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

Some 2,000 Mexican federal troops used force last night to gain control over the Cananea copper mine. The federal police used tear gas and executed arrest warrants for union leaders of Section 65 of ICEM-affiliated Mexican National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) in northern Sonora state. 
 
Mexican troops overtook striking miners at 20h00 on 6 June at the gates to the mine. Reports early this morning said that troops stormed Section 65&rsquo;s union hall early on 7 June, also tossing tear gas that dispersed women and men present inside the building. 
 
The ICEM today issued another letter to Mexican President Felipe Calder&oacute;n, insisting that he &ldquo;stop the violent actions taken yesterday and today by your government against trade union members and their families.&rdquo; (The full letter can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/64.ICEM.Emergency.Cananea.7June.pdf">here</a>.)
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="109" />
It was the second time that the ICEM has sent a letter to Calder&oacute;n urging him to use restraint in this volatile labour dispute. In February 2010, the ICEM and International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) cautioned Mexico against using force to break the strike. 
 
The arrest warrants that arrived last night were for Section 65 Secretary-General Sergio Tolano Lizarr&aacute;go and Juan Guti&eacute;rrez Ballesteros, a National Executive Member of SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros. 
 
The Cananea copper mine, owned by Grupo M&eacute;xico, has been shut since April 2007 when 1,200 miners began a strike over health and safety concerns and trade union rights. 
 
The ICEM is calling on trade unions to send a similar letter to the Mexican government as the one linked above, or use the model letter <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3840">here</a>.

ICEM Calls on Mexico to Halt its Violence at Cananea

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Started in 2009 with the support of the Dutch national labour centre FNV, ICEM&rsquo;s Organising and Social Dialogue Project continued its seminars in Turkey last month. Regional seminars involving local union officials and militants in April were held in Thrace and Gebze, both areas considered to be emerging industrial zones that surround Istanbul. 
 
There are a number of multinational companies within ICEM sectors in both cities, some of which are organised by ICEM-affiliated trade unions. There are also a number of organsing efforts by the unions. 
 
With the overall objective to build Turkish trade union ability to recruit new members, as well as to discuss the establishment of a base to create a functioning industrial relations system, prioritizing human and trade union rights, and to promote healthy social dialogue, the seminar in Thrace was attended by 64 local trade union leaders, shop stewards, and militants from ICEM-affiliated unions, while those attending in Gebze numbered 68. 

<img alt="" src="" width="321" height="157" />
Participants at the Thrace, Turkey, workshop 
The Thrace seminar welcomed several international trade union leaders from the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Spain. Celil &Ccedil;oban and Mail &Uuml;rker of FNV Bondgenoten in the Netherlands, Sylvain Lefebvre and Jacques Caltot of French FCE-CFDT, Michael Wolters of IGBCE of Germany, and Isidor Boix of Spain&rsquo;s FITEQA-CC.OO exchanged the experiences and trade union knowledge from their countries. 
 
ICEM Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler also shared his trade union experiences from Canada. During the seminar, a solidarity visit was made by the French delegation to the plant of Zentiva, a part of the multinational Sanofi-Aventis. The Zentiva plant is organised by ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-İş. At the time of the visit, there was a collective bargaining conflict. The French delegation met with company managers as well as workers, and it was decided to put the dispute on to the agenda of the European Works Council through the help of FCE-CFDT. 
 
The seminar in Gebze in May hosted international trade union leaders from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Celil &Ccedil;oban and Mail &Uuml;rker of FNV Bondgenoten and Michael Wolters of IGBCE again participated, as did Mats Svensson from Sweden&rsquo;s IF Metall and Jorgen Juul Rasmussen of Dansk-El F&ouml;rbund of Denmark. 

<img alt="" src="" width="320" height="121" />
Participants at the Gebze, Turkey, workshop 
ICEM Central and Eastern European Coordinator Anatoly Surin shared his trade union experiences from Russia, as well. As a prompt practical result of the seminar, IGBCE&rsquo;s Wolters visited the plants of two German-based multinationals, Bayer and BASF, where he met with union officials and company managers with a view to enhancing social dialogue at local levels. It was decided to develop this particular agenda in the upcoming period. 
 
