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

Brazilian power workers' leader Aldanir Carlos dos Santos was murdered last Saturday, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) has learned. 
 
Dos Santos was President of the Rio de Janeiro power workers' union SINTERGIA and a leader of the Brazilian union confederation CUT. He was also on the board of the power utility Light. 
 
The ICEM and its affiliated unions have asked Brazil's federal justice minister to ensure full investigation of &quot;this barbarous crime&quot; and &quot;the immediate identification and punishment of those reponsible.&quot; 
 
News of the murder was given to trade unionists from all continents attending ICEM industry conferences in Bangkok this week. They expressed their shock and disgust over the killing, and sent their condolences to Dos Santos' family and SINTERGIA.

Brazilian Power Workers&#039; Leader Murdered

Child labour could be ended in the gemstone cutting and polishing industry under recommendations unanimously approved today by international union leaders from the sector. 

<img height="390" alt="" src="" width="350" />
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 
The proposals stem from representatives of the world's gemstone industry employers and unions, and of governments, meeting in Bangkok this week. Held by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO), the workshop sessions ended yesterday with the adoption of detailed recommendations on child labour and other issues facing the industry. 
 
Today, the ILO workshop's proposals were endorsed by a world conference of union leaders from the sector. 
 
 

<img height="214" alt="" src="" width="304" />
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 
The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) is currently holding the first-ever world conference of its diamond, gem, ornament and jewellery production section. The main topics are: 
 
- the economic outlook for these industries 
 
- ICEM global agreements with employers and global networks of unions in companies 
 
- child labour 
 
- health, safety and environment 
 
- an ICEM action programme for the sector. 
 
The ICEM conference opened in Bangkok today and runs through to Sunday. A world conference of chemical industry unions will be held by the ICEM from Monday to Wednesday next week, also in Bangkok. 
 
The recommendations from this week's union/employer/government ILO workshop cover a range of issues in the gemstone cutting and polishing industry. To tackle these questions effectively, the workshop called for the full involvement of all sections of the industry, from mining through to gemstone production, trading and retail sales. 
 
 

<img height="273" alt="" src="" width="300" />
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 
Governments and employers' and workers' organisations should &quot;collaborate to ensure that the gemstone cutting and polishing industry is monitored in the most effective way, starting with the registration of all units involved in handling gemstones,&quot; the ILO meeting said. 
 
Labour laws must be &quot;enforced and monitored, with outside assistance where needed.&quot; Laws and regulations should be &quot;reviewed and amended, where necessary, through social dialogue.&quot; 
 
On health and safety, &quot;following tripartite [union/employer/government] consultations and social dialogue, all competent authorities should identify and quantify the occupational safety and health hazards and risks at each stage of the gemstone cutting and polishing process and establish and implement the means to eliminate, or at least control, them and monitor implementation.&quot; 
 
Employers' and workers' organisations in the sector should also &quot;explore the feasibility of concluding sectoral agreements that address employment, working conditions, occupational safety and health and training in the context of the ILO Tripartite Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.&quot; 
Use of child labour in gemstone cutting and polishing &quot;cannot be justified for any reason,&quot; the union, employer and government representatives at the ILO workshop insisted. &quot;Its tolerance and continuation in any location risk jeopardising the reputation and thus the future of the entire industry.&quot; 
 
So they called for the &quot;effective elimination&quot; of child labour from the industry. Tripartite bodies in each country should set &quot;verifiable, time-bound targets&quot; for this. &quot;The removal of children from all gemstone cutting and polishing activities should be verified and their exclusion monitored. Removal should not worsen the situation of the children nor have an adverse effect on family income.&quot; 
 
Each country should set a minimum age of entry to the sector (age 16-18 was suggested), and should facilitate children's access to free, good-quality basic education followed, where possible, by appropriate vocational training. Countries should also &quot;establish and enforce national workplace standards in line with the ILO's Core Conventions, including Convention 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour.&quot; 
 
If effectively monitored, codes of conduct can help to end child labour, the workshop said. &quot;A 'solemn declaration' that diamonds and gemstones have not been produced using child labour at any stage could be an important step forward, provided that it is universal and is backed by visible and credible monitoring. Those concerned should work together to develop and implement both a declaration and a monitoring system.&quot;
&nbsp;The ILO should play a major role in action to tackle all the labour and social issues facing the sector, the workshop declared. In particular, it should organise a preparatory meeting of the sector's &quot;key players&quot; in 2003 and a full sectoral meeting in 2004-2005. 
 
