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A lot of health and safety dangers exist at the many different locations and workplaces in the global materials industries, which includes the glass, cement and ceramics sectors. In addition, these industries also face a huge number of environmental challenges. 
 
At the ICEM World Conference for the Materials Industries, in Brussels, on 17-18 November 2005, a comprehensive overview of these risks and challenges was presented by Reg Green, ICEM officer for Health, Safety &amp; Environment. 
 
The presentation, entitled &lsquo;Towards a Safe and Sustainable Materials Sector&rsquo;, provides an in depth overview of the hazards and health dangers for each of the industrial sectors in the materials industries. It discusses a wide range of issues, going from the use of irritant coloring agents over toxic substances, heat problems or noise pollution to the many products used, such as asbestos, that are know to cause cancer. 
 
The document also suggests a hierarchy of preventive controls to avoid problems to happen in the first place, as prevention is, or - at least - should be, one of the key priorities in this area. 
Click <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0511REGmaterialsppt.ppt">here</a> for the complete presentation.
For more information on this conference, including background documents and presentations, click <a href="/index.php?id=148">here</a>.

ICEM presentation on the Health and Safety risks in the Materials Industries

The ICEM&rsquo;s two-day World Conference for the Materials Sector, covering the cement, glass and ceramics industries, discussed several labour disputes plaguing these industries, and took definitive action to build global trade union unity around these disputes. 
 
&ldquo;We call on all our affiliates to take note of the companies that have brought adverse labour relations to these workplaces,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, &ldquo;and we also call on trade unions worldwide within these companies to bring these disputes to the attention of their own managements.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<img height="265" alt="" src="" width="350" />
From left to right: ICEM Materials officer Phee Jungsun, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, vice-chairperson of the Materials conference Michel Decayeux and the newly elected chairperson Jim Hickenbotham.
Three of the ongoing disputes are in the US and involve two French-based companies, in addition to a Spanish concern. The fourth dispute happened in Belgium earlier this year, and was instigated by a glass company from Japan. 
 
In the US, Imerys, a French building materials company, continues to victimize members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at a calcium carbonate operation in Sylacauga, Alabama. Despite a vote by the 500 workers at the mine and processing plant to retain the union in a US government-conducted election, local managers discriminate against union members and violate terms of the collective agreement. 
 
At another workplace in the American South, a strike at Giant Cement in Harleyville, South Carolina, in August and September by the USW was met by local managers permanently replacing the strikers. This action was done by the company - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cementos Portland Valderrivas of Madrid, Spain - on the eve of strikers abandoning the strike on 23 September 2005. 
 
Delegates to the ICEM&rsquo;s Materials Sector conference also discussed the reprehensible actions by American managers of French-based Saint Gobain at an abrasives factory in Worcester, Massachusetts. A majority of 770 workers voted for representation by the United Auto Workers (UAW) in August 2001 and despite nearly four years and some 140 collective bargaining sessions, Saint Gobain managers refused to enter into an agreement. In January of this year, in a decertification vote against the union, the US government found management had used illegal means to influence the vote. 
 
The fourth dispute also was a strike, and involved a unilateral decision by Japanese management of Asahi Glass to shift production and make redundant over a quarter of 840 workers at Glaverbel&rsquo;s AGC Automotive glass plant in Fleurus, Belgium. The company initially refused social dialogue with ICEM affiliates CG-FGTB and SETCa-FGTB. 
 
The Materials Conference&nbsp;elected a new chairperson for the coming four-year period. Jim Hickenbotham, an officer for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) from the US, was elected by acclamation, while Michel Decayeux, general secretary of CGT-FO F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie in France was elected vice chairperson. 
<hr />
To read the Declaration that&nbsp;was adopted at the conference, click <a href="/?id=77&amp;doc=1511">here</a>.
<hr />
For more information on this conference, including background documents and presentations, click <a href="?id=148">here</a>.
<hr />

Materials Conference Takes Global Approach in Countering Local Disputes

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Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on 17-18 November 2005, trade union delegates at the ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Materials Sector, encompassing the Cement, Glass, and Ceramics Industries, adopted the following statement: 
 
The state of the business scenario in the Cement, Glass, and Ceramics Industries has been one of mergers, acquisitions and re-location of production. The ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Materials Sector recognized the disruption such business conditions cause to workers and their families. The Conference adopted measures to safeguard the trade union members and their families from the uncertainty caused by the consolidation of companies and the economic consequences brought to workers and their families. The Conference resolved to take all necessary steps to protect the interests of workers in the Materials Sector. 
 
