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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
At a factory blockade of a Michelin tire plant in Laem Chabang, Thailand, on 20 March 2009, workers protested against a harsh 35% pay cut. Following the manifestation, 22 union activists were arrested, suspended from their jobs, with management taking out criminal charges against them. (See ICEM news release on that <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3132-ICEM-Condemns-Lockout-of-Thai-Workers-by-Michelin " type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
Those 22 unionists, members of ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation (PCFT), were finally reinstated to their jobs on 18 January, after attending a special training session specifically for them. 
 
However, despite this positive but delayed piece of justice, the conflict is far from over. Ten of the 22 are still facing criminal charges, charges the ICEM believes are unjust because they relate to legitimate trade union activity. The president of the Michelin Tyre Workers’ Union of the PCFT is one of those facing criminal proceedings, scheduled to take place at the Criminal Court of Pattaya by the public prosecutor of the province. The trade unionists have been forced to take bail. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0905.thai.michelin.JPG" width="270" height="129"/>
Michelin Tyre Workers’ Union leaders of the PCFT, from left, Thanakorn Somsin, Rangsan Monchaisong, and Samai Koonswat
The cases are expected to be processed in the next month. 
 
Trade union members continue to face discrimination on a daily basis inside the Michelin factory, a workplace that employs 1,500. They receive lower pay than non-union members and have witnessed management take away holiday allowances in 2009. 
 
The March 2009 bargaining dispute was settled through successful tripartite discussions, brought forth by pressure from the ICEM, FCE-CFDT of France, and Michelin’s European Works Council. The parties called for immediate intervention by Michelin headquarters then in France. 
 
In other Michelin Asia-Pacific news, the company announced closure of a Japanese factory in Ota, 50 kilometres north of Tokyo. The closure will occur in July 2010 and will see 380 employees sacked from their jobs. The reason given by Michelin is that production costs at the plant are too high. Michelin has entered into talks with the union to relocate workers from the Ota plant into other jobs.

Michelin Unionists at Thai Tyre Factory Still Face Discrimination

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The Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) and the All-Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (APLF) jointly held a manifestation on 13 January at the Quetta Press Club to protest safety inaction by Balochistan provincial authorities in coal mining. In the first half of January, at least 21 miners perished in roof cave-ins and methane gas explosions. 
 
The federated mining unions expressed outrage that neither Balochistan authorities nor the Chief Inspectorate of Mines removed the bodies of five dead miners in the days following the tragedies. On 2 January, a gas explosion at the Al-Rahman mine near Marwar killed ten miners, including three Afghan workers. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1001.pakistan.protest.jpg" width="290" height="177" alt=""/>
The blast, which caused a cave-in, occurred 2,000 metres underground. And then on 11 January, two separate mine accidents occurred at the Habibullah Coal Mines Co. near Spin Karez. Three miners died when a roof collapsed, while eight others were trapped and killed following a blast at the mine in the Marwar coal fields. 
 
Speakers at the unions’ 13 January protest said governmental authorities demonstrated “criminal silence” over the loss of lives, as well as denouncing Balochistan officials for not extending financial assistance to the families of the deceased. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1001.Sultan Muhammad Khan.pakistan.jpg" width="160" height="238" alt=""/>
Sultan Muhammad Khan
PCMLF Secretary General Sultan Muhammad Khan called it a travesty that miners are denied social benefits, and he said the fact that five miners from the first incident are still entombed at Al-Rahman “speaks volumes about the performance of the Mines Inspectorate.” 
 
Other mine union officials that condemned the inaction, as well as the lack of preventative safety measures in the province’s mines included Bakht Maweb Yousatzai, Abdul Sattar, Syed Altaf Ilussain Shah, Muhammad Jamil, And Rehmatullah Baloch. The mine union leaders said the average death rate in Balochistan coal mining, in southwestern Pakistan, had been 86 known deaths, but that this rate has increased of late because of lack of safety measures in mines.

Pakistan Mine Unions Protest Killings in Balochistan Coal Pits

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Four contractors of Royal Dutch Shell, who were kidnapped in Nigeria while enroute to work at a power plant on 12 January, were released early last week. The four, three British nationals and one Colombia national, work for Shell sub-contractor NETCO-Dietsmann NV. The Colombian expatriate, Fabien Sanchez, was hospitalized after winning his freedom with shrapnel wounds. 
 
