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After a full day devoted to the global pharmaceutical industry, ICEM delegates ended a&nbsp;week of trade union meetings in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 1 December. The first part of the week, 27-29 November, was taken up with the ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Energy Industries, followed by the ICEM World Conference for the Chemical Industries, Wednesday through Friday, 29 November to 1 December. 
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Hundreds of national energy and chemical trade union representatives, from all parts of the world, united at the two ICEM conferences, which are held every four years. In addition to listening to presentations on several topics, by both global and national trade unionists, as well as by individuals from business and institutional sectors, delegates had, and passionately took, the opportunity to discuss developments and challenges to their respective industries. 
 
An action plan was adopted at the end of both conferences, setting a broad scope of priorities for the coming four years. One such priority is the call to increase the effort to sign Global Framework Agreements with multinational companies. Other shared priorities include the fight against precarious employment, specifically contract and agency labour, and the struggle to improve the workplace environment for women. 
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The energy action plan also calls for, among other things, more solidarity and dialogue between unions of energy export and import countries, and for expanding contacts between Mining Sector unions and the Energy Sector. The action plan also calls for more education, training and skills development. It also endorsed the creation of the ICEM Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Unions Network (INWUN). 
 
The conference further decided to set up an ICEM-ITF Working Group on health and safety in the oil and gas transportation sector, with specific attention going to remote and hostile environments. This decision was confirmed during a subsequent meeting of the Strategy and Organising Standing Committee (SOSC) of the ICEM-ITF Global Oil and Gas Industry Trade Union Alliance. 
 
The energy conference was attended by 200 representatives from 64 ICEM affiliated trade unions, who travelled from 47 countries to attend the conference in Trinidad and Tobago. The conference unanimously re-elected ICEM Energy Sector Chairman Lars Myhre of Norway&rsquo;s IndustriEnergi, the newly-formed union created with the merger of NOPEF and Norsk Kjemisk. 
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The Chemicals Sector action plan called on trade unions to actively promote the 1990 ILO Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work Convention 170. Other areas in which specific work is targeted for include the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), the Globally Harmonized System of Chemical Classification and Labelling (GHS), and Responsible Care. 
 
Of particular interest at this conference was a lively and challenging debate on mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A), which included the development of a proposal on how to get better involve trade unions in M&amp;A processes. The chemicals action plan also calls for Global Framework Agreements discussions to begin with international employers&rsquo; organisations, such as CropLife and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers &amp; Associations (IFPMA). 
 
Some 120 national trade unionists participated in the chemical conferences, representing 43 different national unions from 33 countries. IGBCE&rsquo;s Tomas Nieber, who took over from IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Meirsman as Chair of the ICEM chemical section halfway through the previous four-year period, was unanimously elected to continue this role. 
 
Various documents and presentations from the conferences are available online through the ICEM web-site. 
<a href="/en/166-ICEM-World-Conference-for-the-Energy-Industries">Click here to access&nbsp;various documents&nbsp;from the ICEM World Conference for the Energy Industries</a> 
 
<a href="/en/165-ICEM-World-Conference-for-the-Chemical-Industries">Click here to access various documents from the ICEM World Conference for the Chemical Industries.</a>

ICEM’s World Conferences on Energy and Chemicals End in Trinidad and Tobago

Today, on World AIDS Day, 1 December, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs announced the collapse of talks on a promising global HIV/AIDS initiative which had the potential to save countless lives of those living with HIV/AIDS in the world&rsquo;s least developed countries, and improve their quality of life. 
 
The announcement was made in Trinidad and Tobago on the final day of the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s World Conference for the Chemicals Industries. 
 
