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The Brussels-based International Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) Women's Committee 24 August narrowed its focus to health and safety issues and better communication through the Internet. Reviewing an 11-point Programme adopted this past April in Bucharest, Romania, the Women's Committee agenda also included a commitment to achieve equal pay/equal treatment language in ICEM Global Agreements with multinational firms. 
 
 

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The ICEM's statutory committee opened week-long meetings here yesterday of the Third ICEM World Congress in Stavanger, Norway. 
 
The committee established a 7-member working group to prepare health/safety and other specific proposals for the next Women's meeting at the June 2004 ICEM Executive Committee gathering. The working group: Lillian Knudsen, KAD, Denmark; Binda Pandey, NICIWU, Nepal; Jeannette vanDongen, FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands; Tania Bowers, NUM, South Africa; Lindiwe Ngobese, Chemical Workers' Union, South Africa; Val Burn, T&amp;G, United Kingdom; and Women's Committee Chair Genia Essenina, Inter-Regional Chemical Trade Union Sodrujestvo, Russia. 
 
 

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Essenina and former Women's Committee Chair Margaret Prosser also explained impending Congress issues to the 70 delegates, and encouraged women to network with each other and to speak out on all matters before Congress, which opens Thursday, 28 August. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs addressed the basic theme of Congress (Globalisation: Local Problems, International Solutions by Solidarity) and said the Women's Committee on the global level will only be as strong as it is in developing vibrant strategies and committees regionally and on the national level. 
 
The Women's Committee closed with a touching presentation to Prosser who, until April's Bucharest meetings, had chaired the group since it's founding in 1992. She was given a sculptured set of marble hands in the form of a door-knocker as a symbolic reminder that the hands of ICEM's women will ever be present with her as she enters retirement after a dedicated career as a trade union leader.

ICEM Women&#039;s Committee Sets Health and Safety Priorities

A s Thailand's labour unions gear up to protest the privatisation deadline of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the 20-million-member ICEM has weighed in against the restructuring plan by lodging a formal letter of complaint to the Thai government. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, writing to Prime Minister Dr. Thaskin Sinawatra on 11 August, stated: &quot;We write to you on behalf of our Thai affiliate, EGAT-LU, in order to express both our concern and our opposition to any further unilateral restructuring and privatisation of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.&quot; 
 
The government of Thailand has ignored numerous requests by EGAT-LU to meet over the matter. Higgs indicated in the letter that the Thai government is in violation of ILO Convention 98, or the right to collective bargaining since EGAT-LU legitimately represents the interests of workers employed by the utility. The government has also violated Convention 87 by using &quot;heavy-handed action&quot; by security forces to break up peaceful demonstrations by EGAT-LU and supporters opposing privatisation. 
 
&quot;Your government, by virtue of your membership of the ILO has an obligation to observe these conventions,&quot; Higgs wrote. 
 
He added, &quot;The public mandate of the EGAT is to provide safe, affordable and accessible energy to meet the needs of citizens and society as a whole. The ICEM strongly believes that access to energy services is a fundamental human right, provision of which fulfils basic social needs. There is ample evidence the world over, that privatisation of essential services inevitably leads to price hikes as electricity becomes a commodity that is traded for maximum profit.&quot; 
 
EGAT-LU, along with management of the utility, has conducted three large rallies in Bangkok protesting the government's plan. The latest on 29 July drew 30,000 demonstrators. A meeting with other Thai unions to discuss further mobilization against the plan is scheduled for 15 August, and another rally is tentatively set for 25 August. 
 
The Thai government has set 1 October as the date when EGAT will be transferred as a holding company, with the privatised firm to be listed on the Thailand stock exchange in February 2004. The government is acting under the 1999-enacted Corporatisation Act, one of several pieces of Thai legislation to satisfy the US$17.2 billion economic reform programme crafted in the mid-1990s by the International Monetary Fund.

ICEM Protests Thai Electric Privatisation

I CEM, on behalf of three Australian affiliates, has demanded to Bridgestone officials in Japan that it intervene to halt the planned lockout by Australian managers of 580 union workers at a tyre manufacturing plant in Salisbury, Adelaide. Australian management announced a two-week lockout from 12 August to 27 August over a failure it says in enterprise bargaining. 
 
&quot;This threat by your company of such action, and to drastic cuts in workers' salaries and conditions we understand has been the background under which our affiliates have been trying to negotiate to resolve this matter,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter dated 11 August to Shigeo Watanabe, Bridgestone's President and CEO. 
 
&quot;This (lockout) is clearly unacceptable behavior on the part of the Company. I request these threats be withdrawn, and that you intervene to create a constructive atmosphere for the resumption of negotiations with a view to resolving the matter.&quot; 
 
The three ICEM affiliates - the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU), the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) - have bargained in good faith under Australian Industrial Relations Commission directives. 
 
But Bridgestone has insisted on profound changes to the labour agreement, which expired 20 June. The company is seeking no guarantees of future wage increases unless workers meet productivity targets, an increase in work hours and drastic reductions to long-practiced entitlements. Workers have twice voted down the cuts, the latest 1 August by 492-34. 
 
