English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The first meeting of the Latin American Regional Trade Union Network for workers of Dutch multinational Akzo Nobel was organised between 11-13 March in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil. The newly formed network had the participation of Brazilian, Argentine, and Mexican trade union representatives. ICEM, the Brazilian trade union confederation CUT, and Instituto Observat&oacute;rio Social (ISO) were also present in the meeting. 
 
After the meeting&rsquo;s opening, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan made a presentation on the global situation in the chemicals industry, and the impacts of the current financial crisis throughout the world. Dutch trade union representatives from Akzo Nobel contributed to the discussions by sending a report about the general situation and organizational structure of the company following Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s merger with British ICI. 

<img height="127" alt="" src="" width="270" />
During the meeting, a video conference with employees in Mexico was conducted that allowed&nbsp;for sharing of&nbsp;information and experiences. The video conferencing also served to link Mexican workers into discussion on the construction of the network. 
 
To better understand the reality facing workers, the participants visited the Akzo Nobel plant in Santo Andr&eacute;, S&atilde;o Paulo state, a paint and varnish factory of ICI Parkingon on 12 March. 
 
A Social Dialogue conference, organized on 13 March, had the participation of the human resources manager for South America, Adenilson Ara&uacute;jo, together with members of the new network. The main points discussed were the recognition of the Latin American Network of Workers&rsquo; for Akzo Nobel, and a search for information regarding a survey on health and safety in the various workplaces, as well as along the supply chain. 
 
According to Ara&uacute;jo, Akzo Nobel recognizes the consistency of the movement and will discuss all points brought forward by the network. A record with such issues will be produced and signed by the parties. 
 
&quot;The network of workers in Latin America for Akzo Nobel workers is now a reality and our goal must be to strengthen the network, and build agreements and benefits that better the lives of workers,&quot; said Sergio Carasso, the coordinator of the network.

Akzo Nobel South American Workers Form Regional Trade Union Network

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In meetings in Hanover, Germany, on 2-3 April, workers&rsquo; representatives of Continental AG met and adopted a common declaration opposing nearly 2,000 job cuts in Hanover and Clairoix, France. Calling the cuts &ldquo;morally despicable,&rdquo; the statement says that both factories posted outstanding financial results in 2008. 
 
Using the premise of the economic crisis to shutter the two plants, the statement calls the decision by Continental to close the two plants as lacking an economic basis. It also calls Continental&rsquo;s decision &ldquo;an enormous breach of trust&rdquo; against dedicated workers and calls on the German tyre and auto-parts supplier to rescind the decision. 
<img height="136" alt="" src="" width="140" />
The joint declaration also pledged to bring the issues front and centre at Continental&rsquo;s annual general meeting on 23 April in Hanover. 
 
In March, Hanover-based Continental said it would close an auto tyre plant in Clairoix, making redundant 1,120 French workers, as well as close the commercial tyre plant of Hanover-St&ouml;cken, costing another 780 workers. The announcement raised an outcry from top-level officials in both German and French governments, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Raymond Soubie, Social Affairs adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
Workers at both factories have conducted several vehement protests at the two factories in recent weeks, as well as French rubber workers taking to the streets in Paris. Continental&rsquo;s decision in March also calls for reductions at a plant in Puchov, Slovakia. 
 
The statement issued by workers&rsquo; representatives late last week was made by all French unions, German unions IGBCE and IG Metall, Works Council Chairman J&ouml;rge Schustereit, and by IGBCE&rsquo;s Werner Bischoff, a member of the Continental supervisory board.

German, French Unions, Continental Works Council, Condemn Tyre Company’s European Job Cuts

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Oil-rig workers at Terra Nova off the Canadian province of Newfoundland ratified their first non-mediated collective agreement in March. And with it, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada is on track to link collective agreement expiration dates between onshore oil, gas, and chemical plants with its two North Atlantic offshore agreements. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, a consortium of seven oil companies led by Petro-Canada, ratified a two-year agreement by a 60% vote. The 180 workers will receive a 6.5% wage increase retroactive to 1 October 2008, and they will receive a 4.5% increase in October 2009. 
 