Much to his personal regret, Higgs declared that the proposed ICEM - Pharmaceutical Industry HIV/AIDS initiative, which he had hoped would develop into a highly visible and effective partnership, is now as good as dead. The initiative, which had developed following discussions with the pharmaceutical industry, would have opened the door for more affordable medicines for tens of thousands of poor people living with HIV/AIDS. 
<img height="275" alt="" src="" width="300" />
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs
Higgs stated, &ldquo;This initiative would have given access to affordable drugs to individuals living with HIV/AIDS in all 50 of the United Nations-listed Least Developed Countries, including many in sub-Saharan Africa.&rdquo; 
 
The draft agreement, held in confidence by Higgs during the whole of the discussions, would have included the following statement: 
 
&ldquo;Leading companies in the research-based pharmaceutical industry pledge to provide high-quality HIV/AIDS medicines and related products for impoverished people in sub-Saharan and other least-developed countries at no-profit prices, through donation programs, and through alternative methods that include deeply discounted prices and licensing of propriety technology on mutually agreed concessionary terms.&ldquo; 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Lost Opportunity 
 
The ICEM first engaged with the industry on this matter in 2003. Throughout the process, Pfizer was the only company that continued to recognise the need for a new substantive industry initiative, and supported further debate on the ICEM-led initiative. 
 
According to Higgs, the ICEM had to overcome its initial hesitation at getting involved in a partnership since &ldquo;we might have been seen as defending the industry against an un-defendable track record.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;But, as a global trade union organisation, we represent both union members employed by pharmaceutical companies, and members in sectors with high HIV infection levels. Also, many of our affiliates are trying to deal with HIV/AIDS in the developing world. So, we believe we have a responsibility to seek to persuade the industry to do more to meet the challenge related to HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; 
 
Higgs added: &ldquo;The ICEM recognises the fact that GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Science, and Boehringer Ingelheim, through the Accelerating Access Initiative (AAI), an organisation formed to coordinate individual company initiatives in the area of HIV/AIDS, do valuable work to assist people affected by the Aids pandemic.&rdquo; 
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&ldquo;Although substantial, what they do via the AAI is not sufficient to either keep pace with the increasing numbers of those infected who have, due to cost, no access to the drugs they need. Nor does it help change the public perception of the industry from being part of the problem, to being part of the solution.&rdquo; 
 
Higgs reported at today&rsquo;s conference in Port-of-Spain on the early discussions with representatives of three AAI member companies &ndash; Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Abbott Laboratories &ndash; in a meeting hosted by Pfizer, which is not a member of the AAI. 
 
&ldquo;It was agreed at the time to discuss the ICEM proposal, as well as each company&rsquo;s programme to provide access to affordable medicines and treatment on an individual basis with each AAI member company, to satisfy antitrust concerns.&rdquo; 
 
Individual company meetings were held between December 2003 and April 2004, which expanded to include GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, and Merck. A meeting with Boehringer Ingelheim was scheduled, but did not occur. Meetings also took place with representatives of the US industry trade association, the European industry trade association, and the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. The initiative&rsquo;s draft text was substantially amended to reflect concerns raised during these meetings, including those related to anti-trust implications. 
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The Road to Nowhere 
 
In September 2004, Higgs wrote to the CEO of each AAI member company asking for a response to the redrafted document, and requesting a meeting with each of them to discuss the proposed initiative and its possibilities. 
 
Disturbingly, Higgs received almost the same response from each CEO, directing him back to the staff executives that he had spoken with earlier. No CEO directly addressed the proposal, or offered to meet. 
 
The AAI did, however, start to take an active interest in other ongoing ICEM HIV/AIDS projects. As welcome as that was, Higgs made it clear that the two issues must be kept separate. 
 
In July 2005, Higgs got back to the AAI, asking for a decision by 30 September 2005, on whether a meeting could be arranged with AAI CEOs to further discuss the ICEM proposal. The AAI failed to respond to the request in time. In April 2006, an AAI representative indicated that an AAI meeting would be arranged to chart a path forward with the ICEM. 
 
