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

In Baghdad, the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) has formed workers&rsquo; committee inside affiliate Electricity and Energy Workers Union to better the conditions of employees at the city&rsquo;s Main Water Agency. The campaign aims to secure interest-free payments to workers, deal with administrative and financial corruption inside the agency, get unpaid holiday pay for workers, and make it easier for them to collect pay checks. Currently, Water Agency workers must pass through arduous security and administrative delays at banks in order to receive their pay. The Electricity and Energy Workers Union has won reinstatement for scores of cleaning workers who had been sacked at the Main Water Agency.

Baghdad&#039;s Electrical Workers Organise

In Iraq, oil workers in Basra at the Southern Oil Co. brought the company to a 24-hour standstill on 17 July with a strike. Some 15,000 workers took part in the strike that was intended to force the company and Iraq&rsquo;s Oil Ministry to take a portion of Southern Oil&rsquo;s vast profits and use it to build Basra&rsquo;s local economy. Backed by the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) and the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq, last week&rsquo;s work stoppage could be a precursor to a general strike in Iraq&rsquo;s south if allocations from the country&rsquo;s largest crude oil producer are not used for basic infrastructure needs such as sewage systems, electrical grids and medical services. GUOE is also seeking a wage increase for workers, land allowances, and risk payments, something that Southern Oil&rsquo;s managers already receive.

Oil Workers in Southern Iraq Strike

A mass rally and march will occur next month in Botswana over the government&rsquo;s failure to intervene in the dismissal of 461 workers last year at diamond-mining enterprise Debswana. The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions is conducting the strike, and it is also a protest by the country&rsquo;s unions against Debswana&rsquo;s refusal to recognise new leadership of ICEM affiliate Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union. Trade unions are seeking a re-work of employer-favoured labour legislation passed in May 2004, legislation which Debswana&mdash;a joint venture between DeBeers and the government&mdash;used to sack the 461 for striking illegally.

Mass Rally in Botswana over Debswana&#039;s Intransigence

The three-month-long dispute between 750 New Zealand miners, members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), and state-run Solid Energy ended 19 July with a negotiated settlement. The union won a 5% wage increase for year 2005, plus 2% cash payment in 2006. In addition, EPMU won pay parity for miners in underground and open pit mines on both New Zealand&rsquo;s North and South Islands. Workers at some mines will get an additional 3% next year, others will receive 2%, and miners at two of those coal mines will receive an extra 1.5% wage boost at the end of the two-year agreement in 2007. &ldquo;This agreement sees another significant group of workers win a 5% pay rise, as well as re-establishing a national industrial agreement,&rdquo; stated EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. He added that it was &ldquo;a milestone for the mining industry.&rdquo; Since EPMU launched its &ldquo;Five in &lsquo;05&rdquo; campaign in February, the union has negotiated 5% first-year wage settlements in 219 of 245 labour agreements negotiated across several different sectors.

EPMU Wins 5% for NZ&#039;s Solid Energy Miners

According to UNAIDS, more than 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. In 2008 alone, 2 million people died worldwide of AIDS, 2.7 million more were newly infected with HIV. The high death rates have turned the clock back reversing decades of development gains. The UN Millennium Goals look ever more unachievable. 
 
Medical science has advanced dramatically since HIV/AIDS was first discovered 30 years ago. The appropriate use of the right antiretroviral drugs (ARV) can give an infected person a high quality of life for many years. But too few people have access to life-saving drugs. Although the percentage of those needing ARV treatment who actually receive it rose from 7 percent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2008 or 4 million, about 5 million people are still not receiving it. 
 
The vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are engaged in productive activity. HIV/AIDS is a union issue. Unions have workplace access and roots in the community; they fight discrimination, victimisation and stigma. Unions can build on the trust of workers; their capacity to negotiate agreements with companies is important in securing non-discrimination, non-victimisation, voluntary counselling and testing and anti-retroviral treatment. 
 
Women are particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Inequalities and dependency expose them to partner infidelity and sexual violence. Yet they are more aware of HIV/AIDS issues and have a vital role as carers of families, children and PLWHA. 
 
The ICEM covers sectors which are hardest hit by the pandemic such as mining because of the working and living conditions of miners. It also organises workers in the pharmaceutical industry. The ICEM and its affiliates are strategically positioned to play an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
Global Framework Agreements (GFA) are an invaluable tool for national affiliates to hold Multinational Companies (MNCs) responsible for what has been agreed at global level. Therefore an HIV/AIDS clause based on the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work should be included in GFAs. The ICEM and its affiliates also seek agreement with key MNCs on the provision of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and treatment with effective and affordable drugs. It advocates the expansion of medical services to dependents and to the wider community. 
 
