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Global worker No1 2022

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For the first time, a leading multinational in nonwoven and allied products has signed a global agreement with trade unions. 
<img height="62" src="" width="70" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="61" src="" width="150" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="65" src="" width="51" alt="" />
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) finalised the deal today with German-headquartered Freudenberg after a series of negotiating sessions. The main points are trade union rights, workplace equality, protection of health, safety and the environment and a ban on child labour and forced labour. 
 
The agreement with the ICEM encompasses Freudenberg's long-standing business principles, notably &quot;the social commitment that the Freudenberg Group has towards all its employees.&quot; It specifically recognises that full cooperation and consultation with workers and their unions are the best way of furthering the interests of the company and its shareholders. 
 
All sites of Freudenberg and its subsidiaries worldwide are covered by the agreement. It was negotiated in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated German union IG BCE, which is a co-signatory. 
 
The ICEM organises more than 20 million workers within 379 unions in 103 countries. 
 
Freudenberg employs about 30,000 people in 41 countries. 
 
Primarily, it supplies components to manufacturers, such as the auto, engineering and footwear industries. Sealings, vibration controls and lubricants are among its main products. But almost a quarter of its sales now come from consumer goods, including household products, floor coverings and footwear. 
 
Its consolidated worldwide sales rose to DM 7 079 million last year. The EU accounted for 57.2 percent of this, followed by North America at 30.6 percent. While Germany remains by far the company's biggest market, the proportion of international sales has been rising rapidly. 
 
The emphasis in the global agreement is strongly on trade union rights and other human rights. Specifically cited as touchstones are the relevant Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). Through the agreement with the ICEM, Freudenberg undertakes to respect, as a minimum, Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining; Convention 135 on non-discrimination against union reps; Conventions 100 and 111 on equal opportunities and treatment; Conventions 29 and 105 on forced labour; and Convention 138 on child labour. 
 
Significantly, the agreement provides for ICEM monitoring and for annual meetings between Freudenberg's global management and the ICEM. Both sides commit themselves &quot;to contact each other directly and immediately in case any conflicts or violations of the agreement arise, in order to seek a common solution.&quot; 
 
This is the crucial difference between a global agreement and the internal codes of conduct adopted by many multinationals. The Freudenberg agreement is fully verifiable by the ICEM. 
 
The agreement clearly acknowledges &quot;the right of the employees in the Freudenberg Group to freely join trade unions of their choice, to elect workers' representatives and represent their interests in negotiations concerning collective bargaining agreements.&quot; It is &quot;part of the cooperation and confidence&quot; between Freudenberg and its workers that &quot;wherever the employees wish to organise themselves in trade unions, and trade unions apply for recognition, ways are sought to develop good labour relations in joint dialogue.&quot; This &quot;rules out any kind of unequal treatment, discrimination or sanctions against trade union organisation.&quot; 
 
Freudenberg also commits itself to &quot;sustainable protection of the environment and natural resources&quot; and to ensuring the safety of the workplace and of its products. 
 
It further &quot;condemns involvement in unethical or illegal business&quot; and undertakes not to produce &quot;weapons or any kind of war materials similar to weapons.&quot; 
 
&quot;Confidence and cooperation between management, employees and their representatives, innovation and flexibility in work organisation are the basis for the employees' future success and that of the Freudenberg Group,&quot; the agreement says. Every effort will be made to achieve &quot;a consensus about the introduction of flexible, efficient and customer-oriented forms of work organisation&quot;, while taking account of &quot;the needs of the employees.&quot; 
 
&quot;This agreement is in the best interests of Freudenberg's workers, but also of all the company's stakeholders worldwide,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. Higgs negotiated and signed the deal on the ICEM's behalf. 
 