The ILO's Bangkok workshop was an informal one, and its recommendations do not yet have any official policy status. They will, however, be brought to the attention of the ILO Governing Body, and their unanimous adoption by the ICEM world conference today will add further weight to the proposals.

Gem Industry Seeks Child Labour Ban

An unfair labour practice strike by 700 members of America's Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) against Purico Ltd. has received a boost from British paper workers and the union federation representing paper and pulp workers worldwide. 
 
The strike, which began on October 15, is taking place at Purico's Ecusta paper mill in Brevard, North Carolina. The plant produces paper for tobacco products, financial forms and bibles. It is the world's third largest supplier of tobacco papers. 
 
Purico was founded recently by Nat Puri, an Indian citizen who resides in the United Kingdom, and the Brevard plant was bought in September from PH Glatfelter. Puri reportedly has a business empire worth over &pound;100 million. Most of Puri's companies are part of the Melton Medes Group, a holding company involved in various businesses, including polymers, carpets and textiles and engineering. Although based in the UK, Puri's businesses are incorporated in the Isle of Man. 
 
The union has alleged that Nat Puri and his local management have refused to bargain in good faith and have threatened to close the plant if the union workers do not agree to management's contract demands. The company is demanding a 20 percent wage cut, a tripling of employee self-payment for health insurance, elimination of retiree health insurance and paid holidays, a major cut in Sunday premium pay, and the end of contract language protecting the workers' jobs if the plant is sold. 
 
In a recent message of support, Tony Dubbins, General Secretary of Britain's Graphical, Paper &amp; Media Union (GPMU) told PACE, &quot;We call upon management to withdraw their current proposals and to immediately resume meaningful talks with PACE representatives.&quot; 
 
&quot;In the meantime,&quot; Dubbins continued, &quot;we salute your resolve and are confident that the solidarity and courage of your members will prevail and that a successful outcome will be achieved.&quot; 
 
Also adding his voice was Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which represents more than 2 million workers worldwide in the pulp, paper and packaging industries. Both PACE and the GPMU are ICEM affiliates. 
 
&quot;We will not stand by while Nat Puri attempts to destroy the livelihoods and job security of American workers,&quot; said Higgs. &quot;Puri's workers around the world demand that the company immediately return to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair and just agreement with PACE.&quot; 
 
&quot;We are grateful for the growing international support for this strike,&quot; said PACE International President Boyd Young. &quot;We are determined to see that justice is done.&quot;

International Union Solidarity Boosts US Paperworkers&#039; Strike

The explosion at the AZF plant in Toulouse, France, this September caused one of the worst disasters ever in the European chemical industry. 
 
Have chemical employers learned anything from this catastrophe? 
 
Certainly not BP. 
 
On 1 October, just over a week after the Toulouse explosion, a fire broke out at BP's Chembel chemical plant in Feluy, Belgium. Like AZF, Chembel is classified as hazardous under the EU's Seveso directive. 
 
The fire was eventually brought under control, but several people were injured. With the Toulouse disaster still fresh in their minds, a 12-person shift of chemical process operators at Chembel asked for additional safety measures. In particular, they called for a check on the installations, some changes to operating procedures and an urgent enquiry by the plant's health and safety committee. 
 
Not only did the BP-Chembel management ignore the workers' requests, it promptly suspended them for insubordination and refusal to work! 
 
Three days later, all twelve were dismissed for &quot;gross misconduct&quot; (&quot;faute grave&quot;). In Belgium, &quot;faute grave&quot; is a ground for dismissal without notice. The sacked workers include a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council. 
 
On 5 October, workers throughout the plant launched a strike to get their colleagues reinstated. Three weeks later, despite the union's best attempts at negotiation and conciliation, BP is still refusing to take the fired workers back. So the strike is continuing and the union has gone to court over the unfair dismissals. 
 
To make matters worse, on 8 October, the management at BP Chembel Feluy announced restructuring plans aimed at cutting 25 percent of the jobs there. The timing of this announcement leaves no doubt in the union's mind that the restructuring plans and the management's high-handedness to the dismissed workers are directly linked. 
 
