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Talks could begin today on the dispute that has shut down much of Norway's private sector. 
 
National labour federation LO called its secretariat into special session immediately after a press conference in Oslo this morning. LO President Yngve Hagensen told journalists that exploratory discussions have already taken place with the employers' federation NHO. 
 
&quot;These could - and I emphasise the could - lead to a resumption of negotiations with NHO as early as today,&quot; Hagensen said. 
 
But strike action could continue in parallel with any negotiations, he stressed. 
 
&quot;If we are to succeed in the negotiations, we must demonstrate our strength,&quot; Hagensen explained. 
 
84,600 Norwegian workers have been on strike across the private sector since 3 May, following the membership's rejection of a previous mediated settlement offer. The strike is scheduled to spread at 6.00 a.m. tomorrow local time, after which a total of 102,119 workers will be out. 
 
Industrial unions affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) are playing a major part in the campaign.

Norwegian Strike Talks Today?

Norway's nationwide strike will spread to more industries next Tuesday, union leaders told a press conference in Oslo this morning. 
 
102,119 workers will be on strike across the private sector from 6.00 a.m. local time on 9 May. These include the 84,600 union members who have been out since 3 May - already more than a third of the country's private sector union membership. 
 
Among the new strikers next Tuesday will be 5,200 pulp and paper workers organised by the general union Fellesforbundet. At the global level, Fellesforbundet is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
ICEM sectors already on strike in Norway include asphalt, cement, explosives, rubber products, paints, plastics and a range of ancillary and catering functions in the oil and gas industries. Electricity and electrochemical workers could join in later this month. 
 
The strike follows a membership vote to reject a mediated settlement covering much of the private sector. 
 
&quot;It is true that we have national-level collective agreements and that we have a tradition of bringing out whole sectors of coverage during a dispute,&quot; commented Fellesforbundet President Kjell Bj&oslash;rndalen at today's press conference. &quot;We call out everything or nothing.&quot; 
 
No new offer has so far been received from the employers, Yngve H&aring;gensen told the journalists this morning. He is President of the national trade union federation LO, which is coordinating the action. 
 
&quot;We're going to conduct a big, solid strike without hitting 'third parties' too hard,&quot; H&aring;gensen added. &quot;We'll do it in such a way that it will be first and foremost the companies, the owners, who will feel it.&quot;

Norwegian Strike To Spread

Major investors are backing calls for change at mining multinational Rio Tinto. 
 
In Britain, where Rio Tinto is headquartered, investors with over 28 billion pounds sterling in assets (over 43 billion US dollars) are supporting two resolutions proposed by the Coalition of Rio Tinto Shareholders. One of the resolutions concerns corporate governance. The other calls on Rio Tinto to ensure that its labour practices worldwide comply with the core standards of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). 
 
British investors who have come out in favour of the resolutions include the Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd. (CIS). The CIS decision was announced by Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) today. CIS is one of Rio Tinto's largest shareholders, with more than 23 billion pounds sterling under management. A number of British pension funds have also swung their shareholder power behind the resolutions. 
 
Under its dual-listing structure, Rio Tinto holds two Annual General Meetings (AGMs) - one in London (on 10 May this year) and one in Australia (Brisbane, 24 May). The resolutions will be put to shareholders at both AGMs. 
 
&quot;It should come as no surprise that shareholders are welcoming our proposals with open arms,&quot; said TUC General Secretary John Monks. &quot;Institutional investors increasingly see the value of AGM resolutions that promote long-term shareholder value.&quot; 
 
The two resolutions are being backed by the TUC, by the trade union movements in Australia and the US and by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM has already offered to negotiate and sign a global agreement with Rio Tinto. Under such an agreement, the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide would verify, among other things, the company's compliance with ILO core standards. Through the ICEM, unions would have the right to raise with Rio Tinto corporate management any alleged breaches of these standards. 
 
However, the ICEM has also made it clear that Rio Tinto must resolve current industrial disputes in Australia before a global agreement can be signed.

Rio Tinto: Big Investors Want Change

Most of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the disputeMost of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the disputeMost of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the dispute

Turkish Tyre Strike Hits Multinationals

80,000 workers across Norway will launch an indefinite strike from 6.00 a.m. local time on 3 May, the national union federation LO announced this afternoon. 
 
