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A three-day power strike across South Africa has ended in victory for the country's electricity unions. 
 
In a statement issued this evening, the unions say they have &quot;signed the proposed collective bargaining wage agreement after the 21 000 workers accepted the current revised settlement proposal from the Eskom company.&quot; Eskom is South Africa's parastatal power utility. 
 
Launched on Tuesday, the nationwide strike &quot;will effectively end tomorrow 27/07/2001 starting with the first shift at 6H00 in the morning,&quot; the unions declare. 
 
The settlement includes: 
 
&middot; A 9 percent wage increase effective now for the lowest paid workers and a further 1 percent effective in January 2002. 
 
&middot; A 7 percent wage increase effective now for the highest paid workers and a further 0.5 percent effective in January 2002. 
 
&middot; Four months' paid maternity leave. 
 
 
Two of the unions involved in the strike, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), are affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which declared its solidarity with the South African unions' campaign. 
 
The ICEM has also expressed its support for South Africa's miners, who have given the NUM a massive mandate for strike action over a wage claim and other issues. Talks with the mining employers, particularly the gold producers, are scheduled to resume tomorrow. 
 
As for the Eskom package, the statement issued by NUMSA this evening said that it &quot;will go a long way to addressing the short and long-term needs of workers. The agreement will create certainty for workers and improve their purchasing power. This victory will boost morale and show to all workers that they have power to change their wages and working conditions.&quot; 
 
The strike began after Eskom tried to set the level of wage increases unilaterally, but the Labour Court ruled yesterday that the company did not have the right to do so. &quot;We hope the company and the government will learn a lesson on this case,&quot; the union statement emphasised. &quot;We trust and hope that the Eskom company in future wage negotiations would not adopt the same paternalistic and parochial approach to the wage talks. The unions salute all workers who took part in the strike and congratulate them on a great victory.&quot;

Power Workers Victorious in South African Strike

South Africa's national power utility Eskom has no right to fix wage increases unilaterally, the Labour Court in Johannesburg has ruled. 
 
The verdict is a signal victory for the country's electricity unions, who launched a nationwide strike on Tuesday after Eskom attempted to impose wage hikes lower than those sought by the unions. 
 

<img height="159" alt="" src="" width="161" />&nbsp; <img height="166" alt="" src="" width="170" />
Eskom wanted to unilaterally implement pay increases of between 7 and 9 percent. The unions say these rises would not be enough even to maintain the electricity workers' meagre purchasing power, and would &quot;lead to serious poverty and misery.&quot; The electricity unions are demanding 11 percent for the lowest-paid workers and 9 percent for the highest-paid. 
 
In another significant legal move, Eskom yesterday withdrew an application for a court order restraining workers involved in &quot;minimum essential service&quot; electricity provision from joining the strike. One of the unions involved, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), commented: &quot;We always insisted that the company's urgent application was irresponsible and unnecessary in the light of the unions' written undertaking that the workers in the essential services will not participate in the strike action. We are now vindicated and feel victorious that the matter has been withdrawn. The company should not play double standards but must concentrate on resolving the issue of wages rather than focusing on court interdicts.&quot; 
 
So far, though, Eskom has made little real effort to end the dispute. As the unions have repeatedly pointed out, the strike could have been avoided altogether if Eskom had sent competent senior managers to this year's bargaining round. Instead, it used junior executives who had little real authority to negotiate. 
 
Eskom has still not got the message. During an attempted conciliation session yesterday, the company's attitude remained the same. 
 
The session &quot;failed dismally,&quot; a clearly irritated NUMSA said, because &quot;the company was not taking the unions seriously. The company requested a caucus after the trade unions presented their proposals at 14H30. The junior negotiators of the company went to the caucus for 5 hours and came back to the plenary insisting that they still do not have the mandate and would not reciprocate on our demands. The meeting ended without a settlement. The biggest question that everyone should ask is, what is it that they were caucusing about for 5 hours?&quot; 
 
Conciliation bids are due to continue today, but the unions insist that, if the talks are to succeed, Eskom will have to bring in some real negotiators. &quot;We believe that the essence of any wage negotiations is on compromises in order to break the deadlock,&quot; the unions state, &quot;and such talks should be based on fairness, transparency and proper vision to deal with sensitive issues. This is critical, in order to ensure a speedy resolution to the strike action. The Eskom junior negotiators have not been properly orientated to wage negotiations because they are not prioritising the matter under dispute.&quot; 
 