Following four months of further delay, a brief e-mail was finally received indicating that the AAI would not be able to proceed on the draft ICEM initiative. 
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The Future 
 
According to WHO and UNAIDS, the AAI companies are providing nearly 430,000 people in the developing world with Anti-Retroviral (ARV) medicines. Another 440,000 are reportedly receiving generic ARVs under the full international effort. In total, only around 15% of the estimated 6.5 million people in immediate need are getting treatment.&nbsp; 
 
This means that some 5.5 million people are still in immediate need of affordable medicines, with the price of those medicines continuing to be a major obstacle. 
 
&ldquo;The failure of pharmaceutical company leaderships to sit down with international labour and talk will remain a shameful episode,&rdquo; stated Fred Higgs. &ldquo;It is all the more sad when you realise that, at no time during the three-year-long discussions, did any representative of any one of the companies indicate that the initiative would be too expensive or unrealistic. No one ever said it wasn&rsquo;t possible. They just didn&rsquo;t want to do it.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;In the future,&rdquo; continued Higgs, &ldquo;ICEM will focus on working on with international organisations and employers that understand labour&rsquo;s capabilities to move HIV/AIDS treatment programmes forward in developing nations.&rdquo; He noted that he has had positive discussions with officials of the United Nations, with the ILO, and with certain pharmaceutical companies, including the Chief Executive of Pfizer. 
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) represents 20 million workers from 384 industrial trade unions in 125 countries.

Pharmaceutical Industry Fails in Developing Industry-Wide HIV/AIDS Initiative

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Unions from France and Belgium convened early this month in Montreuil, France, to discuss a complete lack of information to workers over the merger plans of Owens Corning&rsquo;s Reinforcements Business with Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s Reinforcement Composites Businesses, known as Vetrotex. 
 
Under the auspices of the F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Nationale du Verre et de la C&eacute;ramique CGT, the CGT Owens Corning l&rsquo;Ardoise and V&eacute;trotex St Gobain Chamb&eacute;ry met with representatives of the Belgian FGTB et CSC, representing Owens Corning workers in Battice, Belgium. 
<img height="52" src="" width="80" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <img height="53" src="" width="80" alt="" />
The consultations concluded with the unionists condemning the fact that neither Owens Corning, a US multinational, nor French Saint-Gobain had taken the trouble to answer the questions posed by the unions since the announcement of the merger was made last July. Workers are extremely concerned about the planned merger&rsquo;s impact, including a possible sale of one or more of the two companies&rsquo; entities. 
 
The trade unionists from the French and Belgian unions said that they have not been provided information on either a social or industrial plan, thus creating the fear of the negative consequences that workers could face if the merger becomes reality.

French, Belgian Unions Meet Over Possible Owens Corning, Saint-Gobain Merger

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A court in France last week sided with French energy trade unions, who argued that Gaz de France (GDF) needed to provide more information first to its European Works Council (EWC) before it can merge with Franco-Belgian utility group Suez. The court decision is likely to have serious repercussions on the planned &euro;80 billion merger between GDF and Suez. 
 
The unions filed the complaint after GDF failed to provide EWC members with crucial information, needed to get an informed opinion back to the company. The consultation process between the GDF and its EWC is one of the necessary steps in the merger process. The French judge last week ruled that GDF cannot take any decision on the merger before the EWC has given its opinion on the deal. 
 
Trade unions are requiring from GDF information on the &ldquo;social impact&rdquo; of the planned merger. The unions are particularly concerned over the impact on employment, and seek details on the consequences of possible job losses and/or relocations in countries like France, The Netherlands, Italy and UK. 
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Because of the court decision, it became impossible for the boards of the companies to meet and take decisions last week, making it, in turn, impossible for shareholders to vote on the merger before the end of the year. That means that a vote on the merger will be postponed to some time early next year, possible until March or even later. 
 
With French public opinion strongly in favour of state-controlled utility services, and with the French presidential elections looming early next year, unions representing GDF workers now believe it possible that the entire merger will be abandoned, particularly if the Socialist Party in France wins election. 
 
