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

Trade unions in four important industrial sectors of Sweden &ndash; metal, pulp and paper, forestry, and food service &ndash; achieved ICEM-heralded contract language protecting the rights of full-time and permanent workers in wage negotiations in March and April 2010. The first-of-its-kind language, covering 550,000 workers in these sectors, will serve as a major deterrent in utilizing temporary workers hired through labour agency companies. 
 
The language, varying in minor degrees from one sector to the other, was proposed as a bargaining priority by LO-Sweden, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. It will serve as a very effective restraint, the ICEM believes, for the recent rush by Swedish employers to use temporary labour. 
 
Prior to 1992, all such labour was provided by government-operated job centres. But a change in law that year, in effect, privatised such centres. Yet, the growth of the mega-agencies was slow to catch on in Sweden over the next decade, mainly due to a Nordic social ethic that rightfully grants life-long work and retirement benefits. 
<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="113" />
In the early years of the last decade, that slowly began to change. And with the coming of the financial crisis in mid-2008, the trend clearly shifted. Mass layoffs became the norm and in the second half of 2009, when even the slightest uptick in a company&rsquo;s business caused a need for added staff, company after company relied on employment agencies to fill that need. 
 
Swedish labour unions clearly saw their own need to protect the rights of full-time workers who were victimized by the crisis. 
 
Language in the new collective agreements stipulates that employers have the obligation to negotiate with the respective union before turning to labour-hire companies. Those negotiations are to occur on the local level and must take into account permanent workers who have been made redundant and are on re-hire lists. If such workers are qualified for the jobs that an employer seeks to outsource to an agency, those workers must be re-hired or else the employer faces steep financial penalties. Thus, the effective deterrent is in place inside the collective agreements. 
 
If the trade union and employer cannot agree on qualifications, the case goes to the national level where a joint panel will decide. (In one sector agreement, the national panel also consists of an independent mediator in the event the joint labour-management panel cannot agree.) 
 
Employers face the risk that, if no agreement is made at the local level, and they do bring in agency workers and the national panel rules in favour of the redundant worker, the company ends up paying double salaries, with the redundant worker, in some cases, getting up to a SEK 65,000 judgment award. The employer generally has five days to halt the use of agency labour when such employment is challenged before the penalty applies. 
 
One sector agreement contains a joint labour-management committee to monitor this specific aspect of the agreement in order to shape a &ldquo;good practices&rdquo; standard of employment regarding short-term contract and agency labour that is also intended to assure that there are no violations of the language. 
 
All in all, this Swedish model to restrict temporary employment, curtail the exploitative nature of labour agency firms, and promote the concept of decent work through permanent and sustainable jobs is a good one. It is also a model that trade unions in other countries should closely examine.

Sweden’s 2010 Collective Agreements Give First-Ever Language to Stem Agency Labour

Through a series of thorough and well-designed inspection visits, held between October and December 2009, labour inspectors in Peru investigated whether or not Skanska Peru, a &ldquo;major subcontractor&rdquo; to state-owned Brazilian oil company Petrobras, respected Peruvian labour law in regard to contract and agency labour in Piura, Peru. The inspectors, who worked closely with the Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Skanska de Peru, which is affiliated to ICEM affiliate FENUPETROL, wrote down their findings in a lengthy report, published early in 2010. 
 
Of the total of 1,210 workers that Skanska Peru employs, 380 work in Piura, a town in the Talara region. The Skanska workers perform extraction, production, maintenance, and sales jobs for Petrobras. 
 