The four were abducted by despicable thugs between on the northeast border of Rivers State where it junctures with Abia State. A police escort was shot and killed, and the driver was wounded. The criminals reportedly demanded a US$2 million ransom. Police put up a US$16,000 reward for information leading to the crime. It was not clear if ransom money was paid to win the freedom of the expatriate workers or not. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Nigeria.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
The Rivers State branch of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) condemned the crime. Branch Chairman Hyginus Chika Onuegbu called on state police forces in all the oil-rich states surrounding Port Harcourt to beef up road patrols around border junctions, since this is where kidnappings and killings happen. 
 
The kidnapped workers are part of a team of contractors working on the Afam VI power station, managed and 30% owned by Shell. They work for the sub-contractor NETCO-Dietsmann, a 40/60 joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation subsidiary, National Engineering and Technical Co., and Dietsmann, an upstream oil services company based in the Netherlands. Capital improvements are being made on Afam VI in order that higher flows of liquid natural gas will double the power plant’s capacity to 650 megawatts. 
 
The names of the British contractors that were kidnapped are John Bennet, Kevin Gray, and Martin Phillip.

Kidnapped Shell Workers in Nigeria Released, One Injured

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Workers’ Memorial Day this year will use the moniker “Unions Make Work Safer,” as global labour moves 28 April – the Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers – as the one day that every day must bring in the fight for safe, healthy, and risk-free workplaces. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has designated that theme for 2010 in order to emphasize the vital role trade unions play in constantly improving occupational health and safety. 
 
In the UK, the government became one of over 20 countries worldwide to officially designate 28 April as Workers’ Memorial Day when Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper announced formal recognition of the day on 28 January. After beginning consultations in July 2009, it became clear to the government that the growing number of observances and health/safety renewal commitments on 28 April each year merited official designation. 

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What UK recognition now means is that the government will encourage commemorations of the day throughout the country, with ministers committed to support and promote public commemorations. “Workers’ Memorial Day has been an important date in the trade union calendar for many years and we look forward to working with ministers to increase its profile,” stated Trades Unions Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber. 
 
The ITUC expects 2010 to exceed the 10,000 activities that occurred in over 100 countries around 28 April 2009. The ITUC itself will produce and release background materials, campaign ideas, and additional tools as 28 April 2010 nears. 
 
“Workers’ Memorial Day gains more local, national, and international recognition with each passing year,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “And it is only fitting this year to draw attention to workers who, through their unions, have done so much to improve everyday workplace safety and health.” 
 
The facts bear this out. In Canada, a recent report by the Ontario Safety and Health Agency found that 79% of unionised worksites report high compliance with health and safety legislation, while between 54% and 61% of non-union workplaces report such compliance. 
 
In Australia, unionised workplaces are three times more likely to have a safety committee and twice as likely to have performed a safety audit as non-union-sites. 
 
The ICEM encourages affiliates to begin preparing now for 28 April. The day became officially recognized by the ILO in 2001 as the “International Day of Action for Safety and Health at Work,” but had its origins before then. The ITUC marks the day to 1996 when the UN lit Commemorative Candles for the 188 victims of the Kader toy factory in Thailand in 1993. 
 
But the commemoration day has its true roots in the Canadian trade union movement, where unionists worked for several days before the Canadian Parliament in 1989 passed Bill C-223, designating 28 April as the official “Day of Mourning” for the North American country.

‘Unions Make Work Safer’ Theme for 28 April, Now Official Day in UK

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Whether or not the South African National Assembly passes legislation to ban labour brokers is a question likely to be answered early in 2010. But there is little doubt that the matter has fast become the hot-button employment issue in the country, judging from the current intensity of the debate. 
 
Following two days of raucous public hearings in Cape Town by the Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Labour in late August that firmly pitted political parties against one another, the debate whether to pass a ban or to impose tighter regulations on labour broking moved to four provinces in early October where parliamentary regional hearings were held. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66"/>
And in between, the Congress of South African Unions (COSATU) weighed in strongly in favour of a ban at its Tenth National Congress and immediately launched a national campaign to ban the 25-billion-rand business in coordination with global labour’s World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on 7 October. 
 