On a separate issue, French unions at GDF strongly protested the planned decision by the presidents of GDF and Suez to assign only three seats, out of a total of 24, of the Administrative Council of the merged group to union representatives. That number would be the bare legal minimum. At GDF, unions have six seats out of 18. 
 
A joint French trade union front, consisting of CGT, FNEM FO, CFE-CGC, and CFTC, has been resisting the government&rsquo;s forced privatisation of Gaz de France, through the merger with the French-Belgian water and power concern. Another energy union, FCE-CFDT, while also hostile to the privatisation of GDF, suggests a separate solution, advocating a partnership between GDF and Suez. In a press release last week, FCE-CFDT repeated that position, saying it would have solved a lot of the current problems.

Unions Win Important Legal Battle in GDF-Suez Merger Saga

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The worst Polish mining tragedy in three decades claimed 23 lives on 21 November, as a methane gas explosion struck deep inside the Halemba mine in Ruda Slaska in Poland&rsquo;s southern Silesia industrial region. The mine, which had not been operating since March 2006, is owned by the state-run Kampania Weglowa (KW), the EU&rsquo;s largest mining company. 
 
The miners were some 1,000 metres underground when the methane gas ignited. They were sent into the 50-year-old mine to retrieve equipment, valued by the company at US$23 million. The shafts in which they were working had been closed last spring, due to dangerously high concentrations of gas. 
<img height="63" src="" width="100" border="1" alt="" />
Poland&rsquo;s President, Lech Kaczynski, visited the area and declared a three-day national period of mourning from 23-25 November. All cultural and sports events across the country were cancelled. The government also announced a special fund totalling US$234,700 for family members of the victims. 
 
Some 60 persons, including 23 surviving children, will share the compensation award, expected to amount to about US$10,000 per person. 
 
Poland&rsquo;s Higher Authority for Mining set up a special commission to investigate the tragedy, with work beginning on 24 November. The KW supervisory board will meet on 11 December to take up the reasons and consequences of the catastrophe. Meanwhile, KW has dismissed general directors at all 17 of its collieries in Poland, and the mines will be managed by technical and administrative personnel.

23 Miners Killed inside Poland’s Halemba Coal Pit

Due to the Iraqi military surrounding striking Basra oil pipeline workers, the 20-million-member ICEM today called on the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to conclude peaceful negotiations with the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) in order to resolve their legitimate trade union demands. 
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In a letter to the Prime Minister from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, the global union federation of oil, gas, and energy unions throughout the world, stated, &ldquo;On Tuesday evening, we learnt from the union that the Iraqi army had surrounded the strikers yesterday (5 June). The situation was, we understand, extremely tense. Urgent negotiations with your representatives have led to a temporary return to work to allow further negotiations, but the army remains in position and the situation remains very tense.&rdquo; 
Pipeline workers of the 26,000-member IFOU, first struck pipe number 42 in the early hours of Monday, 4 June, following a company communication that a normal payment made to workers would not be forthcoming. Prior to the strike there had been weeks of negotiation, over a range of demands including terms and conditions of work, health and safety, and the future of the oil industry in Iraq. 
The following morning, 5 June, the strike strengthened when oil workers cut off the flow of oil from another pipeline. That was followed by Iraqi military troops surrounding the strikers. 
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&ldquo;I assure you that military intervention in the dispute is not the way to resolve matters,&rdquo; stated the ICEM letter to Prime Minister al-Maliki. &ldquo;In particular, we urge you to ensure that there are no arrests or detentions of any strikers or strike leaders, and no one involved is physically harmed. Genuine negotiations over the workers&rsquo; legitimate grievances must take place.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is calling on all its 384 affiliated trade unions in 124 countries to send messages of support to IFOU. The ICEM is coordinating efforts to assist the IFOU together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the US Solidarity Center, and the UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress. 
 
For background on this week&rsquo;s strike, visit <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2284-ICEM-Supports-IFOU-in-Today’s-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Basra">/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2284-ICEM-Supports-IFOU-in-Today&rsquo;s-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Basra</a>. 
 
