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="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada has endorsed the mega-mining merger of Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Inc., two Canadian mining houses that combined would comprise the world&rsquo;s largest nickel producer.
The C$13 billion friendly takeover was given approval at a USW press conference in Sudbury, Ontario, on 7 December with the announced formation of a Steelworker Inco/Falconbridge Council made up of 8,500 workers at 15 USW bargaining units.
USW said the merged company will be &ldquo;good for Canada, good for communities and good for building bargaining power across the continent.&rdquo;
The merger is threatened by a possible hostile bid by Swiss-based Xstrata Plc., the Glencore International-controlled mining giant which purchased a 20% stake in Falconbridge in August. Inco has extended to 27 January its offer to Falconbridge shareholders, who must sell at least two-thirds of the company&rsquo;s outstanding shares to Inco before the deal becomes final.

USW in Canada Endorses Inco, Falconbridge Mining Merger

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
&nbsp;Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF) announced last week that it would eliminate 6,500 jobs through the end of 2007 in an apparent attempt to boost the share price of the newly privatised company.
The French government placed shares totalling 15% of the company on the Paris bourse 21 November in hopes of raising capitalisation of &euro;7 billion. It offered EDF shares at &euro;32 to small investors and &euro;33-per-share to institutional investors.
On 7 December, prior to the job cuts announcement, EDF stock was selling at &euro;31.66. EDF said the jobs would be lost by not replacing roughly 70% of the 9,000 workers expected to retire by the end of 2007.

EDF Announces Job Cuts to Boost Share Price

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
German affiliate IGBCE focuses its attention even harder on Continental&rsquo;s broken promises. On 6 December, 30,000 workers of the tyre maker held stop-work meetings at 26 locations throughout Germany to protest the announced closure of the St&ouml;cken plant in Hannover and the resulting loss of 320 jobs by year-end 2006.
IGBCE agreed with Continental on more flexible working rights, including work weeks of 40 hours without additional pay, in exchange for a pledge of no job cuts. Continental Chief Executive Manfred Wennemer broke that pledge last month with the announcement on the fate of the St&ouml;cken plant.
IGBCE will now terminate ten programmes inside Continental that were established jointly with the company to save some &euro;42 million annually.

IGBCE Rescinds Cooperation Efforts with Continental Tyre

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
US affiliate United Electrical, Radio &amp; Machine Workers (UE) used International Human Rights Day to remind us all that the United States has not ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
The union sent a delegation to the North Carolina state governor with a complaint on a state statute that supports the US position of non-ratification. The statute grants state employees with the right to unionise, but denies collective bargaining. The union is also taking the matter before the ILO&rsquo;s Public Sector Workers&rsquo; conference committee. The US has also not ratified ILO Convention 151, granting public employees the right to organise and setting conditions of employment in the public sector.
UE Local 150 counts as members many public employees across North Carolina. UE members from six US states and supporters from three countries delivered the complaint to North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley on 9 December.

US Affiliate Seeks Bargaining Rights for North Carolina’s Public Workers

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
A branch of Canadian affiliate Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union issued a strike notice against Swedish-Finnish paper company Stora Enso a week ago at a mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. 
The notice was served after 98% of 660 members of CEP Local 972 voted to strike. The company has refused to comply with the non-monetary portion of the pattern agreement for the paper industry in eastern Canada. Other unresolved issues include local ones such as Stora Enso&rsquo;s drive to contract out bargaining unit work, including outsourcing of clerical jobs.
A provincial mediator has called the two sides back to the table for three days of talks from 16-18 December, and another session if necessary on 19 December, the earliest day that a strike could begin. CEP workers at the magazine papers and newsprint mill have been without a current collective agreement for 16 months.

CEP Branch in Canada Braced to Strike Stora Enso

<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" />
French utilities, construction and telecommunications company Bouygues is taking revenge on ICEM Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire affiliate SYNASEG, the country&rsquo;s electric and gas trade union. 
Prior to a 15-year Bouygues contract for management of water and electric supplies that expired earlier this year, the government announced plans to repatriate the utilities as national entities. SYNASEG publicly supported such a move. But then the government reversed itself and granted Bouygues another 15-year contract.
The company has now retaliated against SYNASEG by refusing to honour check off procedures over union dues. In September, Bouygues neglected to deduct dues from workers&rsquo; pay checks and, in October and November, it did make the deductions but refused to forward the funds to SYNASEG.

French-based Bouygues Creating Union Problems in Cote d’Ivoire

As the world commemorates International Human Rights Day tomorrow on the 57th Anniversary of signing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 20-million-member ICEM, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, cautions that the vision and promise of the Declaration is clouded in today's world of violence and social inequality. 
<img height="86" alt="" src="" width="100" />
&quot;We must stop to reflect on the language and the meaning of the 1948 Declaration,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We must strive to rid the world of sinister forces intent on domination and hear the voices of those not free from want, and of those facing insecurity brought by global strife.&quot; 
 
Higgs reminds ICEM affiliated trade unions, as well as the global community, that the UN proclaimed a World Program for Human Rights Education last year. &quot;Education, together with meaningful employment opportunities, is the key to remove poverty and intolerance that exists in many parts of the world today,&quot; said Higgs. 
 
On the 10 December observance of International Human Rights Day, the ICEM points to both rich and poor nations, many of which have repressive governmental regimes, for holding back the fulfilment of standards enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
Upholding human rights applies as well to trade union rights, which are violated by a large number of countries. The UN Universal Declaration includes, in Article 23, that &quot;everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests&quot;. 
 