&quot;Today, we are witnessing a big step forward in global industrial relations,&quot; Higgs emphasised. &quot;The ICEM intends to negotiate and implement a whole series of such agreements with the major global corporations in its sectors.&quot; 
 
He paid tribute to the efforts of ICEM German affiliate IG BCE in securing the global agreement. &quot;We were able to build on the good cooperation between IG BCE and Freudenberg in Germany,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;We thank IG BCE President Hubertus Schmoldt and all his team for their decisive role in achieving this breakthrough.&quot; 
 
Schmoldt, who is also an ICEM Vice-President, said the agreement is in line with &quot;the traditionally fair and constructive policies of the Freudenberg Group.&quot; It opens up &quot;the opportunity to jointly make innovative contributions to the further global development of good industrial relations,&quot; Schmoldt insisted. &quot;Particularly important for us is the fact that the ICEM is now recognised as a trade union representative at all the company's sites.&quot; 
 
For the Freudenberg Management Board, Dr. Hans-Jochen H&uuml;chting commented: &quot;The approach from IG BCE and the ICEM fell on fertile ground as far as we were concerned, because the main contents of the agreement - such as the rejection of child labour and of forced labour and the commitment to environmental protection and to the responsibilisation of our employees - are already enshrined in our business principles and codes of conduct.&quot; 
 
Germany's Labour Minister Walter Riester welcomed the agreement as &quot;an important step towards more social responsibility between employers and employees&quot; in the Freudenberg Group.

Freudenberg And Unions Seal Global Agreement

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) has urged the Chevron Corporation to settle strikes at two US coal mines. 
 
Currently, 520 members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) are on strike against Pittsburg &amp; Midway Coal Mining Company (P&amp;M), a wholly-owned Chevron subsidiary. The strike at the McKinley mine near Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation territory, involving 310 UMWA members, has been ongoing since May 14. At the Kemmerer mine in Kemmerer, Wyoming, 210 UMWA members have been on strike since May 28. The UMWA is affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong ICEM. 
 
In a letter to David J. O&rsquo;Reilly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chevron Corporation, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs expressed concern about &quot;the company&rsquo;s retention of outside legal counsel which has the reputation for promoting, instead of resolving, conflict; the company&rsquo;s hiring of military-type security guards (one of whom has already been arrested by Navajo police), and the company&rsquo;s demand that the union accept a pension package inferior to those offered by your competitors in the coal industry.&quot; 
 
&quot;The United Mine Workers of America is a valued affiliate of our federation,&quot; Higgs continued, &quot;and we intend to do everything possible to support them, including notifying our affiliates around the world with members employed by Chevron Corporation and Caltex Petroleum Corporation about the ongoing dispute. I strongly urge you to do everything possible to bring about a speedy end to this dispute.&quot; 
 
Already responding to the solidarity appeal is the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), which represents approximately 2,000 Chevron oil and chemical workers in the United States. &quot;We will support the UMWA in any way we can,&quot; said PACE Executive Vice President Robert Wages. &quot;We will mobilise our members at Chevron&rsquo;s oil and chemical operations to ensure that justice is won at these coal mines.&quot; PACE is also affiliated globally to the ICEM. 
 
&quot;We are grateful for this show of support and solidarity,&quot; said Jerry Jones, UMWA Vice President and the union's chief negotiator with P&amp;M. &quot;Our members on strike at McKinley and Kemmerer are stronger and more resolved than ever and, with this show of support from other Chevron workers in the US and around the world, I am certain we will win a fair and just contract with P&amp;M.&quot;

Settle US Coal Strike, Global Union Tells Chevron

Days before a multi-nation meeting about the closing of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, leaders of 10 US unions representing 4.9 million workers today wrote to President Clinton, urging him to &quot;take active leadership&quot; to ensure adequate funding to aid the 12,000 Chernobyl workers and their families. 
 