The Eskom strike remained solid yesterday. The unions reported &quot;overwhelming support from the majority of the workers with a turnout of 90 percent. Protest marches were held at different cities and towns throughout the country, with thousands of workers taking part in the action. Memorandums were handed to Eskom head office and regional offices.&quot; 
 
Again, Eskom showed a remarkably poor grasp of human relations. A middle-ranking manager was delegated to receive the main petition. Seeing this as an insult, union members occupied Eskom's offices until company chairman Ruel Khoza deigned to fetch the memo in person. 
 
The nationwide protests were peaceful. The only incident occurred when police teargassed demonstrators at a power station in the province of Mpumalanga as Eskom attempted to bring in strikebreakers. &quot;The police must learn that they do not have to interfere in legal strike action,&quot; NUMSA commented. 
 
Two of the main unions involved in the power strike, NUMSA and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM has declared full solidarity with the South African power workers, and with the country's miners, who have given the NUM a massive mandate for strike action over a wage claim and other issues (details in ICEM UPDATE 46/2001). 
 
Some mining companies have finally met the union's demands in full, but the NUM yesterday issued strike notices to the three most recalcitrant coalmining employers - Ingwe, Eyesizwe and Anglocoal. 
 
Ingwe is owned by mining multinational Billiton, whose share price fell by 4.19 percent on the Johannesburg stock exchange following yesterday afternoon's NUM announcement. 
 
Anglo American, owner of Anglocoal, fared even worse. By the end of trading yesterday, its share price had plummeted by 8.18 percent. 
 
Talks with the mining employers, particularly the gold producers, are scheduled to resume tomorrow.

Court Victory For SA&#039;s Power Workers; Shares Drop for Mining Firms

Despite threats of legal action, Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF is maintaining its notice of a boycott against Trico Marine over the firm's union-busting in the US. 
 
NOPEF announced today that it has received letters both from US-based Trico Marine Services Inc. and its Norwegian subsidiary Trico Supply ASA. Dated 20 July, the letters ask for confirmation, by 27 July, that the boycott will not come into effect. Otherwise, the companies are threatening to take out injunctions against the Norwegian union. 
 
Trico Marine Services supplies shipping to the oil industry in both Norway and America. The company respects workers' right to organise in Norway. But in the US, it is actively anti-union. 
 
On 11 July, NOPEF demanded confirmation, by 16 August, that Trico will &quot;let the employees in Trico Marine Services Inc, USA decide themselves whether they will join a trade union or not, without any interference, harassment, discrimination or threats from the management.&quot; 
 
Trico was also asked to confirm that, if workers at Trico Marine Services Inc, USA choose to join a union, the company will recognise it for collective bargaining purposes. 
 
NOPEF told the company that, if no such assurances were received by 16 August, then &quot;NOPEF's members in Statoil, Norsk Hydro, Phillips, Amoco, BP, CCB, Aker Base, Tananger, Aker Base Dusavik, Fjordbase, Vestbase, Forsyningsbase Helgeland in Sandnessj&oslash;en, Mongstad Base and Polarbase will be called on not to execute work which has anything to do with Trico Marine Services, its subsidiary and companies where Trico Marine Services, USA has beneficial ownership.&quot; NOPEF will also mount a publicity campaign and will press as many oil companies as possible &quot;not to have any kind of financial dealings&quot; with the firms targeted by the boycott. 
 
That boycott notice remains in force, NOPEF's second Vice-President Torbj&oslash;rn Teigland said today. 
 
&quot;We do not accept to be threatened into silence and do not intend to withdraw the notice of boycott, unless our demands are complied with,&quot; Teigland stated. 
 
The Norwegian union has already persuaded oil company Norsk Hydro to halt negotiations with Trico on the chartering of vessels, and the Norwegian-headquartered energy multinational Statoil is also currently examining its options. 
 
At the global level, NOPEF is affiliated to the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). 
 
The ICEM, in cooperation with the ITF, has been in contact with senior Statoil management on this issue and has emphasised that Statoil, as a major Trico customer, could use its influence to help resolve the question of trade union recognition in the US. 
 