Joe Gargiso, an Administrative Vice President for CEP who heads the union&rsquo;s Oil and Chemicals bargaining, said the main significance of the agreement is that it expires in 2010 when the CEP&rsquo;s National Energy Bargaining contracts come due. &ldquo;Our goal is to line up the offshore agreements with the refineries and other energy installations across Canada,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re now moving in that direction.&rdquo; 
<img height="139" alt="" src="" width="140" />
The CEP&rsquo;s other offshore contract, covering 450 union members, is at Hibernia, a North Atlantic platform owned by another consortium of oil companies including Petro-Canada, only led and operated by US based ExxonMobil. The collective agreement there expires on 1 July 2009. 
 
Gargiso said the labour-management relationship there has improved markedly since workers made Hibernia the first North American offshore oil platform to unionise back in 2001. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, who organised in 2003, saw a first collective agreement take effect through a provincial mediator&rsquo;s interest arbitration award in 2006. The same holds true at Hibernia, where a Canadian provincial government mediator determined a 38-month initial agreement in May 2006. 
 
At Terra Nova, Gargiso singled out participation in a CEP Health, Safety, and Industrial Relations Fund, as well as wage adjustments ranging from one percent to 6.5% for 117 of the rig&rsquo;s workers as highlights of the new, bi-laterally negotiated agreement. The CEP&rsquo;s Fund requires employers to pay C$.03 per hour worked for this purpose. Workers won improvements in shift differential for night-time work, and improvements in training, travel expenses, and vacations. 
 
At both Terra Nova and Hibernia, the CEP collective agreements cover workers employed by all service and supply operators on the two oil platforms.

Terra Nova Offshore Oil Pact Major Step for Canadian CEP

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The Global Unions&rsquo; message was made with great effect, 30 March, When the Council of Global Unions (CGU) released an attractive publication, giving a unified response to the global economic crisis. This is the first time Global Union Federations (GUFs), who together with the ITUC and TUAC of the OECD comprise the CGU, have come together in a unified voice, from different perspectives, to produce concrete statements on the crisis. 
 
The magazine, edited by International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) General Secretary Aidan White, also supplies sector specific views on the crisis, with several GUF General Secretaries calling for enhanced roles for government in the management of the economy. 
<img height="108" alt="" src="" width="92" />
Aidan White 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda focused a chapter in the publication, entitled &ldquo;Getting the World to WORK &ndash; Global Union Strategies for Recovery,&rdquo; on issues of &ldquo;Future Fuel,&rdquo; discussing the worrying effects of the economic crisis on global fuel supplies and the necessity for sustainable development in meeting those supplies. 
 
The full publication, in pdf format, can be found at the Global Unions&rsquo; website <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/spip.php?article253">here</a>. 
 
John Evans, General Secretary of TUAC, discusses the Global Unions&rsquo; London Declaration and its proposals for economic recovery. Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the ITUC also joins the GUFs in calling for fresh approaches to governing the global economy, only in a far fairer and more sustainable fashion than in the period before last year&rsquo;s downturn. 
 
Each of the chapters can be individually downloaded off the Global Unions&rsquo; website. The publication is an important tool for trade unionists, a vital and refreshing road map for the way forward, and a valuable source of information on each of the 13 GUFs, in which the publication cements further cooperation efforts.

Global Labour Responds to the Economic Crisis with Insightful, New Publication

Motion on ICEM Project work 
ICEM Executive Committee, June 2008 
 
Whereas it is acknowledged that there is a need for a clear, transparent and open ICEM policy in regard to ICEM projects and ICEM project related activities; 
 
Whereas, due to the global structure of the ICEM, the number of affiliates in need exceeds the number of affiliates that are able to offer structural assistance. 
 
Whereas it is commonly known that the expectations and demands of affiliates for international support action exceed the services that the ICEM can provide to its affiliates as a global union organisation, working only through income from affiliation fees; 
 
Whereas it is recognised that there is a wide array of possible external funding organisations, ranging from traditional donor organisations, usually trade union organisations themselves, or organisations set up by unions, over union-friendly and/or union-related organisations and governmental, or government-related, organisations, to companies and/or corporate or employer organisations; 
 
Whereas project related activities can consist of ICEM-organised activities and programs through extra-budgetary funding, as well as through in-kind contributions by external organisations; 
 
Whereas there is a need, given the envisaged closer cooperation of ICEM with other Global Union Federations, in particular IMF, ITGLWF and BWI, to also recognise their work, specific experience, and objectives in the area of project work; 
 
