English

Español

Français

Русский

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 2021-2025

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

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM has been joined by Global Union Federations, national unions, and trade union activists the world over in pressing the government of Chile the ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Since ICEM and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) delivered a <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/11.ICEM.IMF.Chile176.1March.pdf" type="internal">joint call</a>. 
 
to their respective affiliates on 2 March to write Chile President Sebastián Piñera demanding he begin mine-safety reforms, some 70 affiliates have responded with <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ENGLISH%20ChileModLet%20(2).doc " type="internal">letters</a> like this. 
 
The International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers' Association (IUF) picked up the call, sending an action alert that generated over 1,000 messages to Piñera. And then last week LabourStart initiated a campaign and 2,500 messages so far have been sent to Chile Mine Minister Laurence Golborne. Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=891">LabourStart campaign</a> with a message to Golborne, who during the Michele Bachelet administration was a supermarket chain manager. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ilo_small.jpg" width="175" height="247"/>
Hazards, the vibrant safety and health newsletter of UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC), then sent a Chile mine safety message through its listserv of hundreds of global health/safety specialists at unions, NGOs, and educational institutions, many of whom responded with their own pointed message to the Piñera government. 
 
It didn’t stop there. The global campaign was joined simultaneously by unions affiliated with Chile’s two main mine union federations, representing workers at both state-run copper company Codelco and at the major mining companies that own large-scale copper and gold operations. Leaders of branch leaders at both federations were versed on what the ICEM was doing globally in pressing Piñera and Golborne and it is those Chilean mine union leaders that know more than anybody the frailties of the country’s mine safety culture. 
 
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharon Burrow wrote to Piñera stating, “It is our belief that Chile’s sustainable development must start from a cohesive and coherent mine safety culture, that includes representation by mineworkers and their trade unions and the respect of their rights, and is composed of necessary components of monitoring, technical expertise, and judicial powers”.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IMF100.jpg" width="100" height="97"/>
Late last week the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) sent a release, stating, “After soaking up the publicity, the government is now backing away from its commitments. Journalists groups in Latin America and around the world are shocked by this cynical behaviour and we fully support the trade union demand that Chile cleans up its act and gets into line with international mining standards. 
 
The ICEM’s decision targeting Chile to overhaul its mine regulations and to ratify Convention 176 stems from a brash world statement made by Piñera to the world while basking in the success of the rescue of 33 miners on 13 October 2010. While in London five days later, he told the world that Chile had learned its lesson; it would amend its mine safety laws and adopt global standards enshrined in Convention 176 “within 90 days.” 
 
In mid-January, ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda met with then Chilean Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Camila Merino over that pledge. The ICEM was told Convention 176 is not on Chile’s agenda, but that it might consider the more general ILO Convention 187, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Health and Safety Convention. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IUF100.jpg" width="100" height="100"/>     <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IFJ.jpg" width="89" height="100"/>
The ICEM reminded that just as Piñera and Golborne lifted the nation’s world status during the San José copper mine rescue, Chile is of major global consequence because it is a rich exporter of basic metals and minerals. If it is to be world-class in any way, it must implement world-class safe mining practices for Chilean workers who dig those riches. 
 
An example is in the commission Piñera appointed to investigate the cause of the 5 August San José accident. There were no workers’ representatives invited to join that commission. Chile’s mine unions do sound the alarm frequently over safety deficiencies and on the reasons why accidents happen. But they are told from government and industry alike that it is the union’s duty to negotiate economic issues, not to involve itself in safety or health. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.jeff goldborne chile.jpg" width="152" height="160"/>
Chile Mine Minister Laurence Golborne 
Chile has over 8,000 mines from north to south. It has a total of 16 mine inspectors to cover those operations. It has an archaic system of overlapping safety agencies covering all sectors of work, including mining, that reside in six different ministries. And none of the agencies have judicial powers to enforce the few regulations in place or the technical capabilities to inspect and prevent accidents before they happen. 
 