In 1998, the ICEM, NOPEF and Statoil signed the oil sector's first-ever globally applicable agreement on industrial relations. This covers basic trade union rights, health, safety and the environment, information and training. In March 2001, an updated and further strengthened version of the agreement was concluded. This new agreement takes full account of the UN's Global Compact initiative, under which multinationals commit themselves to promote trade union rights and other human rights.

Global Solidarity: Norway&#039;s Oil Union Defies Injunction Threat Over Trico

Workers across South Korea held strikes and demonstrations today. 
 
Chemical workers were to the fore in the protests, which were called by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) to &quot;bring an end to state violence and the attempt to destroy the democratic trade union movement represented by the KCTU.&quot; 
<img height="265" alt="" src="" width="200" />
WANTED: Police have distributed leaflets calling for the arrest of KCTU President Dan Byung-Ho. (photo: KCTF) 

47 Korean workers have been imprisoned since June because of their trade union activities, the KCTU reports. Warrants are out for another fifty, including KCTU President Dan Byung-ho and General Secretary Lee Hong-woo. 
 
If the government wants &quot;a process of consultation and consensus,&quot; the KCTU said, then &quot;it would need to revoke the current orders of arrest issued against the key KCTU leadership, including President Dan.&quot; The launching of a dialogue could &quot;end the escalation of confrontation,&quot; the union centre stated. 
 
 

<img height="161" alt="" src="" width="215" />
Strikers in Korea today. The KCTU put the turnout at 80,000. (photo: KCTF) 

Violent police tactics against striking workers all over Korea have provoked national and international protests. The repression has been particularly severe since the KCTU launched a campaign of &quot;coordinated strikes&quot; on 12 June. 
 
Coordinated strikes are something of a tradition in Korea, where enterprise-based trade unions are grouped in sectoral federations. Company-level unions draw up separate bargaining agendas, and hold separate ballots on action in each company. But they also pursue broader common demands set by their national confederation, and the separate strikes are timed to coincide. 
 
The KCTU believes that the authorities are out to destroy it, because it is the chief opponent of the &quot;neoliberal&quot; policies pursued by the government of President Kim Dae-jung. 
 
 

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="150" />
 
&quot;The main features of his economic policy have been 'foreign capital attraction', 'privatisation', and 'flexibilisation',&quot; the KCTU points out. &quot;These objectives are all designed to favour capital (investors, employers, business) rather than labour.&quot; 
 
The June strikes were in support of &quot;six points&quot; aimed at countering these neoliberal trends. The &quot;six points&quot; were also a focus of today's action. They are: 
<ul>
 <li>An end to the neoliberal structural adjustment drive and retrenchments 
 </li>
 <li>A 12.7 percent wage increase and renewal of collective agreements 
 </li>
 <li>Employment status change for &quot;irregular&quot; workers to &quot;regular&quot; employees, legislative reform to eradicate discrimination against irregular workers, and consolidation of basic labour rights (trade union rights for government employees (civil servants, university professors, etc.) 
 </li>
 <li>Reductions in working time (5-day work week) 
 </li>
 <li>Expansion of the public medical system, expansion of the public education system, reform of the media and tax reform 
 </li>
 <li>Abolition of the National Security Law, achievement of national independence, opposition to President Bush's missile defence programme. </li>
</ul>
 
Taking a prominent part in the June campaign, and in today's protests, were company-based member unions of the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers' Federation (KCTF). 
 
Particularly violent raids by the police - and by gangs of specially recruited armed thugs - were deployed against strikers at the Hyosung synthetic fibre plant in Ulsan. 
 
On 5 June, more than 3,000 riot police stormed the plant. For a while, workers succeeded in holding the police at bay, so as to give others time to escape. Most of those who stayed behind - 242 in all - were arrested. 
 
But the union's Deputy President Choi Min-seok and seven other activists shinned up a 40 metre high chimney at the plant. It took five days, two helicopters and an elite squad of police climbers to arrest them. 
 
Once the strikers had been cleared from the site, riot police barred the entrance and strike-breakers were brought in to get production going again. 
 
The violence of the attack brought protests from the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the KCTF is affiliated at the global level. 
 