The Conference adopted the following proposals: 
<ul>
 <li>During the next four-year period until the next ICEM World Conference for the Materials Sector, affiliates will seek to initiate dialogue and achieve further Global Framework Agreements with companies associated with the Materials Sector; 
 </li>
 <li>Affiliated Trade Unions will adopt new and innovative networking methods between themselves to further enhance Global Trade Union Solidarity; 
 </li>
 <li>Affiliated Trade Unions fully joined the ICEM&rsquo;s campaign on the abusive use of Contract and Agency Labour in all facets of work; 
 </li>
 <li>Affiliated Trade Unions moved to become more vigilant in monitoring and ensuring responsible behaviour by global companies in cement, glass and ceramics industries regarding health, safety and the environment. Specifically, unions will fully monitor and engage with employers, as well as campaign against the menace of asbestos and silicosis caused by hazardous materials used in these industries; 
 </li>
 <li>ICEM membership within this sector will engage effective workplace measures to educate and raise awareness of the risk of HIV/AIDS infection, and to ensure that meaningful programmes for anti-discrimination of those living with HIV/AIDS be put in place. 
 </li>
 <li>Affiliated Trade Unions will undertake to increase their efforts regarding the all-important Gender Issue of Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value, and to ensure that any and all gender-based discrimination is eliminated from workplaces. </li>
</ul>
It is the determination and commitment of the ICEM-affiliated Trade Unions in the Materials Sector to take sufficient and meaningful action to meet this agenda and produce a full report on the progress of these initiatives at the next World Conference for the Materials Sector. 
 
Adopted 18 November 2005 
Brussels, Belgium 
 
For more information on this conference, including background documents and presentations, click <a href="?id=148">here</a>.

ICEM Declaration on the Materials Sector

Amandla Awethu 
&quot;Power is Ours and we will Unite and Organise.&quot; 
 
With that ringing call, John Maitland closed the World Congress of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Unions (ICEM) in Durban, South Africa, today. 
 
Some 800 union leaders from all continents took part in the Congress, which mapped out a labour response to globalisation. 
 
Maitland, from Australian miners' union the CFMEU, is the newly elected President of the ICEM. 
 
Power is Ours is the translation of the Congress motto - Amandla Awethu. 
 
Unite And Organise is the ICEM's slogan. 
 
Both messages were powerfully put across when trade unionists from all over the world marched through the streets of Durban on Thursday. 
 
 
Main Congress decisions: 
 
GLOBAL TRADE UNIONISM 
 
The ICEM will &quot;build a global trade unionism so as to challenge the globalisation of corporate power and its supportive institutions,&quot; the Congress unanimously decided. 
 
To achieve this, the ICEM will: 
<ul>
 <li>Set up &quot;permanent networks between organised workers in key multinational companies.&quot; These union networks will exchange data on pay, conditions and other relevant issues within each global corporation. They will also be a focus for joint solidarity action where needed. 
 </li>
 <li>Dialogue with senior management of leading corporations &quot;wherever possible&quot;, so as to help resolve disputes, to seek information on long-term investment strategies and to ensure that social goals are central in corporate strategy. 
 </li>
 <li>Negotiate global agreements with multinationals. These agreements are to include &quot;recognition of workers' right to organise and collective bargaining.&quot; Recognition of these rights will be linked to the key Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). The agreements will also guarantee &quot;common 'best practice' standards for health, safety and environmental protection throughout the company&quot;. Provision must be made for joint union-management training on the implementation of the agreements. The agreements must include &quot;regular monitoring and enforcement procedures&quot;. Drives to negotiate global agreements will have a &quot;particular focus on corporations from developing countries like Angl-American, Billiton and Old Mutual.&quot; 
 </li>
 <li>Progressively extend the global agreements to cover each company's contractors and suppliers. 
 </li>
 <li>Dialogue with &quot;environmental, women's, community, human rights, indigenous peoples' and other relevant organisations, as appropriate to the task of reinforcing the trade union role as a bulwark for broader social freedoms.&quot; 
 </li>
 <li>Participate in the planning and implementation of the programmes of intergovernmental agencies such as the World Bank, the OECD, the United Nations Development Programme, the ILO and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), so as to &quot;ensure that their resources are only directed to sustainable social outcomes and to increase transparency and democracy within these multinational institutions in general.&quot; </li>
</ul>
These drives will be carried out in close cooperation with the unions' other sector-by-sector International Trade Secretariats, as appropriate. 
 
 
UNION-BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT WORK 
 
Much of the ICEM's union development work is through projects. These are usually designed to strengthen affiliated unions or potential affiliates. Activities include research, organising, campaigning, training, building sectoral networks and multinational councils. 
 