Regarding mining in Chile, all the prerequisites contained in Convention 176 are missing: regular inspections, set procedures to report and investigate dangerous occurrences and accidents, trade union consultation, regulatory bodies with the authority to shut and keep shut dangerous mines, a miner’s right to refuse unsafe work, workers’ rights to select their own health and safety representatives, and employer obligations to provide safety training and safety programmes. 
 
That is why the ICEM and the IMF – and now unions everywhere – have targeted Chile for reformation of internal mine safety laws and for ratification, implementation, and adherence to standards set down in ILO Convention 176. Do your part. Contact Chile’s political leaders and insist in change.

Global Unions Target Chile for Mine Safety Overhaul

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The 28 affiliates of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Slovakia (KOZ) have the antidote for centre-right coalition government intent on imposing dreaded labour laws reforms in the Central European country. KOZ and its trade unions have launched a petition drive to change the eight-hour work day to one of seven and a 25-hour work week, with no reduction in salaries. 
 
The campaign already has the necessary 350,000 signatures needed to put an initiative up for vote under Slovakia’s referendum law. But the unions will continue collecting signatures, in part, to galvanise support against Prime Minister Iveta Radicova’s labour code revisions to cut worker protections. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Slovakia.png" width="140" height="142"/>
KOZ has drawn up a draft referendum that poses three questions to Slovak citizens: Do you want to preserve the current system of worker protections? Do you agree that overtime work should be limited to 80 hours per year? Do you want working time shortened to 35 hours per week? 
 
Leaders in the ruling coalition parties claim that if accepted, employers will reduce costs by furloughing workers. But union leaders argue that reducing the number of work hours can produce jobs if fair and socially correct policies are enacted by the government. 
 
The labour-friendly Smer-Social Democracy Party is the one political party supporting KOZ’s campaign. 
 
In order for a plebiscite to become effective in the Slovak Republic, at least 50% of voting-age people must turn out for the referendum vote. Since 1993, the country has held seven such plebiscites and only once has achieved the necessary 50% – in 2003 when Slovakian citizens voted to join the EU.

Slovak Trade Unions Campaign for 7-Hour Work Day

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A wage strike broke out last week in Argentina’s Zarate-Campana petrochemical complex when members of the Zarate branch of the Federation of Chemical and Petrochemical Workers’ Unions (FESTIQyPRA) walked out at six companies. Workers and their unions are seeking 2011 wage hikes over a series of instalments that will keep pace with the country’s high inflation rate. 
 
The companies affected include Petrobras, Bunge, Rohm and Haas, Lanxess, Atanor, and Dow. At the Petrobras petrochemical plant, production stopped on 5 March due to the company seeking a safe and orderly shutdown. FESTIQyPRA Zarate is negotiating with the Chamber of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry (CIQyP), and the sides are now in mediation that is being conducted by the Argentina’s Ministry of Work. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM.Solidarity.JPG" width="120" height="117"/>
FESTIQyPRA’s Nelson Palacios said workers are justified in asking for a general 25% pay rise, with minimum wage workers expected to gain more. FESTIQyPRA Zarate also seeks a fixed remuneration sum of ARS 2,463 (€437, US$611) added to the base wage between May 2011 and February 2012. 
 
Palacios said the union’s proposal calls for 30% of the total to be awarded in May 2011, with other increments to follow in October, December, and in February 2012. Several collective agreements in Argentina are on the brink of dispute, including ones in metals, oil and gas, and in service industries. CGT General Secretary Hugo Moyano has stated that a 2011 increase of 28% is in line for workers to meet the rampant run-up in Argentina’s inflation rate. 
 
FESTIQyPRA is affiliated to CGT. The Zarate-Campana petrochemical plants are in northeast Argentina, in Buenos Aires province and situated on the Paraná River.

FESTIQyPRA Zarate Branch in Argentina Strikes 6 Chemical Companies

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The union that attempted to rescue coal miners inside a Soreng district colliery in Pakistan last week has strongly criticised government indifference of the 20 March tragedy. ICEM-affiliated Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) held an angry protest on 22 March in front of the Quetta press club, demanding two resignations and calling for a judicial enquiry from the Balochistan High Court. 
 
