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The ground breaking joint ITF/ICEM offshore industries conference in Aberdeen (September 23-25) - which brought together people working in the dangerous offshore oil and gas sector from 17 countries around the world - ended today. A press conference was held at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland, to explain the decisions taken at the conference, the first of its kind ever held. 
 
At the press conference, it was announced a global campaign by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and their affiliated unions to secure trade union and human rights and acceptable standards with regard to health and safety, skills, competence and standards of wages and conditions of employment for all offshore workers. 
 
Among the resolutions passed during the event are: 
 
The conference supported the call by British trade unions for an independent inquiry in the recent deaths on the Shell Brent Bravo rig, especially after the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) failed to listen to union warnings in March this year and even said that there was &quot;no imminent cause for concern and no immediate risk.&quot; In the light of this gross failure, the ITF and ICEM will ask Health and Safety Minister Des Brown to appoint independent experts to conduct the investigation into the recent fatalities. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs endorsed such an investigation. Higgs, himself involved in the investigation as National Secretary of UK's Transport &amp; General Workers' Union following the fatal gas blast on the Piper Alpha rig in 1988 that killed 167 workers, said, &quot;Such a public inquiry is the only way in which remedial actions can be taken to prevent such disasters.&quot; 
 
Delegates also said they were appalled at the numbers of workers who will die from asbestos related diseases. The HSE has predicted 10,000 deaths per year in the UK alone by 2010, while in the Australian state of New South Wales 300 new cases of mesothelioma are detected each year. The conference voted to approach the ITF's Fair Practices Committee, an influential group made up of representatives of seafarers' and dockers' unions, and request it to introduce a register of vessels known to contain or have contained asbestos. 
 
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft describes the conference as &quot;a first of its kind, that has laid the foundation stone for decency and common rights in the world's offshore industries.&quot; 
 
Higgs credited efforts by the two global union federations and their affiliates to come together to embark on the joint mission. &quot;It is essential that we work together to defend the rights of seafarers and those workers involved in offshore oil exploration and to ensure their health and safety.&quot;

Joint ITF/ICEM Offshore Conference Addresses Safety

U nion members of three ICEM affiliates in Australia successfully backed Bridgestone from not only a planned lockout, but also blocked the Japanese-headquartered tyre-maker from its no pay raise/cuts to entitlement stand. It was a combination of worker resolve, outreach in the local Salisbury community in South Australia and a flood of international protests led by the ICEM that broke the company's resolve. 
 
Bridgestone was on the brink of locking out 580 members of the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU), the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) in mid-August when the protests began. The world's largest tyre manufacturer retreated from a planned two-week lockout, and returned to bargaining under the authority of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. 
 
By 5 September, union negotiators had hammered together a minimum 9% pay raise over the next three years and maintained all current conditions of employment. That was a long ways from the company's pre-lockout threat of wage hikes tied only to productivity targets, an increase in work hours and severe reductions to long-practiced entitlement programs. Workers will vote on the enterprise agreement late next week, and indications are that it will pass. 
 
At mass worker meetings on 20 August, LHMU Shop Steward Boyd MacRae told union members, &quot;The reason that Bridgestone is moving its position is that the support of trade unionists from around the globe is unprecedented. You are being assisted by international workers standing along side of you and supporting you.&quot; 
 
MacRae read letters of support to the trade unionists and letters of protest to Bridgestone President and CEO Shigeo Watanabe from ICEM affiliates in Romania, the Slovak Republic, Pakistan, South Korea, the UK, US, France, Spain, Turkey and Denmark. FUTINAL, the Latin American rubber unions network, weighed in, and the ICEM's Japanese Affiliates' Federation (JAF) also sent an important letter of support. In part, it read, &quot;We are deeply concerned about the current attitude and behaviour of BFS Australia &hellip; We sincerely hope that this dispute will be solved, as early as possible, in a peaceful manner as well as in favour of the Australian workers.&quot; 
 
Chris Field, LHMU's Assistant Secretary for South Australia, reported an ICEM Pakistan affiliate vowed to demonstrate in front of the Japanese embassy in that country. &quot;This act of solidarity by our Pakistani sisters and brothers was done knowing full well they risked police repression on the orders of a government hostile to organized trade unionism,&quot; he said. 
 
The mayor of Salisbury supported worker resistance of the three unions and local restaurants and pubs made it clear they would provide free meals to workers if Bridgestone proceeded with the lockout. In addition, the unions received valuable local help and aid from CFMEU, the Maritime Union of Australia, the South Australia Police Association, the Transport Workers Union and the Labour Council of South Australia. 
 