This means that over a third of all the country's private sector union members will take industrial action next week - and many more could be called out if the dispute drags on. 
 
The strike call follows a membership vote to reject a mediated settlement covering much of the private sector. 64.3 percent of the votes cast were against the proposed settlement, which was reached at the beginning of this month. 
 
The strikers will include 5,000 chemical and allied workers organised in the NKIF union, which is affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Sectors affected will include cement, explosives, rubber products, paints, plastics and oil-based products. At the same time, warning will be given of strike action by another 500 chemical workers from 15 May onwards, when their agreements expire. For public health reasons, however, the pharmaceutical industry is among the sectors exempted from the strike. 
 
In oil and gas, members of the ICEM-affiliated NOPEF union in a number of onshore ancillary services and catering will strike from 3 May. 
 
However, NOPEF says that Norwegian oil output &quot;will not be needlessly affected at this stage of the dispute.&quot; 
 
Members of ICEM-affiliated general workers' union Fellesforbundet will strike in a number of sectors, including asphalt production. 
 
Electricity workers in the ICEM-affiliated EL&amp;IT union are not involved in the dispute at present, but could become so after 15 May, when their own agreement expires. 
 
Similarly, a further 10,000 NKIF members in the electrochemical industry, including Norsk Hydro, could join the action after 31 May, when their present agreement runs out.

Norwegians Call Nationwide Strike

The ICEM&rsquo;s 4th Bridgestone Workers&rsquo; Global Network meetings were held in Brazil last week and delegates came from Japan, Spain, South Africa, US and host country Brazil. Topics included health and safety, breakdown of company finances by region and division, and delegates met with the director of the Japanese firm&rsquo;s big Santa Andre tyre plant near Sao Paulo.

ICEM’s Bridgestone Network Meets in Brazil

US affiliate PACE criticized ExxonMobil for discriminatory practices against Native Americans in the state of New Mexico at a gas production site. After organizing with PACE two years ago, workers are still without a first collective agreement. ExxonMobil has denied the mostly Native American workforce a pay raise now for the second consecutive year. &ldquo;To single out Native Americans after a year in which ExxonMobil achieved US$21.5 billion in profits, its CEP garnered US$28.7 million in total compensation, and almost all ExxonMobil employees received some wage increase, to treat them differently from other workers appears overtly discriminatory to us,&rdquo; said PACE Executive Vice President Jim Pannell. He cited union data that the gas workers earn US$1.30-to-$2.66 per hour less than other company workers in the US.

PACE Takes on ExxonMobil Over Native American Rights

Hibernia offshore oil workers in Canada won yet another legal victory 28 April when the Supreme Court of Newfoundland held union certification with CEP legal. The ruling was another and hopefully final setback for lead company ExxonMobil at Hibernia. CEP President Brian Payne said, &ldquo;ExxonMobil has now run out of excuses and reasons&rdquo; for denying the 420 workers a collective agreement. Hibernia workers were the first North American offshore platform workers to unionise in October 2001, and ExxonMobil used legal appeals and delays to block a collective agreement up to now.

CEP Offshore Workers in Canada Win Case Against ExxonMobil

US affiliate PACE, together with national center AFL-CIO and a host of other ExxonMobil shareholders convinced the Texas-based company to include a statement of intent to uphold the ILO&rsquo;s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in its 2004 Corporate Citizenship Report. The union, Amnesty International and other socially concerned stockholders, owning an accumulative 7.2 million shares, agreed to withdraw a shareholder proposal mandating the firm to adopt a workplace human rights policy based on the 1998 ILO Declaration.

PACE, Others Hold ExxonMobil Accountable on ILO’s Work Rights

The ICEM has signed yet another Global Framework Agreement. Together with Swedish affiliate Svenska Papersindustriarbetaref&ouml;rbundet, the ICEM on 15 April became signatory with Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) to maintain high health, safety, environment and workers&rsquo; rights standards. SCA will formally launch the agreement in June with a public campaign, and will follow that by distributing the agreement in respective languages to all its global worksites.

ICEM, Swedish Pappers Union Sign Global Agreement with SCA

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