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ICEM&rsquo;s sister trade union organization the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), together with the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) organized a joint meeting on steel multinationals and sectoral developments in Cardiff, Wales, 13-14 October 2010. The meeting was hosted by three UK unions, Unite, GMB, and Community. 
 
Delegates discussed labour and industry developments with the Steel Group Strategy Director of multinational Tata, as well as major challenges faced by workers in other steel companies, notably ArcelorMittal. Climate strategies were discussed by delegates as trade unions in the sector look to agree on a common strategy for the transition to cleaner production. 
 
The ICEM, attending the meeting as a guest, discussed the ever-increasing cooperation between the ICEM and IMF, focusing in particular on the coordinated global campaigns against Vale and Grupo Mexico. The need for further work together was stressed, in order to organize worker solidarity and strength along the chain of production. The supply chain for steel production starts with miners taking coal and iron ore out of the ground, while these raw materials are transported often by rail-workers, then by dockworkers and maritime workers, and the steel is manufactured by steelworkers. 
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Photo:EMF 
 
Over 60 delegates from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, India, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the UK, passed a common statement entitled &lsquo;Anticipating change for a sustainable global and European steel industry&rsquo;, calling for the enforcement of five pillars of sustainability: 
 
1. Long-term investment in plants and workers 
 
We urgently demand guarantees on long-term investment in upgrading our plants, investing in innovation and R&amp;D and providing quality and secure jobs. Considering increasing global demand for steel, investment in the upgrading of plants and processes is fundamental to a sustainable response to climate change. The reinvestment of profits into long-term funding for R&amp;D on low carbon steel technologies and carbon capture and storage, taking pilot projects to full-scale operations, must be delivered by steel companies, in cooperation with public authorities. Investment in workers is crucial to ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of our industry. Governments can play a key role in helping the steel industry build for a brighter future through supporting programmes that train the next generation of steel workers and ensure that we are not faced with a skills gap in the future. Our aim must be a highly skilled, secure workforce in the future. 
 
2. Employment security and safety 
 
Employment quality is a fundamental indicator of a sustainable industry. The IMF and EMF call on steel employers to act responsibly towards their workforces by committing to the respect of labour rights, negotiated solutions, respecting collective agreements, real wage increases, health and safety at work and worker information and consultation rights (including worker representation bodies). The maintenance and development of the skills and knowledge of workers in the steel sector is the basis to ensure its competitiveness emerging from the global economic crisis. We call for guaranteed rights for all workers to access and the provision of vocational training and retraining, plus better employment rights for contract staff and temporary agency workers, and the strengthening social security systems and employment services. The IMF and EMF totally oppose increasing precariousness at work. 
 
3. Environmental modernisation and social responsibility 
 
At Canc&uacute;n in December 2010, we call for our governments to conclude a binding, comprehensive and ambitious international agreement on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. We maintain our long-held demands for social justice and long-term employment policies as an integral element of climate policy. Only if employment concerns are effectively integrated into climate policy, can economic, technological and social change be directed towards achieving a low emissions and just society. We are concerned that international regulation on carbon emissions unless binding and applied evenly will lead to carbon leakage (the movement of heavy industries from countries who respect or try to implement international governance to countries with weaker or no measures). Climate change legislation must contain strong provisions dealing with international competitiveness (including border adjustment mechanisms), in order to ensure that nations that lack a strong emissions programme do not receive an unfair advantage, and investment in R&amp;D and technology transfer to ensure that industry globally continually upgrades its environmental performance and responsibility. 
 
4. A trade policy working for workers 
 
Promoting trade cannot be a goal in itself, but must be part of a strategy for growth and development in the developed world as well as in the developing world. The IMF and EMF demand that trade rules and trade defence measures provide a fair level playing field, guaranteeing and enforcing core labour rights and environmental standards. 
 
5. Active routes for worker participation 
 
The IMF and EMF demand that workers and their trade unions be fully informed, consulted and involved in corporate and sectoral industrial strategies with the aim of improving the quality and security of jobs in the industry.