Fifty-two miners died instantly 1,200 metres underground after three methane gas blasts occurred in a mine operated by an unregistered contractor. The mine is state-owned by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC). 
 
Only two weeks earlier, PCMLF and concerned people in the Soreng area, 35 kilometres east of Quetta, demanded closure of the colliery because of high methane gas levels. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.pakistan sultan.jpg" width="302" height="186"/>
Sultan Muhammad at Quetta Press Club Rally
It took government rescue teams and emergency medical services eight hours to respond to the mine blasts. Miners of PCMLF first entered the mine in the aftermath of the explosions and dug with shovels and bare hands in hopes of finding survivors. What they found and brought to the surface were 12 mangled bodies. A 25-year-old miner who spent much of Sunday, 20 March, on the rescue described high levels of gas fumes and wood support structures that had crumbled, leaving massive debris blocking passageways. 
 
When mine safety officials did arrive, they blocked further efforts of miners to enter. “Directly and indirectly, many people and many family members are affected by this disaster,” PCMLF General Secretary Sultan Muhammad told the ICEM. “We are helping the families of victims as best we can with our union’s limited resources.” One family reportedly lost seven members in the 20 March tragedy. 
 
“It is a difficult job because miners and their families know they have to go five to seven thousand feet deep inside the mine,” said PCMLF President Bakht Nawab Yousfzai. “Nobody ever knows if they are going on their last journey.” 
 
Efforts to correctly identify the deceased miners were made difficult because the contractor had kept no visible employee roster. 
 
At the Quetta manifestation last Tuesday, PCMLF demanded that PMDC pay one million rupees each (€8,300) to the families of the dead miners. They also demanded the sacking of Baluchistan Mines and Minerals Minister Mushtaq Raisani and Chief Mines Inspector Iftikhar Ahmed. 
 
PCMLF seeks involvement in a tri-partite panel to investigate the blasts. The union also pointed to a number of threatening safety hazards at the same mine in recent months, but reporting of those incidents went unheeded. 
 
In a 22 March letter to PCMLF, ICEM Mining Sector Chairman Andrew Vickers of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia said: “I offer my personal and our collective condolences to the families and friends of miners killed in this latest inexcusable disaster in the coal mining industry. Your suffering is understood and shared by us who have lost too many sons, brothers, and fathers to inexcusable disasters in our mining industry.”

Pakistan Mine Blast Kills 52; ICEM Affiliate PCMLF in Strong Protest

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Second-year salary adjustments for some 20,000 white- and blue-collar Finnish pulp and paper workers ran separate courses over the past 12 days, with ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro – representing 4,000 salaried professionals – issuing a strike notice on 23 March against one company. A two-week strike will begin on 6 April at all UPM operations if official government mediation beginning today fails. 
 
Meanwhile, Paperiliitto, representing 16,000 workers at some 60 paper operations, agreed to terms with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) on 16 March. Workers will receive a guaranteed 2.5%, or €.41-per-hour increase. The union also granted other adjustments in the collective agreement. 
 
Both ICEM affiliates have been negotiating separately with the FFIF on wage terms for the back end of a two-year labour agreement. The parties had until last week to reach accord, or bargaining is automatically shifted into the government’s dispute resolution process. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro, formerly Toimihenkilöunioni or TU prior to a merger in December with the insurance and banking union Suora, gave the strike warning because FFIF refused to put forward a similar national pay offer as the one given and accepted by Paperiliitto. Instead, there was no increase extended on the national level, with employers saying wage hikes will only be negotiated on a mill-by-mill basis. That stand quickly became an insult to dedicated staff.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.jukka pro finland.jpg" width="100" height="129"/>
Jukka Hämäläinen
“We seek a binding pay formula in this portion of the collective agreement,” said Jukka Hämäläinen, chief Pro negotiator for the paper sector. “We want a system that recognizes the increased work and greater responsibility taken on by our members.” Hämäläinen said only a short few years ago, there were 6,000 white-collar workers in Finland’s pulp and paper sector. That number is now 4,000. 
 