Whereas projects are expected to contribute to the general development aid objectives of creating world-wide justice and equality, concentrating especially on decent work, trade union building, the strengthening of unions at national level, as well as on the strengthening of international mutual support at the regional and global level, 
 
Whereas the ICEM, as part of these discussions, decided at its Executive Committee meeting in Bangkok, in November 2007, on a list of activities that should be given priority in 2008/2009; 
 
 
There is need for a regular evaluation of ongoing projects in regard to targets set, as well as for a timely discussion on future activities; 
 
Linked to the above, good and regular follow-up and input from ICEM affiliates is required, including at ICEM-meetings at regional and international level; 
 
It is recommended that the internal debate in the ICEM should be based on the principles, views and objectives listed here below. 
 
 
The ICEM considers project work, where well chosen and effectively managed, to be a strategically important addition to the regular day-to-day activities of the ICEM; 
 
ICEM project work should concentrate on assisting those in need and those that need our international assistance the most. This issue does not only need to be looked at from a geographical angle. To some extent, sectoral issues also come in to play. The mining sector is an example of an area with, on the one hand, a great deal of activity in developing countries, and, on the other, a decreasing membership base in the majority of the OECD countries. 
 
The ICEM continues to believe that project work should be an integral part of the normal national and international daily trade union activities. Project work will be planned with links to, and in support of, other ICEM day-to-day work, or otherwise contribute directly to the main ICEM goals. In addition, and in return, the aim should be that where a donor funds a particular project, it gets the assistance of the whole international organisation; 
 
Projects will therefore be selected, chosen and agreed upon, on the basis of their capacity to advance the realisation of key ICEM priorities, especially those set at ICEM Congresses; 
 
Project work can be used, as long as it is linked to the ICEM&rsquo;s key priorities, to realise both the organisation&rsquo;s overall general global main objectives, as well as certain specific, at times, detailed goals; 
 
The ICEM believes that its work can not only greatly profit from cooperation with the traditional, trade-union-friendly solidarity support organisations (SSOs), but also from cooperation with other donors, including private/public partnerships, provided the integrity and independence of the ICEM as an international trade union organisation is not compromised; 
 
The ICEM does recognise, nevertheless, that there is a need to continue to monitor, at all times, the risk to become too dependent on external funding. Internal assessments shall therefore be made, including through appraisals on a continuous basis; 
 
Wherever possible, project work will make an effort to simultaneously advance different ICEM priorities. Particular emphasis in social dialogue, or framework agreement discussions, for example, could go to such ICEM key issues as contract and agency labour, HIV/AIDS, or health and safety. Reinforcing unions through improving negotiations skills on these issues, as a union-strengthening effort, is a similar example; 
 
It is agreed that the following are among the most important priorities for ICEM project work: 
 
&bull; The strengthening/modernisation of trade unions continues to be a high priority for the ICEM. Many of our affiliates still are in need of external and international assistance. Indeed, many affiliates identified this kind of solidarity as an important contribution to become equal partners to the world&rsquo;s (multinational) companies, as well as to their governments. Related to this is the continued need, within numerous affiliates, to improve internal structures, and to train union leadership, shop stewards and trade union members on a range of subjects, from basic trade union issues, over international economy and international trade union rights, to globalisation issues and ways to deal with multinational companies. Examples of specific subject matters include International Financial Institutions, Global Framework Agreements, ILO standards and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; 
 
&bull; Of specific importance for project work in this area is the need to build strong branch or industrial unions, at national and/or regional level. Many affiliates use this project support to move away from company unionism; 
 
&bull; Linked to the above is the need for union consolidation at national level. In too many cases, unions are in competition with each other at national level, and, as a result, not strong enough to bargain effectively with their employers; 
 
&bull; Defending basic trade union rights, and fighting violations thereof, also continues to be an essential part of project work, albeit to various extents, depending on national situations and practices; 
 
&bull; The work on multinational companies is one of the major focal points of the ICEM&rsquo;s project work. The many priorities here include work and discussions on global framework agreements and, most certainly, international company networks, which already centre prominently in the ICEM&rsquo;s current project work. The setting up of such international networks for ICEM affiliates and their members, working with and for the same multinational company, or within the same industry, has proven to be a valuable tool for workers and is widely seen, for various reasons, as one of the main achievements within the ICEM&rsquo;s project work; 
 
