English

Español

Français

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 Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

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

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img height="97" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Whereas, the dispute between the workers of the National Federation of &ldquo;Chemistry&rdquo; &ndash; CL &ndash; &ldquo;Podkrepa, ICEM affiliate in Bulgaria, and their employer, Turkey-based Sisecam, continues at two glass plants of the Group in Targovishte, Bulgaria; 
 
Whereas, the workers have been on strike since May 19, 2007, demanding a proper payment for night work, as well as for work performed during overtime, beyond the country&rsquo;s legal minimum wage; 
 
Whereas, the workers merely demand their rights, as already guaranteed under existing Bulgarian labour law, and a signed collective agreement with their company; 
 
Whereas, the company continues its resistance toward a reasonable collective agreement and engages in blatant anti-union behaviour; 
 
 
Be it resolved, that the participants at the ICEM regional conference for Central Europe, meeting in Hungary on 5 and 6 June 2007,&nbsp;strongly support the Sisecam workers in their legitimate struggle for justice; 
 
Be it further resolved that the participants vigorously condemn the actions taken by the company to threaten workers, as well as the Bulgarian Government, with withdrawing investment in Bulgaria if existing labour laws are not changed, and if the union does not halt the strike.

ICEM resolution on Sisecam dispute in Bulgaria

<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
ICEM Affiliates: HIV/AIDS Activities Pick up 
 
ICEM affiliates in Botswana organised a series of meetings on HIV/AIDS policy, peer education, and voluntary counselling and testing. The National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) has shown an interest in the unions&rsquo; programme. 
 
In Tanzania, ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO organised training workshops for peer educators at the Mbeya Labour College and in Dar-es-Salaam. A separate seminar was held for members from the Kiwira Coal Mine. 
 
Workplace union representatives were the target group of a training seminar in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire which dealt with behaviour change communication, the rights of HIV-positive workers, and the essential elements of workplace policies. 
 
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, two training workshops for peer educators were held in Kinshasa and Moanda, which is a town on the border with Angola where prevalence is high. 
 
All these activities were supported with funds for national activities from the LO/TCO-FNV Mondiaal HIV/AIDS project.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
ICEM Regional Meetings in Africa 
 
At the Regional Women&rsquo;s Conference in Johannesburg, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa presented a resolution on the gender dynamics of HIV/AIDS. Women need to be empowered to take control of sexual behaviour, especially condom use. HIV/AIDS and women workers has been made one of the priorities for the work of the women&rsquo;s committee in the coming years. 
 
Several speakers at the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, referred to the importance of behaviour change, the need for testing, and the necessity for a wider availability of anti-retroviral drugs. HIV/AIDS must be considered a disease like any other. Only then can stigma, which prevents people from knowing their status, be eliminated. 
 
The host unions in Botswana reported on a successful campaign when, on one day, 350 people were tested in Silebe Phikwe, a mining town with one of the highest prevalence rates in the country. Sadly, however, a delegate from Zimbabwe described a bleak situation where people prefer not to be tested because ARVs are not available.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Tanzania: Hope to AIDS Sufferers 
 
As more and more people visit Care and Treatment Centres (CTC), the number of HIV patients on anti-retroviral treatment has doubled in just over a year. 
 
The increase has been attributed to the introduction of &ldquo;fellows&rdquo; trained by the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/AIDS Foundation, an NGO jointly initiated by former presidents of Tanzania and of the US, Benjamin Mkapa and Bill Clinton, respectively. 
 
These so-called fellows address the gaps in human resources for the public health sector, which is key in scaling up HIV/AIDS care and treatment. 
 
Setting a good example, the current President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, publicly took an HIV/AIDS test. 
 
(Source: East African, Nairobi, 24 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
India: 2.5 Million People Living with HIV, According to New Estimates 
 
The new 2006 estimates, released on 6 July by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country. These estimates are more accurate than those of previous years, as they are based on an expanded surveillance system and a revised and enhanced methodology. 
 
The revised estimates will be used to improve planning for prevention, care and treatment efforts. &ldquo;While it is good news that the total number of HIV infections is lower than previously thought, we cannot be complacent. The steady and slow spread of the HIV infection is a worrying factor. The better understanding of India&rsquo;s epidemic has certainly enabled us to have more focused HIV prevention and treatment strategies and more effective deployment of resources,&rdquo; said Mr. Naresh Dayal, Secretary of Health and Chair of the National AIDS Control Board. 
 