The ICEM points to continued restrictions on political liberties and democratic rights in Nepal as one example. Early this year, King Gyanendra placed the Himalayan country in a state of emergency and suspended free speech and assembly in efforts to stamp our political dissent. 
 
The Global Union Federation also directs attention on the military leaders of Burma and to the multinational companies doing business with the country, where slave labour continues to be used at a large scale. Specifically, ICEM questions the recent and sudden shift by the military junta of administrative governmental services from Rangoon to a remote area in which thousands of civil servants were forced to relocate without adequate living and other conditions. 
 
The ICEM also calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. &quot;A solution must be found, giving the Palestinians a viable state and economic justice&quot; stated Higgs. 
 
&quot;The ICEM will continue to defend human rights across the world wherever we find abuses and injustices,&quot; added Higgs. 
 
On 10 December 1948, Member States of the UN proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights &quot;a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.&quot; The UN's charter itself set &quot;universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.&quot; Fifty-seven years later, we must ask ourselves how far we have come on that legacy.

ICEM Calls for a Real Focus on Human Rights

Year 2005 has been an important year for the expansion of ICEM&rsquo;s activities in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Global Union Federation&rsquo;s commitment has manifested itself in an up scaling of innovative projects and activities. Many of ICEM&rsquo;s 389 trade union affiliates in 122 countries have joined the fight to reverse the pandemic. 
<img height="122" alt="" src="" width="86" />
From the beginning of Year 2005, a Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator based in Geneva has been in place and a regional coordinator manages the African project from Johannesburg. Two training workshops were held in June and November for national coordinators from twelve sub-Saharan African countries. A manual on collective bargaining is being finalised. 
 
HIV/AIDS has been mainstreamed in ICEM global and regional meetings. A seminar for the Asian and Pacific region in Tokyo in October sponsored by ICEM-JAF laid the foundation for the expansion of ICEM work in that region. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s global information policy has been carried forward. The new ICEM website includes <a href="/?id=72">web pages on HIV/AIDS</a> with links to important HIV/AIDS sites and materials of intergovernmental organisations, NGOs and other Global Union Federations, as well as the Global Unions Programme against HIV/AIDS in which the ICEM takes an active part. Power Point Presentations have been developed and posted on the web for the use by affiliates. An e-bulletin is being published monthly. The latest version, also released on December 1, can be read <a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;doc=1539">here</a>.
The leaflet &ldquo;ICEM Responds to HIV/AIDS&rdquo; is launched on World AIDS Day, and can be <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0511AIDSleaflet.pdf">downloaded here</a>. 
 
A central part of ICEM strategy is the expansion of services of existing health clinics of major mining companies to the wider community. It is the logical progression of the valuable workplace education and awareness programmes, which have been in place. And it is here where the ICEM will have a real impact. Agreement in principle has been reached with two multinational mining companies to up scale voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and the provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART). Substantial amounts of funding with a long-term perspective are required from sources not previously accessed by trade unions. The ICEM calls on the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to support more co-financed workplace projects to provide VCT and ART in partnership with unions and companies. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM is strategically positioned for such a direct role in the fight against HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; says General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We represent workers in the mining industry, a sector disproportionately stricken by the virus due to living and working conditions. We also represent chemical workers in the major drug-producing companies of the world.&rdquo; The ICEM will continue to be engaged with pharmaceutical companies to provide affordable drugs to those living with HIV/AIDS in the least developed countries. 
 
The ICEM continues its advocacy for genuine poverty eradication policies and for an increased financial commitment to fight the pandemic, especially through the Global Fund. The establishment of a permanent G8 working group is central to this. The newly established partnership between the WHO and the Global Unions must result in concrete assistance for workplace VCT and ART programmes. 
 
The ICEM calls on all affiliates to use World AIDS Day to intensive their campaigns to reverse the pandemic.

ICEM reiterates strong commitment to combat HIV/AIDS

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) affiliated workers demonstrated in South Africa on April 4, protesting against potential plans by DeBeers to close its Koffiefontein mine in the southern Free State.
Handing a memorandum to the management of the mine, the workers were given a promise by the employer that they would be answered. According to the NUM Chairperson, Joseph Botile, closing the mine would mean making Koffiefontein into a ghost town. DeBeers is virtually the only employer in the area, providing income for almost 600 people and their families. With all these jobs gone, it would become impossible for the NUM Workers to support their families.

South African NUM Workers Demonstrate at DeBeers Koffiefontein Mine

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
On April 26, 20 years will have past since the largest nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. On that day in 1986, in what now is the country of Ukraine, a deadly explosion inside Chernobyl&rsquo;s reactor No. 4 led to the release of a radioactive cloud that spread across large parts of the Soviet Union. A number of countries in Europe were also affected, but to a much lesser extent. Today, 20 years later, it is still difficult to identify the exact damage of the radioactive fallout. 
In the immediate aftermath of the accident, the Soviet Union, with the help of the international community, poured in a lot of money to build the infrastructure needed to minimise the immediate adverse effects of the catastrophe, mainly through sealing off the damaged reactor. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" />
As years went by, however, it became clear that, where funding was still available for infrastructural work, there was less and less money to take care of the power station workers and others who had gone into the affected area to do the actual work. A large number of these workers, all members of ICEM affiliate Atomprofspylka, the Ukrainian Nuclear Power Workers&rsquo; Union, gave their lives fighting the disaster, or subsequently died within months or years. For those who survived, the situation is bleak today with little or no job security and a largely indifferent government. 
The anniversary of Chernobyl comes two days before the international Workers Memorial Day on 28 April, when trade unions everywhere commemorate workers who have lost their lives in workplace accidents.

Chernobyl 20 Years after

Archive