The union will begin an overtime ban on 1 April, the date the current two-year agreement is terminated if no resolve is realized. And then at 06h00 on 6 April, a full strike by 1,000 Pro members at UPM will commence that is certain to affect production at the Helsinki-based company’s Finnish mills. 
 
In the accord between Paperiliitto and the FFIF, blue-collar workers receive effective today a 1.5%, or €.24-per-hour increase, and then another 1% (€.17) will be negotiated on the local level. If that isn’t accomplished by 21 April, then it reverts back to the national level where a process is established to guarantee that increase retroactive to 28 March. 
 
Paperiliitto also agreed to grant local branches the option to increase work shifts from ten hours per day to 12, although it is mandated that there be no accumulative increase in yearly working hours. The union also agreed to a mobility clause, granting paper firms the flexibility to make short-term transfers of new hires employed in maintenance areas to other company operations. For current maintenance workers, companies must get one-time or more consent agreements from the individual for such a temporary transfer. 
 
The union agreed to the mobility language as deterrent to the use of outside contract or agency labour, and to assure that maintenance work will continuously be performed by Paperiliitto members.

Finnish Paper Sector Wage Accords Divert Between ICEM Affiliates

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="100" height="49"/>
The ICEM Secretariat was stricken with grief on 4 April upon learning of the death of Liv Undheim, former Vice President of Norwegian trade union affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Liv Undheim died at 07h00 that morning in an Oslo hospital after a period of illness. She was 61. 
 
She was an ICEM Vice President, representing the Nordic region, and had served on ICEM statutory bodies for the past 20 years, dating to her tenure as an officer of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers’ Association. She was the driving force inside ICEM in the development of gender equality and women’s activities. 
 
In a letter to IE President Leif Sande, General Secretary Manfred Warda said her advocacy in this regard made the ICEM a leading Global Union Federation on gender issues. 
 
She began working in an industrial setting in the late 1960s at Figgjo AS, a ceramics and pottery manufacturer near Stavanger. She then became a federal secretary of the Chemical Workers’ Association and served in that capacity for nine years before being elected organisation secretary of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO). In that capacity in 1997, she also became deputy minister with responsibility for energy issues. 
 
In 2001, she became Vice President of the Chemical Workers’ Association and in 2006, upon the merger of that union with the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemicals Workers’ Federation (NOPEF), she was elected Vice President of IE. She retired in October 2010 but retained the exemplary role she always performed as IE’s head of international affairs.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayIE.jpg" width="112" height="150"/>
She also had served on a number of boards and public bodies, including the research institute FAFO, Norway’s Labour Directorate, the Labour Inspection Authority, and many others. 
 
She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and in February 2011 was stricken and hospitalised with pneumonia, which prevented cancer treatment. The ICEM’s Warda said she always delivered a great deal of energy and passion to global trade union work, and “we held hope that this same energy and passion would allow her to overcome this illness.” 
 
He added: “Her passing at the age of 61 is a sad moment for us here. The extraordinary work she performed for the ICEM – and for all trade unions – will carry on in her honour. We pledge to re-dedicate the many workers’ issues that she championed in her memory.” 
 
In a statement this week from Oslo, IE President Sande said, “Following her long and devoted service to the labour union movement we all felt with all our hearts that Liv had deserved a long and pleasant retirement together with her dear Elisabeth. The holiday to Thailand was booked and she was looking forward to spending her time reading, travelling and generally enjoying life. Instead she was struck down with cancer, having to spend her last days in a hospital. It seems so unfair. She will be deeply missed.”
Liv Undheim's funeral will be 14 April in Oslo. Following, a memorial and commemoration of her life will be held at IE's offices there.

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Two weeks after a pair of Norwegian unions, together with ICEM and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Norsk Hydro ASA, two workers’ representatives of the aluminium and energy company’s board of directors journeyed to Pará state in northern Brazil to brief workers and trade union leaders there. 
 