Both seminars got presentations from Turkish trade union expert &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of Education and Collective Bargaining of Lastik-İş, on union history and the current labour relations situation in Turkey. Later, the seminar focused on Power and Weak Points, Challenges and Opportunities, and Concrete Organising Targets inside Turkey, with contributions and inputs by participants from different towns around both Thrace and Gebze. 
 
&ldquo;Both seminars in Thrace and Gebze created a good environment for international solidarity after many militants did get together with their comrades from different countries,&rdquo; said ICEM Rubber and Chemicals Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, coordinator of the two-year project. &Ouml;zkan also made a presentation on globalisation and labour relations. 
 
The project will continue with similar seminars in the second half of 2010. One such session will occur in September in the city of Bursa, said to be the &ldquo;Detroit&rdquo; of Turkey for its auto industry, as well as being known as the capital of the textile and garment industry. The other will be devoted to youth organising in the Eagean region. That will occur in October. The project will close with a conference at the end of October in Ankara.

ICEM’s Turkish FNV Mondiaal Project Continues in Thrace, Gebze

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
ICEM has traditionally been very active in Central Asia and the Caucasus region since the sectors it has membership in are major economic drivers in these countries. Within this framework, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Rubber and Chemicals Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan visited Armenia and Georgia in early May. 
 
In Armenia, Warda and &Ouml;zkan met Eduard Tumasyan, President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia and Levon Khachatryan, Executive Secretary and Head of the Education-Research Centre of the confederation. Warda stressed the importance of boosting the role of trade unions in shaping civil society, and said the Armenia trilateral agreement that was signed by the government, Trade Union Confederation and Employers&rsquo; Association on 27 April 2009, establishing extra guarantees regulating labour relations and requiring parties to engage in joint actions was a major step in this direction. 
 
Thanking the ICEM for the visit, Tumasyan stated the need to introduce new tools for developing labour relations in order to combat high unemployment through social partnering. 
<img alt="" src="" width="361" height="190" />
In Armenia, Levon Khachatryan; the Deputy Chair of the Textile and Light Industry Workers&rsquo; Union; Hrach Tadevosyan; the ICEM&rsquo;s Manfred Warda; Karine Aloyan; Anastas Pahlevanyan; and ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan
A recent report issued by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on core labour standards in Armenia stated that the right to strike is limited, and most work rights for public-sector workers is banned. The report also says collective bargaining and tripartite agreements at the national level have been virtually non-existent until 2009. 
 
The ITUC adds that most workers are unable to exercise the right to unionise and bargain collectively due to flexibilisation in the labour code and the government&rsquo;s tolerance of a high level of informal employment relationships. 
 
The ICEM delegation also met with Anastas Pahlevanyan, President of the Mining and Metallurgical Workers&rsquo; Union, ICEM&rsquo;s lone affiliate in Armenia, Karine Aloyan, President of Energy Workers&rsquo; Union, and Hrach Tadevosyan, President of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union in a meeting arranged by the confederation. Mining is one of the important economic forces in Armenia, and a major portion of the state budget is financed by taxes yielded from mining. 
 
But the negative effects from the global economic crisis have been felt in the mines, where there are several multinational companies that have investments. In the city of Kapan, for example, Deno Gold Mining Co. was shut down for three months during the crisis, while more than 1,000 employees of Armenian Copper Program Co., located in Alaverdi, were also laid off. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
This also holds true for the chemicals sector, where the biggest company, Nairit employing some 3,000 workers that produce rubber, laid off more than half its staff for over four months. In the energy industry, nuclear power takes an important position in generation and the unions raise major concerns on health and safety. 
 
Following a presentation by Warda, the parties decided to continue cooperation in the near future with training activities. 
 
The ICEM delegation then passed to neighbouring Georgia, where a first meeting was held with Irakli Petriashvili and Gocha Aleksandria, President and Vice President, respectively, of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC). Petriahvili explained GTUC efforts to reform the trade union movement in Georgia, but admitted a number of challenges. 
 
He said changing the mentality of government, workers, and society as a whole is difficult, mainly because Georgia is considered a &ldquo;champion&rdquo; in adopting and practicing the prescriptions of global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. 
 
This puts the trade union movement in a more precarious position, and carrying out union activities is next to impossible. The legal landscape tends to restrict union organising and collective bargaining. &ldquo;The existing labour law, in our view, is a declaration of rights of employers,&rdquo; stated Gocha Aleksandria. Warda conveyed the full support of the ICEM toward the struggle of trade unions in Georgia. 
 