All projects should serve the ICEM's central aim: UNITE AND ORGANISE. This is emphasised in a detailed policy document on trade union development adopted by the Congress. 
 
In today's globalised economy, old distinctions between developing country unions and developed country unions no longer apply, so ICEM projects &quot;may involve South/South links or North/South links, East/East links or East/West links or any combination of these.&quot; 
 
In line with the ICEM policy of mainstreaming women's interests [cf. WOMEN WORKERS below], the ICEM will ensure that women and women's issues and rights are fully integrated into its project work. This will be achieved with the support of the ICEM Women's Committee. 
 
As part of the ICEM's alliance-building with other social and campaigning organisations [see under GLOBAL TRADE UNIONISM above], it should develop &quot;exploratory and innovative projects&quot; that &quot;bring together unions and non-governmental organisations working together with the wider community.&quot; 
 
Outside funding &quot;will be accepted exclusively for ICEM projects and programmes&quot; and the ICEM &quot;will not be used as a conduit for the aims of other organisations or influences, regardless of their origin or alliances.&quot; 
 
The ICEM will cooperate &quot;with other friendly international trade union organisations on projects where it makes sense to do so.&quot; 
 
 
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ICEM INDUSTRIES 
 
As a defender of industrial workers and their communities, the ICEM &quot;has an obligation to participate fully in defining, promoting and refining the concept of sustainable development&quot;. It aims at &quot;economic, social and environmental harmony&quot; and recognises that the dynamics between these three imperatives &quot;will change over time&quot;. 
 
So the ICEM will help to &quot;develop 'Just Transition' policies and strategies which address the transitional needs of workers and their families in the pursuit of more sustainable development&quot; - particularly where &quot;large-scale moves from old to newer, more friendly, technologies are involved.&quot; The Congress emphasised the international context of Just Transition. In particular, support is needed for workers and their families in developing and newly restructuring countries. 
 
There should be transitional funding from industry and public sources, the ICEM says, in order to &quot;support the process of industrial change and relieve workers from carrying the burden of cost and insecurity that has accompanied the process of change to date.&quot; 
 
In its global agreements with multinationals [see GLOBAL TRADE UNIONISM above], the ICEM will insist on the highest possible standards of health, safety and environmental performance - no matter where the company concerned is operating. 
 
The ICEM will also boost its work on priority concerns such as &quot;the prevention of environmental dumping, the development of more efficient and cleaner use of energy and the 'sunsetting' of obsolete and/or unwanted products and processes.&quot; 
 
Here too, the need for cooperation both with other union internationals and with citizens' groups is stressed. 
 
 
WOMEN 
 
Women workers are crucially important to the ICEM's future. They now make up more than 30 percent of the international's membership, and the number of women in ICEM industries is continuing to grow. 
 
&quot;Job segregation is, however, commonplace,&quot; the ICEM says, &quot;and the gap between women's and men's earnings remains wide.&quot; 
 
Within trade unions, too, women are often disadvantaged. The Congress recognised that much more needs to be done to secure full equality for women within the trade union movement - including at all levels of the ICEM. A start has already been made on this, through adjustments to the structure of the ICEM's governing bodies. One result is that, for the first time, the Congress elected two women Vice-Presidents - Margaret Prosser from the UK and Rosa Novoa from Chile. 
 
But &quot;quotas should be accompanied by other positive action measures to boost women's participation,&quot; says the women's programme unanimously adopted by the Congress. Action could include &quot; campaigns to organise women workers, work to strengthen women's leadership skills, providing childcare at work and in union activities, mainstreaming gender perspectives in all activities.&quot; 
 
&quot;Mainstreaming&quot; is the key to the ICEM's gender policies. This means including &quot;the dimension of equality between men and women in all areas of policy&quot;. 
 
Increasing women's participation at all levels of the ICEM &quot;cannot just be left up to goodwill and voluntary mechanisms,&quot; the programme insists. Rather, &quot;some binding arrangements must be introduced&quot; and &quot;compliance with them must be monitored.&quot; 
 
A number of industrial issues are of particular concern to women, and the ICEM will give priority to tackling these. They include pay inequality, job segregation, the lack of affordable childcare, sexual harassment, inadequate training and promotion for women, the need for active employment policies that could improve women's job prospects, the need to protect homeworkers, and proper maternity protection for women workers worldwide. 
 
