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Press

Good living standards for Palestinian workers are crucial to peace in the Middle East, Israeli union leader Amir Peretz declared yesterday. "Starving people do not believe in the Peace Process," Peretz added. 
 
He had just returned from Egypt, where he had discussions with President Mubarak. Peretz, who is Chairman of the Israeli general labour federation Histadrut, asked Mubarak to encourage closer relations between Egyptian and Israeli unions. At the global level, Histadrut is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), as are Egyptian chemical, petroleum and public utility unions. 
 
The Middle East peace process is essential to economic progress and development and to the well-being of all peoples living in the area, Peretz said on his return to Israel. Histadrut, he emphasised, stands firmly behind its policy that Palestinians must receive priority in employment opportunities, over foreign workers. 
 
Earlier, Peretz had taken part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv to demand Israeli government action against unemployment. The demonstration followed news of more factory closures in Israel.

Palestinian Living Standards Key, Israeli Union Leader Says

French oil workers are seeking an urgent clarification from energy multinational Total over the use of the company's logo on footballs produced by child labour. Total is headquartered in France. 
 
Trade union investigators have just released new video footage of young Pakistani children stitching soccer balls, apparently bearing the official World Cup logo. Some also appear to carry the logos of Total and Mastercard and the signature of Brazilian football legend Pelé. 
 
The children, some working side by side with adults, are believed to receive around 30 US cents each for footballs which sell overseas for up to US$75. 
 
Earlier this month, a journalist investigating child labour for the unions visited houses and workshops in villages near Sialkot, Pakistan, where most of the world's soccer balls are stitched. In Jarawalli village, he filmed young boys stitching footballs, and interviewed a family of six young girls, aged between 5 and 12. The five-year-old was punching holes in the leather pieces, which are then sewn by her sisters. 
 
The video footage is being publicised by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and is likely to be screened on French TV shortly. The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and other union internationals are cooperating with the ICFTU in a campaign against the exploitation of child labour worldwide. 
 
It is not yet clear whether Total actually authorised the use of its logo on the child-made footballs, but the ICEM-affiliated French chemical and energy workers' union FCE-CFDT says it is "now taking all necessary steps vis-a-vis the General Management of the Total group in order to obtain full clarification of this affair." 
 
And the union declares: "Without wishing to anticipate the answers that it will receive, the FCE-CFDT reaffirms its unswerving commitment, within the international trade union movement, to the struggle for the respect of working people's rights and basic freedoms. It is up to Total to provide rapidly all the explanations that have been asked for. The FCE-CFDT will be watching to make sure it does." 
 
In fact, football's world governing body FIFA already has an agreement with the international trade union movement to help phase out the use of child labour in football production. The accord is with the ICFTU, the textile and allied workers' international ITGLWF and the FIET union international, whose coverage includes shop workers. To implement the agreement, FIFA and the UN's International Labour Organisation last year introduced inspection procedures for football production. Union internationals will now be holding new talks with FIFA, to raise concerns that local companies are evading the inspections.

Unions Blow Whistle On Child Labour Footballs

Shareholders are pressing US-based oil multinational Mobil to review its investments in Nigeria in the light of continuing human rights violations there. 
 
Two institutional shareholders announced today that they will be tabling a human rights motion at Mobil's annual shareholders' meeting on 14 May. In particular, they want the company to push for the release of two detained Nigerian oilworkers' leaders. 
 
The Mobil shareholders' move is a further step in the world trade union campaign to free Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, and Frank Kokori, General Secretary of oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. 
 
Kokori has been detained without trial in Nigeria since 1994 and Dabibi since January 1996. Both are in poor health, and their condition is reported to be deteriorating rapidly. They are still being denied access to the medical care that they need. They are also barred from contact with lawyers and with their unions, which are being run by government-imposed administrators. Dabibi and Kokori are both recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. 
 
The two Mobil shareholders tabling the motion are Franklin Research and Development Corporation, a US-based socially responsible investment firm with 500 million US dollars in client assets, and the Service Employees International Union Master Trust. They have jointly filed a resolution asking the Mobil board of directors to review and develop guidelines for company investments in countries where "there is a pattern of ongoing and systematic violation of human rights; a government is illegitimate; there is a call by human right advocates, pro-democracy organisations or legitimately elected representatives for economic sanctions; and Mobil's long-term financial performance may be potentially threatened by international criticism, economic sanctions and boycotts by consumers and local governments." 
 