&quot;The Hyosung dispute is essentially over management bad faith during negotiations on employment security,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs pointed out in a letter to Kim Dae-jung. &quot;It is therefore an industrial relations issue, and there was no good reason why riot police and troops should have intervened in the Hyosung dispute at all - let alone in the very violent way that they did.&quot; 
 
Higgs asked President Kim to &quot;put a stop to such unwarranted police interventions in industrial disputes.&quot; He also urged him to &quot;order the police to withdraw from the Hyosung plant&quot; and to &quot;bring your influence to bear on company managements so that they bargain in good faith with trade unions, notably in the case of Hyosung.&quot; 
 
The KCTU has called for a &quot;summit meeting&quot; between Kim Dae-jung and KCTU President Dan Byung-ho. In the meantime, the KCTF and other industrial union federations are ready for more protests, leading up to a mass rally on 22 July.

Korean Strike Against Arrests and Neoliberalism

Forced labour in Burma and union-busting in the USA - Norwegian oil workers' union NOPEF is helping to fight both. 
 
Behind the campaigns is the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which NOPEF is affiliated at the global level. 
 
 
 
BURMA 
 
NORWAY'S PETROLEUM FUND SHOULD HALT INVESTMENTS, UNION SAYS 
 
Norway's state-run Petroleum Fund must avoid investing in companies that operate in Burma, says NOPEF President Leif Sande. His call follows revelations that the Fund, which is a big international investor, had put money into foreign companies with interests in Burma. 
 
The Burmese military regime is involved in the systematic, widespread and brutal use of forced labour, as well as in other human rights violations and the worldwide trafficking of illegal narcotics. 
 
Last November, the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) approved a resolution urging members to &quot;review their relations with Burma&quot; and &quot;ensure that such relations do not perpetuate the system of forced or compulsory labour in that country.&quot; The ILO brings together representatives of the world's governments, employers and unions. 
 
NOPEF's call is part of a worldwide lobby by the ICEM and other union internationals to halt foreign investment in Burma until forced labour ends and democracy is restored. 
 
The ICEM's Burma campaign - with a special screensaver - is online now. 
 
The Norwegian Petroleum Fund was set up in 1990 to administer and invest the State's revenues from the oil industry. Rising oil prices, a 78 percent taxation rate on the oil sector and investment of the proceeds have rapidly stocked up the Fund. By the first quarter of this year, it was worth 424.9 billion Norwegian kroner - over 45.5 billion US dollars. So it is a significant force on international capital markets. 
 
Norway is often quick to criticise human rights violations, NOPEF's Leif Sande pointed out. So the Petroleum Fund's involvement with companies operating in Burma is &quot;not only hypocrisy, it is totally unacceptable. 
 
&quot;Where is the sense of decency and business ethics?&quot; Sande asked. The Norwegian State should &quot;establish ethical regulations for its investments,&quot; he insisted. 
 
U.S. UNION-BUSTING 
 
NORWEGIAN OIL COMPANIES PRESS TRICO MARINE 
 
Urged on by NOPEF, Norwegian oil companies are now pressing Trico Marine Services to end its union-busting in the USA. 
 
In both the US and Norway, Trico supplies shipping to the oil industry. In Norway, Trico respects workers' right to organise, but in the US, it is actively anti-union. 
 
Norwegian oil company Norsk Hydro has halted negotiations with Trico on the chartering of vessels. Hydro had been due to extend its charter of two Trico vessels and sign a new contract for a third. But &quot;Hydro has shown great understanding for our point of view,&quot; says NOPEF shop steward Geir Nilsen. &quot;The contracts, which were to have been concluded on 30 June, have now been postponed for an indefinite period.&quot; 
 
Nilsen was on a delegation of Norwegian union reps who visited Louisiana last month to look into the situation at Trico. They found that the company was engaged in &quot;very serious trade union busting&quot; there. The Norwegians also complained that they were prevented from entering relevant sites, and said they were repeatedly harassed by the police. 
 
Statoil is another Norwegian oil company that hires Trico vessels for use in the North Sea. &quot;Statoil must use its position vis-a-vis the Norwegian Trico to press the US company Trico to accept the freedom to organise,&quot; NOPEF insists. 
 
&quot;Our aim is that Trico Norway and Trico USA must talk to each other in order to settle the question,&quot; says Svein Erik Hansen, NOPEF shop steward at Statoil. The Statoil management has asked for his proposals on follow-up. 
 
