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Oil workers throughout Brazil today demonstrated for tighter safety in the national oil company Petrobras, following yesterday's disastrous oil platform explosions. 
 
At the call of the oil union federation FUP, workers staged go-slows and other industrial demonstrations. In particular, they called for the right to stop work in case of danger. And they demanded an end to subcontracting in the oil industry. Today's protests and the FUP demands were fully backed by Brazilian unions in all sectors, via the national labour confederation CUT. 
 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the FUP is affiliated at the global level, also pledged its full support for the Brazilian oil workers' campaign. 
 
&quot;One worker died in the explosion, one has been hospitalised in a serious condition, with little prospect of survival, and a further nine workers are missing and have already been given up for dead by the Petrobras management,&quot; the FUP said today. 
 
Brazil's Regulatory Standards NR-9 and NR-5 do in fact give workers the right to halt work on their own initiative in the case of a perceived imminent danger. However, these norms are widely disregarded in practice and relatively few workers are aware of their rights. Today, the FUP demanded full and immediate implementation of stop-work rights. 
 
Subcontracting of jobs is a rapidly growing trend throughout the world oil industry and in many other industrial sectors. Trade unions worldwide have repeatedly drawn attention to the risks involved. Subcontracted workers - who are not on the payroll of the company where they actually work and who frequently change jobs - have demonstrably higher accident rates than do regular company employees. 
 
The Petrobras P-36 rig, which suffered a series of explosions in Brazil's Campos Basin yesterday, is the world's biggest semi-submersible oil platform. 
 
P-36, which is now tilting and taking on water, contains about 1.5 million litres of petrol and oil. These could spill into the sea, causing a major environmental catastrophe within the next three days. 
 
Petrobras has a very poor safety record, FUP Coordinator Maur&iacute;cio Fran&ccedil;a Rubem told the ICEM today. &quot;Since the beginning of last year,&quot; he said, &quot;the oil workers' unions and the FUP have recorded 95 significant accidents within Petrobras units, of which 18 were fatal. Of these deaths, 16 were among oil workers employed by subcontractors.&quot; 
 
The Campos Basin holds the record for accidents, Fran&ccedil;a Rubem said. 50 of the recorded accidents occurred in this area, causing 12 deaths (of which 11 were among subcontracted workers). 
 
Petrobras is not providing adequate training for subcontracted workers, he stated. At the same time, drastically reduced manning levels mean that the regular employees are also getting less time for safety training. &quot;Compared with a total of some 62,000 workers at the beginning of the 1990s, the company today operates with about 34,000 people on its payroll, despite the increase in production and activities.&quot; 
 
In the past three years, 81 workers have been killed on Petrobras sites, he added. &quot;That's an average of two human lives lost every month.&quot; Of the 81 who died, 66 were subcontracted workers. 
 
The Petrobras management is &quot;clearly responsible&quot; for the series of disasters, Fran&ccedil;a Rubem insisted. The &quot;brutal subcontracting implemented within the company&quot;, in tandem with the &quot;criminal cutbacks in the regular workforce&quot;, has &quot;multiplied the risks already inherent in this sector.&quot;

Brazilian Oil Workers: for Safety&#039;s Sake, End Subcontracting Now

Trade unionists from across Belgium and international delegates converged on an industrial suburb of Li&egrave;ge, Belgium, this morning. They were protesting over plans by tyre giant Continental to shut down production of truck tyres there. 
 
After a meeting outside the gates of the Continental plant, hundreds of workers marched round the industrial estate. Later, a motorway was blocked by demonstrators. 
 
 

<img height="287" src="" width="380" alt="" />
CONTINENTAL'S BELGIAN CLOSURE: 
700 JOBS AT RISK 

Continental's closure plan jeopardises 700 jobs in an area that has already suffered greatly from the delocalisation strategies of the multinationals. 
Today's demo was organised by Belgian general workers' union the Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB and salaried staffs' union SETCa-FGTB, both of which are affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union (ICEM). Co-organiser was the chemical workers' union CSC-Chimie. 
 
&quot;The workers around the world are watching,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs told the demonstrators, &quot;and they are insisting that workers in Belgium be treated with respect and dignity.&quot; An ICEM contingent took part in the demonstration, carrying the banners of the international. 
 
The ICEM has launched a worldwide solidarity campaign in support of the Belgian Continental workers. 
 