&quot;Bridgestone's proposed solution for plant survival is to reduce employee entitlements and conditions, reduce their earnings with no guaranteed cost-of-living adjustments for three years,&quot; said Boyd MacRae, shop steward and Vice President of LHMU. 
 
&quot;Bridgestone executives are pocketing over $2 million a year in salaries and bonuses while they expect tyre workers to accept a reduction in real wages and conditions,&quot; added Chris Field, assistant secretary of LHMU.

Bridgestone Told to Halt Australian Lockout

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Per Capita Affiliation Fees: Effective 1 January 2004, annual per capita affiliation increases from CHF 2.1 to CHF 2.4. On 1 January in the following years: 2005, 2006, 2007; annual per capita affiliation fee increases with the rate of Belgian inflation effective in those years. 
Allocation of Regional Seats/Voting Procedures: Change Article 19 to reflect the distribution of allocated seats between countries within each Representative Region shall be by vote of the member unions within that region, voting on the basis of actual, paid up membership averaged over the three full calendar years prior to the year in which the Congress takes place, or pro rata for those organisations that have joined the International since the previous Congress. 
 
Time Period Between Congresses: That the next Congress, in 2007, revert back to the month of November. 
Minimum Affiliation Fees: Change Article 10 to remove the reference to minimum service fee payment under Category D of Affiliation fees. 
 
Central Europe Category Change: An emergency resolution that did receive the signatures of five affiliates from five separate countries, this resolution granted the move of Central Europe affiliates from Category B designation under Affiliation Fees to Category C. 
 
Nuclear Power: A general motion that the ICEM promote &ldquo;best practices&rdquo; in the nuclear energy industry to ensure the highest degree of health, safety and environmental protection, that was amended to include language adopted at the ICEM&rsquo;s Rome Energy Conference with reference to the ICEM shall turn to the Atomic Energy Agency and the ILO for unified standards within the industry. 
 
ICEM to be Part of the World Peace Movement: With an amendment, the ICEM will encourage its regions to forge alliances in campaigns for peace and social justice. The amendment calls for the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive to decide the guidelines concerning such regional alliances based on ILO Core Conventions and ICEM policies, and that the respective regions will keep the ICEM informed of developments. 
 
Labour Law in Peru: A general motion that states the ICEM supports immediate approval of the New General Labour Law of Peru and that the government adhere to specific labour standards including respecting the right to organize, engage in collective bargaining and the right to strike. It also calls on Peru to ratify ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in mining, that mining MNCs respect the environment and that the country&rsquo;s Mining Levy be distributed in its entirety to communities where the mineral deposits are extracted. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s Rio Tinto Global Union Network: Resolution proclaiming that the Rio Tinto Network will continue working on behalf on Rio Tinto workers, and will continue the united front to protest the mining company&rsquo;s anti-union practices. 
 
World Poverty: That ICEM affiliates exert influence over their national governments to eradicate world poverty by increasing the means for development cooperation, specifically through support of a minimum levy on currency speculation. 
 
Solidarity Compact: With such mobility in the labour force at present, that the ICEM study and assess the need for introducing a system where workers transferring between one country and another have the ability to consult and join the respective trade union in the new country. 
 
Global Union Reserves: The ICEM strive to intensify global union contacts with a view to promoting cooperation between national union organisations in the manufacturing sector and that the union structure of the future be made a theme of discussion at global union conferences. Also, a special study be made to highlight successful trade union cooperative efforts and mergers, and that a draft proposal of such be drawn up for the next ICEM Executive. 
 
Global Solidarity Projects: That the ICEM initiate closer cooperation with donors and that the International prepare projects ever more carefully and that the experience of the various projects be disseminated to the appropriate partners. With such projects, priority is given to regional coordination for follow-up and trade unions be identified as partners for future coordination. 
 
Global Agreements: That the work of achieving Global Agreements be intensified and that new Trade union networks be created and existing ones reinforced. This resolution calls on greater responsibility be given the regions to monitor and follow up on Global Agreements. 
 
Young Workers: That the ICEM Presidium be directed to develop a strategy of organising and promoting involvement of young workers into ICEM activities and structures. The resolution also calls for establishment of an ICEM youth committee to thus encourage follow-up at local, regional and national levels. 
 
Education and Training Curriculum: That the ICEM Presidium and Executive consider whether or not to establish a small committee charged with carrying out project work as it relates education and training of various aspects of globalisation. 
 
Burma: A resolution from Japanese affiliates firmly putting the ICEM on record condemning the military junta for its repressive regime of forced labour and denying democratic rights, and pledges the ICEM to stand with other global union federations seeking the immediate release of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders in the National League for Democracy of Burma currently being retained. 
 
ICEM Solidarity to Goodyear Workers in Guatemala: Support to the Goodyear tyre workers in Guatemala. 
 
Post Congress Activities Working Group: Endorsement and adoption by the 3rd ICEM World Congress of the document entitled Post Congress Activities Working Group, detailing priorities of the Secretariat in the next four-year period. 
 