Signing the letter were union presidents George Becker, United Steelworkers of America; Douglas Dority, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; Edward Fire, International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine &amp; Furniture Workers; Frank Hanley, International Union of Operating Engineers; Jay Mazur, Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees; Brian McWilliams, International Longshore and Warehouse Union; Cecil E. Roberts, United Mine Workers of America; Andrew Stern, Service Employees International Union; and Boyd Young, Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. Also signing were Robert Clark, Secretary-Treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America; and Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The US signers all head unions that are affiliates of the ICEM, a global industrial trade union federation representing more than 20 million workers worldwide. ICEM affiliates include the Trade Union of Nuclear Energy and Industry of Ukraine (ATU). The ATU represents the workers at Chernobyl, the site of the worst-ever nuclear accident in 1986. 
 
Governments of the G-7 nations are sending representatives to Berlin on July 5 to discuss Chernobyl's closure, scheduled for December 15. However, according to the ICEM's Higgs, &quot;not enough attention is being paid to shielding Chernobyl's workers from economic disaster.&quot; 
 
Higgs explained that &quot;under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Ottawa in 1995, western commitments to fund the Chernobyl closure included a pittance - a mere 4 million US dollars - to help displaced workers. In 1997, experts from the governments of the United States, the European Union and Ukraine drafted a Social Impact Plan to provide retraining and new jobs for Chernobyl workers in case the plant was closed. Today, it is estimated that fully funding the Social Impact Plan would cost between 50 million and 100 million dollars.&quot; 
 
He said that &quot;Western nations are proposing to spend some 875 million dollars on projects such as building a new, safe shell to contain dangerous radiation&quot;. 
 
&quot;Isn't it reasonable to ask that less than one-eighth of that amount be spent to ensure affected workers have the benefit of a safety net?&quot; Higgs said. &quot;We believe that it is.&quot; 
 
The union leaders' letter to Clinton says: &quot;The July 5, 2000, Pledging Conference in Berlin would seem to be an excellent opportunity for the U.S. Government to reaffirm its commitment to assist in funding ... to ensure that ... the future of the Chernobyl workers (and) their families ... is protected.

Unions Press Clinton To Aid Chernobyl Workers

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko must end his government's serious breaches of trade union rights, a world labour federation urged today. 
 
In a fax to Lukashenko, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) backed a union complaint to the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the Belarus government. The ICEM also pledged &quot;pratical assistance&quot; for any other measures considered necessary by ICEM-affiliated unions in Belarus. 
 
Belarus is flouting its commitments under ILO Conventions 87 and 98, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs told Lukashenko. The country is fully signed up to both Conventions, which protect freedom of association and collective bargaining. 
 
Higgs cited various breaches of &quot;these fundamental human rights&quot; in present-day Belarus: 
 
State and employer interference 
The head of the presidential administration ordered ministers to take control of union elections and to ensure that &quot;constructive forces&quot; are elected. Subsequently, enterprise directors and ministry officials have been trying to manipulate trade union conferences in order to ensure the election of pro-government chairpersons and delegates. 
 
Strike curbs 
The legal requirements for calling a strike are highly restrictive and take at least two months to complete. And the President is empowered to postpone any strike for another three months on the ill-defined grounds of a supposed threat to national security, public order, public health or the rights and freedom of other persons. 
 
Harassment of union members 
Employees have been dismissed for taking part in trade union activities or threatened with dismissal if they do not leave their trade union. The state security service, the KGB, has been observing trade union activities and has paid regular visits to trade unionists for &quot;information purposes&quot;. 
 
Compulsory registration 
The state has made trade union registration obligatory and demands the immediate dissolution of non-registered unions. At the same time, the registration requirements are so cumbersome and complicated that in practice it has been virtually impossible for many trade union organisations to obtain registration. 
 
Barriers to organising 
A minimum of 500 founding members, representing the majority of regions of the Republic of Belarus and Minsk, is required in order to set up a nationwide trade union organisation. The list of names has to be provided to the Ministry of Justice. To establish a trade union in enterprises, offices, organisations and other places of work, membership by at least 10% of the entire workforce is required, with a minimum of ten people. This makes it virtually impossible to create new trade union organisations. 
 
Higgs strongly urged Lukashenko to &quot;withdraw the discriminatory measures without delay and to ensure respect for trade union rights in your country, both in law and in practice&quot;. 
 