The resolution notes that all of these factors are in place in Nigeria. Mobil is in direct partnership with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and has made payments, including royalties, fees and taxes, to the military government. The resolution further notes that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found Nigeria in violation of internationally-accepted labour standards and has demanded the release of union leaders Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi and others held incommunicado without charge or trial. 
 
Last week, the ILO voiced "outrage" over Nigeria's continued flouting of basic labour rights. The ILO, a UN agency in which the world's unions, employers and governments are represented, has now set up a special commission to investigate worker rights in Nigeria, notably the situation of the imprisoned trade unionists. 
 
"It is past time for Mobil to take action on behalf of Kokori and Dabibi," said Andrew Stern, President of the 1.1-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU). "Reports from Nigeria indicate that these union leaders are very sick and may die in jail." Mobil, he insisted, must "use its influence with the Nigerian government to seek the release of the duly elected leaders of its Nigerian employees." 
 
"Mobil's complete lack of action on human rights in Nigeria has exposed the company to considerable business risk," said Simon Billenness, senior analyst of Franklin Research and Development Corporation. "Until democracy is restored there, Nigeria provides an unstable business climate." 
 
The two shareholders have a combined investment in Mobil Corp. of 49,500 shares, worth more than 3.9 million US dollars. 
 
Leading the world trade union campaign to free Dabibi and Kokori is the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which PENGASSAN, NUPENG and the SEIU are affiliated. 
 
The ICEM has called for full UN economic sanctions against Nigeria, including an oil embargo, unless the ILO commission is permitted to enter the country and Dabibi and Kokori are released without further delay. Meanwhile, the ICEM is maintaining its own preparations for targeted action against Nigerian oil exports into a number of key countries - including the USA, which is the biggest importer of Nigerian crude (see ICEM UPDATE 20/98). 
 
The inclusion of the shareholder resolution on Mobil's proxy statement follows meetings on this issue between senior Mobil management, institutional shareholders and other concerned organisations. 
 
Corporate human rights policies have already been discussed at the global level between the ICEM and a number of multinationals, including Shell.

Nigerian Rights Abuses: Mobil Shareholders Seek Investment Review

Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining corporation, is roundly condemned in a new motion tabled for debate by Britain's House of Commons. Rio Tinto is headquartered in London. 
 
The motion was brought in by Member of Parliament (MP) Michael Clapham, backed by fellow-MPs Eric Clarke, Tony Benn, Ken Purchase, Ernie Ross and Ann Clwyd. A further 23 MPs have already signed up to the text, which urges Rio Tinto shareholders to drum some ethics into the maverick multinational. 
 
The parliamentary motion in full: 
 
That this House condemns the activities of the Rio Tinto Corporation, which has been identified by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions as probably the most uncaring and ruthless company in the world judged by its appalling record of human and trade union rights violation, community destruction, environmental damage and disregard for the lives of indigenous people in many of the 40 countries where it operates; and calls on the shareholders at the annual general meeting in London on 13th May to demand a halt to its current practices and the introduction of an ethical company policy based on trade union recognition, compassion for its workers and their families and concern for the environment in which they live. 
 
[end of motion] 
 
Rio Tinto's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for trade union networking by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The networking also extends to many other campaigning groups on human rights, notably the rights of indigenous peoples, and on environmental issues. Rio Tinto has come in for widespread criticism on all these counts. 

 
PROUD TO BE ANTI-UNION 
 
In its new annual report, to be distributed to shareholders shortly, Rio Tinto writes: "At our operations throughout the world, we respect the right of employees to choose for themselves whether or not they wish to be represented collectively." 
 
But these pictures tell a very different story. Broadcast on Australian television, they show a ceremony at the company's Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia on 25 June last year. The overwhelming majority of the workers there were on strike over the company's refusal to conclude a collective agreement. So the company mined small amounts of coal by using white-collar staff plus just seven workers who had signed individual employment contracts. 
 
At the ceremony, trophies were handed out celebrating the "First Coal Mined at Hunter Valley No. 1 Mine by Non-Union Labour." 
 