ICEM Participates in International Steel Meeting

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The Council of Global Unions (CGU) sponsored the &lsquo;Quality Public Services&rsquo; Conference in Geneva 12-14 October, bringing together leaders of trade unions, municipal governments, and civil society, to take a strong stand in unity against further cuts to public services. 
 
Public services are under threat throughout the world as many governments look to cut spending and follow austerity measures encouraged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The members of the CGU, who represent 176 million working men and women, reject this and last week pledged to work together with civil society to promote investment in quality public services as the key solution to the global economic crisis. 
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The 400 conference delegates announced a global campaign, guided by a charter and action plan. 
 
CGU chair Aidan White said, &ldquo;This is a call to the trade union movement to advance its historic responsibility to work in broad social coalitions and act as a force for social change that improves the quality of life for all citizens. We don&rsquo;t have time to lose.&rdquo; 
 
Susan Hopgood, president of Education International, said, &ldquo;We are conveying a powerful message in uniting as advocates for strong schools, decent health services and social services, clean water and proper sanitation, effective fire and security services, affordable housing and utilities, accessible communications and transport, public media and culture, and good public administration and municipal services. Quality public services provide the foundation for sustainable growth, equitable redistribution of wealth, and the means for justice, good governance, and the exercise of democracy.&rdquo; 
 
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International and council member of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, called for &ldquo;a new activism&rdquo; to back demands for quality public services as the foundation for social justice policies. 
 
Visit <a href="http://www.RadioLabour.org">www.RadioLabour.org</a>&nbsp;for audio links to daily and summary reports of the conference.

Quality Public Services Conference Offers Alternative to Austerity

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The ICEM World Conference for the Chemical Industries will take place on 27-28 October in Istanbul, Turkey, upon invitation of affiliate Petrol-İş, Turkey&rsquo;s Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union. Tomas Nieber, Chair of the ICEM Chemicals Sector and trade union leader of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE, will chair of the sector and will welcome an estimated 250 delegates and guests. 
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Tomas Nieber, Chair of the ICEM Chemicals Sector
The Conference will be composed of six major presentations and panel discussions: 
 
* Presentation on &ldquo;Global Chemical Industries &ndash; An Overview,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion entitled &ldquo;Global Crisis, Restructuring and Challenges for Trade Unions in the Chemical Industries.&rdquo; 
 
* Presentation on &ldquo;Pharmaceutical Industry: Recent Trends,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion entitled &ldquo;Opportunities and Challenges for Trade Unions in the Pharmaceutical Industry.&rdquo; 
 
* Presentation on &ldquo;Recent Trends on Employment and Working Conditions and Social Dialogue in the Chemical Industry,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion entitled &ldquo;Trade Union Rights, Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue in Chemical Industries: Sharing Experiences.&rdquo; 
 
* Presentation on &ldquo;Health, Safety and Sustainability in the Chemical Industries: Trade Union Approach and Response,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion entitled &ldquo;Global Level Chemical Safety Initiatives and Workers&rsquo; Health.&rdquo; 
 
* Presentation on Changing &ldquo;Work Relationships: ICEM&rsquo;s Campaign on Contract and Agency Labour,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion entitled &ldquo;Precarious Employment and Trade Union Policies and Actions.&rdquo; 
 
* Presentation on &ldquo;Global Trade Union Response Against Challenges: Global Framework Agreements, Global/Regional Company &amp; Sector Networks, and Campaigns,&rdquo; followed by a panel discussion called &ldquo;Creation of Global Trade Union Power through Solidarity, Support and Cooperation.&rdquo; 
 
Following discussions, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda will summarize the panel discussions and present the future action plan for the chemicals industry for the coming four years.