&bull; A key priority in the work with MNEs, but also with other companies, is the issue of social dialogue. The ICEM will give priority to projects that deal with this issue. Not only as they are in high demand, but also as this is an area where the ICEM has a good and longstanding expertise, and because it is an area where the organisation can make a difference. Closely related to social dialogue, collective bargaining, and improvements thereof, also remains a highly important priority within the ICEM&rsquo;s project work; 
 
&bull; Another key aspect, and obvious necessity in relation to multinational companies, but also beyond, is the organising of new members. Almost all ICEM projects already support organising efforts; 
 
&bull; The issue of contract and agency labour &ndash; unquestionably one of the key threats currently for not only the ICEM, but also many other global union federations, as well as countless unions around the world &ndash; is not only an important factor in our strengthening-of-unions exercises, it also plays a vital role in the ICEM&rsquo;s work vis-&agrave;-vis multinational enterprises; 
 
&bull; The work on HIV/AIDS will also continue to be a key project priority, given the success of the current HIV/AIDS project. This can not only be measured by the goals it has already achieved, but also because of the positive effects it has in attracting lesser-traditional funding in this area; 
 
&bull; The gender dimension is a central part of all ICEM project work. This work includes efforts to look at how to better involve women in union work, and improve their participation in leadership structures; 
 
&bull; Health and safety also remains a priority for the ICEM&rsquo;s project work, including as a topic for international social dialogue. Health and safety in the mining sector is a concrete example of an issue where the ICEM could be highly instrumental in making further progress at the international level. Project activities should, where possible, support the ICEM&rsquo;s campaign to sign on to the principles of the ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in mining; 
 
&bull; Linked to the work on health and safety is the subject of sustainable development, an subject matter that is increasingly gaining in importance, not only in project-related work. On a slightly different level, but also related to the sustainability effort is the work on corporate social responsibility; 
 
&bull; As, of course, not all multinational companies are equally looking forward to working with the international trade union movement, failed efforts to establish a meaningful and positive social dialogue can, and in many cases, should be offset by corporate campaigns, which can also be a substantial part of project work; 
 
&bull; Finally, particular emphasis will go to the problems of trade unions in those regions and countries that were given priority in the most recent set of ICEM Congress resolutions, such as the Middle East, Iraq, Burma, Colombia, Palestine and Zimbabwe.

ICEM Executive Committe Motion on Project Work

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Calling for an immediate &ldquo;return to social and economic reason,&rdquo; the deputy chairman of Continental AG&rsquo;s supervisory board has called on the bitter stakeholder dispute between the tyre and auto-components company and Schaeffler KG &ndash; its new controlling shareholder &ndash; to cease. 
 
Werner Bischoff, also a senior leader of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, said the bickering has severely impacted the reputations of both companies, with erosion of staff confidence the result. Bischoff said the persisting public conflict was harming future perspectives for 100,000 Conti workers. 

<img height="166" alt="" src="" width="125" />
IGBCE's Werner Bischoff
The dispute turned ugly recently when privately-held Schaeffler boldly asserted that Continental&rsquo;s Chairman Hubertus van Gr&uuml;nberg had &ldquo;systematically sabotaged all mutual solutions&rdquo; since agreement was reached with the bearings maker to acquire 49% of Conti stock last summer. That agreement called on Schaeffler, as controlling partner, not to exert undue influence over Conti, or to disrupt Continental&rsquo;s worker participation platforms. 
 
But in Schaeffler&rsquo;s public anger last week, the company threatened to dissolve the 10-member supervisory board of Continental and to vacate the negotiated settlement that ended the hostile takeover battle last summer. 
 
Bischoff and the IGBCE contend that the investment agreement reached in August 2008 serves as sound footing for the company, and that Schaeffler should take up its designated role on the supervisory committee. &ldquo;The overall economic situation demands reasonable and trusting cooperation,&rdquo; stated the IGBCE, citing risk of failure to the company if the volatile public dispute persists. 
 
The IGBCE was a major pillar inside last summer&rsquo;s &euro;75-a-share, &euro;12.1 billion investment deal, winning pledges of no asset sales, no job losses, and no structural changes in Conti&rsquo;s operations by Schaeffler acquiring a 49% interest.