Footage of this bizarre little rite is included in a new documentary on Rio Tinto, Naked Into The Jungle.

British Legislators Condemn Rio Tinto

Power multinational Endesa will meet unions from its operations worldwide in a regular global council, under an agreement signed at the company's headquarters in Madrid today. 
<img height="138" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endesa8.jpg" width="350"/>
Global union-management consultations are central to the ICEM's new agreement with Endesa. 
Photo: Endesa 
Union rights, health and safety, vocational training, labour relations, company prospects and employment trends are the main topics listed for consideration by the new council. 
<img height="70" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/icemlogo.gif" width="80"/>   <img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endlogo2.jpg" width="70"/>      <img height="68" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/mmccoologo.gif" width="50"/>     <img height="70" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fialogo3.gif" width="70"/> 
 
The global agreement was signed by Endesa Chairman Rodolfo Martín Villa and CEO Rafael Miranda Robredo; by Josu Frade, General Secretary of the Spanish industrial workers' union FIA-UGT; by Ignacio Fernández Toxo, General Secretary of the Spanish mining and metallurgy workers' federation FM-CC.OO; and by Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Both the Spanish unions are ICEM affiliates. 
<img height="136" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endesasig1.jpg" width="175"/><img height="137" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endesasig2.jpg" width="175"/>
At the signing (l. to r.): FM-CC.OO's General Secretary Ignacio Fernández Toxo; Endesa Corporate Human Resource Manager Germán Medina; the interpreter; ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs; FIA-UGT General Secretary Josu Frade; Endesa's CEO Rafael Miranda; Chairman Rodolfo Martín Villa; and José Bogas, General Manager of Electricity Business. 
photos: Endesa 
 
The union rights, safety and training provisions of the new global agreement are specifically linked to the international standards set by the Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). The agreement also includes commitments to "providing the highest possible standards of service" and to "support and maintenance of Endesa's expansion plans to enable its activities and employment to grow". 

<img height="199" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endesa2.jpg" width="193"/>
 Endesa employs about 28,000 people worldwide in electricity, gas, mining and a number of other sectors. 
photo: Endesa 

The new global council will include one union representative from "every country outside of Spain wherever Endesa has companies that it controls." All unions taking part must be affiliated to the ICEM. In addition, the ICEM gains the right to send a representative to the existing union-management meetings at the Spanish level, whenever these deal with topics that have an international dimension. 
 
Endesa is one of the world's major private electricity groups, with a total installed capacity of 43 000 MW, a distributed capacity of 165 000 GWh and 20 million customers in 12 countries. It also has interests in gas distribution, mining, water treatment, telecommunications and new technologies. It employs about 28,000 people worldwide, of whom approximately 15,000 are in Spain. 

<img height="208" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/endesa3.jpg" width="201"/>
 Union rights, health and safety, vocational training, labour relations, company prospects, employment trends - all topics for discussion in the new global union-management council. 
Photo: Endesa 

"This new agreement is a major step forward both for Endesa's workers and for the company," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in Madrid this afternoon. "It ensures that ICEM-affiliated unions are fully recognised in the company's operations worldwide, and gives them a proper say. At the same time, it gives the company a guarantee of the workforce's commitment to the highest standards of service worldwide and to ENDESA's expansion plans. The linkage to ILO standards is an important yardstick. It also ensures that the agreement is fully compatible with the UN's Global Compact initiative and will hel"We congratulate Endesa and our Spanish affiliates on their far-sightedness," Higgs added. "We already have global agreements with the energy multinational Statoil and the materials multinational Freudenberg, and we are in the process of negotiating a number of other agreements with global companies in our sectors. In their own interests, as well as those of their workers, we urge multinationals in all the ICEM's industries to conclude global agreements with us as soon as possible."

Endesa Signs Global Framework Agreement

American oil workers have accepted an offer from Shell Oil and its affiliated companies that will set the pattern for all contracts covered under the National Oil Bargaining Agreement. 
 
The settlement was announced today by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) union. 
 
Under the "pattern bargaining" system, pay deals with other companies covered by the National Oil Bargaining Agreement must meet this pattern settlement in order for the union to approve them. The previous national agreement expired today, and the new settlement will set the pattern for some 30,000 workers in the US oil and gas industry. 
 