Continental's announcement has caused widespread outrage in Belgium. Its plant there is one of the most modern in the company, and its Belgian workers had accepted a whole series of job cuts and pay reductions since 1997 in order to safeguard the Belgian operation. &quot;Today,&quot; says the Central G&eacute;n&eacute;rale, &quot;the workers note that all this simply served to generate profits for the multinational, which invested them elsewhere.&quot; 
 
The unions had called for a moratorium on the closure until the end of this year at the very earliest, so as to give time for serious negotiations on job preservation measures and compensation. The management's response was to speed up the closure plans. &quot;A provocation,&quot; say the unions. 
 
There is no doubt where the real responsibilities lie, Michel Nollet told the demonstrators this morning. He is the President of the Belgian national trade union federation FGTB. Multinational companies had undertaken closure after closure, Nollet said. This proved that governments had lost control of their economies. Noting the absence of politicians from today's demonstration, Nollet challenged governments worldwide to reassert their authority over the multinational corporations. And he called for international trade union solidarity to fight Continental's closure plan.

Outrage Over Continental Tyre&#039;s Belgian Closure Plan

Workers now have information and co-determination rights on the supervisory board of Franco-German chemicals giant Aventis. 
 
An important precedent for European worker participation is set by the agreement, which has just been finalised by the French and German chemical workers' unions, the company and the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation (EMCEF). 
 
German law provides for Mitbestimmung (worker co-determination) in big companies at two levels - the works council and the supervisory board. Within the European Union (EU) as a whole, meanwhile, worker participation so far has been at the level of European Works Councils. 
 
The supervisory board is one of the two tiers within German company boards. It determines overall corporate policy and appoints the management board, which is in charge of the day-to-day running of the company. The management board answers to the supervisory board for its conduct of the company's business. 
 
The most common type of corporate-level co-determination in Germany requires equal numbers of employee-elected and shareholder-elected representatives within the supervisory board. However, at least one of the employee representatives is a senior manager and the chairman is, in practice, an extra shareholder representative with a casting vote. Nonetheless, there is strong pressure to maintain consensus within the supervisory boards, which also play a crucial role in German unions' information about trends within the company. 
 
The German labour minister has tabled proposals to further update and strengthen the country's co-determination system. But the growing economic integration of the EU has raised some issues. Labour legislation varies greatly from one EU country to another, and the creation of a European company statute could complicate the question of co-determination rights. 
 
So an important test case was created in 1999 by the merger of German-based chemicals multinational Hoechst AG with French-based Rh&ocirc;ne-Poulenc S.A. to form Aventis S.A. 
 
Aventis is headquartered just outside Strasbourg, France. Hoechst AG continues to exist as a German-registered firm, but it is now an intermediate holding company affiliated to Aventis, which owns about 97% of the Hoechst shares. 
 
Immediately after the merger, the German and French chemical workers' unions set about ensuring worker participation within the new company. An agreement in principle was reached with the Aventis management last year. But the new arrangement, the first of its kind at the European level, ran into problems on the ground. The additional agreement just signed clears up the practical details. 
 
The package is a &quot;viable compromise,&quot; commented Hubertus Schmoldt. He is President of the German chemical workers' union IG BCE and of EMCEF, and Vice-President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The decisive point,&quot; Schmoldt said, &quot;is that we are making a start on the qualified representation, in practice, of workers on the boards of transnational corporations.&quot; 
 
Four of the six worker representatives - two French and two German - will be voted on to the supervisory board of Aventis S.A. by the company's shareholder assembly. The worker representatives will have the same rights as the ten representatives of capital on the board. 
 
The two other worker seats on the board are those required by French law, which assigns them to the works council (comit&eacute; d'entreprise). Under the Aventis agreement, EMCEF will nominate the candidate for one of these two seats. In return for the works council's agreement to this, it will have the right to be represented on the Aventis &quot;European Dialogue Committee&quot;. 
 
The unions see this package as a milestone on the way to co-determination within European companies. 
 
The agreement now goes to the Aventis AGM for formal approval. 
 
Aventis employs around 95,000 people in more than 120 countries. In November 2000, it announced that it intends to focus on pharmaceuticals and will divest its activities in agriculture.

Aventis Worker Participation Deal Is European First

Countries must have the right to buy AIDS medication at an affordable price. 
 
That call was issued in Copenhagen this morning by the leader of trade unions in the world's pharmaceutical industry. 
 
Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), was speaking as a crucial court case opened in South Africa today. 
 
Developing countries' access to medication is at issue in the test case between the South African government and 39 big pharmaceutical companies. 
 