Women are one of the most promising groups for new organising, the programme points out. &quot;Trade unions have to do their part to motivate women to join unions, and once they have joined, to take over responsibility. For this, however, trade unions have to be more women-friendly.&quot; 
 
 
CUBA 
 
The US blockade of Cuba is &quot;unjustified and illegal&quot; and must be lifted, the Congress declared. &quot;Overall, it is the people of Cuba, poor and working people, who are suffering.&quot; 
 
The ICEM will campaign actively to end the blockade. 
 
Contacts will be developed with appropriate Cuban trade unions, with a view to possible ICEM affiliation at some stage in the future. 
 
 
CHERNOBYL 
 
The Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster of 1986 is still causing serious health problems and social consequences, the Congress recalled. 
 
The state of the &quot;sarcophagus&quot; covering the damaged reactor gives cause for particular concern, and poses &quot;the danger of repeating the Chernobyl disaster,&quot; the ICEM warns. 
 
Together with the Ukraine, the G7 countries, UN member governments, the international financial institutions and the world community must reach a decision on the future of the damaged reactor and must &quot;fully finance all necessary works and activities,&quot; the ICEM Congress insisted. 
 
Before the closure of Chernobyl, Ukraine must receive &quot;financial and other relevant assistance&quot;, both to develop new power sources and to ensure &quot;a comprehensive solution to the social problems of the personnel&quot; who will lose their jobs as a result of the closure. 
 
Assistance must also be given to the Belorussian, Russian and Ukrainian populations evacuated from the contaminated zones. These people &quot;badly need effective medical treatment and improvement of their living conditions.&quot; 
 
 
SMALL-SCALE MINING 
 
Small-scale mining employs more than 13 million people and is still expanding. 
 
These workers, who include many women and children, are unprotected and subject to &quot;extreme exploitation,&quot; the Congress said. There are also &quot;an unacceptable number of accidents, occupational diseases and the premature physical aging of child labourers.&quot; 
 
Together with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ICEM will develop a comprehensive policy for this sector. Points will include an immediate stop to all forms of child labour and bonded labour and to the exploitation of women working in small-scale mines. Enforceable safety regulations must be introduced, compliant with ILO Convention 176 on mining health and safety. Poverty alleviation is an important factor in ending the exploitation of workers in small-scale mines, and the ICEM insists on full union participation in a World Bank programme for this sector. 
 
 
ICEM REGIONAL STRUCTURES 
 
The ICEM will &quot;intensify its activity toward establishment of clear and distinct regional structures in all of its regions&quot;. 
 
 
PLACER DOME 
 
The Congress approved the launching of a global ICEM campaign on mining multinational Placer Dome. The Canadian-based company recently retrenched about 40 per cent of its South African workforce and has taken an anti-union stance in a number of countries where it operates. Its environmental record has also been severely criticised.

ICEM Unites And Organises To Face Global Power

Leaders of gold mine workers worldwide today drew up proposals for safeguarding the future of the industry. 
 
Gold mining is a major employer in a number of countries, but the recent instability of the gold price and uncertainties about gold's future role have put jobs at risk. 
 
That is why the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) convened today's World Gold Forum in Durban, South Africa. The host country is the world's biggest gold producer. 
 
Before drawing up their recommendations, the union leaders had heard detailed presentations from South African Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka and from senior officials of the companies' World Gold Council, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa and the South African Reserve Bank. 
 
The unions' recommendations will now be sent to the World Gold Council, national banks and others whom the unions wish to engage in a continuing dialogue on the future shape of the industry. The proposals will also go to the ICEM's governing bodies for ratification. 
 
The mining unions' main conclusions: 
 
The need for gold reserves must be reaffirmed. Recent sales of gold reserves have occurred at a time when the world economy, and particularly the US economy, has experienced growth. However, the unions emphasise that the current boom - based mostly in the USA - is the result of rising share prices and cannot be sustained indefinitely. 
 
The release of above-ground bullion stocks should be regulated. Central banks hold about a quarter of the world's above-ground gold. Central banks have a primary obligation to help achieve stable economic growth. They cannot do this through speculative investment in the financial markets. All current plans for gold sales, announced or unannounced, should be publicly abandoned by the central banks, the unions insist. 
 
Measures must be taken to increase the consumption of gold. Better marketing of gold is needed, the unions say. In particular, this entails promoting the use of gold in jewellery. Noting that gold jewellery has a rather old-fashioned image, the unions suggest that the World Gold Council should create a prize for young designers of gold ornaments. Restrictions on the private ownership of gold in a number of countries should be lifted, the unions recommend. 
 