According to last year&rsquo;s ITUC report, Georgia&rsquo;s Labour Code of 2006 severely reduced workers&rsquo; basic trade union rights through limitations on freedom of association and the right to organise, namely the threshold for establishing a trade union, which is excessively high. 
 
There are severe restrictions on the right to strike. Solidarity strikes are prohibited and in practice, trade unionists get threats and intimidations and face dismissals without explanations. The labour code and government authorities provide insufficient protection against anti-union discrimination, and the law grants a de facto green light to union busting and a marginalisation of collective bargaining. 
<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
ICEM's Manfred Warda, at Georgian Press Conference
The ICEM delegation then attended a press conference in which support was conveyed to the public over changing these positions. There was also a television interview of Warda with a national channel, and all ICEM messages were well covered by the national media. 
 
The ICEM delegation also met with Gocha Kvitatiani, President of Oil, Coal, and Gas Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, an ICEM affiliate, representing around 4,000 members; Naumi Nebieridze, President of the Energy Workers&rsquo; Union, representing 5,000 members: and Amiran Zeniashvili, Vice-President of the same union; and Tamaz Dolaberidze, President of the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, which represents some 11,000 workers. 
 
All the union officials explained the difficulties in their respective sectors in carrying out union activities. Warda presented the ICEM and its activities to a group composed of 25 union leaders from the three unions and the GTUC. It was then decided to deepen solidarity and cooperation. 
 
Warda and &Ouml;zkan then travelled to Zestafoni for a meeting with workers engaged in a conflict with the Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and Georgian Manganese Mines. 
 
Commenting on the mission to the nations of the Caucasus, Warda, said, &ldquo;Our overall programme in Armenia and Georgia, and in general in the Trans-Caucasus, was intensive and very successful. The ICEM will continue its support of trade unions in both countries through various means.&rdquo;

ICEM Boosts Presence in the Caucasus

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Corporate leaders of US-based Massey Energy Co., including CEO Don Blankenship, came under harsh fire in Richmond, Virginia, on 18 May at the company&rsquo;s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting came just six weeks after a methane gas explosion at Massey&rsquo;s non-union Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia killed 29 miners, the worst mining tragedy in 40 years in the US. 
 
The closed and highly-secured meeting saw hundreds of protesters from US trade unions, environmental groups, and health and safety advocates march from Monroe Park to the historic and posh Jefferson Hotel, the venue for the AGM. They sang songs, waved placards, and chanted slogans that Blankenship belonged in jail, not running a publicly-traded company for his arrogant abuse of mine safety and environmental stewardship in America&rsquo;s Appalachia Mountains. 

<img alt="" src="" width="288" height="216" />
Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) West Virginia Local 69 officers Charlie Rittenhouse and Bryan Ash joined AGM protests against Massey Energy
A corporate governance proposal put before Massey shareholders by a US labour federation&rsquo;s investment arm called for three of the Richmond-based company&rsquo;s directors to be dropped from the board. Despite the fact that there were no alternative candidates, the three &ndash; Richard Gabrys, Dan Moore, and Massey President Baxter Phillips Jr. &ndash; won with just over 50% of the vote. 
 
That constituted a near majority of institutional shareholders who have no-confidence in these directors, and caused United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts to say to a news outlet, &ldquo;They got clobbered, considering the fact that they didn&rsquo;t have anybody running against them. They ran unopposed and almost lost.&rdquo; 
 
The AGM was brief and over with in less than one hour. Reporters were sequestered in another room of the hotel and when the question-and-answer period came, the video and audio feed into that room was cut off. Two protesters were arrested inside the hotel&rsquo;s ballroom, after unfurling a banner that read, &ldquo;Massey: Stop Putting Profits Over People.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="167" />
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
The Upper Big Branch tragedy of 5 April has caused the US Congress to conduct an unprecedented number of hearings. There have been three since the tragedy. At a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on 20 May, Roberts said Massey has seen 52 miners die inside its mines in the past ten years. Blankenship testified at the same hearing that federal mine safety recommendations on ventilation upgrades actually make mines less safe. 
 