German Union, IGBCE, Calls for End to Corporate Bickering Between Continental, Schaeffler

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The Irish-British luxury china and ceramics company Waterford Wedgewood caused doubt and uncertainly among workers in both Ireland and the UK when it fell into receivership early in January. And now the Irish regional secretary of Unite the Union is calling on the government of Ireland to assume the pension liability of the company, even as the union and receivership administrator negotiate with an American private equity firm to continue production and retain jobs. 
 
Jobs were immediately put in doubt throughout the company and its subsidiaries, including an Irish factory at Killbarry, County Waterford, which has seen a workforce of 900 shrink to 125 over the past year, and at a factory in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, UK, which employs 1,100 people. 
 
Following the collapse of the group, Unite Irish Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly &ndash; himself once employed by Waterford Crystal in Killbarry &ndash; urged Irish Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin to underwrite the pension liability. She declined, stating the pension was a private investment fund so the government is not responsible. 
 
Ireland&rsquo;s government, however, has failed to implement an EU directive requiring member-states to protect the interests of workers&rsquo; pension entitlements if an employer fails. In the UK, a pension protection scheme was introduced following a European Court of Justice ruled in 2007 that prior British legislation did not constitute proper implementation of the directive. 
 
Since being placed into receivership on 5 January, Waterford Wedgewood&rsquo;s administrator, Deloitte of Ireland, has stopped payments into the pension scheme, although workers still contribute. Last week, the remaining Irish workers at Killbarry, were placed on a three-day work-week. 
 
A potential buyer of Waterford Wedgewood is New York-based KPS Capital Partners, but the equity fund has expressed interest in only some of the company&rsquo;s worldwide assets, and has dismissed the idea of picking up pension liabilities. KPS has expressed only a one-year option on three factories. 
 
Unite the Union claims that since Ireland has failed under the EU directive to put in place appropriate minimum guarantees that protect workers&rsquo; pensions, it is in breach of EU law. Besides the Waterford Crystal brand, the 250-year-old company manufactures Wedgewood pottery and Royal Doulton china. The firm also operates Rosenthal ceramics in Germany, a business unit it has been trying to sell, and operations in Australia.

Waterford Wedgewood Failure Creates Question Mark on Workers’ Pensions

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Union and community leaders in the UK&rsquo;s northeast have mounted a campaign to save over 100 jobs at a chemicals plant. UK-based Elementis Plc., the EU&rsquo;s only producer of chromium chemicals used in superalloy production, timber treatments, and metal finishing, is currently in a 90-day consultation period with ICEM affiliate Unite the Union and workers at a plant in Eaglescliffe, near Teesside. 
 
In February, the specialty chemicals company &ndash; the world&rsquo;s largest producer of chromium chemicals &ndash; announced the plant was under &ldquo;a strategic review&rdquo; that could lead to a shutdown by July 2009. 
<img height="138" src="" width="140" alt="" />
Workers and community leaders are petitioning MPs and engaging in other activities to keep the profitable plant operating. Elementis, which also produces surfactants and specialty chemicals for paints, coatings, inks, and cosmetics, saw its chromium chemicals business post an operating profit of &pound;27.7 million in 2008, compared to a &pound;14.2 million profit in 2007. Sales in the division rose to &pound;168.6 million in 2008 from &pound;115.9 million in 2007. 
 
Unite Regional Secretary Bob Bolam stressed that production from the plant was crucial for the EU. &ldquo;If this plant were to close, the EU would be reliant on Kazakhstan and China. We intend to put together a case for the (Elementis) board to keep this site.&rdquo; 
 
The company&rsquo;s other chromium chemicals plants are in the US &ndash; Corpus Christi, Texas, and Castle Hayne, North Carolina. Raw materials used by Elementis come from South Africa and other parts of Africa, and are processed at the Eaglescliffe plant before being shipped to US facilities and other locations. The company&rsquo;s chromium chemicals business produces dichromate, chrome sulphate, chromic acid, chromic oxide, chromide hydrate, and sodium sulphate. 
 
Elementis senior executives have stated that no final decision on closure has been taken. The ICEM supports workers in the Teesside and Wilton area in their buoyant efforts to preserve jobs in this sector.