Restructuring will continue to take place within the gold industry, but this must be in full prior consultation with the trade unions concerned. Special programmes must be introduced to minimise the social impact. The unions point out that job cuts in gold mining are particularly disastrous for developing economies, where each gold mining job directly supports ten people and indirectly creates employment for many more in some of the world's poorest countries. It is also the case that the first gold miners to be retrenched are usually the least skilled, with the slimmest prospects of finding alternative employment. Among the most vulnerable gold miners are those who work in small-scale mining in a number of developing countries. The international community must ensure that small-scale miners either can operate in a healthy, safe and viable manner or have access to alternative sources of income. 
 
 
The gold miners' leaders also unanimously called for an ICEM global campaign on the world's third-biggest gold producer, Placer Dome. The campaign will be aimed at reversing Placer Dome's job cuts and pressing the multinational to repair the serious environmental damage that it has caused in a number of countries. 
 
The World Gold Forum precedes the ICEM World Congress (Durban, 3-5 November). This will map out a trade union response to globalisation. 
 
Speakers at the Congress session on 4 November will include South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.

World&#039;s Gold Workers Chart A Future For The Industry

THE FOUNDATION of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, the ICEM, is a new departure for world trade unionism. Member organisations of the former MIF and ICEF will blend the best of their traditions and aspirations into a new international trade union federation. This new international will be a powerful body capable of acting decisively on behalf of the workers it represents into the 21st century and beyond. A global organisation, it will focus on achieving practical results and gains for its members. Strength is its sinew, service its duty, action its day-to-day business. Solidarity in practice, permanently renewed and strengthened, is the ICEM's driving force. 
 
The ICEM represents workers who extract, transform and produce vast quantities of the world's requirements and riches. Its membership works at the forefront of industrial activity in a wide range of industries including: chemicals, energy, mining and quarrying, pulp and paper, rubber, glass, ceramics, cement, environmental services and other services. It represents manufacturing and production workers, administrative, clerical, scientific, professional, supervisory and technical staff in these industries. The industrial logic and breadth of its coverage represent a major source of the ICEM's strength and legitimacy. 
 
The grip of transnational corporate power on the world economy is a phenomenon which did not exist when the ICEF and the MIF were created. Under the new and powerful influence of the transnational corporations, governments have often become mere agencies to facilitate the free flow of capital, technology, information and products. The real needs and wants of working men and women are ignored in the balance sheets of corporate giants. Unemployment and destitution are still on the increase. Child labour and forced labour continue to shame human decency. Wars and conflicts are still raging. The arms race is not yet over. 
 
National, regional and local trade union issues must now be addressed from an international perspective. Within the sectors it represents, the ICEM will face these issues squarely, with effective policies and programmes. 
 
Exploitation of workers continues. In many parts of the world, this abuse is at least as crude as anything seen in the last century. Combating exploitation, discrimination and poverty today and in the future requires powerful and refined means, as well as a renewed sense of urgency and commitment. The ICEM will develop both the means and the commitment needed to champion change in defence of its members. Similarly, it will spearhead the promotion and defence of trade union rights in its sectors as an integral part of the broader fight for basic human rights. The ICEM will have the resources to develop a new power relationship with the real decision networks of an ever more integrated world, whether those networks be corporate or governmental. The ICEM will actively represent its members in all fora where their interests are at stake. It will forge the necessary alliances with other groups of international civil society sharing the same basic aims. 
 
The ICEM is committed to safeguarding the health and safety of its members and the sustainability of the world environment. In this respect its commitment goes beyond the immediate interests of its members and encompasses the interests of their offspring, their families and the broader community. 
 
In all its activities and in its decision-making, the ICEM will actively promote equal rights and opportunities for women, not least by making women's contribution more visible. 

The ICEM hereby dedicates itself to the following six principles: 
 
COMMITMENT 
 
The trade union movement has a soul. The ICEM is driven in its activities by the will to right wrongs and injustice. It has at heart the real lives and problems of people. 
 
The ICEM is committed to achieve positive and progressive change in the lives of working men and women, in their communities and in society at large. It is morally engaged on the side of the exploited, the poor, the downtrodden and the victims of discrimination. This commitment will express itself in prompt responses to the requests of all member-organisations and in untiring efforts to reach the goals set by its Congress of members. 
 
SOLIDARITY 
 
International trade union solidarity is about finding shared solutions to problems that arise. It is the single most important weapon for winning improvements globally. It is a permanent and pro-active process of sharing resources, companionship and objectives. Solidarity is not just proclaimed. It must be built, permanently consolidated and demonstrated in practice. 
 
Through its global relations with the rest of the international democratic trade union movement, the ICEM will be an essential link in the vast chain of international workers' solidarity. The ICEM will be a unique means for member organisations to give and receive international solidarity. It will seek constantly to improve the quality and effectiveness of its own solidarity action. It will favour the forging of direct ties with like-minded individuals and organisations. 
 