According to Peruvian law, a subcontractor needs to run its operations on &ldquo;its own account and risk,&rdquo; needs to have its &ldquo;own financial and technical means, as well as its own material,&rdquo; needs to be responsible for its own operational results and needs to directly employ its own workers. Moreover, subcontractors should have more than one client and they cannot be entities that &ldquo;merely supply staff,&rdquo; with workers having a direct and immediate relationship with the user-enterprise. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="122" />
The inspectors found that Skanska Peru violated all of the above. Petrobras, as the user-enterprise, not only decided on the total number, the working hours and the salaries of the Skanska workers employed through the &ldquo;service contract,&rdquo; Petrobras also &ldquo;agreed&rdquo; on collective bargaining agreements and was involved in the evaluation and sanctioning of contract staff. The material used (including even the IT needed to provide the Skanska services) was also the property of Petrobras. Skanska was furthermore found to be working for only one client in Talara, i.e. Petrobras. 
 
Where there merely is a &ldquo;straightforward provision of personnel,&rdquo; the law in Peru foresees that the personnel in question need to be incorporated into the user enterprise. As Skanska was found to &ldquo;fail to comply with the requirements to be a subcontractor,&rdquo; the inspectors came to the conclusion that, as foreseen in the law, the 380 Skanska workers in Talara must be given a &ldquo;direct and immediate&rdquo; employment relationship with the user-enterprise, i.e. Petrobras. 
 
The process currently is in a reconciliation stage, with all parties being given a chance first to react to the report.

Peru Says Petrobras Contract Workers Need to be Made Permanent

<img src="" width="283" height="93" alt="" />
With the ashes from the global financial crisis still about us, the ICEM has joined with the 11 other Global Union Federations (GUFs), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD in issuing a joint 1 May statement. That statement follows below. 
May Day 2010 
Jobs, Justice and Public Services &ndash; Getting the Economy to Work 
The Council of Global Unions, the voice of the global labour movement, has issued the following statement to mark May 1, 2010 
 
On today of all days, trade unionists around the world demand fresh steps to reform the global economy in favour of social justice, investment in jobs and fairness in society. This is no time for business as usual. 
 
Neo-liberal economists and reckless financial dealings have created a crisis that has put millions of people out of work and forced many more into precarious employment to survive. Social safety nets are being torn apart. Public spending that provides for cohesive communities is being savagely cut. 
 
With all of this in mind, Global Unions call on policymakers and democrats everywhere to support a new paradigm of recovery and social justice that will: 
 
&bull; Reassert in government at all levels the primacy of public interest over private gain and ensure that the protection of citizens&rsquo; rights is made a cornerstone of social and economic development; 
 
&bull; Defend the rights of workers and trade unions; 
 
&bull; Mobilise for the creation of sustainable, secure and good quality jobs for all workers, that allow workers and their families to live in dignity; 
 
&bull; Ensure that social justice is a central mission of government and take concrete measures to reduce income disparities and increase equality, in particular gender equality; 
 
&bull; Eliminate market abuse through short-term speculation and manipulation of financial markets by imposing binding and effective regulation; 
 
&bull; Promote sustainable development with job-centred policies, effective social protections and reversal of global warming and environmental degradation; 
 
&bull; Renew commitment to public service values in society and enhance the contribution of quality public services to fairer and more efficient societies, and to finance these services through progressive systems of taxation that provide sufficient resources while improving social equity; 
 
&bull; Commit to education for all and provide resources needed to achieve the enrichment of society that comes from high quality education and training; 
 
&bull; Improve the quality of people&rsquo;s lives by providing universal access to health care and other vital social welfare services, as well as such fundamental issues as clean water and adequate nutrition, and breathing new life into efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. 
 
May Day 2010 is a moment to change course, to meet the aspirations of workers and communities for a new beginning, to put to flight self-serving politics and corporate greed, and, above all, to build a new solidarity in society in support of people-centred values that will enrich the lives of all. 
 
 
The PDF of the statement can be found <a href="http://www.world-psi.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&amp;CONTENTFILEID=29028&amp;TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm">here</a>.

Global Labour’s Joint 1 May Statement

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A week-long blockade by several hundred contract workers at Chile&rsquo;s third largest copper mine ended 12 May, but issues remain unresolved. The blockade, takeover of equipment and operations, and reported kidnappings of direct employees at the Collahuasi mine in northern Region I ended only when Special Forces of the Chilean police arrived to break up the strike. 
 