Statoil has a clear policy of promoting trade union rights worldwide. In 1998, the ICEM, NOPEF and Statoil signed the oil sector's first-ever globally applicable agreement on industrial relations. This covers basic trade union rights, health, safety and the environment, information and training. In March 2001, an updated and further strengthened version of the agreement was concluded. This new agreement takes full account of the UN's Global Compact initiative, under which multinationals commit themselves to promote trade union rights and other human rights. 
 
The ICEM, in cooperation with the International Transport Workers' Federation, has been fully involved in the Trico campaign. ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs has been in contact with senior Statoil management on this issue and has emphasised that Statoil, as a major Trico customer, could use its influence to help resolve the question of trade union recognition in the US. 
 
Also on last month's visit to Louisiana were Ingard Haugeberg, NOPEF shop steward at BP Amoco, and Arild Theimann, who chairs the NOPEF oilworkers' section in Transocean Sedco Forex. Both have raised the Trico case with their company managements. 
 
&quot;On Trico and on Burma, NOPEF's response has been rapid and effective,&quot; Fred Higgs said today. &quot;These are good, practical examples of global solidarity in action.&quot; 
 
 
 
NORWAY 
 
OIL STRIKE FROM TONIGHT? 
 
Back in Norway, meanwhile, NOPEF could be involved in strike action from midnight tonight. Along with two other unions, it has served notice of a strike on eight mobile drilling units operated by eleven offshore contracting companies. About a thousand workers would be called out. At issue is a union claim for shorter working hours. The employers' last offer was &quot;no proposal at all - in fact, it was back to the Stone Age,&quot; said NOPEF President Leif Sande. A final attempt at mediation began at 11.00 this morning. If no agreement is reached by midnight, the strike could go ahead.

Norwegian Oil Workers Back Labour Rights In Burma And US

Pirzada Imtiaz Syed, General Secretary of the Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU), has been released on bail. 
 
Pirzada was arrested on 1 June, when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided the union's headquarters. The raid was a very violent one, during which a member of the union staff had his arm broken, computers and other equipment were smashed and the PWLU's files were seized. 
 
At the time, no reason was given for Pirzada's arrest. 
 
WAPDA is the Pakistani power utility, currently facing privatisation plans. 
 
Pirzada was detained until 12 June, when a judge ordered his release. The union leader is now in hospital, as a result of the ill-treatment that he received during interrogation. 
 
It is understood that he could still face trial on vaguely formulated financial charges. Pirzada says he wishes to answer the charges as soon as he is fit enough to do so, as they are completely bogus. 
 
At the global level, the PWLU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide lobbied for Pirzada's release, and have assured him of their continuing solidarity.

Pakistan Power Workers&#039; Leader Released

The UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) should send a special Commission of Enquiry to Colombia without delay to investigate the widespread murder and abduction of trade unionists there. 
 
That is the call today from global unions representing more than 160 million workers worldwide. 
 
In an unusual move, the labour proposal was issued jointly by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and all of the global unions' sector-by-sector International Trade Secretariats, including the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
This underlines global labour's deep concern over the rising tide of violence in Colombia. Trade unionists there are among the most frequent targets for assassination - mainly by right-wing death squads, and sometimes also by guerrilla movements. At least 129 Colombian trade unionists were murdered in 2000, and up to now, at least 63 more have been assassinated this year. Others have &quot;disappeared&quot;. Trade unionists and their families face constant threats and intimidation. 
 
Within the ILO, the world's governments, unions and employers meet on equal terms. They adopt international standards on, amongst other things, the protection of trade union rights. The ILO's annual conference is currently in session in Geneva. 
 
Addressing its plenary this afternoon, ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan will call on government and employer delegates to support the global unions' proposal for an enquiry on Colombia. 
 
If a special Commission of Inquiry finds persistent abuse of labour rights in a country, the ILO can ultimately call for the international community to take measures against the government concerned. This has recently happened in the case of Burma, over its systematic use of forced labour. 
 
The ILO commission should investigate all aspects of trade union rights in Colombia, the global unions say. It should establish who is to blame - both directly and indirectly - for the killings, abductions and threats against trade unionists. It should also gauge the overall social effects of these anti-union activities in a country where the trade unions are among the few remaining forces for peace and reconciliation. 
 