To protect their patents, the major drug corporations are asking the court to stop the implementation of a South African law aimed at providing cheaper medicines. The law would permit the country's health minister to use parallel importation of drugs, compulsory licensing and generic substitution (cut-price &quot;copy&quot; drugs) where necessary. 
 
Application of this Act has already been delayed for several years by the legal wrangles. The measure is particularly important to the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. 
 
&quot;As part of the ICEM's programme to combat HIV/AIDS, we believe that South Africa and other countries must have the right to buy the appropriate pharmaceuticals at prices that they can afford,&quot; said Higgs this morning. He was in South Africa last week at an ICEM conference where African and Asian unions adopted a programme of action on HIV/AIDS. 
 
&quot;We hope that the South African courts will defend South Africa's rights in this regard,&quot; Higgs added. &quot;We ask ICEM-affiliated unions to express their support for the South African government's position.&quot; 
 
ICEM affiliates include pharmaceutical workers' unions worldwide. 
 
Higgs was speaking at the congress of the ICEM-affiliated Danish Women Workers' Union (KAD), which is celebrating its centenary this year. Over a thousand delegates are attending the congress.

AIDS Drug Test Case: World&#039;s Pharma Unions Back South Africa

Industrial employers must do much more to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
 
That was one of the main calls when trade union representatives from Africa and Asia met in South Africa this Monday to discuss ways of tackling the pandemic. 
 
Taking part were unions affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organised the conference. Support came from the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Swedish metal and allied workers' union Metall and the Danish general workers' union SiD. 
 
Unions also have an important part to play in the fight against HIV/AIDS, delegates emphasised. The ICEM and its affiliated unions should focus on workplace activities, as well as undertaking and disseminating research on HIV/AIDS in the ICEM's sectors. This research should include the cost/affordability and availability of HIV/AIDS drugs. 
 
The conference was held in Africa in view of the especially serious HIV/AIDS problem in many African countries. From the discussions, it was clear that the nature of the HIV/AIDS challenges, the profiles of the spread of HIV/AIDS and the perceived priorities differ from country to country and from region to region. However, the participants agreed on the key challenges and priorities. 
 
In particular, it was felt that employers in ICEM sectors have much further to go in accepting the reality of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and their responsibilities for preventing the spread. Employer action should include the provision of medical resources for tackling HIV/AIDS in their workplaces. 
 
Given the clear links between single-sex hostel accommodation for male workers in a number of ICEM sectors and the spread of HIV/AIDS, the participants demanded that employers provide proper family housing for such workers. Employers' &quot;hostel culture&quot; attitudes should be eliminated. 
 
Employers must meet the HIV/AIDS challenge through effective partnerships with organised labour. These must include joint cooperation to fight the stigmatisation and/or victimisation of those living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
Many participants felt that the ICEM and its affiliated unions could and should do a lot more to help fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and support those living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
At the same time, it was recognised that the ICEM and its affiliates needed to concentrate their efforts where they are likely to make the most impact. Many other groups and organisations are working on the HIV/AIDS issue. They have special skills and expertise which it would be pointless for unions to try to duplicate. So the ICEM should focus mainly on the workplace. Activities there would also provide opportunities to promote HIV/AIDS awareness in the broader community. 
 
In this regard, it would be important to work with the ILO and seek ILO funding. The prevention of discrimination and/or victimisation of those living with HIV/AIDS could be helped through the development of an ILO Convention, or the modification of existing relevant Conventions. It was felt that the ILO could be particularly useful in providing &quot;training the trainers&quot; assistance, as well as other means for diffusion of best practices. 
 
It was recognised that ICEM-affiliated unions would sometimes need help in developing negotiating positions, as well as in fighting the social exclusion of those living with HIV/AIDS - and of their families. 
 
Given the need to focus activities on the workplace, it was felt that the ICEM should consider inviting employers from ICEM industries to an ICEM conference or conferences on HIV/AIDS. Additionally, there would be an ongoing need to lobby employers' associations in order to raise the profile of HIV/AIDS and the importance of tackling it in the workplace. 
 
One important use of the ICEM's influence would be to put pressure on governments - in addition to companies - to ensure the wider availability of medical treatment. It should also address international financial institutions and seek funding for targeted HIV/AIDS activities in ICEM sectors. 
 
The ICEM's HIV/AIDS activities must strongly emphasise the importance of programmes for the empowerment of women, the conference insisted.