In COSATU’s congress declaration, the federation states, “… as part of the struggle for decent employment, we call for the elimination of the practice of labour broking.” At a press conference following the 21-24 September congress, General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said labour brokers often take up to 20% of a worker’s wages in fees. 
 
Three weeks earlier, at the Assembly’s Portfolio Committee hearings, Vavi called the system a “social ill,” likening it to “HIV and AIDS or crime and corruption. It’s an arrangement made to take advantage of the weak and most vulnerable in a society.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaCOSATU2.jpg" width="102" height="111"/>
One of COSATU’s WDDW activities occurred on 6 October where 400 members of the affiliated Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) rallied in front of a postal centre in Ormonde. There, some 80% of the total workers are supplied by labour brokers. A CWU representative said eight labour brokers are used and what’s worse, he added, is that some of the postal managers are part-owners of the labour-broking agencies. 
 
One such worker abused by the system and involved in the protest said he earns a monthly salary one-quarter of that of a permanent employee in the postal centre, while another said working in precarious employment is no better than being unemployed. “They use us like condoms. One mistake, you are out and they get another one in your place anyway.” 
 
The ICEM affiliate, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), called on parliamentarians of the African National Congress (ANC) to use its majority to pass a law banning labour brokers. NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim said under the latter-day apartheid employment system, the focus of employers is on labour agencies, not workers. “In a society with high levels of inequalities, it is a crisis to allow this system to flourish,” he said. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthafricaNumsa100.jpg" width="100" height="102"/>
The political lines have been drawn in the debate. While most ANC legislators favour a ban, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance (DA) is on the defensive and merely calling for regulating labour broking. The fledging Congress of the People (COPE), with little political power following spin-off from the ANC, has been relatively silent on the issue, but is believed to favour tighter regulation rather than an outright ban. 
 
The business lobby says 500,000 people in South African are employed through labour brokers, but it is believed the real number could be triple that. The lobby does admit that of 6,000 labour brokers in the country, only 3,000 of them are properly registered. 
 
In neighbouring Namibia, labour brokers were banned in 2008. But the industry and business lobby has now challenged that law on constitutional grounds, something South African business interests would likely do as well if a ban is passed. 
 
On 27 August, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), together with its South African affiliate, the Building and Construction Allied Workers’ Union, held a forum in Johannesburg entitled “Multi-Sectoral Conference on Decent Work Towards and Beyond 2010,” aimed primarily at work issues in preparation for South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthafricaNUM.gif" width="100" height="103"/>
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Construction Coordinator Isaac Ntshangase pointed out that 32% of the country’s building and construction industry is carried out using informal workers. The conference passed a resolution calling for a ban on labour brokers and condemned the sub-standard wages and work conditions common in subcontracting arrangements. 
 
Whether or not section 198 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act of 1995 gets amended to ban labour brokers totally, or if a compromise is struck placing tighter regulations on the practice, is an open question right now. But there is little question that some form of legislative action will result, which will be good news to the global union forces that are now marshalling efforts to rollback non-sustaining work through labour-hire agencies and indirect employment.

Issue to Ban ‘Labour Brokers’ in South Africa Coming to a Head

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The transition to a low-carbon economy must guarantee employment and result in the development of new, decent jobs, say participants at global industrial unions’ meeting on climate change. That was the message coming from 14-15 October multi-trade union meetings in Bad Orb, Germany.
The meetings were conducted under the auspices of the ICEM, the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), the European Metalworkers' Federation, and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) in a forum "Cutting Emissions, Transforming Jobs." 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.bad.orb.jpg" width="370" height="110"/>
The goal of the meeting was to discuss how industrial workers might present a common position at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen Denmark. The UNFCCC COP-15 conference, as it is called, is expected to propose a new set of agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets to renew or replace those contained within the Kyoto Accord. 
 
Speaking at the meeting, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, “Our industrial sectors are frequently seen as contributors to the current environmental crisis. Yet it is within these very industries that solutions already exist or are being developed. We want to reduce emissions, while at the same time increasing employment and protecting the environment.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.bad.orb.2.jpg" width="325" height="183"/>
The industrial workers’ unions prepared a background discussion document taking into account work that had already been done, such as ICEM's recently-adopted policy on Sustainability. The meeting was structured around five panel discussions: environmental protection, sustainable development, sectoral concerns, sustainable job creation, and just transition. 
 