Sten Roar Martinsen, a process operator and full-time union representative from the Kopervik extrusion plant, and Billy Fredeagsvik, also an operator and union representative at Hydro’s Høyanger aluminium smelter, met with workers’ representatives of Brazilian trade unions on 30 March and 1 April. Martinsen and Fredeagsvik are representatives of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) on Hydro’s 11-member board. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.norsk hydro. sten roar.jpg" width="100" height="150"/>    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.norsk hydro. billy fredagsvik.jpg" width="100" height="150"/>
Sten Roar Martinsen    Billy Fredeagsvik
The mission, according to Norsk Hydro’s website, was to brief Brazilian workers at a former Vale bauxite mine and aluminium smelter and refinery on the structure and principles for trade union dialogue at Hydro, as well as the impact and significance of the GFA that was signed on 15 March. 
 
In late February, Norsk Hydro concluded the purchase of Vale assets in northern Brazil for US$3.5 billion. Those assets include a 51% stake in the aluminium smelter Albrás in Barcarena, Pará state, 57% of the Alunorte refinery, and a 61% stake in the future Companhia de Alumina do Pará (CAP) alumina plant, which will start up in 2012. A Japanese consortium of 17 companies holds the minority stakes in these companies. 
 
Also, on 30 March, Martinsen and Fredeagsvik met with union leaders at the former Vale bauxite mine Paragominas. As part of the deal, Hydro bought 60% of the 9.9 million tonne mine, as well as other bauxite mineral rights of Vale in Brazil. Hydro will now call its Brazilian mining assets Mineração Paragominas. Hydro will purchase the remaining 40% in 2013 and 2015 for US$200 million in each year. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayFellesforbundet.gif" width="240" height="52"/>    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayIE.jpg" width="80" height="107"/>
The Norwegian board members also discussed local issues with Pará state workers including access to housing in the rural areas, and health and education. 
 
“This was an important first step,” said Martinsen, “towards establishing the right framework for including our Brazilian colleagues in Hydro’s internal arenas for dialogue, to ensure that the interests and views of all employees in Hydro are represented in the appropriate forums and decision-making processes.” 
 
Added Fredeagsvik, “Through these initial meetings, we have created a solid foundation for further work together. The meetings have been interesting, positive, and highly constructive.” 
 
Besides ICEM and IMF, Norwegian trade unions IndustriEnergi and Fellesforbundet are signatory to the GFA.

Norsk Hydro’s Worker Reps Talk with Trade Unionists in Brazil 

<img height="39" width="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" alt=""/>
Bahrain’s authorities and business leaders are retaliating to a general strike led by the national trade union centre General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved. 
 
The general strike was called on 13 March, and ended 22 March, in support of pro-democracy protests in the Persian Gulf island-state. The agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
Estimates suggest over 1,000 workers will be laid-off during the crackdown, including staff at Alba Aluminum Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services, and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. All sackings were due to worker absence during the strike. 
<img height="169" width="140" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.abdul hussain bahrain.jpg" alt=""/>
BAPCO Union President Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain
The president of the union at Bahrain Petroleum (BAPCO), Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, has been fired for his absence during the strike and also for “inciting workers to strike.” The company has begun legal prosecution of Hussain. BAPCO also fired nine other workers, and is investigating the cases of 230 workers who participated in the strike. 
 
BAPCO union President Hussain was central in the creation of the GBFTU. All employees at BAPCO are now fearful of losing their jobs in the coming days. Absenteeism of BAPCO employees on 16-17 March was 60%. 
 
(See <a type="internal" href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/27.ICEM.Bahrain.6April.pdf ">ICEM's letter to the King of Bahrain</a>.) 
 
Last week, security forces closed down the GBFTU headquarters and are expected to soon call the organisation’s president, Salman Mahfooz, in for questioning. Roads leading to the union office were closed and workers were blocked from reaching the headquarters. Most of those workers had been seeking guidance from their union following their sacking. 
 
The GBFTU website has been shut down. Parliament is calling on the government to immediately refer trade union leaders involved in the strike to the public prosecutor’s office. 
 