HIV/AIDS: African and Asian Unions&#039; Action Call

Trade unions in Belarus are holding a National Day of Action today to demand a living wage and an end to restrictions on trade union rights. 
 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) is &quot;alarmed by recently published facts and figures which clearly indicate an unprecedented decline of the standards of living in Belarus,&quot; writes ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a message of support to ICEM-affiliated unions there. 
 
&quot;Existing structures have prevented the effective development of the national economy and triggered severe inflation,&quot; Higgs argues. &quot;Workers' salaries no longer reflect their true contribution to the society and can hardly keep them from the brink of poverty or ensure physical survival.&quot; 
 
The Belarus unions &quot;stand as the only force that defends the right of the workers and their families to a decent life,&quot; Higgs writes. &quot;This determined attitude has put the unions under severe attack by the authoritarian regime, which the world community is observing with growing concern. I have addressed President Alexander Lukashenko and the Belarus government on several occasions, strongly protesting against the violations of union rights in Belarus.&quot; 
 
Pledging full international support to the Belarus unions' campaign, Higgs urges the country's government to &quot;finally negotiate and sign a General Tariff Agreement with the unions&quot;.

Belarus Union Action Gains Global Support

All Fijians should stay at home next Monday to show their support for a return to constitutional rule. 
 
That is the call from a broadly-based democracy coalition in which the country's unions are playing a leading role. 
 
The call by the Fiji First movement comes as the country's military-backed &quot;interim administration&quot; is seeking to overturn a pro-democracy court ruling. 
The appeals court is due to begin hearing the regime's appeal against a high court judgement last November, which upheld the 1997 constitution. The high court therefore recognised the elected president and parliament who were in office prior to the coup staged last May by businessman George Speight. 
 
Speight's coup was eventually thwarted, but instead of handing power back to the democratic parliament and government, the military imposed their own &quot;interim administration&quot;. 
 
Fiji First, which has called for Monday's stayaway, includes the Fiji's Blue movement. This is spearheaded by the Fijian trade unions, who have received strong backing from organised labour worldwide. Particular concern had been caused by the interim administration's moves to curb trade union rights.The political turmoil has also led to widespread job losses. 
 
The restrictions on union rights have merely strengthened labour's resolve to back the democracy campaign, says Daniel Urai. 
 
He is President of the FTUC and General Secretary of the Fiji Electricity Authority Staff Association, which is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ICEM has strongly backed the Fijian unions' democracy campaign. 
 
For an interview with Urai, see ICEM UPDATE 80/2000. 
 
As well as the unions, Fiji First includes employers' federations, civic rights groups and women's group. 
 
Although the group is determined to keep the protests peaceful, the authorities may have opted for confrontation. 
 
Yesterday, the Police Commissioner threatened to detain the Fiji First chairman, businessman Mick Beddoes. This follows Beddoes' release of a statement on 9 February, in which he called on &quot;all citizens of Fiji, including school children, workers and businesses to STAY HOME AND INDOORS on Monday February 19th.&quot; 
 
After Beddoes had been quizzed by the police, Fiji First Deputy Chairman Ratu Meli Vesikula stated yesterday: &quot;I fully endorse and support the call of Mick Beddoes to all Fiji citizens to express their collective view by staying home, and I urge all employers to make arrangements for a skeleton crew but not penalise anyone who wants to express their support to our call for the immediate return to democratic rule.&quot;

Fiji: Monday Stay-Home Call By Democracy Campaign

Perseverance paid off for workers in the US state of Alabama. They have just gained their first contract [collective agreement] at the 400-person Imerys calcium carbonate plant in Sylacauga. 
 
Global labour solidarity played an important part in their campaign. 
 
Union members ratified the new agreement on Tuesday night by an over 70 percent margin. The result was announced yesterday by their union, PACE. 
 
The contract is the culmination of a campaign that began in June 1999 after Imerys had withdrawn recognition of the union. Imerys is a leading materials and minerals multinational headquartered in France. 
 
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). PACE and the ICEM waged a global campaign that resulted in a successful organising drive at Sylacauga in June 2000. This in turn led to negotiations for a first contract. 
 
&quot;We congratulate the Sylacauga workers and PACE on their endurance,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. &quot;Their victory is our victory.&quot; 
 
The three-year contract provides for a pension up to 2.08 percent of earnings for each year of service; annual raises of 3.5, 3.0 and 3.0 percent; a cap on health insurance premiums paid by workers; incentive bonuses; a company-backed retirement savings scheme; overtime pay after eight hours; and increases in shift differentials and holiday pay. The contract also eliminates the older &quot;tech system&quot; for promotions and job classifications and replaces it with one based 
largely on seniority and job bidding rights. 
 