Justice is not to be found everywhere and forever. It is won by continuously fighting oppression in all its forms. Both within the organisation and in its relations with the rest of the world, the ICEM will fight for justice and equality and will itself be even-handed and just. 
 
The ICEM will be its member unions' watchdog to ensure acceptance and application of relevant international law and standards. 
 
DEMOCRACY 
 
The legitimacy of the international trade union movement derives from its elected structures and the democratic nature of its decision-making. Policies of the ICEM are decided and owned by representative national and local trade unions and their members. This specific feature distinguishes the international trade union movement from many other voluntary organisations and confers on it authority, credibility and responsibility. 
 
The ICEM will constantly strive to strengthen the checks and balances that are essential to internal democracy. The organisation secures its income from fees paid by its members. It will ensure the proper management of its income and the implementation of the decisions of its governing bodies in an accountable and transparent way. 
 
As part of its efforts to strengthen internal democracy and bring the decision-making process as close as possible to its members, the ICEM will introduce a regionalised structure and increase regional exchanges and activities. 
 
INFORMATION 
 
The ICEM will base its activities on a unique mastery of the policies, facts and figures which matter for its member organisations. This capability will deliver good, timely data and analyses which are relevant to its members and are not readily available elsewhere. The ability to provide data on collective bargaining, wages, industry trends and corporate changes can help member organisations to improve the working and living conditions of their members. This is the ultimate objective of all the ICEM's information and research. 
 
This aim can be achieved only if all participate in the global effort. Member unions will express their needs and will provide structured information when requested. They will also show preparedness to share, with others who need it, the expertise that has been built within their organisations. The ICEM itself will concentrate on gathering and analysing sector-specific data with a strong emphasis on labour conditions and related matters. 
 
ORGANISING 
 
An organisation founded on deeply-held principles still needs to build the power to act on them. Acquiring know-how and the capacity to articulate clearly their needs and wants, building strong and sound organisations, and promoting and defending the rights and conditions of all workers are therefore vital to the empowerment of workers and their organisations. 
 
The strength of argument and the argument of strength go hand in hand when combating exploitation and poor working conditions. Acquiring the capacity to propose their own solutions and the power to oppose, influence or enter into partnerships, as and when necessary, is what unions need in order to be effective at local and national level. 
 
The ICEM will be at the forefront of this struggle internationally. 
 
EFFECTIVENESS 
 
The ICEM's resources will remain limited, but the needs of its affiliates are immense. In allocating resources and carrying out activities, the ICEM will constantly seek to make the best possible use of its resources in order to achieve the best possible results. Professionalism, commitment and quality will be the hallmark of the ICEM's services, and each of its campaigns and programmes will be strategically planned with a view to being result-oriented. 
 
The ICEM's agenda and programmes will be set with the sole aim of assisting its affiliates. It will also join campaigns and participate in events which are of direct relevance to its affiliates and their members. 
 

To achieve these aims, trade unions everywhere must unite the organised workers and organise the unorganised. 
 
Therefore, on this historic founding day of a new industrial trade union international, the ICEM and its affiliated trade unions worldwide solemnly recommit themselves to 
 
UNITE AND ORGANISE

Founding Declaration of the ICEM

Placer Dome, the world's third-biggest gold miner, faces a global trade union campaign aimed at reversing the company's recently announced job cuts and pressing it to repair the severe environmental damage that it has caused in a number of countries where it operates. 
 
Gold mining workers' leaders from around the world unanimously adopted a resolution to that effect this afternoon, at the close of a World Gold Forum held in Durban, South Africa. The event was organised by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), whose membership includes gold mine workers on all continents. 
 
The forum also agreed proposals for safeguarding the future of the world gold industry as a whole. 
 
The World Gold Forum precedes the ICEM World Congress (Durban, 3-5 November). This will map out a trade union response to globalisation. 
 
Today's resolution was sponsored by South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is campaigning for the reinstatement of 2,895 workers recently retrenched at Placer Dome's Western Areas joint venture near Johannesburg. The sackings represent a cut of around 40 percent in the company's South African workforce, and are a potentially explosive issue in a country which has an unemployment rate of about 30 percent. 
 
Seconding the action call was Australian mining union the CFMEU. In solidarity with the South Africans, CFMEU members will picket Placer Dome offices in Australia next Monday morning - just a few hours after an NUM rally at Western Areas on Sunday 31 October. 
 