All members of the GBFTU executive, spanning all industries, have been suspended from work pending investigations. On top of this cynical multi-faceted attack on Bahrain’s independent trade unions, companies are now planning legal cases against the unions in a further attempt to permanently end their activities. 
 
Over 300 activists have been arrested with many missing and at least 20 killed since protesters took to the streets in February, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The violent suppression of the Bahraini people’s reform protest has been facilitated by armed forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. 
<img height="126" width="108" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/Somavia.jpg" alt=""/>
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia
This disgraceful attack on core human and trade union rights of the Bahraini people must end immediately, global trade unions say. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia issued a statement on 6 April calling repercussions to the strike “extremely alarming, in particular as the GFBTU had called on workers to return to work and had been given assurances by State officials that they will not face any punitive measures for their participation in strikes.”

Kingdom of Bahrain Retaliates Against Trade Unions for General Strike

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A strike by the ICEM affiliate, Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries, and the Chemical Industry (POEPDHV), was extended another week until 19 April. The strike began at Hellenic Petroleum’s (ELPE) flagship refinery in Aspropyrgos on 3 April, and then spread to Hellenic’s two other refineries at Elfsina and Thessaloniki after a judge declared the walkout legal. 
 
Greek oil workers are striking over inadequate staffing levels and safety issues at ELPE’s new refinery units at Elfsina and Thessaloniki, as well as resistance to company plans to curb pay gains and link pay with productivity. The strikes, originally of 10-day durations, came with orderly shutdowns to ensure operational integrity of the refineries is maintained, and with assurances that full safety compliance is followed. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.greek petro strike.jpg" width="240" height="166"/>
On Thursday, 7 April, POEPDHV announced another week of strike action, due to occur 12-19 April. Three days earlier, a judge denied ELPE’s request for injunctive relief in an effort to declare the strike illegal. POEPDHV President Nikos Orfanos said the extension is in full support of the workers’ struggle and on demand from refinery workers. Further bargaining between the union and ELPE is scheduled for 13 April. 
 
ELPE operates three of Greece’s four refineries and controls 50% of the country’s downstream market. The company is 35.5% owned by the Greek government. 
 
The ICEM fully support its Greek trade union affiliate and calls on the company to adequately staff its new refining units for safety reasons, as well as to justly compensate oil refinery workers.

Greek Petrochemical Union Extends Refinery Strikes until 19 April

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
An international campaign for the reinstatement of 50 Mexican rubber workers employed by German-based Continental AG, was successful after 22 months. The illegal dismissals on 18 May 2009 were made under the guise of the global financial crisis. The ICEM-affiliated National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers’ Union (SNTGTM), led by General Secretary Alberto Espinosa Rocha, launched a full mobilisation of the union for their reinstatement and to support each sacked worker who chose to fight for re-employment. 
 
The struggle, termed to “Resist One More Day than Continental,” supported especially the reinstatement of union activists Juan Pablo Hernández Lara and Alfredo Calderón and was won one year, ten months, and ten days after the sackings, when 50 colleagues returned to work at the factory in San Luis Potosí, 430 kilometres north of Mexico City. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.MexToronto2.jpg" width="199" height="182"/>
SNTGTM Secretary-General Alberto Espinosa Rocha
The members of SNTGTM, through the decision of the union's Congress to wage the fight, supported every worker contesting dismissal, and the union paid them the minimum wage for a worker in the sector throughout the legal process. That income is low, but the faith and support from fellow members was vital. 
 
The SNTGTM and reinstated workers gave special thanks to the ICEM, International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), the United Steelworkers (USW), and the AFL-CIO, for their solidarity and support internationally. The SNTGTM singled out the IGBCE and European Works Council for their important assistance in forcing the struggle onto the agenda of Conti's management meetings. 
 
In recent months, the union has recovered hundreds of jobs and established conditions for increased factory production in Mexico. The SNTGTM is now fighting the proposed regressive labour law in Mexico, which, if enacted, would jeopardize their hard-won achievements.

Victory for Mexican Rubber Workers, 50 Reinstated

Archive