Commenting on the new estimates and guarding against their misinterpretation, Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization said, &ldquo;The calculation of figures for several years, using the new model helps us understand that the new lower estimates do not mean a sharp decline in the epidemic.&rdquo; She cautioned against easing off the momentum of the HIV response. 
 
Comments by the editor of this e-bulletin. Hans Schwass: The 2006 UNAIDS epidemic update put the 2005 figure for India at approximately 5.7 million with a variance of 3.4 to 9.4 million. This made India the country with the highest absolute number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. 
 
Prof. James Chin, former unit chief at the WHO Global Programme on AIDS, says that UNAIDS has overestimated HIV prevalence in a large number of countries. He goes on to say that exaggerating the numbers will cause a backlash and damage support from the public and policymakers. He acknowledges, however, that the pandemic is severe in a large number of regions and countries and that it requires that AIDS programmes continue to receive the highest public health priority and funding. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 6 July and The Monitor, Kampala, 28 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
HIV: A Time Bomb for the Mining Industry? 
 
Mining companies all over the world have belatedly realised that at a time of booming demand for minerals, HIV/AIDS is hampering their operations. 
 
Mining areas regularly have a higher prevalence rate than the national average. In South Africa, the infection rate is nearly double that of the general working population; in the Russian mining town of Irkutsk, it is three times higher than the national average. To a large extent, this is due to the working and living conditions of mine workers and the high rate of migrant workers who are employed in the industry and who have to leave their families behind. Remote mining sites also attract commercial sex workers. 
 
Brian Brink, Senior Vice President Health of AngloAmerican mining house in South Africa, admits that despite all their efforts, they did not stop the epidemic. A lot of cases still go undiagnosed and do not get reported. In India, where the prevalence rate is still low (see previous article), there are areas where the rate is around 1%. &ldquo;In the early 1990s, that is where we were and then it is very difficult to stop,&rdquo; declared Brink. &ldquo;Other countries must not fall into the same trap as South Africa, said Lennox Mekuto, Health and Safety Officer of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). 
 
(Source: The Namibian, Windhoek, 13 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
News from ILOAIDS 
 
Edwin Cameron, Judge at the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, gave a talk at the ILO on 19 June on &ldquo;Legislating an Epidemic: The Challenge of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace.&rdquo; The talk was given on the background of the ILO having started work on developing a Recommendation on HIV/AIDS in the World of Work, following a decision of the Governing Body in March 2007. 
 
On a workplace perspective, Judge Cameroon made three propositions: that the effects of the epidemic on the workplace are distinctive, and must be distinctively addressed; that in countries where the epidemic has taken hold or threatens, the response by unions, employers, and governments to workplace issues has not been sufficient; and that the workplace offers a particularly appropriate location for addressing HIV-related issues. 
 
He went on to say that since the adoption of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work in 2001, the epidemic has moved fast and that some aspects of the Code seem outdated now. He gave two reasons: the Code elides treatment and its approach to testing is antiquated. 
 
On treatment Judge Cameron argued that since 2001, large-scale provision of anti-retroviral treatment, even in resource-poor settings, has proven to be effective and feasible. 
 
The Code is fully five years behind. Encouraging access to anti-retroviral treatment should now be a cornerstone of every employer&rsquo;s policy in every country where the epidemic has taken hold. Although it probably remains too ambitious to want to oblige employers to provide ARVs, they should certainly be obliged to assist and to provide information on ARVs, and to provide assistance in accessing them. The fact is, the workplace is an ideal environment for treatment literacy campaigns, for partnering treatment roll-out programmes, and even for directly observed treatment supervision. 
 
On HIV testing, he maintained that the Code&rsquo;s approach is out-dated. In the present climate of continuing stigma, amid the availability of treatment, the Code&rsquo;s approach to treatment is even retrogressive. It was valid before large-scale treatment became available and at a time when testing was all too frequently merely an excuse to discriminate and exclude. 
 
Thus the Code cautions that testing should not automatically be carried out in the workplace and that it should be strictly confidential and with informed consent. The debate about testing has moved far beyond these constricting parameters. Where non-discrimination protections do exist, and where confidentiality is assured, testing should be actively encouraged &ndash; not hedged around with impediments. The ability to establish your HIV status should be celebrated as a means of self-knowledge, self-empowerment, and as a portal to treatment. According to Cameron, the Code&rsquo;s approach badly needs an over-haul. 
 