Full text of today's resolution: 
 
 
Noting that: 
 
1. Placer Dome is a Canadian transnational having mining interests in many countries. 
 
2. Placer Dome has a terrible record of destroying jobs and the environment and a disregard for the communities, wherever they have invested, in pursuit of profits. 
 
3. The owners and management have a history of union bashing while projecting itself as the best gold mining company on the earth. 
 
 
Believing that: 
 
1. Global investment should be socially responsible and must not undermine human rights, trade union rights, the community and the environment. 
 
2. In those countries where investments are made, collective bargaining conventions must be respected. A balance between global rules and the scope of domestic regulation has to be struck. 
 
 
We therefore resolve that: 
 
1. Placer Dome be targeted for an international campaign by the ICEM. 
 
2. This campaign should entail demands on the reinstatement of retrenched workers in the Western Areas Gold Mine Joint Venture; and restoration of the environment destroyed in the Philippines, Chile, Peru, Papua New Guinea and Australia. 
 
3. Placer Dome be pressured to sign a Global Agreement on Industrial Relations with the ICEM. 
 
4. A solid foundation for this campaign be built by organising a workshop early in the year 2000 for representatives from countries where Placer Dome has operations. A common platform for worker rights and working conditions and a programme for international worker solidarity must be agreed at this workshop. 
 
5. Unions affiliated to the ICEM must, where necessary, make available organisers and leaders to give direct practical assistance to worker struggles and organise the unorganised in Placer Dome operations throughout the world.

Placer Dome: Unions Launch Worldwide Campaign

Leaders of trade unions worldwide will be addressed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki on 3 November, when he opens the World Congress of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
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World labour's response to globalisation is the main theme of the Congress, which will run from 3 to 5 November in Durban, South Africa. 
 
More than 600 delegates from all continents are expected to take part. The Congress slogan is AMANDLA AWETHU - POWER IS OURS. 
 
&quot;We are very pleased that President Mbeki will be with us at what promises to be a highly significant Congress for global trade unionism,&quot; said James Motlatsi in Johannesburg today. Motlatsi is ICEM Vice-President and President of the ICEM African region. In South Africa, he is President of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers, which is Africa's biggest union. The NUM is co-hosting the World Congress, together with ICEM South African affiliates CEPPWAWU, NUMSA and SACWU. 
 
&quot;Thabo Mbeki's presence at the Congress is a recognition of the vital role played by trade unions in the construction of South Africa and of the developing world as a whole,&quot; Motlatsi emphasised. 
 
&quot;We are honoured that President Mbeki will address the Congress,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels this afternoon. &quot;We will listen to him with great interest and respect. All the more so because, since the ANC came into government in South Africa, it has introduced some of the most progressive and far-sighted labour legislation in the world.&quot;

South Africa&#039;s President Thabo Mbeki To Open Unions&#039; World Congress

A week of action against global tyremaker Continental was launched today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). 
 
The worldwide protest is over German-based Continental's union-busting at its General Tire plant in the American town of Charlotte, North Carolina. The plant is the site of a strike by 1,450 members of USWA Local 850 over the company's unfair labour practices. 
 
The week of action is occurring as the Charlotte strike enters its tenth month. Continental, which has already been indicted by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on five counts of violating US federal labour laws, contends it has hired 800 &quot;permanent replacement&quot; workers at the Charlotte facility. 
 
In addition to replacing the striking workforce with these &quot;scabs&quot;, Continental cancelled health care coverage for the Charlotte workers and their families just before Christmas and has hired a private security firm to harass and intimidate strikers. 
 
The centrepiece of the action week is a consumer awareness campaign at Ford Motor Company dealerships in 54 US cities. The campaign raises the question, &quot;If quality is Job 1, why is Ford using General tyres?&quot; General tyres are used as original equipment on several Ford models. 
 
In addition to protest action by union members at the Ford dealerships, the USWA has put up large rolling billboards outside the dealerships picturing a flattened General tyre and the question: &quot;Should You Trust Tyres Made by Strikebreakers?&quot; 
 
The USWA is also airing radio commercials throughout the United States that raise questions about the quality of General tyres available to Ford. The union has cited examples of &quot;scores of defects being returned&quot; and tyre stores &quot;refusing to place orders for General tyres until the strike is resolved.&quot; 
 
Unions representing Continental workers in other countries will also be stepping up their action in support of the American strikers. Workplace demonstrations, meetings and petition-gathering are expected to take place this week at Continental facilities in Europe and South Africa. 
 
In addition, unions in several other countries will be taking their case against Continental to German embassies and will urge the German government to help resolve the US conflict. 
 
In the US, protest demonstrations are scheduled to take place at German consulates in several cities. 
 