Resolution on Colombia (Referred from Congress to Presidium; Presidium passed resolution, 9/10/03): A broad resolution calling for ICEM and other GUFs to provide necessary resources to heighten awareness to murders of workers and union officials in Colombia; denouncing government&rsquo;s position at ILO in 2003 denying fact-finding commission; urging country&rsquo;s Ministry of Mines and Energy to change privitisation policy; to censure and urge company Union Fenosa in Electri Costa and Electri Caribe to halt union busting; and to create a glass network in preparation for a future Global Agreement.

ICEM Adopts Four-year Programme

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The 20-million-member ICEM, based in Brussels, fully supports the actions of Belgian workers tomorrow to strike to protect their pension system and the country's current social security plan. 
 
ICEM Belgian affiliate FGTB-ABVV announced earlier in the week that it would stage a 24-hour general strike on 7 October in order to send a clear message to government and business that it will not tolerate the burden of social restructuring placed on workers. 
 
 

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FGTB-ABVV&rsquo;s call: To defend a proper pension system, 
decent jobs for all and adequate social security, 
we strike before it&rsquo;s too late 
&quot;We stand firmly behind FGTB-ABVV in their call for a strike,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;It is unfair to place all of the burden on workers when attempting to change the social security structure.&quot; 
 
Unions and employers' associations have been negotiating with the government of Belgium for changes in the retirement system that could lead to eroding conditions for workers preventing them from retiring with full benefits. 
 
The FGTB-ABVV is fighting to preserve the current age at which workers can retire; resisting penalties placed on workers who fall victim to redundancies and restructurings; proposing more jobs programmes for young workers; and coming up with new methods to refinance social security, including placing a greater burden on the wealthy and no additions to the value added tax. 
 
Read more:
FGTB's Call for Strike (in French) 
<a href="http://www.fgtb.be/PDF/fr/Actions/2005/Greve/Greve24heures.pdf">http://www.fgtb.be/PDF/fr/Actions/ 
2005/Greve/Greve24heures.pdf</a>
Issues on This Strike from Affiliate La Centrale 
Generale FGTB (in French) 
<a href="http://www.accg.be/news/be-fr/Tract%20préavis%20FR.pdf">http://www.accg.be/news/be-fr/Tract%20pr&eacute;avis%20FR.pdf</a>

ICEM Supports Belgian Affiliate&#039;s General Strike

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The strike by 350 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Local 28 of Canada continues against chemicals producer Invista in Ontario. Workers rejected a negotiated settlement on 19 September due to a regressive back-to-work proposal presented by Invista, a subsidiary of privately-held and US-based Koch Industries. 
The proposed back-to-work protocol called for any worker not recalled within 12 days of the strike&rsquo;s ending to be considered laid off. This would remove seniority and bumping rights under the contract, giving the company motivation to impose job cuts. The strike began on 4 June.

CEP Members in Canada Reject Invista Contract

And USW&rsquo;s Gulf Coast hurricane relief fund got another US$50,000 boost when the union announced it would inject that amount to victims of Hurricane Rita. The USW originally placed US$50,000 into a fund immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, and that was matched by $50,000 from USW-Canada&rsquo;s Humanity Fund. The $150,000 has swelled to over $300,000 due to contributions from USW members, local branch unions, and others.

USW Hikes Hurricane Relief Fund in US

US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW) will exert language in its collective agreement with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. to ensure that 2,250 union members at Goodyear&rsquo;s engineered products plants are protected in the event of a sale at any of the seven plants. Goodyear announced two weeks ago that it is exploring such a sale, and the company has acknowledged its contractual commitment with the USW. Under terms of &ldquo;successorship&rdquo; negotiated in 2004, USW must reach agreement with any new enterprise before a Goodyear plant is sold. &ldquo;While the prospect of change always breeds anxiety for workers in these types of scenarios, our members need to know that they will be vigorously represented in the course of any possible transactions,&rdquo; stated USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover.

Goodyear Spinoffs Will Remain Under Contract with USW

German ICEM affiliate IGBCE will hold its Congress 9-14 October in Hannover with 391 delegates taking on 150 resolutions under the banner &ldquo;Strong Enough for New Paths.&rdquo; The Congress will include some 1,100 guests, and one motion to be considered will be the challenges to trade union cooperation in the greater EU economy and globalisation. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt called recent German elections a mandate against radical reforms to labour law and bargaining regulations, issues brought forth by both the CDU/CSU and neo-liberals. Schmoldt said in a newspaper interview that Germany needs new concepts for it&rsquo;s energy market, as well as creation of better terms and conditions for employment in high-tech workplaces.

German Affiliate IGBCE to Hold Congress

Archive

ICEM Women's Committee Sets Health and Safety Priorities

ICEM Protests Thai Electric Privatisation

Bridgestone Told to Halt Australian Lockout

ICEM Adopts Four-year Programme

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ICEM Supports Belgian Affiliate's General Strike

CEP Members in Canada Reject Invista Contract

USW Hikes Hurricane Relief Fund in US

Goodyear Spinoffs Will Remain Under Contract with USW

German Affiliate IGBCE to Hold Congress

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