Bill Jordan, General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, will be visiting Belarus on 11-12 July. Lukashenko should heed Jordan's recommendations, Higgs said, and should &quot;implement them in full&quot;.

Belarus: World&#039;s Unions Condemn Rights Violations

More than 500 protesters joined yesterday's picket, which was organised by the Association of Trade Unions In Basic Industries. 
 
The association groups the Oil, Gas and Construction Workers' Union (ROGWU), Electrounion, the Chemical Industry Workers' Union, the Mining and Metallurgical Industries Workers' Union, the Construction and Building Materials Industry Workers' Union, the Atomic Energy Workers' Union, the coal workers' union Rosugleprof and the Timber Industry Workers' Union. 
 
 

<img height="241" alt="" src="" width="380" />
 
Most of the demonstrators were members of unions affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Last week, the ICEM strongly criticised the tax plan and urged the Russian government to consult with the unions. 
 
That consultation moved forward yesterday when the Moscow protesters delegated representatives for negotiations with the Vice-Chair of the Russian government, Valentina Matvienko. 

<img height="243" alt="" src="" width="380" />
TAX CHANGES OPPOSED 
Russian union leaders lobbied the government over the threat of social cuts. Here, ROGWU's Lev Mironov is telling the Moscow demonstrators that the unions will pursue their demands. 
(Photos: ROGWU) 
Heading the union side at the talks was ROGWU President Lev Mironov. He chairs the Association of Trade Unions In Basic Industries and is a member of the ICEM Executive. 
The delegates told the government of their serious concern about cuts in working people's social protection if the new tax were introduced. It was agreed that the consultations will continue. 
 
After the talks, a brief meeting was held on Moscow's Gorbaty Most (Arched Bridge). Pickets expressed their support for their representatives' demands and said they were ready to continue the protest action in defence of working people's rights. 
&nbsp;

Russian Unions Picket Government Over Tax Plan

The international community &quot;is still very far from fulfilling its financial obligations&quot; to cover &quot;technical and safety issues&quot; related to the decommissioning of Chernobyl nuclear power station. 
 
That was the warning today from leaders of the world's energy and allied unions, currently meeting in Brussels. 
 
Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst-ever nuclear accident in 1986, is to be closed by the end of this year, the Ukrainian government has confirmed. Funding for the closure and for replacement power sources is to come from the G7 industrial countries, the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 
 
But, the Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) said in Brussels today, the funding pledges made by the donors at a meeting this March are inadequate. 
 
The ICEM leaders particularly insisted that &quot;a Social Action Plan developed by international experts and the Ukrainian government, in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated Ukrainian Atom Union, should be an integral part of any decommissioning scenario and its practical implementation. The international community, the governments of donor countries and the Ukrainian government must ensure the proper financing of the Social Plan.&quot; 
 
The social plan is designed to tackle the severe employment impacts of the Chernobyl closure, both at the power station itself and in the town of Slavutich, where most of the Chernobyl workers live.

Unions&#039; Chernobyl Warning

The Russian government's plans for a general social tax came in for sharp criticism today from world industrial union leaders meeting in Brussels. 
 
The tax is intended to replace the state non-budget social fund, which is based on the payment of insurance premiums. 
 
But in Russia's present circumstances, the proposed tax would lead to social underfunding, insisted the Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) in an emergency resolution adopted this morning. 
 
In particular, the ICEM says, the tax would &quot;lead to insufficient funding for pensions, for benefits in the case of unemployment or temporary incapacity to work, for treatement in sanatoria, and for medical care for children.&quot; 
 
&quot;It is unacceptable to put the burden of social expenditure on the shoulders of workers,&quot; the world's unions point out, &quot;especially at a time when one third of the Russian population is living below the poverty line.&quot; 
 
They call on the Russian government to consult properly with the country's unions on the issue, &quot;in order to come up with an equitable social security system that will guarantee the funding of these essential social benefits for workers and their families.&quot;

Russia To Put New Social Burden On Workers?

