English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM last week joined the campaign calling for justice for Constantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union activist, who was attacked with sulphuric acid while on her way home from work. Ms. Kuneva is General Secretary of PEKOP, the Athens-based All Attica Union of Cleaners and Domestic Workers. 
 
The attack, which took place on 22 December 2008, left Ms. Kuneva without the use of an eye and her vocal chords. She is still in a hospital. 
 
In a letter to Greek Minister for Employment, Ms. Fani Palli-Petralia, General Secretary Manfred Warda heavily criticised the inadequacy of the investigation into the vicious attack. &ldquo;The ICEM strongly protests the unacceptable delay and most deficient investigation procedure into the murderous attack.&rdquo; 
 
Warda praised the reopening of the case by police, as well as the extended time allotted to collect information, but reaffirmed an &ldquo;urgent demand that the police and judicial authorities conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that the perpetrators are arrested and punished and the victim properly compensated.&rdquo; 

<img height="95" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM fully supports the work of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE), along with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in its work defending Ms. Kuneva. 
 
In a similar letter to the Greek Minister of Justice, Mr. Nikos Dendias, Warda clarified the suspicious nature of the attack. &ldquo;A few weeks before this awful attack, Constantina Kuneva had warned that she felt in grave danger as a result of her union activities. In an interview for the ITUC at the end of November, she had also denounced the poverty wages and harsh working conditions in this sector.&rdquo; 
 
The cleaning sector in Greece is 80% comprised of migrant workers and a vast majority are women. The ICEM will closely monitor the situation and call upon Greek authorities to prevent the spread of criminal activities that are related to labour relations.

ICEM Demands Full Investigation into Assault of Woman Trade Unionist in Greece

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM&rsquo;s largest affiliate in Africa, South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), last week welcomed the release of the Presidential Safety Audit by the Department of Minerals and Energy. As reported by the ICEM (click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2871-South-African-Parliament-Passes-Mine-Safety-Reform;-Year-long-Safety-Audit-Still-Held-up ">here</a>) there had been a significant delay in the publication of the report. 
 
The NUM criticized the industry for using the report to misrepresent conditions as acceptable. A shocking figure to emerge from the report was that 100 cases against mine bosses have been allowed to collect in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), with no progress. This alarming evidence of justice being blocked for those responsible for deaths of miners has angered the NUM. 

<img height="128" alt="" src="" width="90" />
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
&ldquo;This is very worrying that the NPA can allow criminality to take place without any proper action,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;It is worrying that in cases where action has taken place, companies have been fined between R2,500 (US$260) to R5,000 (US$520) for negligently claiming the life of mineworkers.&rdquo; 
 
The audits were conducted in 355 mines across the country, under 12 categories. Gold and coal mines were the safest at 70%, followed by platinum and diamond mines at 67% and 66%, respectively. 
 
The long-awaited report describes worrying trends, including poor hazard identification and risk assessment processes, slow reporting of accidents, failure to submit occupational hygiene returns and others. 

<img height="105" alt="" src="" width="90" />
NUM &amp; ICEM President, Senzeni Zokwana
The audits were ordered by former President Thabo Mbeki after 3,200 workers were trapped deep underground at gold producer Harmony Gold's Elandsrand mine in October 2007, when a falling pipe damaged mine shaft infrastructure. Miraculously, all 3,200 miners were rescued after some 38 hours. 
 
Senzeni Zokwana, NUM President and also President of the ICEM, said the union has zero tolerance for mine fatalities. &quot;No condition should justify why a worker should lose a life.&quot;

Safety Audit Release in South Africa Gives Cause for Concern

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM has learned from one its Iraqi affiliates, the Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra, that union members were targeted by Iraq&rsquo;s military for leading a peaceful demonstration on 28 January in Basra. The protest was held in demand of wage arrears from a petrochemical facility, one of the state-operated petroleum operations in the south. 
 
In a communication to the ICEM from the union, management of the company requested that the army break up the demonstration &ldquo;in a step reminiscent of former fascist policies.&rdquo; The army did intervene and brought protesters to a military holding camp for interrogation. 
 
On 2 February, management of the company began its own inquiry into the peaceful right of assembly, and targeted four workers with leading the protest: Kifaah Hassan Ibraheem, Qasim Abbas Muhsin, Kareem Johi Sahan, and Waleed Salih. The union is filing complaints with the government over the company&rsquo;s handling of this dispute. 
 