The Belgian union Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB is demanding: 
 
- reinstatement of the sacked workers 
 
- social dialogue to improve health and safety at the plant 
 
- full union involvement in any restructuring plans. 
 
The union's call is backed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale is affiliated at the global level. 
 
The ICEM is &quot;fully behind all efforts undertaken by the Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB to get management to urgently resume social dialogue on the issue of health and safety at the plant and have the dismissed workers and union delegates reinstated,&quot; says ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter to Dr. B. E. Grote, Managing Director and Chief Executive of BP Chemicals. Higgs has written in similar vein to T. Armstrong, Managing Director of BP Belgium. 
 
In a lecture that he gave in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 10 October, BP's Dr. Grote spoke of the need for &quot;committed leadership and the ability to create and build a culture that believes it can run injury-free operations.&quot; This, he said, is &quot;one area where we work to truly global standards. There is no difference in the safety standards we expect from a chemicals plant - whether it's in China or in Europe.&quot; 
 
Higgs takes Grote up on this and asks him to censure &quot;the high-handed action of the local management&quot; at BP Chembel. Higgs also asks for Grote's &quot;personal intervention in the dispute at the Feluy plant.&quot; Such intervention would, Higgs points out, &quot;demonstrate BP's commitment at the highest level to the 'standards' you have set for your operations worldwide.&quot; 
 
Higgs also raises the question of the proposed restructuring and job cuts in Feluy. &quot;We are advised that this restructuring plan will negatively affect safety whilst increasing company profits,&quot; Higgs tells Grote. &quot;BP management must respect union rights to negotiation, consultation and disclosure of information to the trade union, the works council and the safety and health committee.&quot; 
 
 
 
COURT TURNS DOWN BP CASE: A Belgian court has now refused to uphold BP's sacking of two of the Chembel workers. On 25 October, BP Chembel asked the court to legalise its firing of the two workers, who are a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council. 
 
The court refused to hear the dismissal cases, after it found that BP Chembel had not followed the correct procedures. 
 
The twelve sacked workers have still not been reinstated, and the campaign continues.

BP Faces Union Fury Over Belgian Safety Dismissals

Three leaders of Pakistan's electricity workers were arrested today in a violent raid by police and agents of the Federal Investigation Agency. Protest strikes have been called for tomorrow. 
 
Witnesses say the police and FIA agents broke windows and doors at the headquarters of the Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU) in Gujrat. (WAPDA is the Pakistani power utility, currently facing privatisation plans.) 
 
PWLU President Choudhry Riaz Ahmed, General Secretary Pirzad Imtiaz Syed and Assistant General Secretary Syed Zia Ullah Azam were taken away to an unknown place, apparently for interrogation. 
 
The reasons for the raid are unclear, but witnesses heard police officers speak of &quot;anti-state activities&quot; and &quot;treason&quot;. On a number of occasions, the union has stated its opposition to the use of nuclear power for military purposes. 
 
The police and FIA, who did not produce any warrants, searched the union's offices and took away its documents. A similar search, also without a warrant, was made at the General Secretary's home. 
 
According to the PWLU, some 300 trade unions and non-governmental organisations in Pakistan have condemned the arrests and have called for protest strikes tomorrow (Tuesday 16 October). 
 
This was the second FIA assault on the PWLU headquarters within five months. 
 
On 1 June, General Secretary Pirzada Imtiaz Syed was arrested in an FIA raid during which a union staffer had his arm broken, computers and other equipment were smashed and the PWLU's files were seized. 
 
Pirzada Imtiaz Syed was detained until 12 June, when a judge ordered his release. The union leader was immediately hospitalised as a result of the ill-treatment that he received during interrogation. This has prompted fears for the well-being of the three PWLU leaders arrested today. 
 
At the global level, the PWLU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
In a protest to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the three union leaders, assurances that they have not been harmed in any way, immediate return of all documents belonging to the PWLU, payment of full compensation to the PWLU for all damage sustained in both raids, and a clear guarantee that the union will not be harassed in future.

Pakistan Arrests Leaders of Power Workers&#039; Union

Unions organising in the Novartis company today launched the first-ever worldwide network of trade unions within a pharmaceuticals multinational. 
 
Run through the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the network brings together unions representing Novartis employees on all continents. 
 
It will enable them to swap information and strategies, pool collective bargaining data and plan joint action when needed. Electronic networking will play a major part in these exchanges. 
 