&ldquo;We opposed the changes because our engineers believed they made the ventilation less effective,&rdquo; he said, adding the company does not know if ventilation played a role in the 5 April blast. Blankenship said he thought Massey&rsquo;s safety and casualty rate in the US was &ldquo;about average,&rdquo; to which Roberts, who had both his grandfathers killed in mine accidents, said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t come up with another coal company that&rsquo;s had 23 miners in ten years die.&rdquo; 
 
At a subsequent US House Education and labor Committee hearing that was held near Upper Big Branch in Beckley, West Virginia, on 24 May, one miner who was fortunate to escape stated, &ldquo;we never had proper air on that longwall.&rdquo; Relatives of the deceased called Upper Big Branch &ldquo;a ticking time bomb.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="203" />
Environmentalists from Rising Tide delivered a message from inside the meeting
The father of a 21-year-old victim, Adam Morgan, testified: &ldquo; &hellip; about every shift he had to do some kind of ventilation repairs and some &hellip; he had to do on his own.&rdquo; Steve Morgan said that when his son complained to supervisors on ventilation problems, he was told to find a different line of work if he was &ldquo;scared.&rdquo; 
 
An uncle of Adam Morgan also testified. Eddie Cook, a miner at a UMWA-represented colliery in West Virginia, made the point that with a union, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. At Massey, he said, &ldquo;if you refuse, they tell you to get your bucket and go home. They know if they were union that these people wouldn&rsquo;t work like they wanted them to.&rdquo; 
 
According to Massey&rsquo;s US federal regulatory filings, just 1.3% of its 6,000 US employees are members of the UMWA. And of that small portion, all work in coal preparation plants, not in underground mines.

Annual Massey Energy Meeting in US Brings Protest, Discontent

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Members of one of ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish mining affiliates, Genel Maden-İş, staged one-hour strikes across several collieries in the coal-rich Zonguldak region on 26 March in protest to government inaction over unsafe conditions in mining, as well as to government treatment of 12,000 of TEKEL, the former state tobacco company that was privatised. 
 
The one-hour strike actions, more specifically, were aimed at the horrid working conditions that caused the tragedy inside the Karadon mine, where 30 contract workers were killed on 17 May. The mine is owned by the Turkish Anthracite Coal Foundation and operated by Yapitek Construction. 
 
Genel Maden-İş, or the General Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey, which represents miners in the Zonguldak region, carried out stop-work actions for one-hour periods in each of three shifts on 26 May in scores of collieries in the Black Sea region of Zonguldak. Some 10,000 miners participated. The ICEM Executive Committee, meeting in Geneva, endorsed the strikes, calling the downing of tools a fitting response to the government of Turkey&rsquo;s non-response to repeated calls to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 

<img alt="" src="" width="216" height="143" />
Announcing the 26 May strikes, (center) T&Uuml;RK-İŞ President Mustafa Kumlu and Genel Maden-İş President Rasim Muslu 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&Uuml;RK-İŞ) and an ICEM Executive Committee member, said the mining industry is indispensible in Turkey, and it is the responsibility of employers and the government to reduce the risks to a very low minimum. 
 
Genel Maden-İş General President Rasim Muslu said adoption of the 2004 Mining Law in Turkey set safety in mines back, since the law opened up the mining sector to increased privaitisation. Introduction of flexible work conditions has led to inadequate training of unskilled workers, and lax safety inspections, many of which are never done on-site. The law also has brought an increase in temporary and part-time contract miners. 
 
At the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee meeting, the president of another Turkish mining affiliate, T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş President Ismail Aslan, a substitute ICEM Executive member, said obstacles inside Turkey to effectively organise workers into unions also contribute to unsafe conditions inside mines. He said it is unheard of for sub-contract employees to be affiliated to a union. 
 
The explosion at the Karadon mine, a colliery whose operations were privatised in 2006, could have been caused by dynamiting new sectors some 540 metres underground. The blast collapsed walls and support structures. Rescue efforts did manage to free eight miners. 
 
Emotions in the mining community were set aflame upon the visit on 19 May by Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Speaking at the mine gates, Erdogan callously declared that mine deaths had become the &ldquo;fate&rdquo; of mining communities, with people of the Zonguldak region &ldquo;quite used to events like these.&rdquo; 
 
The remarks triggered clashes between distraught relatives, protesters, and police.

Turkish Miners Conduct Hour-Long Strikes in Wake of Zonguldak Mine Catastrophe

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Following 168 days of bargaining, management at the Pampilla refinery, in the Ventanilla district on the Western edge of capital Lima, continues to refuse to bargain in good faith. 
 