ICEM’s Quadrennial Chemicals Conference in Istanbul Next Week

Responding to the European Commission&rsquo;s recommendation that member states should consider suspending offshore licensing in advance of possible new EU-wide safety standards, Norrie McVicar, Chair of the ITF&rsquo;s Offshore Task Force Group (OTFG), said: &ldquo;This is the wrong position to take and the wrong time to take it. The EC should be protecting the safety gains made in the UK offshore sector, not eroding them by dumbing them down to a lowest common denominator.&rdquo; 
 
Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Sector Chair, added: &ldquo;You can never be too safe and we would never condone complacency, but the British and Norwegian sectors are generally good examples of best practice. They should be studied, learned from and, where necessary, improved. They shouldn&rsquo;t be remodeled into a one size fits all &ndash; but not very well &ndash; Euro model.&rdquo; 
 
McVicar also stated: &ldquo;One very positive feature of the UK industry is OSPRA, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, which brings together regulators, industry bodies and trade unions such as Unite and the RMT in a joint effort to ensure that we get the oil and gas we need as safely and cleanly as possible. It&rsquo;s that kind of good practice that we&rsquo;d like to see adopted by the rest of the global oil and gas sector, not weakened here in Europe.&rdquo; 
 
 
 
For further information, contact: 
ITF (International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation) 
Press officer, Sam Dawson, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260, Email: <a href="mailto:dawson_sam@itf.org.uk">dawson_sam@itf.org.uk</a> &nbsp; 
Norrie McVicar, OFTG Chair, Tel: +44(0)7768 652 257, Email: <a href="mailto:mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk">mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk</a> &nbsp; 
 
ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) Tel: +41-22-304-1847, Email: <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a> &nbsp;

ITF, ICEM Oppose EC’s Offshore Safety Recommendation

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The ICEM on Friday, 19 November, expressed hope that 29 miners were still alive inside the Pike River Coal Ltd. mine following a methane gas explosion on the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand. The miners, some of whom are members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), are believed to be trapped two kilometers inside a horizontal shaft of the Brunner coal seam in the Paparoa Range, near the town of Atarua. 
 
&ldquo;We are shocked and saddened by this terrible accident,&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, who travelled to Greymouth, 50 kilometrers away, to offer direct support to family members. &ldquo;We pray that a speedy rescue takes place and that the men successfully reach the surface alive and into the warmth of their loved ones,&rdquo; said Warda. 
 
This morning, 21 November, rescue efforts into the mine were stalled due to continued high levels of gas build-up. Tests conducted through a ventilation shaft yesterday revealed a large heat source 1,500 metres underground, indicating that a fire might be still raging. 
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EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
The blast happened Friday afternoon, New Zealand time, following an electrical malfunction that shut the mine&rsquo;s two large ventilation units. The subsequent explosion was so powerful that a fireball was seen coming from the ventilation shaft. An electrician ventured into the main shaft of the mine to check the outage at the same time the blast occurred. He continued, only to come upon an equipment operator who had been thrown from his machine. 
 
The two manage to escape 108 metres up a ladder inside the ventilation shaft. But the 29 other miners, ages 17 to 62, were entrapped deeper inside. The 17-year-old was working his first shift inside the two-year-old mine. A telephone line was found to be working inside the mine, but there was no answer to numerous calls. 
 
The Pike River mine is the largest underground coal mine in New Zealand and part of the mine is beneath Paparoa National Park. It employs 140 staff, 71 of whom are union members of the EPMU. 
 
Pike River Coal Ltd. is a 14-year enterprise that mines premium hard coal for coking and ultimately steel-making. It is 31% owned by New Zealand Oil &amp; Gas Ltd., 7% by India&rsquo;s Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., and 8% by Singapore-based Saurashtra World Holdings Pvt. Ltd. The remainder is traded on New Zealand and Australian bourses. 
 
The company made two major shipments this year &ndash; one in February 2010 of 20,000 tonnes, the other in September 2010 of 22,000 tonnes &ndash; to Port Bedi, India, for exclusive use by Gujarat. It exports also to China, Korea, and Brazil. The mine has reserves of 17.6 million tonnes. 
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In recent months, Pine River installed a hydro-monitoring system inside the mine that uses a water canon to blast coal off working faces. The company was also seeking funding for a second ABM20 continuous mine machine it hoped to install. Two years ago, start-up production was delayed after collapse of the newly-built ventilation shaft. 
 