The ICEM supports the call to the international community for a long-term commitment to massively increase funding to provide protection and treatment. 
ICEM HIV/AIDS Project
The project started with a workshop for sub-Saharan African countries in November 2004. From 2005 to 2009 it was sponsored by the LO/TCO Secretariat of Sweden and FNV Mondiaal of the Netherlands with support from the Swedish and Dutch ICEM affiliates. The present project cycle from 2010 to 2012 is sponsored by SASK Finland and FNV Mondiaal. 
 
Achievements 
 
At the global level, an information policy is in place. The ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin has been published monthly since October 2005 and the ICEM web pages on HIV/AIDS are being updated. Affiliates are given guidance on World AIDS Day campaigns. Two manuals on collective bargaining and resources were published. Working relations are established with ILO/AIDS, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank/International Finance Corporation and other organisations such as the World AIDS Campaign and the Global Business Coalition. 
 
The ICEM has lobbied hard for ILO HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the mining sector, which have yet to be adopted. An HIV/AIDS clause based on the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work has been included in some ICEM Global Framework Agreements. The ICEM cooperates with the Global Union AIDS Programme. The wider impact of ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS work is demonstrated by the increasing recognition it receives. In terms of fundraising for sustainability, the ICEM has had some success (see projects below). 
 
An HIV/AIDS Consultant, based in Geneva, looks after the global aspects of the project. He is also in charge of additional projects which are listed below. 
 
At the regional level, national coordinators have been trained in five regional workshops which covered a wide range of topics. In 2008, missions to all project countries and three sub-regional workshops for Southern and East Africa, Anglophone West Africa and Francophone West Africa assessed the progress in the HIV/AIDS project and laid the basis for future activities. 
 
At national level, coordinating committees were established. In cooperation with national coordinators, they have elaborated annual projects which concentrated on peer education and advocacy for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). Training of VCT counsellors was implemented in 2007 in four African countries with a grant from a major US pharmaceutical company. Pilot co-investment projects were discussed with major mining companies in Ghana and Namibia. Still lagging behind are negotiations on HIV/AIDS workplace policies and protective clauses in collective bargaining agreements. In 2009, most participating countries produced their own HIV/AIDS leaflets and other materials. 
 
The project in Africa is run by a Project Manager based in Johannesburg with the assistance of a coordinator for Francophone Africa, based in Abidjan. 
 
Additional Projects 
 
The ICEM managed to widen the scope of its HIV/AIDS work with additional funding from ICEM affiliates, solidarity support organisations and corporate partnership. 
 
The Danish LO/FTF supports a project on HIV/AIDS and the mining sector in Ethiopia, which runs until 2011. Major outcomes of this project in 2009 include an HIV/AIDS policy for the ICEM-affiliated National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions, the draft of an HIV/AIDS workplace policy as well as the production of materials for a toolkit for peer educators. 
 
The Humanity Fund of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers&rsquo; Union of Canada (CEP) co-sponsored a project in Nigeria together with the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project and the Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN. The training of unionists as peer educators/lay counsellors led to a massive uptake of VCT among workers, their dependents and members of the community. An application for an extension of this project is pending. 
 
The CEP also made funds available for an HIV/AIDS project in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009 and 2010 in cooperation with the Oilfield Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. 
 
Collection of funds by the Women&rsquo;s Department of the German affiliate IG BCE enabled affiliates in Tanzania in 2009 to focus on gender issues and a large VCT campaign, which will be continued in 2010. 
 
Affiliates in Japan and Taiwan contributed to a programme in Mongolia in 2009. 
 
Discussions are underway with the Norwegian affiliate Industri Energi for a project in Jordan. 
 
The German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim sponsored a large HIV/AIDS project in India in 2008 and 2009. With the technical assistance from the ILO Office in Delhi, master trainers were trained who in turn prepared peer educators for their awareness and prevention work at workplaces and in villages. The project also adapted ILO material, such as manuals, leaflets and posters for training purposes and mass distribution. 
For further information please contact the 
ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant Hans J Schwass 
<a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a> or <a href="mailto:schwass@bluewin.ch">schwass@bluewin.ch</a> 
+41 22 7574920, +41 79 3330394

ICEM Responding to HIV/AIDS

French unions will begin mass protests and strikes today across the country over the government&rsquo;s broken promise, made a short 18 months ago, that Gaz de France (GDF) would remain at last 70% state held. The actions are due to a proposal made public a week ago to merge GDF with the French-Belgian publicly-traded water/power group, Suez. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The French government stands in the middle of the deal, which would effectively privatise GDF, with France&rsquo;s stake only 34%. The government currently holds 80% of GDF. 
 