The refinery is a subsidiary of the Spanish multinational Repsol. With a daily capacity of 102,000 barrels, La Pampilla is responsible for over half the refining capacity of Peru. 
 
Fenupetrol, the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union in Peru, has found Repsol to behave very differently than the image that the company portrays &ndash; one of being an ethical company, with high regard for corporate social responsibility. 
 
Moises Ochoa, National Secretary of International Relations at Fenupetrol, reports that following management&rsquo;s failure to offer anything reasonable to the bargaining committee since negotiations began on 15 December 2009, the union has moved to request legal arbitration for bargaining. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="139" />
As collective bargaining at the company enters its second stage, Fenupetrol reiterate its demands in light of recent large company profits and following five years with no increase in workers&rsquo; salaries. The Pampilla employees now earn 33% less than oil workers elsewhere in the country, for instance at Petroperu. Sales for the rest of 2010 are projected to be very high. The bargaining committee now seeks 25-30% rise in base salaries, improvements in the profit bonus and shift bonus, as well as a significant increase in the food allowance for workers. 
 
The Pampilla refinery reported revenues of US$802 million during the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 68.4% over last year. 
 
The ICEM calls on Repsol and the local Pampilla management to bargain in good faith, and come to terms with wages deficiencies incurred over the last five years.

Repsol Subsidiary in Peru Hinders Collective Negotiations with Oil Workers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
State-run electric power utility Eskom got a court intervention last week preventing South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from striking. The order came on the eve of a mass demonstration by NUM at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in MegaWatt Park, Johannesburg, on 26 May. 
 
The strike by NUM&rsquo;s 16,000 members at Eskom was supposed to begin that same day. The company has reneged on an agreement reached last summer that increased housing allowances would be put into effect by late in 2009. Eskom also has recanted over installing full-time safety representatives. A further demand by NUM is that shop stewards be given training and allowed to represent workers on issues before South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
Meanwhile, the utility dumped salt in the wounds of utility workers in the final round of a three-session set of 2010 wage talks. On Friday, 28 May, Eskom offered workers a paltry 3.5% wage increase, far below South Africa&rsquo;s inflation index. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="148" />
The proposed increase was intended as part of a three-year labour agreement. &ldquo;This is a serious insult to workers who are classified as essential but treated like dirt,&rdquo; stated NUM Energy Sector Coordinator Job Matsepe. 
 
A South African labour court ruled late on 25 May that &ldquo;Eskom is an essential service and employees of an organisation classified as such are prohibited from taking part in industrial action.&rdquo; 
 
A strike was averted last year when Eskom, the NUM, and two other unions agreed to refer the housing allowance to a task team that would meet and make the increase by 1 December 2009. That did not happen. All three unions seek a R5,000 (US$654) housing allowance. &ldquo;We have discovered that referring matters to a task team is an Eskom delay tactic,&rdquo; said Num spokesman Lesibo Seshoka. 
 
At NUM&rsquo;s National Central Committee meeting early in May, leadership came out strongly against privatisation of any portion of power generating plants or other state-owned assets.

South African Court Blocks NUM from Striking Electric Utility Eskom

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Aggressive police attacks on workers and their families at Cananea and Pasta de Conchos on 6 June have moved the United Steelworkers (USW) and the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM), or Los Mineros, closer together. The two trade unions have formed a commission, charged with increasing strategic cooperation and exploring a fusion together that would form a potential union of one million workers in Mexico, Canada, the US and the Caribbean. 
 
Although the bi-lateral trade union commission had been operating for some time, Los Mineros General Secretary Napoleon Gomez announced its formation at the global &quot;Triple Crisis of Sustainability&rdquo; conference in Toronto on 19 June. 
 
The commission is made up of five members from each of the union&rsquo;s leaderships. The USW represents 850,000 workers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, while Los Mineros represents about 180,000 in Mexico. 
<img alt="" src="" width="142" height="150" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="150" height="150" />
Napole&oacute;n Gomez, Leo Gerard
In signing a 20 June joint declaration, announcing the establishment of the commission, Napoleon Gomez and USW President Leo Gerard affirmed their unions&rsquo; &quot;common commitment to democracy, equality, and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world&quot;. 
 