&quot;After 42 days and nights of negotiations over the last six months, we were able to come to an agreement with management that will better the lives of Imerys' workers,&quot; said PACE negotiator Jimmy Colston. &quot;The company and union were able to work together on this, which we believe has led to a much better relationship after a rocky start.&quot; 
 
PACE Region Five Vice President Don Langham thanked Colston along with local union president Keith Fulbright and the union negotiating committee &quot;for their hard work and skilled negotiations.&quot; He also thanked Joe Drexler of PACE's special projects division, the ICEM's Fred Higgs and the unions in other countries who pressed Imerys to recognise the union in Sylacauga. These included unions representing Imerys employees in France, where the company is headquartered, in Britain, in Belgium and in Australia. Also featuring in the campaign were a widely publicised PACE and ICEM lobby of the Imerys shareholders' meeting in Paris and a special PACE/ICEM website. 
 
&quot;For the first time, workers here will be able to advance in a fair manner and with equal rights to improve their livelihoods and the welfare of their families,&quot; said PACE local union president Keith Fulbright yesterday. &quot;The contract has brought about unity, pride and dignity that we never had before, and the company will also benefit from this.&quot;

US Imerys Workers Secure Agreement

Trade unions in tyre multinational Goodyear have launched a worldwide newsletter. 
 
Named Global Solidarity, the bulletin will help coordinate union information and action within Goodyear on all continents. 
 
This is the latest initiative from a global Goodyear workers' network set up in 1999 by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM is building up union networks within major multinationals in its sectors. At the same time, it is working to conclude global agreements with companies, covering issues such as trade union rights, equality and health, safety and the environment. 
 
ICEM-affiliated unions in the company concerned establish and run a network, with unions in the company's headquarters country often taking on a key role. In this case, Global Solidarity is published by the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA), which organises workers in the US tyre industry. 
 
The first issue of the newsletter includes labour stories from Goodyear operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, the UK and the USA. It also covers regional union action and gives background information on the company. 
 
Print copies are currently being distributed in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Online versions in each language are now available on this site:
&nbsp;&nbsp; 
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=EN">English version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=FR">French version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=ES">Spanish version</a>
<a href="/index.php?id=111&amp;doc=1224&amp;la=DE">German version</a>

Goodyear Union Network Launches Global Bulletin

Taiwan's trade unions have won their fight to reduce legal working hours. 
 
This month, the standard working week has been cut from 48 hours to 42. 
 
A law to that effect had in fact been passed by the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, last June. This followed a strong trade union campaign. But employers had been lobbying hard against the measure, and the government at one stage intended to raise the limit back up to 44 hours. 
 
The Taiwanese unions fought back with a further high-profile campaign. Global trade union support played a vital role in their victory. 
 
The Chinese Federation of Labour (CFL) is Taiwan's trade union centre, with 3,600 affiliated unions. The Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions (CITU) groups 18 major Taiwanese industrial unions. Dual affiliations to the two bodies are held by the petroleum workers' TPWU and the power workers' TPLU, both of which are affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. 
 
At the parliament buildings in Taipei last month, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs joined the Taiwanese unions in talks with Deputy Prime Minister Lau Ching-Chi and other legislators. 
 
&quot;Your visit to Taiwan and the meeting with the parliamentary leaders was one of the key factors in the victory of our struggle,&quot; Huang Ching-Hsien told Higgs today. 
 
Huang, who played a prominent part in the parliamentary talks, is President both of the CITU and of the TPWU. He said the Taiwanese unions would be networking closely and actively with the ICEM.

Taiwanese Unions Win Worktime Cuts

Archive

Brazilian Oil Workers: for Safety's Sake, End Subcontracting Now

Outrage Over Continental Tyre's Belgian Closure Plan

Aventis Worker Participation Deal Is European First

AIDS Drug Test Case: World's Pharma Unions Back South Africa

HIV/AIDS: African and Asian Unions' Action Call

Belarus Union Action Gains Global Support

Fiji: Monday Stay-Home Call By Democracy Campaign

US Imerys Workers Secure Agreement

Goodyear Union Network Launches Global Bulletin

Taiwanese Unions Win Worktime Cuts

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