The contract workers then took the strike 180 kilometres to the west to the town of Iquique. Negotiations to resolve the dispute had been ongoing with the Tarapac&aacute; governor, and reports circulate that talks would again start today. Collahuasi, which is 44% owned by Xstrata, 44% by AngloAmerican, with the rest held by Japanese investors connected to Mitsui &amp; Co., declared force majeure on 10 May. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
The mining enterprise said it suspended production then because of the on-site takeover, but began operating again on 12 May. Collahuasi employs 2,000 direct employees, while another 4,000 work for some scores of sub-contractors. 
 
Collahuasi is currently in the first phase of a US$750 million expansion and reports linked the contract workers to a Chilean engineering firm involved in that expansion. Their strike and blockade is over demands that include on-site housing similar to that of direct-employed staff, and bonuses for successfully concluding wage negotiations in April. 
 
The strike and blockade began 7 May. Copper prices on the London Metals Market rose slightly due to the shutdown. The Collahusi mine provides 3.3% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply, with 2009 production at 535,000 tonnes of processed copper. The expansion, due to be complete by 2015, will boost that production figure to 600,000 tonnes.

Contract Workers’ Strike Flares at Chile’s Collahuasi Copper Mine

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Iranian authorities experienced a wide backlash of anger from throughout the world, following their decision to secretly execute teacher and trade unionist Farzad Kamangar on 9 May. 
 
Farzad Kamangar was hanged at Evin Prison in Tehran, along with three other Kurds and one other man, without their families or legal representatives being told beforehand. The draconian executions followed a legal process which failed to meet any semblance of accepted international standards, or even Iranian standards of fair trials. 
 
The ICEM has long been involved in the campaign against repression and violations of human rights in Iran, including the illegal arrests of other trade unionists. Increased solidarity and support is now needed for those who are illegally imprisoned, with fears spreading that their fates might meet the same as Farzad Kamangar&rsquo;s. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="159" />
Photo: Mac Urata (ITF)
The Global Union Federation for teachers and educators, Education International (EI), has been fighting Farzad Kamangar&rsquo;s case since his arrest in May 2006. He was given the death sentence in February 2008, following a trial lasting less than five minutes. The 35-year-old member of the Teachers&rsquo; Union of Kurdistan, was accused of &quot;endangering national security&quot; and &ldquo;moharebeh&rdquo; or &quot;enmity against God.&quot; 
 
Farzad Kamangar was held for seven months prior to being allowed to see his family. He was repeatedly tortured. He was whipped, held in a freezing room and physically abused by guards. He was not given the chance to say goodbye to his family. 
 
The news comes one month before the 26 June, the Day of Action against the Islamic Republic of Iran for the repressive and tyrannical means it uses to suppress its people. (View that campaign website <a href="http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org ">here</a>.) 
 
Protests were carried out in several countries, following the executions. See the Turkey march <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lki_FBw68_s&amp;feature=related">here</a>. See all photos of the London rally <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/workers_in_action/sets/72157623937198125/detail/ ">here</a> (photos by Mac Urata)

World Appalled at Execution of Iranian Trade Unionist

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A historic event took place early this month in the northern Iraq region of Kurdistan: the region&rsquo;s two labour federations, traditional tied to Kurdistan&rsquo;s two political parties, merged, creating a single voice for workers in northern Iraq. 
 
The new federation is called the Kurdistan United Workers&rsquo; Union, and consolidates the Kurdistan Workers&rsquo; Union and the General Workers and Crafts Syndicate Union. The merger was first reported ten days ago on the website of UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Council (TUC). Hangam Abdullah Khan and Yassin Aziz Ali are to serve as co-Presidents. 
 