The lively discussion covered a vast territory, some of the points made include: 
- the environmental crisis is as much a failure of global capitalism as the recent and ongoing economic crisis 
- good jobs and a clean environment go hand in hand, we will have both; or we will have neither 
- developing countries must have their chance to develop. However, their development need not follow the same harmful paths as it did in developed countries that caused the environmental crisis in the first place. International institutions for capital and finance, resurgent protectionism, and restrictions on technology transfer, can create a new era of colonialism if we do not prevent it 
- trade unions must hold governments and employers to account, particularly regarding the social dimension of sustainability 
 
The delegates from all four organizations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the social and economic consequences of trying to solve the present environmental crisis. Overall, there was a consensus that industrial sector unions need to make our voices heard in Copenhagen, and particularly to be the champions of the social dimension of sustainable development. While there are certainly concerns within specific industries and regions, and therefore a need for strong Just Transition programs, there are also many opportunities for sustainable job creation. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IMF100.jpg" width="100" height="97"/> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EMCEF.gif" width="146" height="46"/> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EMF.png" width="105" height="94"/>
 
The ICEM, IMF, EMF and EMCEF will be reviewing the discussion document and comments received over the next couple of weeks. Following this review, we will finalize the materials we will bring to COP-15 in Copenhagen to make our points with the country representatives negotiating the new agreement. 
 
Following the meeting, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary said, “For industrial workers and their unions an important question for changing to a low-carbon economy is who pays for it and who benefits from the transition. We only have one planet and we all have an interest in protecting our future.” 
All material from the meeting is available on the IMF website, <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21012&l=2">here</a>.
Additional information about climate change and the position of industrial workers can be found on the following web links: 
 
<a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/climatechange">www.imfmetal.org/climatechange</a>
<a href="/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety" type="internal">/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety</a>
<a href="http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15">http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15</a>

Cut Emissions, Transform Jobs

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A special feature at the IGBCE Congress in Hannover, Germany, occurred on closing day, 16 October. It was a round-table forum on Global Networks. The panel was moderated by Constantin Grund of the Freidrich Ebert Foundation, and included ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana. 
 
It also included Fabio Lins from ICEM Brazilian affiliate CNQ/CUT, who addressed the highly successful Latin American network of workers within the German chemical company BASF; Robert Oswald, chairman of the European Works Council of BASF; and Ralf Blauth, Human Resources director of Evonik, now a German chemicals firm that evolved from another company, RAG, that had been signatory to a Global Framework Agreement with the ICEM. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.IGBCE.3.jpg" width="300" height="225"/>
Fabio Lins, Senzeni Zokwana, Constantin Grund, Robert Oswald, Ralf Blauth
Zokwana spelled out the ICEM’s philosophy behind Global Agreements, as well as the distinct features of ICEM workers’ networks within single multinational companies, specifically related to the regional and global level. 
 
“These networks are the direct result of several years of contact between workers of the same company,” he said. “We have found that the regional networks are working the best, partly because of language and work similarities, but also because company managers have joined with these taking on a high degree of dialogue and actual negotiations.” 
 
Lins added that the best example of this might be BASF in Latin America, which has now completed its tenth year. “We have succeeded in convincing the BASF managers in both Europe and Latin America to play a hands-on role in this network,” said Lins. “That has enhanced our work, brought better safety standards to all worksites, and addressed such issues as subcontracting directly with management.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BASFICEMLatAmNetwork.jpg" width="300" height="104"/>
Oswald added that the BASF Asia-Pacific Network is moving forward, with the introduction of methods and common values brought forward from both Europe and Latin America. “I must add that Supervisory Board members and workers’ representatives on BASF’s European Works Council have gained valuable knowledge and benefited greatly from the experiences that have been shared in both regions,” said Oswald. 
 
Blauth addressed the question of a merged company – RAG and Degussa forming Evonik – coming forward now to re-negotiate a Global Agreement. He said it is still too early in the process to predict an outcome. “We are pragmatic and will place great emphasis on the practicability of reaching such an agreement. The communication process is important in and of itself, and this process inevitably leads to improved company practices. 
 