UK Workers, Community, Unite the Union Fight to Protect Jobs at Elementis Chemicals

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The UK&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers and Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) largely financed the Second International Coal Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, last month. The others on the preparatory committee were the ICEM, CITU and INMF of India, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa, and FNME-CGT of France. The ICEM raised US$7,000 from the ILO to ensure attendance of delegates from Colombia, Mexico, Vietnam, and Mongolia. In total, 120 delegates from 20 coal-mining unions in17 countries attended. 

<img height="93" alt="" src="" width="90" />
The declaration of the conference included two items put forward by the ICEM. One related to the situation with Mexico&rsquo;s National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, and the other with the urgency for countries to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. 
 
Delegates were appalled by trade union rights abuses reported by Mexican representatives present, especially compliance of the Mexican government with such abuses. The delegates declared their full support of Los Mineros, as well as ICEM-affiliated Sintracarb&oacute;n of Colombia. 
 
&ldquo;We pledge to provide as much political, financial, and moral support as are within the means of our national unions and call on our internationals to similarly focus on supporting these struggles,&rdquo; read the declaration. Unions pledged to send a delegation of trade unionists and members of parliament to Mexico within 90 days of the Edinburgh meeting to protest the efforts of Grupo Mex&iacute;co and the Mexican government to destroy Los Mineros. 
 
All those present at the conference demanded the ratification of ILO Convention 176, by all member states of the United Nations. Also demanded was a dramatically increased focus on ratification by the ILO itself, including the adoption of Convention 176 as a core convention, and focusing on its ratification in countries where there are the most deaths and injuries at work. India, for example, has yet to ratify the Convention. 
 
Andrew Vickers of CFMEU presented a paper to the conference on the effects of the financial crisis on the coal sector worldwide, pointing the blame for millions of job losses to greed and deregulation of bankers. He noted that demand for coal will be reduced in developed countries, but greatly increased in developing nations. China, Vietnam, and India plan massive expansion in their capacity to produce coal. Vickers called for collective worldwide efforts to protect the interests of coal miners. 
 
The declaration found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0904.mining.pdf">here</a>, was passed unanimously amid enthusiasm of the delegates.

Second International Coal Conference held in Scotland

<img height="39" src="" width="100" alt="" />
A strike by 190 Turkish paperworkers, members of ICEM affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, against Procter &amp; Gamble ended on 30 March. The end came when workers voted in front of the plant gates in Gebze, Turkey, for a two-year agreement. 
The negotiated agreement is a significant improvement over the American company&rsquo;s proposed wage freeze in the first year of the agreement. Workers will receive a 3.9% increase, an improvement over the 2% offer made by Procter &amp; Gamble 11 days into the strike. In addition, all workers will receive a lump-sum TL 1,250 payment upon returning to work. 
<img height="97" src="" width="160" alt="" />
The second year&rsquo;s wage increase, to come on 1 September 2009, will equal the rate of Turkish inflation. The company&rsquo;s offer in early March was two-thirds the inflation rate. T&uuml;mka-İş retained all work rights already in the collective agreement, and won increases in certain compensations, including night-shift premium pay. 
 
T&uuml;mka-İş General President Kemal Yilmaz thanked the ICEM and the many pulp and paper unions throughout the world which supported workers during the strike. &ldquo;For success to come in a struggle against a giant multinational company such as P&amp;G, international solidarity is a necessity,&rdquo; said Yilmaz. &ldquo;When it is coupled with the decisiveness of workers on the front lines, success can come easily.&rdquo; 
Procter &amp; Gamble manufactures paper towels, tissue, and hygiene products, including nappies, at the Gebze plant outside of Istanbul.

Turkish Paperworkers at Procter &amp; Gamble End 37-Day Strike

Archive

Akzo Nobel South American Workers Form Regional Trade Union Network

German, French Unions, Continental Works Council, Condemn Tyre Company’s European Job Cuts

Terra Nova Offshore Oil Pact Major Step for Canadian CEP

Global Labour Responds to the Economic Crisis with Insightful, New Publication

ICEM Executive Committe Motion on Project Work

German Union, IGBCE, Calls for End to Corporate Bickering Between Continental, Schaeffler

Waterford Wedgewood Failure Creates Question Mark on Workers’ Pensions

UK Workers, Community, Unite the Union Fight to Protect Jobs at Elementis Chemicals

Second International Coal Conference held in Scotland

Turkish Paperworkers at Procter & Gamble End 37-Day Strike

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us