&ldquo;When we were two federations, we spoke with two voices,&rdquo; stated Hangam Abdullah Khan. &ldquo;Now it is working people who will benefit from us having one voice.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="274" height="206" />
Added Yassin Aziz Ali, &ldquo;With this new union, we have high hopes. We hope to have an increasing membership, women in leadership positions in the union, and more campaigning power, especially on our top priority &ndash; new progressive labour laws in the Kurdistan region and across federal Iraq, and on social security, too.&rdquo; 
 
The new trade union federation, according to the TUC site, is 95% merged and is in a one-year transitional state. Despite that, it already has a President for Women &ndash; Nazanin Tariq Ali. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the leaders of the former union federations for coming together in the best interests of not just Kurdish workers, but for setting an example throughout Iraq.

The Two Trade Union Federations in Iraqi Kurdistan Unite, Merge

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM Executive Committee, on the second day of its annual deliberations 27 May, denounced Iraq&rsquo;s government for continued failure to enact a draft labour law, as well as numerous and current prohibitions against trade union activities. 
 
The resolution noted continued adherence to a Saddam Hussein decree that bans trade unions in the public sector, which includes the oil, gas, and electric power industries, and continued imposition of Decree 8750, imposed by the occupation forces in August 2005. That draconian decree, equally restriction on trade union rights as the Saddam one, grants government the power to take over unions at will and forbids trade unions from holding any assets or collecting subscriptions from workers. 
 
The resolution also addresses the forced removals of trade union leaders from their work in the oil, gas, and related sectors, and condemns the most recent imposition by the government in restricting trade unionists from travelling outside the country. In that, the Supreme Ministerial Committee on Supervising the Implementation of the Governing Council Resolution No. 3-2005 must issue approval to those trade unionists seeking to travel or those invited outside of Iraq. 
<img alt="" src="" width="311" height="207" />
ICEM Executive Committee
&ldquo;The ICEM Executive Committee condemns all of these Iraqi government acts against trade unions,&rdquo; states the resolution. &ldquo;We salute the bravery of our Iraqi brothers and sisters who continue to organise, represent and protect workers despite these attacks and a background of continued and escalating violence in the society at large. 
 
&ldquo;We are appalled that seven years after the fall of Saddam Hussein&rsquo;s regime, workers in Iraq are still without legislative protection of their fundamental rights at work.&rdquo; 
 
(The complete resolution can be found in English <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/IraqExecResolution27May2010.pdf">here</a>, and in Arabic <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1006.iraqresolution.ec.pdf">here</a>.) 
 
The resolution notes the fact that trade unions inside Iraq have mounted a campaign for a globally-recognised labour law, complete with a website (found <a href="http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/cgi-bin/campaign1.cgi">here</a>) and encourages all trade unionists everywhere to visit the site and register your support for a fair and just labour law inside Iraq. The ICEM strongly supports the campaign and the website.

ICEM Executive Condemns Repressive Union Actions by Iraq

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Rio Tinto Zimbabwe Ltd. (RioZim), operator of the Renco Gold Mine in Zimbabwe&rsquo;s Masvingo province, has maliciously taken revenge on members of the Associated Mine Workers&rsquo; of Zimbabwe (AMWZ) immediately after the end of a five-day national mine strike in mid-May. The company has discharged 70 miners, suspended 370, and given a total of 760 of Renco&rsquo;s 1,000 workers final warnings for taking part in the strike. 
 
Management&rsquo;s disciplinary actions come despite the fact that all strikers at Renco returned to work within the mandatory 24-hour period after Zimbabwe&rsquo;s Labour Ministry stopped the strike with a &ldquo;show-cause&rdquo; order on 14 May. 
 
&ldquo;Our concern now is that other mining enterprises will use this as a precedent to fire workers who took strike action,&rdquo; said AMWZ President Tinago Ruzive. &ldquo;In fact, as soon as we received the order, we informed all strikers to return to their jobs and we were successful in communicating this.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
(A 17 May ICEM briefing on the strike&rsquo;s end can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3779-Zimbabwe-Mine-Strike-Suspended-by-Decree-of-Labour-Ministry">here</a>.) Ruzive and the AMWZ attempted to meet with Renco management over the unfair disciplinary measures, but management refused the meeting. The union must now take the matter to a labour court. 
 