The victory, said Field, was the &quot;combination of disciplined unity of tyre workers and strong support from many allies that forced the biggest rubber products company in the world to back off and recognize the collective will and rights of tyre workers.&quot; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, who called the lockout threat &quot;clearly unacceptable behaviour&quot; in an 11 August letter to Watanabe and told delegates on 28 August at ICEM's Congress in Norway of the growing support, praised the fortitude of workers and commended the solidarity. &quot;An established Bridgestone/Firestone Global Network of Workers together with the strength and will of committed trade unionists paid off in reversing a company's demands, pure and simple. There is no better validation of global solidarity than what occurred over the past month at this particular tyre plant in Australia, and it personifies the work we strive to do.&quot;

Victory Near at Bridgestone Plant in Australia

As oil prices drop, merger mania has hit the global oil industry. 
 
One of the latest developments is the merger announced between French-based TOTAL and Belgian-based PETROFINA, aimed at forming the world's sixth-biggest oil and petrochemicals company. 
 
The social implications of this move were analysed today by some 60 representatives of French and Belgian unions in the two companies. Meeting at the Brussels headquarters of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) were oil industry reps from the French labour federations CFDT, FO and CGT and the Belgian federations FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV. The session was chaired by Paul Lootens, National Secretary of ICEM Belgian affiliate the Centrale g&eacute;n&eacute;rale/Algemene Centrale. 
 
The unions set themselves three objectives: 
 
Rejection of any dismissals and any downgrading of working and employment conditions for the employees of the new company. 
 
Continuance of an investment policy that facilitates the development of industrial plant in the group's various sectors of activity. 
 
Development of an industrial relations structure that facilitates consultation with and information of the group's employees. 
 
The Belgian and French unions said further international solidarity measures would be announced shortly.

French And Belgian Unions Act On Total/Petrofina Merger

Labour activist Tian Chua was released from police custody in Malaysia on 5 December. He is understood to be in reasonably good health. 
 
The news was welcomed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which had been pressing for Tian's release (see ICEM News release 95/1998). 
 
It is not clear whether he will still face charges concerning demonstrations, publications or similar issues.

Labour Activist Tian Chua Released In Malaysia

Labour activist Tian Chua was reportedly arrested in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, last night. According to some accounts, he was taken away in an unmarked car. The arrest reportedly occurred when police broke up a protest against the continuing detention of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. 
 
This is not the first time that Tian Chua has been arrested. When briefly held in police custody this September, he was beaten by his interrogators. 
 
&quot;We are surprised and concerned by the arrest of Tien Chua last night,&quot; commented Vic Thorpe, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). &quot;He is a dedicated and effective campaigner for labour rights in Asia and is widely respected by his colleagues in the region and beyond. Certainly, he is not an advocate of violence. As on previous occasions, his arrest is presumably an error by the lower echelons of the Malaysian authorities. We call for immediate action by the authorities to correct that mistake and to ensure that Tian Chua is released unharmed. 
 
&quot;Tian Chua is due to take part in an important ICEM seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 2-3 December,&quot; Thorpe added. &quot;That meeting will be analysing the impact of globalisation in the region. Participants will include Daisaku Kouchiyama - who is President of the ICEM Asia-Pacific region and the Japanese Vice-President of our international, our Australian Vice-President John Maitland and myself. Globalisation is a matter of great concern in the region, not least to Malaysia and its government. We wish to discuss this important subject fully with Tian Chua, and we expect him to be free and in good health, so that he can travel to Jakarta.&quot;

Malaysia Arrests Labour Activist Tian Chua

POWERING UP, the world energy conference of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), ended in Cork, Ireland, today with the adoption of an action programme to further the ICEM's aim of uniting and organising energy workers everywhere. 
 
The conference was the biggest ever, bringing together some 300 union leaders representing about 9 million energy workers in 50 countries. 
 
Unanimously re-elected as the chairman of the ICEM's energy section was Lars Myhre, President of the Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF. It was agreed that the vice-chair will be a Japanese electricity union leader, to be appointed by the electric power workers' federation Denryokusoren. The ICEM energy section will also be introducing a steering committee, whose composition will reflect the ICEM's different regions. 
 
The conference ended with a call for a halt to further privatisation and deregulation of the world's energy industries, so as to create a pause for reflection on the results of this process so far. 
 
&quot;There is an alternative,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe insisted. &quot;The alternative is us.&quot;

World&#039;s Energy Workers Power Up

Union leaders representing some 9 million energy workers worldwide today called for the annulment of Central America's debts and urgent assistance by global energy corporations to rebuild the region's shattered energy infrastructure. 
 