The declaration describes the ongoing systematic campaign of persecution against Los Mineros by the government of Felipe Calder&oacute;n, which is motivated by the government policy of suppressing Mexican workers&rsquo; rights and wages, in order to attract foreign investment. While this policy has made enormous profits possible for corporations in Mexico, the strength and advances of Los Mineros has lead to them being attacked physically, financially, in the media, in the justice system, and with industrial homicide due to poor health and safety standards. The Los Mineros General Secretary Gomez is still forced to lead his union from exile in Canada, and has been supported there by the USW. 
 
The two unions have worked closely together for years, marked by the Global Strategic Alliance, jointly signed on 13 April 2005, which committed to build power by increasing communication and coordination across national borders. While in recent times, they share similar experiences of long mining strikes, as the strike at Cananea nears the three-year mark, and USW&rsquo;s strike in Canada against Vale Inco is into its 11th month. 
 
See the full declaration on the USW website <a href="http://www.usw.org">here</a>.

USW, Los Mineros Announce Unification Commission

The Executive Committee of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) Federation, meeting today 26 May in Geneva, passed three key resolutions. Firstly, the Executive drew sharp attention on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its role to improve safety conditions in the world&rsquo;s mines. 
 
The ICEM also passed resolutions reiterating its strong support to the United Steelworkers in Canada in its 11-month strike against Brazilian-based Vale, and support to the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), also known as Los Mineros, in its lengthy struggle against Grupo Mexico and the government of Mexico. 
 
The adopted statement on mine safety called on the ILO to do more to press member states to ratify Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Recent mining tragedies in Turkey and Russia served as a backdrop for the Executive issuing strong rhetoric for immediate action by the ILO. 
 
&ldquo;Our statutory body strongly feels that the ILO must become more pro-active in investigating causes of safety negligence, and insist on a greater trade union role in promoting safe work conditions,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
In Turkey, the ICEM endorsed today&rsquo;s three one-hour work stoppages by 10,000 miners, strikes that were led by ICEM affiliate Genel Maden-Is. The strikes across the coal-mining region of Zonguldak follow the deadly 17 May methane explosion in the Karadon mine, which killed 30 non-union and short-term contract workers. The strikes were meant as a message to the Turkish government, demanding safe work conditions inside mines, as well as ratification of Convention 176.
The ICEM Executive also condemned faulty pay schemes in mining in several countries, including Russia where monthly salaries are kept extremely low, with miners expected to achieve high production quotas to supplement their pay. This likely was the case at the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region, where 90 workers died due to methane gas explosions in early May. 
 
The safety statement also addressed a rash of accidents in both the upstream and downstream oil and gas industries, including a refinery explosion in the US state of Washington that killed seven and the Gulf of Mexico disaster. &ldquo;While much is made of the environmental destruction along the United States Gulf coast brought about by the oil rig explosion, which indeed merits attention, little is made of the fact that 11 offshore workers died and 15 others were seriously injured,&rdquo; read the statement. See full resolution <a href="/index.php?id=97&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3794">here</a>. 
 
The resolution regarding the USW strike at three locations of Vale in Canada called attention to the company&rsquo;s ongoing aversion to negotiate in good faith with the union. The global campaign for justice at Vale, by the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and affiliates from around the world has improved conditions for workers, said the resolution. See full document <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3796">here</a>. 
 
The third resolution, on Los Mineros&rsquo; struggle against Grupo Mexico and the government of Felipe Calderon, condemns the recent brutal and unprovoked attacks by the Mexican Federal Police on members of the union. The attack is seen as a direct attack on the autonomy of Los Mineros. Police fired on, detained, and physically attacked the workers in the city of L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Michoac&aacute;n. Among those attacked was Mario Garc&iacute;a Ort&iacute;z, Los Mineros&rsquo; special delegate for the State of Michoac&aacute;n, also the Alternative General Secretary of the union and President of the recent Convention of the union. 
 
The ICEM statement calls on the Mexican government to acknowledge the result of the democratic election of the Los Mineros Congress, in which Napoleon Gomez Urrutia was elected. See the full document <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3795">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM is a Global Union Federation consisting of 467 trade unions in 132 countries, representing in total 20 million workers. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer, Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile), or Tom Grinter, ICEM Communications and Campaigns, <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>, +41 79 693 4499 (mobile).

ICEM Executive Demands ILO Action on Mine Safety, Justice in Canada and Mexico

Policy positions differ in the trade union movement, both at national and international levels concerning the use of temporary work agencies. Views vary from total bans on such agencies, to partial bans, to strict regulation. There are also differences as to on what basis workers should be covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, there are certain views shared by all Global Unions. 
 