The &ldquo;show-cause&rdquo; order called for a 20 May hearing on the pay strike in Harare. But the Labour Ministry cancelled that hearing and no new date has been scheduled. Some 20,000 miners struck 45 different mining companies affiliated to the Chamber of Mines in mid-May over non-payment of wage adjustments made in an arbitration award last year. 
 
Mining companies affiliated to the chamber have also neglected to remit contributions to the Mining Industry Pension Fund, monies owed to the National Employment Council for the Mining Industry, and to the AMWZ for subscriptions, a further cause of miners taking legal strike action after the AMWZ issued the mandatory 14-day strike notice in late April. 
 
RioZim is the country&rsquo;s largest resource company listed on Zimbabwe&rsquo;s bourse. Besides the Zenco Gold Mine, its assets include 22% of the Murowa diamond mine (with Rio Tinto Group holding 78%), the Empress nickel refinery in Kadoma, which processes matte from Botswana, and 50% of the Senga coal fields in Gokwe North.

Rio Tinto Sacks 70, Suspends 370 Following Zimbabwe Mine Strike

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

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="78" />
ICEM affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO), the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union of Colombia, has led contract workers in the eastern Meta region oilfields for job security, fair wages, and the right to join their union throughout the summer. With mass protests and strikes occurring, progress was seemingly being made with the main sub-contractor, Pacific Rubiales, and the state oil company Ecopetrol. 
 
But despite tripartite talks between USO, the Colombian government, and Pacific Rubiales, Canadian-based Pacific Rubiales suddenly pulled out of negotiations and signed an agreement with a yellow union, UTEN, undercutting USO, the legitimate bargaining partner. USO represents over 14,000 workers at the Rubiales and Quifa oilfields; UTEN represents no more than 700 and those are staff employed in the administrative payroll and logistics departments. 
<img alt="" src="" width="227" height="170" />
Recent strike by USO
Rubiales is Colombia&rsquo;s largest producing oil field, and together with Quifa accounts for one quarter of Colombia&rsquo;s overall production. 
 
Pacific Rubiales gave the sack to over 500 contract workers the same day that it signed with UTEN, 21 October. In the days that followed, all existing USO members among the contract employees have been threatened with dismissal if they do not switch allegiance to the company union. Pacific Rubiales, together with its puppet union UTEN, has also simultaneously conducted a vicious propaganda campaign denouncing USO and striking workers as terrorists. 
<img alt="" src="" width="276" height="160" />
Although government officials played a central role in the agreement to stop the most recent strike actions in September and establish a national tripartite bargaining table to reach an accord, the Colombian government has been complicit with Pacific Rubiales&rsquo;s decision to sign with UTEN. In angry protest, USO again called 4,000 workers out on strike, with a full work stoppage that began on Monday, 24 October, and a permanent picket line assembled at the Rubiales and Quifa fields. The deal with UTEN specifically excludes contract workers who are organised by USO. 
 
On 24 October, workers walked through the night to reach the permanent assembly the next day at the camp called &ldquo;El Morichal.&rdquo; 
 
The Colombian military has now been deployed to the oilfields, and has constructed impassable barriers on the public roads that access the fields. ESMAD, the notorious Colombian riot police, are also present with 800 troops on hand to intimidate workers. The USO Central Committee member who informed police of the work stoppage was immediately arrested. 
 
USO Vice-President German Osman, part of the negotiating team, reports that Pacific Rubiales has intentionally prolonged and delayed talks with his union while at the same time drawing up the phony labour accord with UTEN. On resuming the tripartite negotiations between USO, the government, and Pacific Rubiales, all sides agreed to a settlement deadline of 21 October. But company negotiators refused to bargain in good faith, while USO offered considerable reductions in wage demands. 
The ICEM is lodging a protest with the Canadian company and the Colombian government.

Canadian Pacific Rubiales Signs Accord with Yellow Union in Colombia

Archive