wage and social payment items, have been agreed upon by the two sides. 
 
Goodyear operates an auto, light truck, bus, and heavy equipment tyre plant in Adapazari, employing 800 rubber workers, and a truck, bus, and agriculture tyre plant in Izmit, where 500 workers are employed. Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, jointly owned by Japanese-based Bridgestone and Sabanci Group of Turkey, manufactures auto, truck, and heavy equipment tyres in Izmit, employing 1,500, while Italian-based Pirelli has another auto and truck tyre plant in Izmit, in which 1,200 workers are employed.

4,000 Turkish Rubber Workers Strike Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Pirelli

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A hunger strike inside one of the bauxite mines of the world&rsquo;s largest aluminium producer &ndash; United Company RusAl &ndash; again occurred last week, following the company&rsquo;s refusal to engage in meaningful talks with the Miners&rsquo; Independent Trade Union of Russia. 
 
A ten-day strike at the mine in the Sverdlovsk Region of the North Ural Mountains ended on 4 April after RusAl&rsquo;s Sevuralboksitruda (SUBR) subsidiary pledged to begin earnest talks with the union. That dispute was reported by the ICEM on 7 April.
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On 13 April, the strike flared up again, when 75 miners resumed the hunger strike inside the Krasnaya Shapochka, or Little Red Riding Hood Mine. The ICEM affiliate, Russian Trade Union of Metal Workers in Nickel, Cobalt, and Platinoids Industries, asked the ICEM to intervene on behalf of the Miners&rsquo; Independent Trade Union. A letter was then dispatched to SUBR President and General Manager Alexander Bulygin. 
 
The 40 miners who remained inside the mine at week&rsquo;s end surfaced following a 19 April meeting of 3,500 miners on the grounds of the company&rsquo;s Kalyinskaya mine. The meeting produced a set of 16 demands that are now being passed to management.

Russian Bauxite Strike Again Flares, Then Ends at RusAl’s Krasnaya Shapochka Mine

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Strikes and protests by contract workers in Chile have shut over one-half of production at the world&rsquo;s largest copper producer, Codelco. The strikes and road blockades began on 16 April and intensified over the weekend as access to the state-run company&rsquo;s second largest mine, El Tiniente, was blocked. 
 
Contract workers, some 28,000 in number that are employed by a multitude of companies providing food, transportation, and other services to Codelco&rsquo;s five mines in northern and southern Chile, are firmly behind their union, Confederaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores del Cobre (CTC), in demands that Codelco implement the agreed upon terms that ended a 37-day strike by workers last summer.
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The strike appears to have the support of the main miners&rsquo; union, Federaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), which has demanded that Codelco and the government halt all mining until the total security of all miners can be assured. Codelco employs about 15,000 full-time miners. 
 
At El Tiniente, the world&rsquo;s largest underground copper mine south of the capital city of Santiago, contract workers blocked roads beginning Friday evening, 18 April, preventing miners from entering the mine for two work turns. Reportedly, mining resumed yesterday afternoon. 
 
Since 16 April, copper mining and processing has been completely closed at Codelco&rsquo;s Andina and El Salvador mines in the north of the country due to road blockades. The industrial actions are the third set of strikes by contract workers of Codelco since January 2006, when they launched a 17-day strike. This round of action comes shortly after Codelco negotiated wage increases for miners of FTC and other mining unions.
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The strikes by CTC do have the support of the main national labour centre, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT). At a forum in Santiago late last week, CUT President Arturo Mart&iacute;nez said it is Codelco and the government&rsquo;s responsibility to negotiate directly with the contract workers. He added that private companies serving Codelco take advantage of legal loopholes to avoid negotiating with the CTC, or other workers&rsquo; representatives. 
 
Codelco has maintained throughout &ndash; including again last week &ndash; that it is not responsible for negotiating with workers of subcontracting firms.

Contract Workers Again Strike Codelco’s Copper Mines in Chile for Fulfilment of Terms

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ICEM affiliate &Ccedil;imse-İş, the proud Turkish union representing cement, ceramics, pottery, and glass workers, averted an industry-wide strike recently by agreeing to a three-year labour agreement with the Cement Employers Association (CEIS) recently. The new agreement, extending back to 1 January 2008 and lasting to 31 December 2010, covers 6,000 union members at 46 cement production facilities. 
 
It calls for a first year wage increase of 12%. The second year pay increase will be pegged to the nation&rsquo;s inflation rate, while the third year increase was set at the inflation rate plus three percent.
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According to the Turkish Institution for Statistics, the current inflation rate for consumer prices is 8.39% and wholesale prices are at 5.94%. The Turkish Central Bank is predicting a 2008 inflation rate of 7.9% for consumer prices. 
 
The negotiations were long and arduous. &Ccedil;imse-İş was on the verge of a national strike before coming together with CEIS on the new agreement. 
 
In addition, &Ccedil;imse-İş won for union members a set of bonuses amounting to 120 days of salary. Also, benefits such as the night-shift premium, overtime pay, food allowance, social assistance package, and marriage, birth, death, and natural disaster payments were increased between 50-to-75%. 
 
The ICEM extends congratulations to Turkish cement workers, and to &Ccedil;imse-İş leaders for posting these gains in the industry.