Judge Cameron declared his HIV positive status publicly some time ago and is, as he stated, &ldquo;proudly and openly gay.&rdquo; At the ILO, he went on to say, &ldquo;I owe my own presence with you here in Geneva today to anti-retroviral medication. I started taking ARVs nearly ten years ago, in November 1997, when I was very sick with AIDS and facing death. I have been on the same drug combination for nearly seven years &ndash; since early 2001.&rdquo;
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (Nos. 24 and 25 of 1 and 15 July) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>, reports, among other items, on plans by India&rsquo;s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to increase the number of condom vending machines from 600,000 to 3 million. Condom promotion is one of the priority areas for NACO in HIV prevention. It also reports on a new public/private partnership to use cell phones to bolster care and treatment in ten African countries.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 &amp; 23

Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/p&acirc;te et de papier/pulp y papel 
Urgent Alert, Sappi/South Africa: Voice Opposition, Support CEPPWAWU 
 
ICEM is calling for immediate action to a union-smashing affront by Sappi at its Enstra mill in Springs, South Africa. Sappi suspended 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers due to their union affiliation with Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), a longtime ICEM affiliate. 
Starting on 6 May, SAPPI systematically and maliciously began taking disciplinary actions against CEPPWAWU leaders inside the 650-worker Enstra sulfate pulp and printing papers mill. The allegations: inciting workers (90% of whom are CEPPWAWU members), harassment, and use of company property for union purposes. At a 28 May meeting, SAPPI said it would start disciplinary hearings on them, hearings that will be one-sided and unfair. The ICEM urges that messages get sent and that this posting gets wide attention: union bashing will not be tolerated in South Africa! 
 
ICEM finds it reprehensible that SAPPI refuses meeting participation by CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s National Coordinator for Sappi branches, and called it &ldquo;a blight on Sappi everywhere,&rdquo; in a letter to SAPPI house in South Africa. The ICEM calls it a blatant violation of basic trade union rights and this union-bashing merits immediate condemnation. Respond! 
 
Take the message below, and send to Enstra manager Dave Glazebrook at <a href="mailto:dave.glazebrook@sappi.com">dave.glazebrook@sappi.com</a> and <a href="mailto:Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com">Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com</a>, <a href="mailto:Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com">Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com</a>, and then pass it to others to do the same: 
 
Sappi: Hands Off Union at Enstra. 
 
NO!!! &hellip; Union Bashing in South Africa! 
No &hellip; no suspending Union Rights in South Africa! This is malicious, anti-democratic, and anti-people &hellip; there is no room for it in economic recovery. Sappi cannot afford disrepute now or ever in its paper businesses. Reinstate the workers&rsquo; representatives and others at Enstra Now. These trade union members have been incriminated because they represent Sappi&rsquo;s biggest trade union in South Africa. It is deplorable labour-relations and employment conduct &hellip; and a cancer inside South Africa. Trade union rights at Enstra &ndash; anywhere at Sappi &hellip; Europe, North America, or in South Africa &ndash; are guaranteed and will never be denied! 
 
 
Please send solidarity messages to CEPPWAWU: <a href="mailto:secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za">secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za</a>

SAPPI: Act Now!!

Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/pâte et de papier/pulp y papel