And it should examine closely why the Colombian government has not been taking adequate measures to guarantee the security of trade unionists, in line with ILO standards and the recommendations repeatedly made by the United Nations. A report this March by the Office on Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the State had not decisively assumed its responsibility to guarantee the safety of trade unions and other sectors particularly at risk. 
 
Similarly, the unions say, employers in Colombia should be taking proper steps to ensure that trade unionists are safe from attack in the workplace and on the way to and from work. 
 
The global unions' proposal will now be examined by the ILO Governing Body. Other organisations that have called for an ILO Commission of Inquiry on Colombia include Amnesty International and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Colombia.

Colombian Killings: 63 Trade Unionists Murdered Since January

Electricity workers in Pakistan have been staging protest strikes over the arrest of a union leader, according to reports reaching the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Pirzada Imtiaz Syed, General Secretary of the ICEM-affiliated Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU) was arrested on 1 June. WAPDA is the Pakistani electricity utility, currently facing privatisation plans. 
 
Pirzada was arrested during a raid on the union's headquarters by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The raid was a very violent one, during which a member of the union staff had his arm broken, computers and other equipment were smashed and the PWLU's files were seized. 
 
No reason was given for Pirzada's arrest. 
 
It is understood that he is still being detained by the FIA in Lahore. An application for his release on bail was rejected yesterday. The judge reportedly said that Pirzada would be brought before a court on 12 June, but refused to specify the charges against him. 
 
&quot;If any criminal charges are to be preferred against Pirzada Imtiaz Syed, I request you to inform me of the nature of those charges,&quot; wrote ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a message to General Pervez Musharraf, the Chief Executive of Pakistan. &quot;If no such charges have been brought, I urge you to ensure his immediate and unconditional release from detention. In either case, I request your assurance that he is being detained in humane conditions and is not subject to ill-treatment of any kind.&quot; 
 
Higgs has also requested a meeting with Pakistan's charg&eacute; d'affaires in Brussels.

Pakistan Power Workers Strike After Leader&#039;s Arrest

Industrial workers face a double challenge from climate change. 
 
For workers and their families, changes in the world's climate have big implications for living standards, lifestyles, the supply and price of food, and health and safety. 
 
But on the other hand, measures to limit those changes are seen as a major threat to industrial jobs. 
 
So must we choose between environment and employment? Between environment and development? 
 
Not necessarily, says a position paper adopted today by unions representing the world's energy workers - and workers in some of the world's most energy-intensive process industries. 
 
A &quot;just transition&quot; within industry is the key to minimising climate change while maximising jobs, says the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The detailed paper &quot;Labour and Climate Change&quot; was approved today by the ICEM's global Executive Committee, currently in session in Brussels. 
 
The ICEM feels a particular responsibility to help define, refine and promote the concept of sustainable development. Many ICEM-affiliated workers around the world &quot;are directly employed in the energy industries - coal mining, oil and gas extraction and processing and power generation.&quot; And &quot;the majority of the other industries in which the ICEM is involved - chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, ceramics - are heavy energy users.&quot; 
 
Tackling climate change and other environmental problems is therefore seen as a special challenge. &quot;Not only will there be major industry restructuring required,&quot; the ICEM warns, &quot;but unions and governments may find themselves in conflict if a major effort is not made to find a globally just and substainable solution.&quot; 
 
And how is that conflict to be avoided? Certainly not by ignoring the problem, the ICEM insists. &quot;Just transition&quot; implies an acceptance that industry will have to make big changes. Better to start now, and to plan the transition properly, than to face panic measures and social chaos a few years hence. 
 
At the same time, industry alone will not be able to solve all the problems. As the ICEM points out, the choices made by individuals, as consumers, will be equally important. 
 