"In view of the events of recent months and the decline of the economic climate, this settlement represents optimism on the part of the oil industry and our membership," said PACE Administrative Vice President Jim Pannell. "We find ourselves in an increasingly difficult bargaining atmosphere. However, I feel we were able to reach an agreement that all involved can take pride in." 
 
"This is the first round of bargaining in oil under our new merged union, and pattern bargaining has remained intact and effective," said PACE President Boyd Young. 
 
Main points of the pattern settlement, which applies up to 31 Jan. 2006: 
 
Wages: 
 
Effective Feb. 1 2002, all hourly wage rates will be increased by 85 US cents per hour. 
 
Effective Feb. 1 2003, all hourly wage rates will be increased by 3.5 percent. 
 
Effective Feb. 1 2004, all hourly wage rates will be increased 3.7 percent. 
 
Effective Feb. 1 2005, all hourly wage rates will be increased 4 percent. 
 
Percentage increases will be rounded to the nearest cent. 
 
Health insurance: Employers reaffirmed their commitment to pay 80 percent of health insurance premiums, with employees contributing 20 percent of the cost. 
 
Shift bonuses go up, from today, by 75 cents per hour for the 3 p.m. - 11 p.m. shift and by $1.50 per hour for the 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift. 
 
The existing occupational death benefit of $250 000 will be increased to $500 000 for death which occurs as a direct result of a work accident. 
 
- Various provisions on job security and health and safety are carried over into the new collective agreement. 
 
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

Pay Deal Sets Pattern For US Oil Industry

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today, the Global Union Federations express "grave concern about the attack by the Israeli airforce which we understand took place in the early morning on February 17 on the headquarters of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions, an organisation affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), our partner in the global unions family." 
 
The Global Union Federations are sector-by-sector worldwide trade union organisations. They include the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Today's letter was sent on their behalf by David Cockroft, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). 
 
The bombed Palestinian union headquarters was "built with the support of the international labour movement," Cockroft tells Sharon. The building "was apparently severely damaged in this attack. I am sure that you will agree that military assaults on legitimate civil institutions like trade unions have nothing to do with the fight against terrorism. Such attacks risk instead damaging the functioning of legitimate, democratic civil institutions and movements, movements that will be essential on both sides in any future lasting peace for the region." 
 
The Global Union Federations therefore call on the Israeli government to "publicly investigate the circumstances behind this air attack on the PGFTU and to make appropriate compensation to the organisation for what was, we hope, accidental damage to their headquarters and property." 
 
In a similar protest to Sharon, the ICFTU said it was "appalled" by the bombing.

Israel Bombs Palestinian Trade Union HQ

Moss Evans, an outstanding leader of the British and international trade union movements, died in England on 12 January at the age of 76. 
 
 

<img height="267" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/mossevans.jpg" width="239"/>
 
He was born into an impoverished Welsh mining family which later moved to the industrial city of Birmingham in search of work. There, the young Moss Evans took a series of industrial jobs and soon became involved in trade unionism. By 1951, he was a shop steward, and in 1956 he became a full-time district union officer. In 1966, he moved to the London headquarters of the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G), where he consecutively led its sections for engineering, oil and chemicals and the motor industry. He was elected as the T&G General Secretary in 1978. 
 
An active internationalist, Moss Evans was from 1983 to 1986 the President of the ICEF, a forerunner of the present-day International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). With great skill, he guided the International through the most difficult period of its history, and the ICEM owes much of its strength to his dedication and foresight. 
 
Throughout his retirement, he maintained a lively interest in the ICEM and its campaigns. In November 1999, he was a guest of honour at the ICEM World Congress in Durban, South Africa, where he took part in the Unite And Organise march held by delegates from ICEM unions worldwide. (Our photo was taken at that rally). 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs comments: "Having known Moss Evans ever since we were officers of the same union, and having served under his leadership at the T&G, I know he was a giant in terms of his ability as a trade union leader. He was always great company and support for all of those around him and he will be sorely missed by his family, his friends and the whole of the trade union movement."

Tribute To Moss Evans

"We condemn in the strongest terms any government or multinational company that does not allow collective bargaining." That was the clear statement from South African President Nelson Mandela this morning in Johannesburg. He was meeting representatives of unions worldwide that organise within the biggest global minerals company, Rio Tinto. 
 