Powering Up, the world energy conference of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), has just ended in Cork. Delegates today unanimously adopted the following resolution: 
 
On behalf of more than 9 million energy workers of all continents united within the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), this World Energy Conference expresses its solidarity with the people of Central America, where tropical storms have killed thousands of people and devastated the infrastructure. In addition to the tragic human consequences, this disaster will halt the development of the Central American countries, and indeed threatens to reverse the achievements of the past twenty years. 
 
The ICEM has already called for the annulment of the debts owed by developing and newly industrialising countries to international and national financial institutions. That need has become all the more pressing in the case of the devastated Central American economies. This conference therefore calls upon the ICEM to press the international financial institutions to ensure the immediate annulment of all debts owed by Central American countries. 
 
This conference believes that energy, and in particular electricity, is essential to life in a modern society. It therefore urges ICEM affiliates to take an active part in the solidarity and reconstruction efforts which are now getting under way in Central America. 
 
In particular, major energy corporations should, in association with energy workers&rsquo; unions, put their expertise and resources at the disposal of the Central American countries in order to repair their energy infrastructure as rapidly as possible.

Energy Unions Say Help Central America Now

Energy industries are facing a revolution. 
 
Over the past few years, privatisation and technological change have reshaped the gas and electricity sectors in many parts of the world. Political change, notably in Central and Eastern Europe, has opened up vast new supplies of oil, gas and coal. 
 
What are the social and environmental implications? And how should energy workers and their unions react? 
 
That will be the central issue when energy union leaders of all continents gather in Cork, Ireland, on 9-11 November for the biggest-ever world conference of organised labour in this vital sector. 
 
POWERING UP - Union Response to Global Restructuring of the Energy Industries is the title of this unique event, organised by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM). 
 
Almost 300 energy union leaders have registered so far for the conference. They are from 52 countries: Albania, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, UK, USA, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia. 
 
Workers organised within the ICEM include about 4 million in electric power, 3 million in oil and gas and 2 million in coal in 115 countries. 
 
Other major items on the agenda for POWERING UP include energy multinationals&rsquo; human rights role and the prospects for global union-company agreements within the energy industries. This July, the ICEM signed the first-ever such global agreement with Statoil. 
 
Energy multinationals and human rights organisations have been invited to take part in the debates.

World&#039;s Energy Unions Meet In Ireland - And On The Web - To Tackle Industry Change

Colombia's government must take immediate steps to protect trade unionists, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) insists in a letter faxed to President Andr&eacute;s Pastrana. 
 
The strong protest from ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe follows the murder this Tuesday of the prominent Colombian union leader Jorge Ortega. 
 
Jorge Ortega was Vice-President of the national union confederation CUT, an executive board member of the electricity workers' union Sintraelecol and an adviser to the ICEM-affiliated coalminers' union Sintracarbon and to the labour centre USO. 
 
Ortega, who had received numerous death threats, had been leading an indefinite nationwide strike of state sector workers against the harsh austerity measures that have been brought in by the Colombian government and which mainly target workers and the poor. As news of his assassination spread, private sector workers joined in the strike action. 
 
The murder of Jorge Ortega is the latest in a long series of assassinations of Colombian trade unionists. The killings are often the work of right-wing death squads that have close links to the authorities. 
 
Thorpe tells President Pastrana: &quot;The ICEM believes that this most recent assassination of a national trade union leader, following the murder of thousands of trade unionists over the past ten years, is the final confirmation of your government's complete inability to provide even the most basic guarantees of personal safety to the citizens of your country.&quot; 
 
So the ICEM demands that the Colombian government ensure: 
 
a full, public and impartial investigation of the assassination of Jorge Ortega 
the capture and trial of the intellectual and physical perpetrator(s) of this crime 
public, effective guarantees of the personal safety of all leaders and activists of the Colombian trade union movement 
a dialogue in good faith with the Colombian trade union movement in order to secure its full participation in resolving the country's pressing economic and social problems. 
Thorpe tells Pastrana that the ICEM will be consulting with its affiliates, with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and with other fraternal organisations to ensure maximum economic, political and diplomatic pressure for the implementation of these demands, including through the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO).

World Union Protests Over Colombian Murders

The following is a joint press statement by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the World Chlorine Council (WCC): 
 
 
 
UNIONS, CHLORINE PRODUCERS COMMIT TO IMPROVED LABOR RELATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES 
 
MONTREAL, Quebec, Oct. 20-- A ground-breaking labor-management agreement was signed here today between global chlorine chemical manufacturers and global trade unions. The agreement commits unions and companies to a new era in industrial relations and the continuing development of environmentally sustainable practices in the chlorine and chlorine-related industries. 
 
