ICEM World Energy Unions Meet in Rome

Union leaders, present at the ICEM's world energy conference in Rome, rejected the energy privatisation model spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank at the expense of social interests, as unsustainable. Three hundred top leaders from sixty five countries representing some 9 million energy workers were unanimous in the call for the provision of safe, affordable energy to meet basic human needs and create jobs.

The ICEM's World Conference for the Energy Sector was held in Rome, Italy, 27-29 November 2002.

Delegates called on governments not to abdicate their responsibility to develop, promote and regulate the energy industry in their countries. "The development of national energy policies must be transparent, involve trade unions and be consensus not conflict driven. Energy is a growth industry. We therefore need long-term policies that promote employment security, job creation and sustainable development. This task is too important to be left to the free market", said Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the twenty-million strong global union federation.

This is the message governments, industry captains and international finance institutions will be hearing from the ICEM. Responding to reports received on energy restructuring from Ukraine, Serbia and Romania, the conference resolved to "force" these governments to recognise fundamental trade union rights to organise, represent members and be fully consulted on workplace changes.

The conference also resolved to forge greater unity and solidarity amongst all workers in the energy exploration, extraction, production and supply industries by pursuing global agreements with multinational companies and establishing global worker networks.

At the conference, the ICEM signed it's sixth global agreement with Italian-based energy multinational, ENI, covering some 70 000 workers worldwide. Speaking at the conference, Massimo Cappelli, manager for industrial relations and productivity stated that the agreement "crowns an achievement in the company's ethics and industrial relations policy".

ENI a joint stock company in which the Italian government owns 30% equity is the sixth largest energy producer in the world with some seventy operations in five continents . The agreement commits the company to respecting human and trade union rights in all it's operations. "This agreement takes us another step forward in our drive to improve industrial relations and respect for human and trade union rights across the globe", said Higgs after signing the agreement.

In his acceptance speech at the closing of the conference, Lars Myhre, a Norwegian oil worker declared, "We want our industries and all those involved in it to promote the message of respect for people and the environment, not civil strife and war". Myhre, was elected as chairman of the ICEM's energy branch.

Future Work Plan for the Energy Section:



This ICEM World Conference for the Energy Industries having met in Rome from the 27-29 November 2002 and have having analysed, discussed and debated the trends and challenges we face in the global energy industry, hereby unanimously adopt the following conclusions as a call and a guide to action:



We will pursue both nationally, regionally and globally, energy policies which have as their main objective the provision of safe, affordable energy to meet basic human needs, promote economic development, create decent work, promote human and trade union rights, peace and security.


We insist that governments develop, promote and regulate the energy industry to meet these objectives. The development of national and/or industry policy must be underpinned by the principles of transparency, democratic participation of trade unions and building consensus. We must increase efforts to educate both members and the public at large of our positions in order to build greater social debate.


We encourage nation states to develop national policies that take into account the availability of particular fuel sources which will ensure access and security of energy supply, yet remain mindful of the impact of the energy industry on the global political, social and environmental landscape of each country.


We do not accept the privatisation model spearheaded by the international finance institutions, in particular the IMF and the World Bank and we warn these institutions that the unilateral imposition of any restructuring is not sustainable and is bound to fail. We must continue to communicate these policies to the IFI’s and international energy agencies and engage them with a view to ending their finance-driven model of privatisation at the expense of social interests. As part of this strategy we will work with our affiliates to expose undemocratic and corrupt practices both in the private and public sector.


We fully endorse the brave struggles of our affiliates in Romania, Serbia and Ukraine to force governments to recognise fundamental trade union rights to organize, represent members, bargain and to be fully consulted on workplace changes. And we assure them of our full support until they have achieved their demands


Within the ICEM we will continuously strive to promote greater communication, sharing of information, training and cooperation among and between affiliates, through existing structures and networks, in order to build our capacity to actively promote and campaign for sustainable energy policies that meets the needs of today’s and future generations.


The strength of the ICEM is its affiliates. By using our founding slogan, “Unite and Organise” we can still grow stronger through recruitment of new members, and forging greater unity and solidarity amongst all workers in the energy exploration, extraction, production and supply industries at national, regional and global level. Our regional and global networks must be strengthened and focused to achieve this goal. Our strategy of pursuing global agreements and global networks must be used by our affiliates to achieve this goal through targeted recruitment to organize the unorganised. Building our strength must be accompanied by building our resources to succeed.


This conference identifies the following areas of further work that we need to undertake in the energy sector:


Developing long-term policies in the search for acceptable solutions regarding the relationship between gender equity, employment security, job creation and sustainable development in the energy industry;
Exploring how our affiliates can take forward and promote the ILO Decent Work Agenda through their respective bargaining arrangements;
Assisting affiliates in accessing research and developing policy options and alternatives for energy restructuring that promotes our goals of social energy;
Communicating our views on energy for peace not civil conflict and war;
Continuing to build partnerships in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Engaging the International Agency for Atomic Energy on the development of a set of standards for social security measures applicable in the event of decommissioning of nuclear power plants.


We are confident that the sprit of cooperation and solidarity that has been demonstrated at this conference will grow, be strengthened and serve as an inspiration to all our members.