The ICEM condemns the Iraqi state company&rsquo;s interference of workers&rsquo; right to assemble, and subsequent infringement and suppression of other rights. The Geneva-based ICEM will continue to monitor events in this one particular enterprise, as well as human and labour rights abuses that occur at any Iraqi workplace.

Iraqi State Petrochemical Company Uses Military to Bust Peaceful Protest

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The United Steelworkers (USW) reached tentative wage and benefit terms across the US oil and petrochemical industries last week for 24,000 workers, effectively setting a three-year pattern for refineries, pipelines, transportation, and other downstream services. But the union emerged from talks deeply disappointed that the industry did not take seriously the need for more stringent safety procedures. 
 
USW President Leo Gerard said: &ldquo;Our main focus in this round of National Oil Bargaining was health and safety, but the industry refused to allow us to be equal partners with them in resolving the health and safety problems that persistently are not being addressed across the whole industry. The oil companies were not willing to work with us to improve process safety.&rdquo; 
<img height="140" alt="" src="" width="120" />
USW President, Leo Gerard
The tentative contract now will be offered at branch union tables across the US, with the USW pledging it will not give up on improving health and safety. &ldquo;Let it be clear,&rdquo; said USW Vice President and head of Oil Bargaining Gary Beevers, &ldquo;we are not finished with our struggles for meaningful change in the health and safety arena.&rdquo; 
 
The tentative contract was reached with lead company Royal Dutch Shell and its joint-venture operations in Austin, Texas, on 3 February, two days after expirations of 70 local collective agreements. The USW and the oil industry agreed to rolling, 24-hour contract extensions on 31 January to avert mass strikes. The tentative accord means there will not be any major petroleum walkouts for the next three years, although disputes can now arise on local levels. 
 
Besides the 24,000 US oil workers with collective agreements expiring 1 February, another 6,000 USW members have contracts expiring in the coming months, and last week&rsquo;s accord sets the pattern for them as well. 

<img height="144" alt="" src="" width="100" />
USW Vice President and head of Oil Bargaining,&nbsp; 
Gary Beevers
In a statement, the USW said, &ldquo;Rather than launch a national strike over health and safety that would have hurt the American people at a time of economic crisis, the USW withdrew its health and safety proposal and focused on the economic package.&rdquo; 
 
That economic package contains 3% salary increases on 1 February in 2009, 2010, and 2011. It also includes a US$1,000 ratification bonus and a US$500-per-year payment to each worker to offset out-of-pocket health care costs. The USW succeeded in granting no retrogression of past contract terms, including company-paid health care at an 80% level. As well, the USW retained job security and successorship principles, the latter meaning collective agreements are assured and maintained in the event of a sale or takeover. 
 
The pattern agreement now goes to some 86 oil and petrochemical worksites operated by such companies as Shell and its operating partners, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP, PDVSA, Valero, Tosco, Tesoro, Sun, Sunoco, LyondellBasell, Marathon, INEOS, Holly, and several other companies.

US Oil Workers Reach Wage Terms; Criticise Industry’s Overall Safety Neglect

ICEM affiliates&nbsp;responded in large numbers to a global survey on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), allowing the Global Union Federation to analyse extensive data. 
 
The survey supports predictions that temporary work and work through labour agencies is becoming more common, and that workers employed through such work are in far worse economic and job security situations than permanent workers. The survey also illustrated how trade unions are prioritising the organising of temporary and agency workers. 
 
&ldquo;The response to this survey was impressive,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;But even more impressive is the depth to the responses. Both are an indication that this issue is growing in importance for virtually all workers and unions around the world.&rdquo; 

<img height="138" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Data was collected in the second half of 2008. In total, over 100 trade unions completed the survey. The responses came from all regions of the world and from all ICEM sectors, including energy, mining, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, rubber, pulp and paper, and building materials manufacturing. Click <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Overview%20of%20results%20of%20ICEM%20CAL%20Survey(1).pdf">here</a> for the visual representation of data collected. 
 
The ICEM survey follows a 2007 query by the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) of its affiliates, which allows certain comparisons between the two surveys. For instance, 20% of all ICEM respondents said wages of non-permanent workers are less than half that of permanent workers. Of IMF affiliates that indicated wages for precarious workers are lower than those of permanent workers, one-third indicated those wages are less than 50%. 
 
Another similarity is the level of fear bought on by the changing employment landscape. The ICEM survey reveals that 83% of unions responding cite fear among workers over job security as a major concern, while 9 of 10 IMF respondents say workers in their countries feel less secure because of the changing work relationship. 
 