The unions present are affiliated globally with the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The companies are members of regional and national associations affiliated with the World Chlorine Council (WCC). 
 
Companies signing the agreement today were: Elf Atochem Chlorine, Vinyl and Solvents; Solvay Chemicals Sector SBU Chlor Chemicals; CXY Chemicals Canada; Dow Corning Corporation; Olin Corporation; Pioneer Companies Inc.; The Geon Company; Georgia Gulf; and ICI Halocarbons. 
 
Signing for the union side was the ICEM. Unions affiliated to the ICEM present at the signing were United Steelworkers of America; Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada; International Chemical Workers' Union Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (North America); Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (USA); International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers (North America); International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers (North America); Federation des Travailleurs et Travailleuses de Papier et de la Foret (Quebec); Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau Chemie Energie (Germany); FNV Bondgenoten (Netherlands); Industrifacket (Sweden); Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark; Japanese Federation of Chemical Workers' Unions (Kagaku Soren); Kagaku League 21 (Japan); and Zensen (Japan). 
 
The parties in this unprecedented agreement will &quot;recognize the role and legitimacy of trade unions in the workplace&quot;, and they &quot;pledge to act in good faith to create a positive and enduring labor-management relationship which recognizes and respects the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively.&quot; Signatory companies will not urge employees to oppose unionization in their operations worldwide. The process to implement this agreement will take effect immediately. 
 
Other points in the agreement include a commitment by both the companies and the unions to &quot;environmentally sustainable production&quot; developed &quot;in conjunction with the promotion of long-term employment opportunities.&quot; Both labor and management &quot;share an interest in working with the scientific, governmental, environmental and other communities to ensure that technological, economic, environmental and social concerns are considered and balanced.&quot; 
 
To that end, the companies and the unions reiterated their continued support for the tripartite discussions begun last year with public interest groups concerned about chlorine-based chemistry. The Montreal agreement anticipates a continuing process of consultation between trade unions and chlorine producers with various interest groups, including the environmental movement. 
 
&quot;This agreement calls a truce to anti-labor activity in a substantial segment of the global chlorine industry,&quot; said Vic Thorpe. He is General Secretary of the ICEM, which spearheaded the talks with the chlorine producers. &quot;We congratulate the companies signing the accord for their progressive vision of industrial relations. Implementation of the agreement will create the space and the atmosphere of respect necessary for organized labor to join with employers and public interest groups in a broad debate on the long-term future of this important sector.&quot; 
 
&quot;This partnership with ICEM signifies our continuing commitment to a sustainable future for chlorine chemistry, its employees, its plant communities and the billions of people who benefit from our products,&quot; said Kip Howlett of the WCC. &quot;We've been talking about a joint commitment to the chemical industry's Responsible Care programs from the shop floor to the global level. The prospect for progress based on the Joint Labor-Management Statement is exciting and historic.&quot; 
 
The agreement signed today further notes that labor and management, to better prepare for the future, &quot;must commit to job training for all workers to advance the goal of promoting long-term employment and promoting sustainability through the development of globally-recognized environmental, health and safety standards.&quot; 
 
The Statement also notes that both sides recognize that technology, global markets and market demand will play significant roles in determining employment and investment in chlorine chemistry. 
 
Both parties also committed to support the development of new technologies and the modification of existing technologies &quot;if required by sound scientific research and consistent with the features of Responsible Care and best health, safety and environmental practices.&quot; 
 
The unions and the companies explored possible areas of cooperative action on the implementation of Responsible Care. The parties agreed to establish a joint committee to develop methods for fuller employee involvement as well as methods to advance the effectiveness of the program. 
 
The ICEM unites more than 20 million workers in the chemical and allied sectors worldwide. The WCC represents chlorine chemistry manufacturers across the globe.

First Worldwide Sectoral Industrial Relations Agreement Signed

Archive

Joint ITF/ICEM Offshore Conference Addresses Safety

Victory Near at Bridgestone Plant in Australia

French And Belgian Unions Act On Total/Petrofina Merger

Labour Activist Tian Chua Released In Malaysia

Malaysia Arrests Labour Activist Tian Chua

World's Energy Workers Power Up

Energy Unions Say Help Central America Now

World's Energy Unions Meet In Ireland - And On The Web - To Tackle Industry Change

World Union Protests Over Colombian Murders

First Worldwide Sectoral Industrial Relations Agreement Signed

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