The ICEM is gradually building up union networks within major multinationals in its sectors. ICEM-affiliated unions in the company concerned establish and run a network, with unions in the company's headquarters country often taking on a key role. 
 
In the case of Swiss-headquartered Novartis, the union network coordinator is Roland Conus, of the ICEM-affiliated Swiss industrial and construction workers' union SIB/GBI. 
 
&quot;We're often told that knowledge is power,&quot; Conus commented today. &quot;That's not quite right. In fact, knowledge plus the ability to communicate knowledge is power. That's what this network is all about. We can tell each other what we need to know in order to negotiate effectively with Novartis. And we can tell the world if Novartis engages in anti-social behaviour. In which case, the company board may have to get used to putting workers and society first and then, but only then, thinking about shareholder profits and executive pay-outs.&quot; 
 
That, Conus believes, can only be achieved through global union networking. &quot;Basically, our motto is the same as the company's: Think Globally, Act Locally.&quot; 
 
A slimmed-down Novartis is currently ranked ninth in the world pharmaceutical company league, based solely on its 2000 prescription drug sales of US$ 10.7 billion. 
 
The spin-off of its agrochemicals interests into the Syngenta joint-venture with Zeneca in November 2000 - and the job cuts in both companies that accompanied this restructuring - marked the abandonment of the group's earlier &quot;life science&quot; concept. 
 
Pharmaceuticals now account for 63 per cent of Novartis' revenues, but for 80 per cent of its operating profit. Other operating divisions cover consumer health (food chemicals and neutricals), generics, eye-care and animal health. 
 
The company has encountered a number of problems over the past year, says the first issue of the ICEM Novartis Network News. So &quot;management may be tempted to seek scale through acquisition, plunging a joined workforce into yet another round of unwelcome restructuring. In the face of such uncertainty, employees need to be able to count on a well-organised union that can negotiate with management from a position of strength.&quot; 
 
For Novartis workers and their unions, the network says, the way forward is clear: &quot;In a global marketplace, union organisation needs also to be global in its reach, but local in its knowledge and effectiveness. It is for exactly this purpose that the Novartis Union Network has been formed.&quot;

Novartis Unions Launch Global Network

Brazilian oil workers' and seafarers' unions have launched a new Solidarity Pact with US mariners who are fighting for the right to join a trade union. 
 
Signed in Rio de Janeiro, the pact pledges international cooperation to promote fairness, justice and a voice at work for mariners working on US-flag vessels of Trico Marine Services, Inc. 
 
In addition, maritime unions throughout Latin America have agreed to support the campaign. 
 
This is a new phase in worldwide action by mariners and oil workers. The unions involved are affiliates of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Together, they are supporting a campaign to secure trade union rights for American workers employed by Trico, which supplies shipping and other services to offshore oil producers. 
 
The Pact says: &quot;The Brazilian and US unions call peacefully and lawfully on the customers of Trico not to engage in any further contracts with Trico from this day forward until Trico ceases its anti-union activities and, upon demonstration of majority support, recognises the OMU as the Union representing mariners working on the company's US Gulf of Mexico fleet and negotiates in good faith a collective bargaining agreement providing these workers all the protections of union representation.&quot; 
 
It was backed by maritime unions from all over Latin America who were taking part in an ITF conference in Rio. They resolved to &quot;support OMU and the Bilateral Solidarity Pact by taking steps to persuade Trico Marine to end its campaign of intimidation, including any and all steps sanctioned by applicable law which would have the effect of limiting Trico's ability to expand its operations anywhere in Latin America, until such time as Trico Marine recognises the rights of its employees to organise and bargain collectively through the representatives of their choice.&quot; 
 
The OMU is a coalition of American mariners' unions. 
 
Trico Marine operates a fleet of nearly 100 vessels worldwide in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea and off Brazil. Trico mariners in the North Sea and Brazil enjoy the protection of a union contract. US workers are not so lucky. 
 
&quot;For over a year, Trico mariners have sought a union,&quot; explains David Heindl. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU). 
 
&quot;Trico has responded by firing union supporters, blocking union representatives from visiting ships... and finding all manner of ways to prevent their mariners from being able to communicate with our unions,&quot; Heindl says. &quot;Further, Trico has run a strong campaign of harassment, intimidation, interrogation and pressure to scare mariners away from their aim of having a union.&quot; 
 
One country where Trico workers have full union rights is Norway. The Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF has mounted a sustained campaign to back their American colleagues' right to organise. Details in ICEM Update 56/2001. 
 