The company&rsquo;s CEO, Peter Whittall, said air compressors were pumping fresh air down the ventilation shaft in hopes that trapped miners were in a nearby rescue area. Whittal has headed the company for only seven weeks and was previously served five years as Pike River&rsquo;s general manager of mines. Before that, he managed various BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal operations in New South Wales, Australia. 
 
Despite rescuers not able to enter the mine today, drilling of a 15-centimetre vertical hole did commence in order to get a camera and possibly supplies down. 
 
The EPMU&rsquo;s Little said in Greymouth, &ldquo;Inevitably there are questions. We don't have an incident like this without there being reasons. There will be a time when we will need to get answers.&rdquo; 

The 29 trapped miners include 24 New Zealand nationals, two Australians, two UK citizens who are Scotsmen, and one South African. The equipment operator who found safety in the aftermath of the blast, 24-year-old Daniel Rockhouse, has a brother, Ben, who is one of the 29. The grandfather of the two passed away Friday evening. 
 
New Zealand has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

Hope Still Alive for 29 Trapped Inside Pike River’s New Zealand Coal Mine

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The ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are teaming &ndash; together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg &ndash; to jointly host a conference to explore ways to leverage job growth as a recovery stimulus to the economic crisis. The conference will be held 13 September in Oslo. 
 
Participating in the conference will be Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreau, Spanish Prime Minister Jos&eacute; Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, British Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith, and Sharon Burrow, the new General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
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Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the ILO, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director, will co-chair the conference. 
 
The conference occurs at a time the outlook for global employment continues to worsen. According to current ILO estimates, recorded global unemployment is at 210 million people, an increase of 34 million since the outset of the most recent global financial crisis. 
 
Prime Minister Stoltenberg termed the conference an opportunity to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis.

ILO, Monetary Fund to Host Jobs, Sustainability Conference in Norway

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The most dangerous country for trade unionists saw yet another assassination, 12 August, when Luis German Restrepo Maldonado, President of the Colombian packers&rsquo; union Sintraempaques, was shot in the head outside a caf&eacute; in public, in the city of Medellin, by a hit man who evaded arrest. 
 
Prominent trade union leader Maldonado was 58 years old and had spent 40 years representing workers in the central Colombian district of Antioquia. 
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Assassinated Luis German Restrepo Maldonado
Maldonado also served the Colombian national centre CGT, as treasurer of the Antioquia region. The National Executive Committee of the CGT, led by Julio G&oacute;mez Esguerra, condemned the brutal attack, and expressed its solidarity to the family. The CGT added that it &ldquo;will not be cornered by these acts of violence&rdquo;. It has become expected in Colombia that crimes against trade unionists are not properly investigated, with the perpetrator almost never brought to justice. The CGT has demanded that this trend does not continue. 
 
This latest murder again brings into question the decision to remove Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses, by the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on the Application of Standards, in June this year. 
 
The murdered trade unionist is survived by five children, Freddy, Lisette, Veronica, Juan Carlos, and Luis Herman.

Colombian Trade Union President Assassinated

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Mexico&rsquo;s Los Mineros won a legal victory on 11 August, in their struggle at Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Cananea copper mine, as the Ninth District Judge in the state of Sonora ruled that the strike is still in legal existence. The Cananea strike, three years old last 30 July, was attacked with police force on 6 June, forcibly evicting strikers from the installations, where 3,000 federal police remain now. The large police presence protects strikebreakers at Cananea, as Grupo Mexico seeks to reopen the mine by the end of 2010. 
 