In addition, the ICEM poll reflects that fear is by far the biggest obstacle to union organising of temporary workers, specifically the fear of getting fired for such activity. Government legislation, union rules and structures, and opposition by trade unionists are cited as lesser obstacles to overcome. (An overview to the ICEM survey, complete with the IMF similarities, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/CALdbase/CALattachmentforFeb09NR-final.pdf">here</a>.) 
 
The results of the survey support the 20-million-member ICEM&rsquo;s four-and-a-half-year campaign to respond to the rampant increase in the use of contract and agency labour. An alarming number of respondents wrote that temporary and agency workers not only are paid less, but also do not receive pay for overtime and holiday work. 
 
Health and safety conditions are far worse for temporary workers, and often they are not entitled to medical benefits. ICEM-affiliated unions also note that unskilled temp workers are abused more than skilled workers. 
 
Some positive points for trade unions did come out of the study. For instance, unions are increasingly aware of the importance of organising precarious workers and some 87% stated that they are actively engaged in organising such workers. For 62% of the respondents, organising part-time and agency workers is a priority and 69% of unions inform their members on issues related to part-time and precarious work. 
 
For the ICEM, the survey&rsquo;s outcome confirms that CAL will remain a focal issue for the coming years. Establishing communication networks in order to inform trade unions on this growing menace to the concept of decent work, as well as bringing unionisation to non-organised workers will therefore remain high on the ICEM&rsquo;s agenda.

ICEM Contract and Agency Labour Survey Shows Troubling Trends

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
French trade unions confirmed in late February that they will issue a call for a day of mobilization on Thursday, 19 March, &ldquo;resulting in strikes and demonstrations throughout the country.&rdquo; The joint statement was made by members of the Inter-Eight group at CFTC headquarters. 
 
The CFDT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT, FSU, Solidaires, and UNSA continue to show their trade union unity, building on the one-day general strike of 19 January 
 
Although the 19 January action did lead to some changes to government legislation, such as establishing a social investment fund, ICEM&rsquo;s French affiliates regard the measures as too fragmentary to change the course of economic policy in these trying times. 
 
French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to increase the minimum wage, to change his policy on public sector employment, and refused to return taxes on overtime pay. Other factors in organizing the 19 March strike are continued job cuts, further trends toward partial unemployment, and heavy reductions in workers&rsquo; purchasing power, all of which amplify the current economic recession for French workers. 

<img height="136" alt="" src="" width="140" />
Several workers&rsquo; protests began last week. French workers from two Grenoble area factories of US-based Caterpillar protested in the French Alpine city and then marched in Paris over announced plant closure. Rubber workers at a Continental tyre factory north of Paris also protested due to a threatened closure. 
 
And in Lyon on 3 March, 40 workers of auto-parts firm Preciturn began a 30-hour sit-in at the offices of a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland. The highly debt-laden subsidiary, an accounting firm, had abandoned its contract with Preciturn, leaving unpaid bills and an inability to meet salaries. 
 
In extending its joint declaration of 5 January, the eight trade unions listed their targeted goals as: &ldquo;Upholding public and private employment; Fighting against job insecurity and social and economic deregulation; Calling for compensation policies that maintain the purchasing power of wage earners, the unemployed and pensioners; and Defending the collective framework of solidarity and social protection.&rdquo; 
 
The social protests which began last week are expected to gain momentum between now and 19 March, with calls for mobilization among employees in the education sector, doctors and hospital staff, as well as police. According to a 2 March opinion poll, 58% of company executives support the manifestation of 19 March. Workers at Air France have already confirmed that they will take part in the strike. 
 
The group of eight unions will meet again 20 March 2009.

French Unions Call Workers Out on Strike 19 March

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs will be lost in the country due to the world financial crisis. No mining sector has been spared, but perhaps worst hit is the platinum sector. 
 
In recent days, platinum mining house Lonmin announced 4,000 job cuts, 3,000 at its Western Platinum mine and 1,000 at the Eastern Platinum mine in Marikana. The mining house also plans to suspend operations at its Baobab shaft in Limpopo, causing untold job losses. 
 
These announcements were made by Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer, who claimed the redundancies had been agreed to with unions. But NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka countered that claim, saying it was false, accusing the company of bad planning in the run-up to the start of the crisis last September. 
 