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Seven sit-ins at rural offices of three MPs and four Ministers &ndash; including Canada&rsquo;s Finance, Treasury, and Inter-Governmental Affairs Ministries &ndash; got Stephen Harper&rsquo;s attention and the question now is will his government listen. Tomorrow, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union will stage another manifestation on the crisis facing the forest sector, this time a protest and march that will lead to direct face-to-face talks with the Harper team in Ottawa. 
The sit-ins were carried out early last week in an escalating strategy by the CEP to spotlight the mass job and social loss that has overtaken forest-based communities across Canada. CEP is adamant that it is Harper&rsquo;s responsibility to find the answers. And CEP is ready to work with government to ensure the correct measures are found. 
<img src="" width="200" height="148" alt="" />
March and Rally 
Tuesday, June 2
The sit-ins follow mid-May strategy meetings and a protest at AbitibiBowater&rsquo;s headquarters in Montr&eacute;al. That protest was directed more at the Harper government than at the bankrupt newsprint company. Last week&rsquo;s sit-ins at the rural offices of key lawmakers mean this issue will stay focused on rural Canada&rsquo;s very survival and way-of-life. 
Tomorrow, 2 June, at 11h30 in Ottawa, the CEP will rally first at the offices of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Riatt and then march to Prime Minister Stephen Harper&rsquo;s building. They then will meet with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose Ontario offices in Whitby-Oshawa were the only CEP-occupied offices not in a rural area. 
Six of the seven sit-ins across four of Canada&rsquo;s provinces produced immediate results. Three sit-ins occurred in rural government offices in Qu&eacute;bec, two in British Colombia, and one each in New Brunswick and Ontario. In British Colombia, an MP, Jay Hill, a lead Tory whip in Ottawa from Prince George/Peace River riding, was the only legislator refusing CEP&rsquo;s invitation to discuss the crisis. At the other occupation in British Colombia, inside the offices of John Duncan, Vancouver Island North riding, the CEP spokesman for the occupying team, promised, &ldquo;We plan to keep on making noise and do whatever we have to do&rdquo; to move this government to action. 
<img src="" width="180" height="109" alt="" />
The CEP is demanding financial support for the industry at the federal level. The union is also demanding iron-clad protections on pensions, something that will not be compromised. And CEP will insist tomorrow that the Harper government must enact industry tax relief for companies&rsquo; converting black-liquor from the wood-pulp process to energy. That set of tax breaks exists for pulp and paper firms in the US and the CEP insists on a level playing field. 
The CEP is also demanding a national summit on the forestry crisis in which key stakeholders will decide on strict guidelines aimed at employment stabilisation and forest regeneration measures. The sit-ins made one targeted politician jump on that idea quickly. In Qu&eacute;bec, the Minister for Inter-Governmental Affairs, said she will convene such a summit. 
ICEM affiliate CEP calculates that 55,000 jobs in the forestry sector have been lost over the past two years alone. Far more were lost in earlier years. The impact of these good-paying jobs on others in rural communities &ndash; when those jobs disappear &ndash; is immense and the ripple effects must be multiplied to get the real economic picture.

Canadian Ministry Sit-ins Awaken Stephen Harper to Jobs Crisis

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Australian trade unions have won a first round by stomping on a Rudd government plan to raise the pension age to 67 by the year 2023. This story serves as a global reminder that Australian trade unions will not let down their guard and will prevent a labour government from rolling back into the Howard era. 
 
The plan came inside a Treasury budget proposal to gradually increase the pension age beginning in 2017. Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and other unions, including the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), posted immediate challenges and Kevin Rudd backed down. 

<img height="93" alt="" src="" width="90" />
But the plan will likely re-surface in coming years, and trade unions now are well placed for full engagement. CFMEU, AMWU, and others correctly label the measure, &ldquo;a path to the false economy&rdquo; and point out that the proposed retirement system unfairly affects low-paid, blue-collar workers, particularly those doing physical labour in construction and industrial sectors. The government&rsquo;s plan disregards future health-care disabilities and the needed funds to maintain an effective and inclusive medical social net. 

<img height="132" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ACTU President Sharon Burrow
ACTU President Sharon Burrow aptly stated that workers&rsquo; bodies are &ldquo;broken way before&rdquo; they reach age 67. Research polling showed that 72% of Australians think the Rudd government plan is unfair to labourers, while 61% think it is unfair to trades and crafts workers. 
 
Separately and a fairer proposal,&nbsp;in a joint letter to Rudd by CFMEU National Secretary John Sutton and AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver, they&nbsp;said&nbsp;roll-backs of&nbsp;tax concessions on superannuation accounts should be a priority&nbsp;in order to raise revenue. By raising the eligibility threshold at which tax relief is granted on superannuations, the unions maintain, Australia creates equality and fairness for all. 
 
The ICEM commends the CFMEU and AMWU, and all Australian unions, for leading a rapid vanguard over this issue and supports future efforts of trade unions to block similar regressive and anti-people policies.

Australian Unions Push Back Over Pension Age Issue

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Labour unrest by French, Spanish, Italian, and other workers at French MNC Saint-Gobain continued last week, with the heaviest coming in France. This follows a European-wide manifestation at Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s head office in Paris on 20 May, which occurred during Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s social dialogue meetings. 
 