Turkish Cement Workers, Behind Trade Union Çimse-İş, Achieve New Labour Pact

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Unite the union, ICEM&rsquo;s largest British affiliate, will take 48-hour strike action next week, 27-28 April, at Ineos Group Holdings&rsquo; Grangemouth petrochemicals complex near Falkirk, Scotland. 
 
The action will come due to company intentions to close the final pension scheme to new workers, and planned imposition of other adverse work terms. The polyolefins and oil derivatives plants at Grangemouth employ 1,200 workers, the vast majority of them Unite members.
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In late March, workers balloted for strike action. That vote passed with a 98% affirmative for industrial action. 
 
Unite is hopeful negotiations will resume this week, but will only return to the bargaining table if the company signals it&rsquo;s intent to move away from shutting the pension scheme to new hires and removing the proposed and negative work terms. In talks last Friday, 18 April, Ineos refused to budge from its proposals, causing United to issue the strike notice. 
 
&ldquo;The company is profitable, and the pension scheme in its present form is well funded and affordable,&rdquo; said United National Secretary Phil McNulty, who also is an ICEM Vice President. &ldquo;The changes to the scheme Ineos are proposing are unreasonable, unnecessary, and have forced our members at Grangemouth to take industrial action for the first time,&rdquo; he added.
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Ineos is seeking to withdraw &pound;40 million from the pension fund, and Unite said other changes at the 200,000-barrels-per-day refinery could cost workers up to &pound;10,000 annually. Grangemouth manufactures petrochemicals for uses in all manners of transport fuels and other uses. 
 
Since the strike notice was issues three days ago, the company has begun shutdown procedures at the complex near Glasgow. The shutdown, 48-hour strike, and subsequent start-up are expected to crimp fuel supplies across Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland. Ineos operates the petrochemicals complex with only a week&rsquo;s supply of refined fuels as reserves. 
 
Ineos was created in 1998 through a management buyout. In December 2005, the UK-based company purchased Grangemouth from BP&rsquo;s Innovene chemicals division. The US$9 billion deal also brought the company petrochemicals plants in Lav&eacute;ra, France, as well as seven chemical manufacturing operations in Europe and nine in North America.

Unite Ready to Strike Giant Petrochemicals Complex in Scotland

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On 15-16 April, ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and the BAVC Chemical Industry Association came to 2008 and 2009 wage terms for some 550,000 chemical workers. The union achieved desirable pay gains, but more importantly, posted enhancements to future training opportunities for young workers, as well as a flexible, part-time work arrangement for older workers. 
 
The agreement, which came during the second round of national industry talks, contains a pay increase of 4.4%, retroactive to either 1 March or 1 April, or effective 1 May, depending on the respective IGBCE region. That extends for 13 months. Then, effective in 2009 for 12 months, chemical industry workers won a 3.3% pay raise. 
 
Additionally, on 1 July 2008, workers will realize a one-off payment of 13 times 0.5% of their monthly wage. That will be determined by workers and managers in individual companies, depending on a firm&rsquo;s profitability. The agreement covers some 19,000 German chemical companies.
<img height="166" alt="" src="" width="125" />
&nbsp;IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Werner Bischoff
&ldquo;The 2008 chemical accord has set a milestone,&rdquo; stated IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Werner Bischoff. He said that not only has the number of training places for young workers in chemicals been dramatically increased in this set of talks, but an &ldquo;occupational bridge&rdquo; has been created through the flexible work scheme. It replaces one due to expire next year. 
 
The new arrangement, however, is more extensive. A fund will be established, on 1 January 2010, that will be paid for by employers, with employee payments added supplementary. The fund, to be governed by works councils, will be used for flexible transition to retirement, including part-time work, partial pension benefits, health incentives, and added insurance for inability to work, to name just a few of the benefits.
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In 2003, IGBCE and BAVC first agreed to create future training opportunities for young workers. In last year&rsquo;s negotiations, for 2007 and 2008, the parties agreed to fund training places for 16,800 young workers in the chemicals sector. In last week&rsquo;s concluding talks, agreement was reached to increased that to 18,200 for 2009 and 2010. 
 
&ldquo;The strong increase in incomes corresponds to the current inflation situation and we met our goal &ndash; a higher pay raise than in 2007,&rdquo; said Bischoff. &ldquo;But the success story of this collective agreement is that &lsquo;Training for the Future&rsquo; has been updated, and we have succeeded in achieving a full flexible transition to retirement.&rdquo;

IGBCE Achieves Novel ‘Job Bridging,’ More Youth Opportunities in Chemical Pay Talks

Archive

Iraqi Oil Union Makes Case at Shareholders’ Meet of Two US Supermajors

Contract Tank-Truck Drivers for Shell at UK Vote Industrial Action

SINTRA P&G Successful in First Contract at Procter & Gamble Peru

‘Fair and Just Globalization’ Workshops Organised by IF Metall in Sweden

4,000 Turkish Rubber Workers Strike Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Pirelli

Russian Bauxite Strike Again Flares, Then Ends at RusAl’s Krasnaya Shapochka Mine

Contract Workers Again Strike Codelco’s Copper Mines in Chile for Fulfilment of Terms

Turkish Cement Workers, Behind Trade Union Çimse-İş, Achieve New Labour Pact

Unite Ready to Strike Giant Petrochemicals Complex in Scotland

IGBCE Achieves Novel ‘Job Bridging,’ More Youth Opportunities in Chemical Pay Talks

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