Warda concluded the session by stating both Global Framework Agreements and multinational workers’ networks are invaluable instruments to improve dialogue between labour and management, as well as setting forth best practices for trade unions in cross-border workplaces to adopt and implement so work standards can become harmonized.

IGBCE Congress Features Panel on Global Workers’ Network on Closing Day

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Tens of thousands of Nigerian citizens took to the streets in the federal capital territory of Abuja on 29 October in a visible display at protest over the government’s plan to deregulate the downstream oil sector. The manifestation was led by the nation’s two national labour centres, the blue-collar Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the white-collar Trades Union Congress (TUC). 
 
Both ICEM trade union affiliates in the energy sector, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, were forefront in the manifestation, turning out thousands of members. The government’s plan to deregulate also would end fuel subsidies to the nation’s citizenry, an insensitive move that would – the labour federations claim – immediately lift fuel costs from 65 naira per litre (US$.43) to 95 naira (US$.63). 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.Nigeria.Rally.jpg" width="160" height="239"/>
Three Arms Monument at the National Assembly
Such an increase on heating, cooking, and transport fuel costs would drive millions of people in Africa’s most populous country deeper into poverty. 
 
Last Thursday’s protest culminated at the Three Arms Zone in front of the National Assembly, where union and civil society leaders delivered a letter intended for President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. It called on the government to conduct a citizens’ referendum on the question of deregulation. 
 
The letter was jointly signed by NLC President Abdulwahed Omar, TUC President Peter Esele, and Dr. Dipo Hasfhina, co-chairman of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition. The manifestation started at Berger Junction in Abuja and marched passed several key buildings, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) Towers, the Court of Appeals, and the Nigerian Television Authority, locations where the march halted for rallying speeches. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.Nigeria.Rally.2.jpg" width="320" height="213"/>
Both NUPENG and PENGASSAN believe that deregulation can only occur when there is increased local refining capacity from Nigeria’s five oil refineries. NUPENG President Peter Akpatason said deregulating the downstream sector would allow shadowy marketers to limit supplies, thus boosting prices and their profits, “spelling misery to the teeming poor of the country.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/NupengAkpatason.jpg" width="120" height="90"/>
NUPENG President Peter Akpatason
Withdrawing fuel subsidies, he added, when the domestic market is dependent on 80% imported supplies is a recipe for civil strife. The country’s refineries have a combined stated capacity of 445,000 barrels-per-day, but have never operated at that due to neglect, negligible NNPC and government capitalisation, and lack of reliable feedstock supplies. Even if run at full optimisation, the refineries would produce just barely half of the 32 million litres of petrol, kerosene, and other fuel products demanded daily. 
 
PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun also expressed skepticism at the current government process toward deregulation. “We vehemently reject import-driven deregulation. We need the free and uninterrupted flow of petroleum products across the country,” he said, adding that means the government must focus on developing more domestic refining capacity and creating jobs for Nigerians. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805BanatundeOgunPengPres1.jpg" width="140" height="210"/>
PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun
A major complaint by labour and civil service leaders is the arrogance of Rilwanu Lukman, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, who has concluded publicly that deregulation and the end of price subsidies is now irreversible. His neo-liberal thinking, some believe, is tied to his own relationships with marketers. 
 
The mass number of Nigerians who assembled last week in Abuja resent the government’s fast-track effort to deregulate oil supplies. As NLC President Abdulwahed Omar said at one rally stop, “Nigeria belongs to all of us and if the government is for the people, then the voice of the people must count. If they think that deregulation is a popular policy, let them subject it to a referendum and let Nigerians decide.” 
 
Although the government has been silent on the exact date that liberalisation would occur, indicators such as vessel arrivals and ramping up supply access signal that perhaps it will be soon. But following last week’s mass mobilization, the government may very well have backed off immediate deregulation and an end to subsidies until more public discourse is heard.

Nigerian Labour, Citizenry Protest to Fuel Oil Deregulation

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An 18-month contract dispute between the ICEM North American affiliate, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), and Lafarge at a cement manufacturing plant in the US state of Missouri was finally resolved on 22 October. 
 