European trade unions at Saint-Gobain, a glass and building materials manufacturer, are protesting further restructuring, which to them means job loss and social dumping. The resulting industrial actions inside Saint-Gobain factories attest to collective rejection of both. 
 
Strikes inside a factory in the Charente region of France have crimped production and interrupted orders. Workers feel cheated because &ldquo;efficiency bonuses&rdquo; have not been paid as promised, at a time when Saint-Gobain is coming for another round of restructuring. Protests have spread to Vauxrot and Ch&acirc;lon-sur-Sa&ocirc;ne in France in a show of visible frustration and worker rebellion. 

<img src="" width="256" height="192" alt="" />
In Spain, at Sekurit worksites in Avil&eacute;s and Arb&oacute;s, local managers are skittish following a furnace accident and blame the French corporate group for mandating further the social cuts that nobody wants. Spanish unions point to management ineptitude on the part of both local and Paris levels, and worry that research and development in Avil&eacute;s might be in jeopardy. 
 
In Italy, unions in all three federations &ndash; FILCEM-CGIL, FEMCA-CISL, and ILCEM-UIL &ndash; jointly manifested at Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s regional office in Milan, while jointly conducting timely four-hour work stoppages at Italian plants. They reject the company&rsquo;s decision to close a Sekurit plant in Savigliano, northern Italy, cut in half the number of staff at another Cuneo region plant, this time in Cervas, a glass-to-appliance factory, and workers at the Flovetro plant in Chieti, central Italy, have serious concerns over continued production. 
 
Nationally in France, similar to union convergence in Italy, the CFDT, CGT, and FO have teamed to pressure the Saint-Gobain Works Council to look first at workers&rsquo; interests. That happened again last week, on 26 May, and the bond between French unions has gotten stronger, providing the needed pressure point on both Saint-Gobain and the WC. 
 
In Liverdun, along the French Moselle, the mayor of that city recently stricken by Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s factory cuts said it strikes fear in him each time he thinks of the difficulties that the discarded workers of Saint-Gobain now must face.

European Labour Unrest Spreads to Saint-Gobain, Glass Sector

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The first collective agreement between nickel miners and smelting workers of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Ontario, Canada, and Companhia Vale do Rio Dice (Vale) of Brazil expired over the weekend, but the two sides have extended the current three-year agreement until 12 July in order to give more time to resolve issues. 
 
The USW represents some 4,500 workers at Sudbury, Ontario, site of one of the world&rsquo;s largest nickel processing operations, and another 180 at Vale&rsquo;s Port Colborne, Ontario, facility. Both USW branches are bargaining jointly on a common labour agreement. It is the first time that the USW and Vale have negotiated in Ontario&rsquo;s copper and nickel belt since the world&rsquo;s biggest iron ore miner bought Inco late in 2006. 

<img src="" width="160" height="88" alt="" />
At that time, USW held talks with Brazilian managers and laid forward a set of social principles that the union expects the company to follow in Canada. USW also crafted a Solidarity Statement called the &ldquo;Sudbury Accord&rdquo; in 2006 between Canadian, Brazilian, and other trade unions, calling for global bargaining power at all Vale worksites. 
 
Speaking on the extension, a company spokesman told the Sudbury Star newspaper that it shows a &ldquo;continued willingness for the two parties to keep working together to achieve an outcome, a successful outcome.&rdquo; The USW is holding membership meetings today and tomorrow, 1-2 June, to inform members on the outstanding issues, and to get direct feedback. 
 
Sudbury area and Port Colborne USW members did vote overwhelmingly for a strike mandate on 21 May. The USW had another collective agreement which was earlier extended with Vale at Voisey Bay, Newfoundland. That contract expired 1 May 2009. 
 
These are the not the first set of collective negotiations in Canada between the USW and Vale. Last September, 1,300 miners in Thompson, Manitoba, ratified a three-year contract with the Brazilian mining company.

USW’s Canadian Miners Extend Labour Agreement with Vale

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Thousands of workers took to the streets of Islamabad, Pakistan, last week, on 26 May, calling for improvements to the National Pay Scale in the next federal budget, as well as demanding that the Pakistani government shelve plans to privatize national utilities. The march last Tuesday arrived at the National Parliament where the assembled workers presented a detailed memorandum, containing their demands, addressed to the Speaker of the Parliament. 
 