For further information, contact Jim Catterson, Intl. Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) Energy Officer: +32 2 626 2045 - <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ICEM Protests Iraqi Military’s Involvement in Basra Oil Strike

At 6:30 AM this morning, 4 June 2007, oil workers struck the pipeline company in Basra, Iraq, bringing an immediate stop to the free flow of oil products, including kerosene and gas through pipe number 42. 
 
The pipe transfers oil and gas to Baghdad and the governorates of the central region of the country. The workers are members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The IFOU, previously known as the GUOE-Basra, and led by President Hassan Jumaa Awad Alasady, has over 26,000 members throughout the ten state oil companies operating in the south of Iraq. The union has a past history of strike action in defense of its members, and the oil industry as a whole of southern Iraq. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM, the global union federation of national energy unions throughout the world, supports the IFOU in their strike action today. 
 
Earlier strike calls in May were postponed after the union gained a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. That meeting, on 16 May, resulted in the creation of a committee tasked with working on finding solutions acceptable to both sides. The ICEM understands that although several of the union demands have been fully agreed to by Iraqi authorities, the IFOU is still far from having all their demands fulfilled. This is what led to today&rsquo;s strike. 
 
The union is currently focussing on two core demands in its strike at the pipeline company:
&bull; They demand that the Oil Ministry take action to force the general manager of the pipeline company to resign; and 
&bull; They demand that the company be financially and administratively independent from the Baghdad-based central ministry, and that the pipeline company be managed locally.
ICEM is informed that the reason for the first demand, and the catalyst for today&rsquo;s action, is that the general manger of the pipeline company, Adel Aziz, who is based in Baghdad rather than in Basra, blocked the orders of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Mailiki to release delayed benefits due workers. Moreover, he stopped a Iraqi Dinar (IQD)50,000&nbsp;allowance which the workers are regularly entitled to. 
 
The background is available at: 
<a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq">/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq</a> 
 
A second phase of the strike has been threatened to begin tomorrow morning, again at 6.30 AM, in the event the IFOU does not receive signs signalling compliance with their demands. The second phase would expand the strike by closing pipeline number 48, which feeds the southern governorates with oil products. 
 
ICEM, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), US Solidarity Center, and the UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the UK is following developments closely, and will keep trade union affiliates and the public fully informed on developments in this key dispute. 
 
For further information, contact Jim Catterson, Intl. Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) Energy Officer: +32 2 626 2045 - <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ICEM Supports IFOU in Today’s Oil Industry Strike in Basra

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With labour agreements now complete at two major tyre producing plants in Argentina, ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico Trabajores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentina (SUTNA) is focused on obtaining a renewal two-year contract with the third &ndash; FATE S.A.I.C.I., an Argentine based producer and the country&rsquo;s largest tyre-maker, employing some 1,200 workers. 
 
Workers at FATE had rejected the company&rsquo;s prior offer, a proposal that fell short of wage gains and bonus payments made at Pirelli S.p.A. and Bridgestone-Firestone Argentina. Negotiations will resume at the Ministry of Work on 6 June. Rubber workers have protested FATE&rsquo;s inferior demands, but have taken no industrial action.
<img height="93" src="" width="140" alt="" />
Earlier this spring, agreement was reached with both Pirelli and Bridgestone-Firestone, which employ a combined 1,400 SUTNA union members at Buenos Aires factories. At both worksites, workers won pay increases totaling nearly 25%, which included ratification and other bonuses. 
 
At the Firestone plant, workers received a 10% increase effective April 2007; they will receive a 6.5% increase in October 2007; 3.5% in March 2008; and 2.5% in May 2008. At Pirelli, SUTNA also negotiated a 10% increase effective in April 2007. Three percent is due in January 2008; 2% for April 2008; and 1.23% for June 2008. 
 
SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko pledged early this spring that, in this round of national rubber bargaining, no worker would earn less than 2,741 pesos (&euro; 600) per month.