The first principle is that the primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
<img src="" width="95" height="95" alt="" />
Concerns and challenges 
 
The use of workers provided by temporary work agencies raises concerns and challenges for trade unions. This includes the effect that the use of temporary work agencies has on workers with regular and permanent employment as well as on the conditions under which work is performed by workers engaged through such agencies. The triangular relationship between the worker, the user enterprise and the temporary work agency that supplies the worker can undermine labour and social protection, as well as the effective realisation of the right of all workers to form or join trade unions and to bargain collectively. 
 
Agency workers must be specifically guaranteed the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a way of replacing direct and permanent employment 
 
There may be legitimate demand-driven or business reasons for using temporary agency workers, including surges of work and seasonal employment, although such work can also be performed through direct employment. However, not all reasons for using temporary agency work are related to staff shortages or the &ldquo;fluctuation of business&rdquo; and it has become common to use temporary agency workers to fill previously permanent and direct positions and to reduce costs. Increasingly, workers provided by agencies are used to fill &ldquo;core&rdquo; jobs but are not given any opportunity to transition to direct permanent employment. In a growing number of instances, entire workforces are provided by temporary work agencies. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to adversely change employment conditions, avoid social responsibilities and evade laws 
 
Employers often use temporary agencies in order to avoid their legal obligations. This can and does lead to abuses such as social dumping and all kinds of discrimination. Work then becomes precarious and workers are denied the employment rights and working conditions to which they would otherwise be entitled. Sometimes these agencies are creations by the company or employer concerned, with the user enterprise becoming the sole client. 
 
Workers provided by agencies frequently receive significantly lower compensation than regular employees performing the same work. Such workers are also often not entitled to the same levels of social protection, such as retirement provision, the right to unemployment compensation, sickness benefits or maternity leave. Employers commonly do not invest sufficiently in the education or training of agency-supplied workers. Inadequate education and training may undermine the quality of service provided by the agency workers, while lack of training on health and safety increases the risk of occupational accidents and diseases. 
 
The cost of downsizing is lower if temporary agency workers are engaged because ending a commercial contract is often less costly than terminating an employment relationship. In various countries and sectors, the financial crisis resulted therefore in massive job losses for temporary agency workers, who are not generally entitled to any of the compensations that are required to be paid in the case of forced redundancies. This experience heightens the danger that as economies recover, employers will increasingly favour temporary agency work as a means to avoid the costs of terminating regular employees. This would add additional instability and volatility to the economy. 
 
Where more and more workers are made &ldquo;disposable&rdquo;, many business risks are shifted from employers to workers. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to weaken trade unions, avoid collective bargaining or prevent union organising 
 
Employers are, at times, deliberately using temporary work agencies to reduce the number of workers covered by collective bargaining at their enterprises or to prevent unorganised sections of the workforce from seeking union representation and exercise their right to bargain with the user enterprise, which effectively controls terms and conditions of employment. 
 
One of the principal reasons why workers do not form or join trade unions is fear of discrimination or dismissal. Temporary agency employment increases this fear because it is a way to avoid dismissal legislation, which has the effect of, indirectly, protecting the right to organise. Too often, contracts are simply ended. In addition, temporary agency employment reduces the workers&rsquo; stake in an enterprise, as well as the opportunity to participate in trade unions. 
 
The use of workers supplied by temporary work agencies to replace striking workers or to undermine industrial action at a user enterprise is a serious violation of trade union rights. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a means of exploitation. 
 
Where temporary work agencies are permitted to operate, they must be properly regulated and monitored in order to prevent abuses of workers, such as human trafficking or fee charging in cross border placements. When agencies involved in recruiting workers in one country for work in another country charge fees to the workers concerned instead of to the user enterprise, those abuses lead to extreme exploitation, including bonded or slave labour. All recruitment fees, including visa, transportation and hiring fees, must therefore always be borne by the user enterpriser. 
<img src="" width="95" height="95" alt="" />
 
Fundamental principles on temporary work agencies 
 
&bull; The primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
 
&bull; Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be accorded equal treatment and opportunities, including equal pay for equal work, with regular and permanent employees with respect to terms and conditions of employment. 
 