Public owned industries that are at risk of being privatized include electricity, rail, postal, oil and gas, and the national steel mills. 
 
The proud ICEM affiliate, the Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU), took a leading role in organizing the rally. Also central to the demands of the assembled workers is the issue of Contract and Agency Labour. A strong call has been issued that enterprises must treat these workers on an equal basis with regular employees. Outdated labour laws, including the Industrial Relations Act, are clearly in need of reform, according to unions. 
 
An encouraging sign of government response was the successful meeting of the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Asraf, with WAPDA on 23 May. The Minister discussed strategies to combat the national energy shortage and pledged to bring a halt to this shortage by the end of 2009. The Minister also discussed new projects scheduled, including a new power plant in Lahore, an energy deal with Turkey, and continued work on hydro projects in Neelum-Jahlum and Bhasha Dam. 
 
The meeting between the ICEM affiliate and the Energy Minister also achieved a regularization of daily wage employees of WAPDA Water and Power, and a grant of 45 percent of housing rent for WAPDA employees, as well as the building of a 50 bed hospital for Wapda employees in Larkana.

Pakistan’s Trade Union WAPDA Demonstrates for Improved Wages and Conditions

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The Spanish union, FIA-UGT, representing chemical, energy, mining, and textile workers of that labour federation held its Fifth Ordinary Congress from 14-16 May in Tarragona, Spain, with some 400 delegates attending. 
 
The theme was Todas y Todos, or Women and Men All Together. The Congress adopted two new departments, Equalities and Union Elections. 
 
FIA-UGT&rsquo;s traditional international mission was an important focus at the Congress, with three videos highlighting major efforts undertaken by the union in Latin America. One of the most important decisions taken by the Congress was to start talks with the agricultural and food workers&rsquo; union, FTA-UGT, toward a merged union. 
 
The President of ICEM-affiliated Colombian trade union, SINTRAELECOL, Danuil Gomez,&nbsp;addressed the Congress and thanked FIA-UGT for its continuing solidarity efforts with Colombian workers, as well as in building an effective ENDESA workers&rsquo; network. 

<img height="136" alt="" src="" width="141" />
FIA-UGT General Secretary Antonio Deusa Perazo
FIA-UGT General Secretary Antonio Deusa Perazo was re-elected to lead the union, and an Executive Committee also was elected. 
 
They Executive Committee includes: Paula Guill&eacute;n Lerma, Secretary of Organisation and Communication; Ram&oacute;n Ruiz D&iacute;az, Secretary of Trade Union Action; Bego&ntilde;a Abdelkader, Secretary of Administration; Montserrat L&oacute;pez Garc&iacute;a de la Torre, International Secretary; Francisco Ligero Pozo, Secretary Health and Safety; Eugenia Mart&iacute;n Abdrada, Union Elections Secretary; Paula Alv&eacute;s Da Silva, Equalities Secretary; Francisco Durb&aacute;n Mart&iacute;n, Secretary of Training; Victor Fern&aacute;ndez V&aacute;zquez, Mining Secretary; Jos&eacute; Carlos Ru&iacute;z Palacios, Chemicals Secretary; Manuel Garc&iacute;a Sanchez, Energy Secretary; and Jos&eacute; Emilio Mesa Ortega, Textile Secretary. 
 
The ICEM looks forward to continued cooperation with FIA-UGT&rsquo;s Antonio Deusa and members of the union&rsquo;s Executive Committee.

FIA-UGT Hold Congress in Spain, Re-Elect Antonio Deusa General Secretary

Archive

ICEM resolution on Sisecam dispute in Bulgaria

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 & 23

SAPPI: Act Now!!

Sappi: pulp & paper/pâte et de papier/pulp y papel

Canadian Ministry Sit-ins Awaken Stephen Harper to Jobs Crisis

Australian Unions Push Back Over Pension Age Issue

European Labour Unrest Spreads to Saint-Gobain, Glass Sector

USW’s Canadian Miners Extend Labour Agreement with Vale

Pakistan’s Trade Union WAPDA Demonstrates for Improved Wages and Conditions

FIA-UGT Hold Congress in Spain, Re-Elect Antonio Deusa General Secretary

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us