Argentina’s Tyre Union Focuses Now on Pact with Single Company

<img height="48" alt="" src="" width="120" />
After a difficult year of negotiations, which included industrial actions this spring and a subsequent string of three-day lockouts by the company, 500 tyre workers at Bridgestone&rsquo;s Salisbury factory near Adelaide, South Australia, accepted the Japanese company&rsquo;s terms. 
 
Workers of three unions passed by the thinnest of margins &ndash; 240 to 225 &ndash; a new three-year agreement. The contract, some ten months after a prior one expired, grants workers 6% wage increases from May 2007 to May 2010, with possible bonuses interspersed.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="220" />&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="90" alt="" src="" width="90" /> 
 
Production workers, numbering about 450, are represented by ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality, and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), while most maintenance workers are represented by Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), also an ICEM affiliate. Electricians at Salisbury are represented by ICEM affiliate Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union (CEPU). 
 
Bridgestone used the full weight of the 2005 WorkChoices law in Australia to leverage its inferior bargaining demands. Workers had engaged in four stop-work actions since March, as well as an overtime ban. The company punished workers for the unions&rsquo; actions by employing contract workers on maintenance and electrical work, and taking the offensive under WorkChoices by imposing three-day, non-paid lockouts. 
 
&ldquo;Clearly, the restrictions placed upon union members by the current Australian industrial relations legislation made pursuit of improvements more difficult for members,&rdquo; said LHMU lead negotiator, Jim Watson. &ldquo;The company relied on the legislation and frustrated union members into accepting the agreement.&rdquo; 
 
Bridgestone workers had last seen a pay raise in December 2005. The previous agreement had expired in June 2006.

Bridgestone Workers in Australia Come to Terms with Company

<img height="48" src="" width="120" alt="" />
On 19 May, in a testament to the growing Solidarity now coming to strikers at Novamed in Turkey, 16 energy-sector trade union leaders from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Belorussia visited picket lines in the Antalya Free Trade Zone. 
 
Eighty-four strikers have been out since 26 September 2006, protesting the medical equipment company&rsquo;s harsh and unusual practices. Novamed, part of German-based Fresenius Medical Care, has refused to recognise ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Iş.
<img height="158" src="" width="280" alt="" />
&nbsp;ROGWU President Lev Mironov Addresses Turkish Strikers 
 

Eighty-two of the strikers are women. They have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including being forced to apply for permission from company bosses before becoming pregnant. 
 
The delegation from Eastern Europe and Central Asia came to Turkey following discussion and prominence of the strikers&rsquo; plight at the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee meetings earlier in May. They were greeted at the picket line by Petrol-Iş General Secretary Mustafa Cavdar and other leaders of Turkey&rsquo;s dominant oil and chemical workers&rsquo; union.
<img height="210" src="" width="280" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
In thanking the trade union leaders, Petrol-Iş President Mustafa Oztaskin stated that their presence is a solid reminder that &ldquo;this is a struggle backed by the whole trade union movement throughout the world.&rdquo; The strikers heard from Lev Mironov, president of the Russian Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU); Melik Mirzoyev, general secretary of the ICEM&rsquo;s Interregional Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Federation; and Jahangir Aliyev, general secretary of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Azerbaijan. 
 
Other leaders visiting the picket line on 19 May included: Yelena Mustafina, Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Kazakhstan; Nikolay Stratila, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union of Moldova; Yuriy Rovda, Belarus Petrol Gaz İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikasi Başkani; Ludmila Hrushetskaya, Belarus Mining and Oil Workers&rsquo; Union; and Tamara Bashuk, Ludmila Chubaryan, Natalya Navmova, Hasipat Hugayeva, Rostislav Zagorodniy, Vera Shchukine, Larisa Lukiyanova, Ludmila Brovkina, and Aleksander Vasiliyev, all of ROGWU.
<img height="225" src="" width="300" alt="" />
&nbsp;

Energy Trade Union Leaders Visit Novamed Picket Lines in Turkey

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