The constitutional appeal of Los Mineros resulted in admissions of both the Mexican Attorney General&rsquo;s office, and the Federal Secretary of Public Security that police had been deployed to the mine on 6 June to carry out inspections under a ministerial order. As the mine inspection had already been completed, police had no legal right to enter the mine facilities, or remove strikers. An eviction order from the judicial authority never existed. 
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Federal police violently take control at Cananea, 6 June 
Photo - IMF
The United Steelworkers&rsquo; (USW) President Leo Gerard announced on 20 August solidarity action for Los Mineros in Cananea, with the USW placing a rotating team of international observers in the city to monitor the illegal police presence, who are intimidating strikers and protecting scabs. Gerard added that American volunteer workers arrived this weekend as observers. The rotating team will join the picket line, which is often 800-strong. 
 
Government support for the strikebreakers continues, with local authorities accused of cutting electric power to some of the strikers&rsquo; homes, in an effort to intimidate them. 
 
Grupo Mexico and Mexico&rsquo;s Labour Ministry have refused to accept the appeal ruling, stating that the union&rsquo;s contract remains suspended, and that the District Judge&rsquo;s decision has no effect as the eviction of the strikers has already occurred.

Pressure on Mexican Authorities as District Judge Rules Cananea Strike Legal

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European trade unions, led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), will stage a mobilization in central Brussels on 29 September protesting job loss and resulting service cuts due to austerity measures being imposed by governments. The date will coincide with a meeting of Europe&rsquo;s Finance Ministers in Europe&rsquo;s capital. 
 
In addition, Spanish trade union federations UGT and CC.OO have called a one-day strike across Spain on 29 September in protest to massive public-sector cuts and attacks on pension formulas and social services by the ruling Partido Socialista Obrero Espa&ntilde;ol (PSOE). 
 
The ETUC&rsquo;s Day of Action, entitled &ldquo;No to Austerity, Priority for Jobs and Growth,&rdquo; will manifest against proposed &euro;200 billion in overall cuts, which could result in 200,000 further job losses. The manifestation will take the side, for example, of Romanian trade unions which have futilely resisted pay cuts by as much as 25% on state workers. 
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The Day of Action is to resist European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet&rsquo;s call for an end to economic stimulus programmes and rigorous imposition of austerity measures across Europe. European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) General Secretary Carola Fischbach-Pyttel warned that &ldquo;as governments swing the austerity axe, they risk chopping off any green shoots of recovery, leaving workers, pensioners, and communities to face the prospect of an even longer recession.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM calls on its European affiliated trade unions to heed the ETUC&rsquo;s call and manifest on 29 September against the socially destructive austerity measures. In Brussels, some 25,000 trade unionists are expected to assemble that day at Gare Du Midi, the city&rsquo;s south railway station, at 11h30 and march to Parc du Cinquantenaire where a rally will be held beginning at 15h.

Trade Unions in Europe Plan 29 September Manifestation to Resist Austerity Measures

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The ICEM has been saddened by the worst flooding in Pakistan in over 80 years, which have hit all four Provinces of the country. More than 150 million people have been badly affected, as floods have destroyed homes and belongings, and taken an unknown death toll of at least 1,600, as entire villages have been washed away. 
 
There are already 4.6 million people homeless, at least 6 million in urgent need of food, and 5 million without access to clean water, meaning that disease is spreading fast. 
 
In a letter to Pakistani affiliates last week, General Secretary Manfred Warda offered the sincere condolences, on behalf of all ICEM members, to the victims and their families. We urge affiliates and supporters to provide all possible relief aid through international relief agencies in their home countries. 
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&ldquo;It is my sincere hope that the affected people overcome these terrible ordeals in the near future, with the support of the international community,&rdquo; stated Warda, &ldquo;We applaud all union members who are engaged in relief work for victims of the floods&rdquo;. 
 
Pakistan will be in need of continuing international aid, as the floods have destroyed crops throughout the agriculture-based economy, a food crisis is a real possibility. 
 
After a two-day session of the UN General Assembly last week, the amount of international aid pledged for Pakistani flood victims fell short at US$350 million of the US$460 million in emergency aid that the UN appealed for. The full figure of US$460 million would only cover the bare essentials for a period of three months. Billions of dollars would be needed to rebuild Pakistan following this disaster.

ICEM Saddened by Disastrous Floods in Pakistan

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