The general strike called by Korean trade unions has received &quot;full support&quot; from world industrial trade union leaders currently meeting in Brussels. 
 
The Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) backed the Korean unions' &quot;justified demands for a 5-day working week and the improvement of social security to protect workers affected by structural adjustment&quot;. 
 
The ICEM also backed &quot;the year-long struggle by the Korean Electric Power Union to secure basic trade union rights and working conditions in the process of privatisation of the power industry.&quot; 
 
Noting that South Korea's current government claims to be the first democratic civilian government supported by the people, the ICEM says the government must &quot;review its anti-union labour policy and accept the justified demands from trade unions and workers.&quot;

Korean General Strike Draws World Union Support

Fijian unions' call for the restoration of democracy and the immediate release of hostages have been fully backed by world industrial trade union leaders currently meeting in Brussels. 
 
The Executive Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) noted the &quot;actions of the Fijian Trades Union Congress in condemning strongly the violence of the illegal attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Fiji by hostage-taking and the subsequent killing of innocent citizens.&quot; 
 
The ICEM pledged to &quot;mobilise a campaign of international actions&quot; in support of the FTUC's demands for the release of the hostages and a return to democracy.

World&#039;s Unions Back Fiji Freedom Call

Globalised labour relations take a step forward this week as the world's industrial trade union leaders meet in Brussels to select target companies for global networks and agreements. 
 
The union leaders from all continents are taking part in the Presidium and Executive Committee sessions of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The Brussels meetings, from 31 May to 2 June, are the first since the ICEM World Congress in Durban, South Africa, last November. 

<img height="285" alt="" src="" width="380" /> 
 
ICEM Executive in Brussels
That Congress set the ICEM a target of global campaigning and networking within major multinationals in its sectors. It also mandated the ICEM to negotiate global agreements with companies, notably on trade union rights, health, safety and environment and equality at work. 
 
The aim is to ensure consistently high standards worldwide by securing the right of the ICEM and its member unions to monitor companies' global performance on these and other issues, and to raise any alleged breaches of the agreements with corporate headquarters management. 
 
This is the crucial difference between global agreements and companies' own self-declared and self-assessed codes of conduct. The ICEM emphasises that such agreements are also in the best interests of the companies and their stakeholders, as they give substance and credibility to corporate ethics. 
 
New ICEM President John Maitland and General Secretary Fred Higgs were elected on a platform of achieving global agreements and of creating the necessary global trade union networks within the companies concerned. 
 
Target multinationals under discussion this week are headquartered in Germany, France, Japan, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. 
 
&quot;Dialogues are currently underway with, among others, Shell, Rio Tinto, BP Amoco and Freudenberg,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;In a number of cases, draft texts have been exchanged. Discussions are particularly far advanced with Freudenberg, the German-headquartered rubber multinational. We hope to finalise an agreement with them by the end of June.&quot; 
 
The ICEM already has a company-level global agreement with oil multinational Statoil. 
 
Talks are continuing with the chemical companies' world body, the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), over plans for the first-ever global sectoral agreement. This would concern the chemical companies' Responsible Care programme, which aims to achieve the highest standards of occupational health and safety and of environmental protection. ICEM participation in the monitoring and implementation of Responsible Care would help to ensure consistently high standards worldwide. 
 
&quot;We are already in a serious dialogue with the ICCA,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;By the time we meet them again in Tokyo this November, we will be very close to signing a global agreement on Responsible Care.&quot;

World Unions Set Targets For Global Agreements

Archive

Freudenberg And Unions Seal Global Agreement

Settle US Coal Strike, Global Union Tells Chevron

Unions Press Clinton To Aid Chernobyl Workers

Belarus: World's Unions Condemn Rights Violations

Russian Unions Picket Government Over Tax Plan

Unions' Chernobyl Warning

Russia To Put New Social Burden On Workers?

Korean General Strike Draws World Union Support

World's Unions Back Fiji Freedom Call

World Unions Set Targets For Global Agreements

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