In February, Anglo Platinum CEO Neville Nicolau hinted during a call related to the company&rsquo;s financial results that 10,000 jobs would be cut because of the economic climate. Again, the NUM was critical, citing bad planning and the fact that corporate chieftains publicly proclaim job losses before even consulting with the union, which serves only to frighten miners. 

<img height="150" src="" width="106" alt="" />
Frans Beleni
&ldquo;When platinum prices reached US$2,000 per ounce in May 2008, you could see the reckless spending perpetrated by management,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni on a recent South African radio programme. &ldquo;If true leadership prevailed, we could have prevented this bloodbath of job losses,&rdquo; added Baleni. 
 
Platinum is currently selling for about US$1,070 per ounce. 
 
Under Section 189 of South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act, termed the &ldquo;retrenchments clause,&rdquo; management must confer with labour in order to give an accounting of reasons behind any redundancies. An employer must prove there is a need to cut jobs, otherwise the matter lands in the courts. 
 
One successful intervention occurred at a Simmer &amp; Jacks gold mine in Buffelsfontein in February. The junior miner sought to cull 500 jobs from a production staff of 5,000. But with the help of South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration, and full dialogue with trade unions, those cuts were reduced to five senior contract workers, with 65 other contract workers becoming permanent staff. 
 
In return, unions, led by the NUM, agreed to miners working one extra shift per month throughout 2009. 
 
In the gold mining sector last week, 4,000 NUM members at Pamodzi Gold went on strike at two mines over non-payment of wages. Miners at the Steyn mine in Free State and at a mine in East Rand began strike action on 6 March after receiving only 20% of their wages for February. 
 
It was the second time this year that Pamodzi faced a shut-down because of its financial outlook. In January, 2,000 miners stayed away from the Free State operation because water supplies had been cut due to unpaid bills. On 5 March, the company announced it was seeking to secure a bridge loan to pay its workers and creditors until its UK and German financiers came through with a loan.

South African Miners Hard Hit by Global Financial Crisis

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Oil workers of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU)&nbsp;ratified a renewal three-year enterprise labour agreement on 11 March Royal Dutch Shell&rsquo;s Clyde refinery and Gore Bay terminal in Sydney harbour, but it won&rsquo;t take the sting from Shell&rsquo;s brazen anti-union conduct over the past three months. 
 
Shell manipulated negotiations that began in November 2008 in efforts to force aspects of the draconian WorkChoices law on to the union, seeking to break an enterprise agreement and begin individual work contracts before repeal of former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s anti-worker laws commence on 1 July 2009. 
 
The company initially tabled a proposal reducing a 47-page agreement to 14 pages, stripping away such clauses as workers&rsquo; training, &ldquo;Roles and Responsibilities of Operators,&rdquo; and removing standard manning requirements, thus opening the way for more contractors. Managers also proposed a reduction in operators&rsquo; wages by A$12,000 per year. 

<img height="121" alt="" src="" width="121" />
The 86,000 barrel per day Clyde refinery underwent an extended maintenance shutdown beginning in November, giving the company an opportunity to deploy another union-busting move. That was a demand that its regressive proposals be approved by 30 January 2009, the expiration date of the prior three-year contract, or the CFMEU would face a lock-out. 
 
To prepare for that, Shell&rsquo;s imported managers began bringing in scabs for 18-day training periods as operators, and recruited retired workers from another Australian state. By early February, obviously frustrated with CFMEU&rsquo;s rightful reluctance to accept the concessions, the company applied to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to submit its proposals directly to workers in a secret-ballot vote. 
 
That ballot was defeated on 20 February by a resounding 82%, which not only forced Shell back to the bargaining table, but forced it to change its agenda. 
 
The enterprise agreement that 150 workers&nbsp;voted&nbsp;to accept on 11 March is far better than what Shell managers had sought. It calls for a 12% wage increase over the three years, and full protection of all current work language. 
 
&ldquo;Shell&rsquo;s agenda was nothing but union-busting,&rdquo; said Lorraine Usher, CFMEU&rsquo;S New South Wales District Secretary. The company&rsquo;s &ldquo;actions have left a work force seething with resentment and it will be a long time before trust in the workplace is regained.&rdquo; 
 
Two British managers of Shell at Clyde and Gore Bay were responsible for bringing on the anti-worker agenda. &ldquo;I believe they did everything in their power to escalate the dispute,&rdquo; said Usher. The former Operations Manager at Clyde, Paul Lunt, was retained to handle negotiations. The other was Mark Stevens, who was brought in from Singapore&rsquo;s Shell operations.