&bull; Workers employed through temporary work agencies must have a recognised and enforceable written contract of employment, specifying their terms and conditions of employment. 
 
&bull; Where agencies are permitted to operate, they must be strictly regulated, including through licensing. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships, diminish the conditions under which work is performed, avoid collective bargaining relationships with trade unions or effectively make it impossible for an agency worker to join a trade union. 
 
&bull; Employers should consult trade unions before agency workers are used and negotiate over any effects that the use of these agency workers might have on regular employees, on working conditions or on the collective agreement. 
 
&bull; The use of temporary agencies should be restricted to cases of legitimate need. As a minimum, there should be defined limits on the use of agency workers, as well as restrictions on the duration of such employment. 
 
&bull; Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be guaranteed access to information on health and safety regulations in the workplace and be given the same equipment, induction and training as permanent workers. 
 
&bull; Adequate and continuous social protection for agency workers, including social security coverage, must be ensured by employers and government alike. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must treat workers without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political opinion, nationality, social origin, age, disability or any other form of discrimination. Appropriate regulatory frameworks (governmental, co-regulation or self-regulation) on private employment agencies should include and promote these principles, rights and obligations. These include the minimum standards outlined in ILO Convention No. 111. 
 
&bull; Given the general over-representation of women in agency employment and the disparity in wages between permanent and agency workers, particular attention must be given to ensure that the equal pay provisions of Convention No. 100 are applied, including equal pay for work of equal value. 
 
&bull; The ILO should play a much more active role in ensuring that temporary employment agencies respect basic labour standards, as well as in collecting data on abuses and best practices, while at the same time monitoring and analysing trends in employment in both the private and public employment agency sector. This research should focus on issues relating to the economic crisis and the Global Jobs Pact. The Global Unions should participate in this work. 
 
&bull; Workers supplied by temporary work agencies must never be used to replace striking workers or undermine industrial action. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must not charge any fees to workers for dispatching them. 
 
&bull; The user-enterprise must be held liable for all financial and other obligations with respect to temporary agency workers should the agency fail to honour its responsibilities. 
 
 
Principles of public policy with respect to temporary agency work 
 
&bull; Governments have the responsibility to protect the interests of society in stable employment relationships and to ensure the applicability of labour law, the branch of law developed to protect workers in both public and private sectors, in their unequal relationship with employers. 
 
&bull; Governments can limit or ban the use of temporary work agencies in order to protect these broader societal interests. 
 
&bull; Government must set strict regulations and licensing conditions if agencies are permitted to operate. 
 
&bull; Governments should consult trade unions on issues related to working and employment conditions of the agency workers, as well as on conditions of use of temporary agency work prior to making changes in the regulatory framework. 
 
&bull; The respective roles, obligations and rights of the workers, the temporary work agency and the enterprise using the worker must be clarified when there is an employment relationship between a temporary work agency and a worker. 
 
&bull; Governments must take genuine and concrete measures such as changes in legislation to ensure that workers dispatched by temporary work agencies are able to effectively exercise their right to join or form trade unions. This includes the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
&bull; Governments should strengthen labour inspection, including through providing adequate resources, in order to effectively apply labour law and regulations to employment via temporary work agencies. 
 
&bull; Governments should provide effective mechanisms to protect all workers from health and safety hazards and ensure health &amp; safety conditions of temporary agency workers are the same as of permanent ones. Governments should introduce sanctions for user-enterprises, public and private, not complying with health &amp; safety requirements. 
 
 
Migrant workers dispatched through temporary agencies face specific problems. 
 
&bull; Migrant workers should receive details of their living and working conditions in a language they understand before leaving their country of origin. 
 
&bull; Governments must take active measures to prevent human trafficking and the exploitation of migrant workers by labour intermediaries, both public and private, including temporary work agencies. 
 
&bull; Governments should ensure that immigration legislation governing migrant workers recruited through agencies does not conflict with labour laws by imposing restrictions on migrant workers&rsquo; rights to join trade unions or bargain collectively. 
 
&bull; Workers should not be required to pay deposits, visa, transportation and hiring fees. In the case of agencies dispatching workers to other countries, the agencies should be required to repatriate workers in the event that their employment ends or the user company disappears. 
 
&bull; Workers must not be required to surrender their passports or other travel or identity documents. 
 
&bull; Temporary migrant workers should have full rights to legal redress in the country where they work.

Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

Archive