The week of action has also been endorsed by the 22-million-strong International Metalworkers' Federation, which includes unions representing workers at Continental's recently-purchased Teves braking subsidiary and at the automobile companies which are Continental's largest customers, and by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. 
 
&quot;This week of action represents an escalation of our united campaign to bring justice to the striking tyre workers in Charlotte,&quot; said Vic Thorpe, ICEM General Secretary. &quot;It is appalling that Continental has behaved in such an outrageous manner at its operations in the United States.&quot; 
 
The ICEM and the USWA recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte.

Conti Tyres Faces Global Protest Week

Global tyremaker Continental faces a new worldwide cybercampaign on the Web over an eight-month unfair labour practice strike at its US subsidiary. 
 
The cybercampaign in support of strikers at Continental's General Tire plant in Charlotte, USA, was launched today by their union, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM, to which the USWA is affiliated, is known for its innovative global trade union campaigning on the Web. 
 
Last Friday in Brussels, leaders of ICEM unions worldwide backed the USWA and pledged full support for their fight to gain justice from the company. 
 
The new cybercampaign lets Web users pump up the pressure on Continental. As well as giving background on the dispute, it enables anyone to send electronic messages to top Continental management in Charlotte and at the company's world headquarters in Hanover, Germany. 
Cybercampaigners can also e-mail German government officials in Bonn and in Germany's Washington embassy at the click of a mouse. 
 
For US and Canadian shoppers, the website gives the toll-free numbers on which they can phone the company's customer relations department and major tyre retailers Sam's Club and Wal-Mart Stores. In this way, customers can register their feelings about the ongoing dispute. 
 
Supporters can also download handbills for distribution at dealers which market Continental's tyres. 
 
At issue in the dispute is Continental's refusal to pay its Charlotte workers the going rate among leading US tyremakers, even though the company now has the fastest-growing profits of any tire company in the world. The American workers accuse Conti of failing to bargain in good faith and of trying to break the Charlotte local of the USWA. After provoking a strike, the company drafted in &quot;permanent replacement&quot; workers last September, a practice illegal in Germany. 
 
In 1995, after Continental bought General Tire, the workers bailed out the Charlotte plant by &quot;giving back&quot; about 90 million US dollars in pay and benefits cuts. Charlotte is now showing a healthy profit, but the company is still refusing to bring its pay and conditions up to standard. 
 
On 30 April, the Region 11 director of the US National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Continental, charging the company with five counts of violations of US federal labour laws. 
 
Continental stands accused of further violating US law, and more particularly of engaging in other &quot;unfair labour practices&quot; - a charge which could lead to the compulsory rehiring of the striking workers and could also make the company liable for millions of US dollars in back-pay and compensation. 
 
&quot;Continental made a serious error in judgement in trying to bust the Steelworkers' union in Charlotte,&quot; said USWA Vice-President John Sellers. &quot;It won't work, and through our actions on the ground and in cyberspace we will continue to hold Continental accountable for its actions and let the public around the world know what a bad corporate citizen this company is until a just agreement is reached.&quot; 
 
&quot;No global corporation should be allowed to get away with double standards,&quot; agreed ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;Continental is trying to do in America what it would not be allowed to do in Germany and in most of Europe. When another global tyremaker, Bridgestone, was embroiled in a dispute with the USWA, the ICEM launched a worldwide cybercampaign to back the American workers. Industrial action and cyberaction together ensured that the Bridgestone dispute was resolved in the American workers' favour. Continental should take warning from 
that.&quot; 
 
The cybercampaign is part of a global ICEM-USWA drive for justice at Continental. Action so far has also included protests at Continental facilities, tyre trade shows and tyre dealers in several countries. 
 
In addition, the USWA and ICEM have filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation, detailing the company's violations of the worldwide labour standards set by the ILO. 
 
And in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated German union IG BCE, USWA representatives attended Continental's annual meeting in Germany last week and warned shareholders there of the possible financial consequences of the Charlotte dispute.

Conti Tyres: Global Cybercampaign Pumps Up The Pressure

Archive

ICEM presentation on the Health and Safety risks in the Materials Industries

Materials Conference Takes Global Approach in Countering Local Disputes

ICEM Declaration on the Materials Sector

ICEM Unites And Organises To Face Global Power

World's Gold Workers Chart A Future For The Industry

Founding Declaration of the ICEM

Placer Dome: Unions Launch Worldwide Campaign

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki To Open Unions' World Congress

Conti Tyres Faces Global Protest Week

Conti Tyres: Global Cybercampaign Pumps Up The Pressure

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