Australian Oil Workers at Shell Ratify Contract, But Scars Will Linger

The ICEM has intervened in a retaliatory dispute by French-based Michelin at a large tyre factory called Laem Chabang in Chonburi Province, Thailand. The Global Union Federation, together with French trade union affiliate CFDT, brought the matter before Michelin&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC) and Michelin Group Manager Jean-Dominique Senard at a EWC meeting in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, on 31 March. 
 
The situation in Thailand is serious. On 25 March, local management locked 383 workers off their jobs after they refused to withdraw their names from a petition submitted two weeks earlier. The petition called on management not to unilaterally impose 13% wage cuts, and to engage in consultation with workers&rsquo; representatives over effects of a downturn in the tyre market. 
 
The petition also called on the company to jointly identify solutions with workers, not to unilaterally dictate terms and conditions. It also asked Michelin&rsquo;s Laem Chabang managers to stop forcing workers to sign acceptance forms on the wage cuts, and to quit victimising workers who did not sign the forms. 
 
Michelin managers responded by suspending eight worker representatives, and imposing a 35% pay cut on workers who refused to disavow the petition. They also reduced their yearly allotment of holidays to six. They then &ndash; on 25 March &ndash; locked out 383 of 458 workers who signed the petition. 
 
&ldquo;This is extreme and harsh behaviour against loyal workers from a company that expects to recover from the global economic crisis,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We have no choice but to demand that the EWC take action. We also call on rubber workers worldwide to take notice, and demand that Michelin rescind this retaliatory punishment.&rdquo; 
 
The tyre workers have been trying to organise with ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Federation (PCFT) since February, the second time in ten years that staff at Laem Chabang have attempted to unionise. 
 
The plant employs 1,500 staff and produces auto and light truck tyres. Michelin has two other tyre manufacturing plants in Thailand, the Nong Khae plant in Saraburi, employing 1,300 workers, and the Phra Padaeng factory in Samut Prakarn, where 1,500 Thai workers are employed. The latter is unionised by PCFT, with strong union membership. The three plants are 90% owned by Michelin, with the Siam Cement Group holding the remaining 10% stake. 
 
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, +41 22 304 1842, or dick.blin@icem.org.

ICEM Condemns Lockout of Thai Workers by Michelin

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Some 65,000 miners at Europe&rsquo;s largest coal company, Poland&rsquo;s Kompania Weglowa, will not take a 24-hour strike action tomorrow, 7 April, following an agreement on wages last week, 2 April. State-owned Kompania Weglowa and most of the 12 unions representing miners, led by ICEM affiliates NSZZ Solidarność and Kadra, as well as the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union, reached accord for significant 2009 wage increases. 
The settlement came just before Poland&rsquo;s Minister of Economy froze the salaries of board members of all state-owned and operated coal concerns, as well as cutting the salaries of top executives at Kompania Weglowa. Reportedly, the decision freed up money to increase miners&rsquo; salaries. 
<img height="94" src="" width="150" alt="" />
Miners at Kompania Weglowa voted by a 92% margin to launch a day-long strike during the week of 23 March, after government ministry mediators failed to bring the two sides together. On 12 March, workers at Kompania Weglowa&rsquo;s 16 mines staged a two-hour protest strike over their wage demands. 
But last week, just prior to the Economy Ministry&rsquo;s 3 April decision, the company&rsquo;s supervisory board agreed to increase salaries by PLN 900 per month (&euro;200), or about 5%. Kompania Weglowa mining unions had been seeking an 8% increase, but had lowered demands to 6% in mid-March mediation efforts. 
Meanwhile, a total of 40,000 other coal miners at two other state-operated coal production and servicing concerns, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), are still seeking fair wage settlements. Both companies say they will stick to a wage freeze for 2009, while Polish miners at JSW and KHW seek parity with Kompania Weglowa miners. Both JSW and KHW have planned extraction investments in coal mining that will come on line in the next several months. 
 
At the country&rsquo;s multinational copper company, KGHM, a breakthrough appears imminent following management&rsquo;s initial proposal for a 2009 wage freeze. Trade unions Solidarność and the Association of Copper Industry Employees (ZZPPM) expect 2009 wage increases to be on the bargaining table later in April. Publicly-listed KGHM is 41.8% held by the Polish state.

Polish Miners at Kompania Weglowa Agree to Wage Terms

Archive