 
ACTION POINTS 
 
Among the ICEM paper's main recommendations: 
 
- CARBON TAXES, in other words taxes on the use of fossil fuels, &quot;must be considered carefully by ICEM unions.&quot; On balance and over time, &quot;increased taxes on natural resources, including a carbon tax on fossil fuels, will lead to more jobs in other industries. However, the clear consequence is also that resource and energy-intensive industries are penalised... The jobs that may be created from cuts in labour taxes as a result of a carbon tax are not immediately likely to go to those workers who lose their jobs in power generation and energy-intensive industry.&quot; But &quot;in assessing the cost of this to the members of ICEM unions we need to bear in mind that massive employment losses in many ICEM industries are already occurring as a result of technological change and market forces. Carbon taxes will accelerate that problem, but how much of an additional contributor will they be?&quot; If ICEM unions are confronted with carbon tax proposals, the paper argues, they should also negotiate to have the tax revenues directed towards reducing the taxes and charges on labour - thus creating jobs - and to funding &quot;just transition&quot; programmes for affected workers. 
 
- EMISSIONS TRADING, under which a country, industry or company can purchase part of another's right to emit climate change gases, receives qualified support. &quot;ICEM unions should give serious consideration to supporting emissions trading both within and amongst nations. The main caveat is that emission-trading systems should not be relied upon to be the primary means of reducing emissions, as that will unfairly penalise ICEM industries and workers because emission-trading will focus on carbon dioxide and the energy industries to the exclusion of other greenhouse gases and other emission sources.&quot; 
 
- TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER is vital if the world is to be united in its efforts to tackle climate change. &quot;ICEM unions in both developed and developing countries have a major interest in the transfer of appropriate technology to developing countries to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. However, the transfer of such technologies should involve more than a simple 'zero sum' achievement where jobs are concerned - such that the transfer costs are not predominantly borne by workers.&quot; 
 
- THE UN'S INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION, THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE OECD must be pressed &quot;to address, in particular, the implications for job security and job creation of the various climate change mitigation measures being considered.&quot; To that end, the ICEM will continue to actively support a climate change discussion launched between TUAC and BIAC, the union and employer advisory committees to the OECD. 
 
- In general, DIALOGUE BETWEEN UNIONS AND EMPLOYERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION MEASURES is essential. Particularly important are &quot;shared commitments to energy efficiency, energy conservation and emissions in ICEM industries.&quot; In many such industries, &quot;there is substantial scope to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In some cases these do not require large capital investments and are able to reduce costs to business. Workers can be one of the drivers for this change if they are empowered to do so.&quot; 
 
- One way of building up workers' interest and participation in this issue is to INCLUDE ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. Where environmental measures actually save the company money, &quot;the bargaining arrangements should provide for sharing of the financial gains.&quot; Where such measures entail additional costs and/or adversely affect a firm's market position, &quot;collective bargaining should provide for consultation over least-cost responses, including minimisation of job losses.&quot; 
 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/labourandclimatechangeEN.pdf">Labour And Climate Change 
</a> 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeFR.pdf">Monde du Travail et Changement climatique</a> 
 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeGE.pdf">Die Position der Gewerkschaften zum Problem der globalen Klimaver&auml;nderungen 
</a> 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeJA.pdf">労働組合と気候変動 </a> 
 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeRU.pdf">Трудящиеся и изменение климата 
</a> 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeSP.pdf">El trabajo y el cambio clim&aacute;tico 
</a> 
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LabourAndClimateChangeSW.pdf">Arbetarna och klimatf&ouml;r&auml;ndringen</a>

Environment? Employment? We Can Have Both!

The world's pharmaceutical and allied workers' unions today issued a strong protest over plans by multinational Roche to cut 3,000 jobs. 
 
Roche workers in the US, Britain and Switzerland will be hit particularly hard by the dismissals. Announced last night, the cutbacks have already caused protest demonstrations in Basle, Switzerland. Roche currently employs some 65,000 people worldwide, of which about 41,000 are in the pharmaceutical sector. 
 
Roche's decision is &quot;one more example of an economic logic that prescribes the maximisation of profits, to the greater good of shareholders and the detriment of wage-earners.&quot; So says the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) in an emergency resolution adopted by its Executive in Brussels today. 
 
The ICEM denounces &quot;this short-term economic vision which seeks to sacrifice the interests of employees and of the community in order to achieve immediate high returns on capital.&quot; It encourages its affiliated unions to &quot;organise at the international level, so as to resist these job cuts and remind Roche of its social responsibilities.&quot;

World&#039;s Pharma Unions Protest Roche Job Cuts

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Environment? Employment? We Can Have Both!

World's Pharma Unions Protest Roche Job Cuts

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