 

<img height="257" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/riojh.gif" width="380"/>
UNITED FOR LABOUR RIGHTS 
l. to. r. former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, South African miners' President James Motlatsi, South African President Nelson Mandela, Australian miners' President John Maitland, ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe 
(photo: Oscar G.) 
As for South Africa, Mandela said, "Collective bargaining is firmly entrenched in our laws." 
 
South Africa is one of the countries where Rio Tinto is under fire for anti-trade union policies. 
 
Another is Australia, where the multinational is embroiled in major disputes over its attempts to de-unionise mines and halt collective bargaining. 
 
Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke headed the delegation from the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) which met President Mandela this morning. 
 
The ICEM's aim is to make Rio Tinto "a good corporate citizen," Hawke told a press conference. The minerals giant, which operates more than 60 mines in 40 countries, employs some 51,000 people directly, and many more through subcontractors. Its anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for ICEM trade union networking. 
 
Hawke mocked the company's "psycho-babble" about its "relationship" with its workers. In fact, Hawke said, Rio Tinto are "mining our resources while they undermine our unions." 
 
The Hawke-Mandela meeting will come as a blow to Australia's anti-union federal government, which has given political and legislative support to Rio Tinto's union-busting. 
 
Organised by the ICEM, the Johannesburg conference is continuing until Monday 9 February. It involves some 40 representatives of unions from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Namibia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, UK, USA and Zimbabwe. All represent workers in major Rio Tinto operations. 
 
Hosting the event is South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The union's President James Motlatsi, who is an ICEM Vice-President, said the NUM was targeting Rio Tinto and other mining companies operating in South Africa because of the "atrocities" in their work practices. The Johannesburg conference is part of something new and big in world trade unionism, Motlatsi said. "We realise this will be a long-term process, and we are ready for the long haul." 
 
"It is time that we called Rio Tinto to account," ICEM Australian Vice-President John Maitland told the Johannesburg conference. Maitland is General President of the ICEM-affiliated mining and allied workers' union CFMEU, which has been the main target of Rio Tinto's anti-union strategies in Australia. 
 
Rio Tinto "says it plays by the rules, but where it doesn't like the rules it gets them changed," Maitland told his international audience. "Mike Angwin, a senior Rio Tinto manager, was lent to the [Australian federal] government expressly for the purpose of rewriting Australian laws to make it harder for unions to represent workers." 
 
And Maitland warned unions from other countries: "If Rio Tinto hasn't come for you yet, it is only a matter of time until they do." Globally, Maitland insisted, "we must say that fundamental labour rights are not negotiable. That the right to freedom of association and to bargain collectively should not only be a right but should be actively promoted. That as a global corporate citizen Rio Tinto must respect these basic labour rights." 
 
All this implied that unions must organise globally, as well as nationally and locally. The ICEM is, Maitland said, "an international union which has repeatedly proven its worth in taking on the big and the unaccountable of this world." 
 
The call for global union organising around the Rio Tinto issue was backed by ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. The Johannesburg meeting would develop strategies to tackle Rio Tinto's practices, Thorpe said. This would entail mobilising the ICEM's 20 million members on all continents, but would also mean building alliances with other groups that identify Rio Tinto as a "rogue company." The minerals giant has come under growing attack by community groups worldwide over its poor social and environmental record.

"Defend Collective Bargaining" Mandela Tells World's Rio Tinto Unions

POWERING UP, the world energy conference of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), ended in Cork, Ireland, today with the adoption of an action programme to further the ICEM's aim of uniting and organising energy workers everywhere. 
 
The conference was the biggest ever, bringing together some 300 union leaders representing about 9 million energy workers in 50 countries. 
 
Unanimously re-elected as the chairman of the ICEM's energy section was Lars Myhre, President of the Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF. It was agreed that the vice-chair will be a Japanese electricity union leader, to be appointed by the electric power workers' federation Denryokusoren. The ICEM energy section will also be introducing a steering committee, whose composition will reflect the ICEM's different regions. 
 
The conference ended with a call for a halt to further privatisation and deregulation of the world's energy industries, so as to create a pause for reflection on the results of this process so far. 
 
"There is an alternative," ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe insisted. "The alternative is us."

World's Energy Workers Power Up

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