A tentative agreement was reached at the Sugar Creek, Missouri, plant between IBB Lodge D-27 and American managers of the French- based company that will see retirees receive the same medical benefits that active workers get, and will push back a different retiree health-benefit scheme for any new employee hired after 1 January 2012. 
 
IBB Vice President Warren Fairly reported that the new agreement, once ratified by the 55 Lodge D-27 members, will run until 1 January 2012. A prior agreement expired on 30 April 2008. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/lafarge.gif" width="127" height="39"/>
The ICEM and the Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI), the two Global Union Federations that are signatory to a Global Framework Agreement with Lafarge, brought North American management’s unjust social cuts before senior Lafarge managers in Paris in September and October 2008. 
 
Lafarge had sought to exclude entirely new hires from any future retiree medical plan, and wanted existing workers to enter into a separate, inferior health-care plan upon retirement. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the IBB for its bargaining table endurance to finally get Lafarge to move away from its concessionary 2008 contract agenda. The Sugar Creek cement plant underwent a major modernisation in 2002, and is currently in a ten-week partial shutdown that is expected to last until 11 January 2010 due to the economic downturn in the construction sector. 
 
Some 35 to 40 IBB members are on temporary furloughs, but the union has negotiated retention of their benefits. Teamsters Local 541 represents about ten truck drivers at the Sugar Creek plant as well.

US Boilermakers US Succeed in Moving Lafarge Off Contract Concessions

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Following the ICEM’s Executive Committee Meetings late in June in Geneva, and the two-day International Nuclear Workers’ Union Network (INWUN) conference, the ICEM held a wider Electric Power Workers’ Conference on 27 June. 
 
Under the chairmanship of Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Industries Section Chairman, the conference saw participation of trade unions involved in the production and distribution of electric power, regardless of the method of generation used. 
 
A number of presently unaffiliated trade unions from the North America electric industry had been invited and a union representing power workers of British Colombia, Canada, Local 38 of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees’ Union, was in attendance. 
 
After an opening session where speeches of welcome preceded a detailed presentation of the global industry and recent ICEM work, made by Energy Officer Jim Catterson, a presentation on ICEM’s Sustainable Development policy was made by Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0907.electricity.jpg" width="343" height="142" alt=""/>
Michael Langford, Lars Mhyre, Manfred Warda
The conference focused on key priorities of ICEM including Global Framework Agreements, networks, and campaigns. On global agreements, an overview by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda was followed by a detailed presentation on the EDF agreement by Marc Ferron of French affiliate FCE-CFDT. 
 
Ferron is the secretary of the coordinating committee established within the EDF agreement, and his presentation generated much interest and discussion. A second session focused on network building with presentations on the previous two days of INWUN meetings, done by INWUN Chairman David Shier of the Canadian Power Workers’ Union, and on the Asia-Pacific Electric Power Workers’ Network, a presentation made by a colleague from Japan. 
 
A third focus of the conference was on campaigning and following an overview of recent ICEM campaigns in the industry by ICEM Information and Campaigns Officer Dick Blin, the meeting heard a report of the ongoing campaign for a first collective agreement at Covanta in the US state of Massachusetts by Michael Langford, President of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). This presentation focussed on the international aspects of the struggle for justice, and also generated considerable interest and discussion. 
 
The electric conference then drew together the discussions under a general theme of building and strengthening trade unions throughout the industry. Iraq was clearly focused on as an immediate priority following a moving presentation of the situation there by Hashmeyia Saadawi, the President of ICEM-affiliated General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians (GFIW) and a member of the ICEM Executive. She gave a detailed report on the daily dangers involved in trade union work in Iraq and her presentation centered on the lack of regular electric power supply service there, and on safety and health problems, which has led to an appalling rate of accidents and deaths record in the industry. 
 
Participants also congratulated Hashmeyia Saadawi on her recent award of the prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award presented by FNV, a Dutch national labour centre, which is given to a trade union leader who has worked under difficult circumstances, taken enormous personal risks, but has defended trade union rights in countries where such rights are routinely violated. 
 
The conference marked the first time ICEM has held a meeting devoted purely to Electric Power, and all participants considered it a very worthwhile exercise in building and organising solidarity. Delegates resolved to build a sector-wide communication network to build solidarity to conflicts and to communicate good practice and union success stories quickly and easily.

ICEM Hold First Electric Power Conference

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