This August, the Norwegian pressure brought a first breakthrough, when Trico promised NOPEF that the company would provide all its US employees with the contact details of the relevant American trade unions. This is &quot;a step in the right direction,&quot; NOPEF President Leif Sande said. He added that &quot;as long as we experience progress in what we see as negotiations&quot;, NOPEF would not launch a boycott of Trico's Norwegian operations. 
 
Trico Marine also operates approximately 15 vessels in the Brazilian offshore market. Most of these are under contract to the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras. 
 
Renato Martins, the ICEM Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, commented in Rio: &quot;Signing this pact jointly is a concrete act of solidarity to dissuade Trico from continuing its unacceptable anti-union practices. Also, it is an opportunity to join together in the fight for maritime workers.&quot; 
 
And Antonio Fritz, Interamerican Regional Secretary of the ITF, said: &quot;This resolution and the commitments made by these maritime unions throughout Latin America are very important actions. They demonstrate that the international solidarity of our unions is not restrictive and is not limited. International trade union solidarity is real and it is strong!&quot;

Trico: Latin American Workers Join Battle

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
A strike over issues seen as a sign of things to come under the Howard government ended in Australia on 4 July. One of those issues included unrestrained use of contract labour. Fifty-five mainly immigrant women began the strike against Kemalex Plastics 27 April backed by their union, ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers. 
The strike was over the employer&rsquo;s plan to make them all individual contractors, this disallowing protection from unfair dismissal, leaving them without sick leave and holiday pay, and excluding them from the mandatory 9% superannuation guarantee contribution. The strike galvanized Australian labour against Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s industrial reforms. Strikers at the automotive components factory in Dandenong near Melbourne agreed to a compromise deal in which they will receive A$100 weekly in additional wages, and will remain permanent employees under an enterprise labour agreement.

Kemalex Plastics Strike in Australia Ends

US affiliate USW proved Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. workers, no matter which process is used, will choose unionization every time. On June 14-15, in a secret ballot election conducted by the US government, workers in Asheboro, North Carolina, chose USW representation by a 173- 147 count. It marked the second time a majority of workers at the steel and tyre cord plant chose the USW. 
As part of the September 2003 collective agreement between the union and Goodyear, card check and company neutrality language was established. That means workers can choose union representation through a show of support by signing cards, as is the case in most countries. Regrettably an anti-union organisation given free reign over the Bush administration&rsquo;s labour board challenged that portion of the collective agreement on legal grounds, and the remedy to the challenge was the government-supervised election two weeks ago.

Steelworkers in US Organise Goodyear Tire and Rubber Workers

NUM, meanwhile, welcomed South Africa&rsquo;s first woman to high office. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, was sworn in last Thursday as deputy president. She replaces the former number two official in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who was sacked by President Thebo Mbeki in connection with a bribery scandal. Mlambo- Ngcuka, 49, a leader in the anti-apartheid struggle, was elected from the ANC party to Parliament in 1994 in the country&rsquo;s first all-race elections, and served as head of Minerals and Energy beginning in 1999, a post from which she helped draft the Mining Charter giving more black South Africans ownership in mines. 
In welcoming her selection by Mbeki, NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe cautioned against the position being caught up in politics. &ldquo;We are concerned that she&rsquo;s been thrown into a lion&rsquo;s den, given the controversies surrounding the office of the deputy president at this juncture. We therefore hope that she is not compromised as a result. We trust that her experience of overcoming challenges in her past portfolio will come to the fore.&rdquo;

Mines, Energy Minister Appointed South Africa&#039;s Deputy President

Archive

Brazilian Power Workers' Leader Murdered

Gem Industry Seeks Child Labour Ban

International Union Solidarity Boosts US Paperworkers' Strike

BP Faces Union Fury Over Belgian Safety Dismissals

Pakistan Arrests Leaders of Power Workers' Union

Novartis Unions Launch Global Network

Trico: Latin American Workers Join Battle

Kemalex Plastics Strike in Australia Ends

Steelworkers in US Organise Goodyear Tire and Rubber Workers

Mines, Energy Minister Appointed South Africa's Deputy President

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us