The merger would have a detrimental effect on Electricit&eacute; de France, costing mass job losses since Suez and its subsidiaries would supply power to GDF. CFDT Chimie Energie said the proposed merger lacks transparency in that no analysis of the combined industrial plan was presented, and the social aspects of such a Suez-GDF merger had not been studied adequately. 
The deal is an attempt to block Italian energy company Enel&rsquo;s hostile takeover bid of Suez.

French Unions Strike over Gaz de France Merger Plan

<img height="41" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Even as German affiliate IGBCE came to acceptable terms with Continental Tyre over a plant downsizing in Hannover, two other ICEM-affiliated trade unions face difficulties with the company. In the US, United Steelworkers (USW) is fully engaged in achieving job protection measures in negotiations at a tyre plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
 
Continental North America announced last year that it would make redundant 510 of the plant&rsquo;s 1,083 jobs this year, and then dropped a concession-ridden proposal on the union seeking US$32 million in costs savings that includes across-the-board 15% pay cuts. 
USW has criticized the &ldquo;slash and burn proposal.&rdquo; Union Executive Vice President Ron Hoover said, &ldquo;There are absolutely zero job security provisions to maintain future productivity&rdquo; in Continental&rsquo;s proposal, a deviation from the master rubber contracts that Goodyear, Bridgestone-Firestone and BF Goodrich/Michelin operate under in the US. A labour agreement in place since 1999 at the Charlotte plant expires on 30 April 2006. 
 
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), meanwhile, has condemned Continental for failing to abide by a labour court ruling to reinstate workers at its Port Elizabeth plant. The workers were sacked after the company unilaterally changed working hours without consultations with NUMSA. The union has taken legal action, and is threatening a strike and a boycott of Conti products through its affiliation with COSATU, a South African national labour centre.

Continental Tyre Creating Problems in US, South Africa

<img height="41" alt="" src="" width="100" />
An acceptable agreement was achieved in northern Brazil between workers represented by ICEM affiliate SINAP-CUT and Group Jo&atilde;o Santos. The Brazil-based company shut two of its subsidiaries near the town of Coelho Neto, the paper producer Itapag&eacute; SA and agricultural entity Agrimex SA. The company&rsquo;s intention is to use contractors in these enterprises, and sacked 227 workers in the process. 
<img height="213" src="" width="283" alt="" />
 
Workers and their families, who were camped in front of the company&rsquo;s Maranha&otilde; State regional headquarters, received a favourable agreement after dialogue between SINAP-CUT, the company, and the Court of Works of Caxias. 
It calls for full wage payments, according to social protocols; extensive company-paid re-training and re-certifications for dismissed employees; maintaining the Coelho Neto schools by Group Jo&atilde;o Santos; and written rights of local workers for jobs within contractors assuming company work. SINAP-CUT credited &ldquo;the strength and persistence of workers and leaders of Coelho Neto who with their force of fight had obtained these important advances.&rdquo;

Accord Reached in Brazil’s Paper Sector Stand-off

<img height="41" src="" width="100" alt="" />
An 18-day lockout of 58 members of Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union in New Zealand ended on 21 February after workers ratified a mediated settlement with a North Island regional electrical provider, Top Energy. 
The two-year accord gives the linemen a 5% wage increase, backdated to 1 July 2005, and a 4% wage increase in July of this year. The agreement also retains for workers key work-rule conditions, items that the community-owned electric distributor tried to take from workers in initiating the lockout.

Lockout Ends at Top Energy in New Zealand

<img height="41" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Two jewellery workers from China and two gem polishers from India will travel to Basel, Switzerland, late this month to raise awareness of the deadly side effects of their jobs, particularly silicosis. 
The workers will attend a jewellery fair from 30 March to 4 April, and hope to have talks with a large number of organisations, including the ILO, in order to bring more preventative measures to their line of work. Silicosis kills workers slowly, often over long and painful illnesses. In the case of Asian workers, compensation is unheard of and most do not have the means to pay for medical bills. 
 
According to official Chinese figures, 440,000 workers&mdash;many of them migrant workers&mdash;have silicosis. Other estimates put that figure as ten times higher. The ICEM released a statement on the occasion of the Basel visit, which can be found at <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1671">/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1671</a>.

Asian Jewellery Workers Visit Europe over Silicosis

Archive

Baghdad's Electrical Workers Organise

Oil Workers in Southern Iraq Strike

Mass Rally in Botswana over Debswana's Intransigence

EPMU Wins 5% for NZ's Solid Energy Miners

ICEM Responding to HIV/AIDS

French Unions Strike over Gaz de France Merger Plan

Continental Tyre Creating Problems in US, South Africa

Accord Reached in Brazil’s Paper Sector Stand-off

Lockout Ends at Top Energy in New Zealand

Asian Jewellery Workers Visit Europe over Silicosis

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us