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 strike that began on 25 May by 11,000 contract workers at the El Teniente division of Codelco in Chile has dwindled to about 4,000 as many of the more than 20 employers doing sub-contract work for the state-run copper producer have settled with contract staff. 
 
Production of copper cathodes from El Teniente, the company’s most profitable division, had dropped to 40% at the peak of the strike on 8-9 June following blockades that prevented buses carrying Codelco staff from reaching the mine. But by late last week, output grew to 75% or more as some sub-contractors awarded bonuses and increased travel allowances to contract workers to get them to return to work. 
 
Codelco also began ferrying regular staff to the mine-site in central Chile by helicopters after transport buses were stopped and turned back. 
 
The unions representing contract workers have been unsuccessful in getting either Codelco or Chile’s government to engage them on working conditions at El Teniente. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4462-Contract-Workers-Strike-Codelco-at-El-Teniente-Mine-in-Chile" type="internal">ICEM report</a> on the outbreak of the contractors’ strike here.) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1106.chile%20codelco.jpg" width="240" height="159"/>
Mines and Energy Minister Laurence Golborne said he has been monitoring the strike, but ruled out any possible involvement by Codelco or the government because of “acuerdo marco,” or an agreement in 2007 stating that neither party has an obligation to address the grievances of contract workers. 
 
Regional politician Ricardo Rincón of Chile’s Christian Democrat Party (DC) condemned the government’s unwillingness to address the legitimate grievances of contract workers, stating that turning a deaf ear to workers does not speak well of Codelco management or of the government. 
 
Sub-contract employers have given their staff one-time bonuses of 700,000 pesos (US$1,500) to quit the strike, in addition to the increases in travel allowance. The strike has been marked by daily mobilizations and marches in the nearby city of Rancagua in Region VI, some violence and damage to buses, and arrests of about 80 contract workers. 
 
On 14 June, some 1,000 contract workers boarded 17 buses and travelled to Santiago to deliver petitions to the National Congress and several different ministries. Meanwhile, a day earlier in Rancagua, four women – mothers of striking contract workers – began a water-only hunger strike in the city’s cathedral to protest the government’s negligent lack of involvement in the dispute. 
 
Elsewhere, at Codelco’s Chuquicamata mine, part of the company’s El Norte division, some 1,000 regular staff, union members of branches of Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), marched on 15 June in preparation for a strike that could occur at any time. 
 
The FTC branches are manifesting over staffing requirements and possible job retrenchments as Codelco prepares Chuquicamata for conversion from an open-pit copper mine to an underground one. The FTC said protests will continue and possible strike action will occur unless management shows a willingness to engage in talks with workers over plans for the conversion. 
 
The US$2.2 billion conversion project means underground mining will start at Chuquicamata in 2018.

Chilean Contract Workers’ Strike at Codelco Lingers

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM’s Colombian oil worker affiliate, USO last week condemned oil giant Ecopetrol, and also the Colombian government, for the exploitation of contract workers at the company’s subsidiary Propilco S.A. 
 
USO were particularly angered to see reports of the Colombian government speaking about the importance of decent work at the International Labour Conference of the ILO, while in fact the opposite is true back in Colombia. The government of President Juan Manuel Santos is complicit in the criminalisation of trade unions in Colombia. 
 
On 7 June, outsourced workers operating at the Propilco installations joined a USO union meeting to brief regular workers of their challenging working conditions. In retaliation, immediately following the meeting, the contractor companies blocked their return to the worksite. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMOil.JPG" width="100" height="101"/>
The contractor companies include ASECO-ASAP, Invertrans, and Gomez Mantilla. Propilco S.A. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, and therefore the Ecopetrol is fully responsible for the employees of the above-mentioned contractor firms operating at Propilco. 
 
Common violations of CAL worker rights at Propilco include the following: 
 
ASECO and ASAP retain the worker contracts, meaning workers have no proof of employment, or of their benefits and salary; 
CAL workers are not supplied with transportation to work, meaning it is often necessary to cycle to work, through dangerous industrial cargo routes; 
Loading workers are paid in relation to the weight of cargo they load, with extremely low wages; 
CAL workers do not have access to a canteen; 
Employers disregard their legal responsibility for employee breaks, training, maximum shift length, and holiday leave; 
Some workers have worked 20 years for the contractor, but still do not have adequate housing; 
Invertrans sacked five employees on 8 June, without legal process, causing fear throughout Propilco that involvement in union activities will result in dismissal. 
 
The ICEM joins USO in condemning these conditions for CAL workers.

Colombian Oil Workers Decry Conditions for CAL Workers

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Swiss trade union UNIA is fighting across the country to reverse the decision of Novartis to “restructure,” meaning close plants and dismiss 1,100 workers. Mass mobilisation campaigns to fight the decision are gathering momentum and wide support from regional communities, politicians, and international trade unions. 
 
The ICEM marched with 300 Novartis workers of Nyon on 4 November. The march, led by regional UNIA Industry Secretary Yves Defferrard, received extremely strong support from Nyon residents as it passed through the town centre. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.yves defferard unia.jpg" width="150" height="136"/>
Yves Defferrard
Many local businesses depend on the wages generated at Novartis. It is predicted 2,000 jobs in Nyon will go if the company closes the plant, ending over 90 years of drug production in Nyon. 
 
What leaves a particular sour taste is the company’s long standing emphasis on a positive social impact, portraying itself as a “carer” and “healer.” But the restructuring comes at a time of considerable profit for the firm. Novartis workers in Nyon are proud of their work, proud of the products they have discovered, developed, and produced. 
 
Management’s shock decision, announced 25 October, to close significant sections of the Nyon and Basle plants came only weeks after Novartis posted third quarter net sales up 18% to US$14.84 billion from US$12.58 billion in the same period in 2010, with net income increasing 7% to US$2.49 billion, from US$2.32 billion in 2010. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.icem flag at unia.jpg" width="184" height="161"/>
Novartis plans to cut 2,000 jobs internationally, with 760 at its Basle headquarters and 320 in Nyon. 
 
The ICEM Global Pharmaceutical Unions’ Network, meeting in Geneva 28 October, conveyed solidarity and support to the UNIA members at Novartis, and this message was announced at the 4 November rally. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote to company CEO Joseph Jimenez communicating the anger of ICEM affiliates at the decision, and demanding good faith dialogue with UNIA. 
 
The role of local and federal politicians in the process is vital, especially as it is speculated that a major factor in management’s decision to close is an angry retort at Swiss authorities’ price cutting of pharmaceutical drugs. Even though the Swiss market represents only 1.15% of turnover for Novartis, the company management had reacted angrily to the persistence of Swiss federal councillors in this regard. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.unia flag.jpg" width="221" height="144"/>
UNIA achieved a small victory on 3 November in bargaining by pressuring management to publish a detailed audit report for the Nyon site, as figures put forward by the company are questionable. Novartis moved immediately to bring in a high level financial expert from the US to present the numbers. 
 
The next major mobilisation is planned for 12 November in Nyon, if the company continues to pursue its irresponsible redundancy plan. 
 
Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella is the highest paid person in Switzerland, with an annual salary of CHF 40 million. 
 
Sign <a href="http://www.unia.ch/Novartis.6010.0.html?&L=1">UNIA’s petition</a> against the Novartis job cuts here.

Swiss Pharma Workers Mobilise Against Novartis Plant Closings

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Negotiations to end the eight-week strike by 10,000 workers of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union (SP KEP SPSI) at Freeport-McMoRan’s Papuan mine complex called Grasberg got back on track today. But union and management at the world’s largest recoverable gold and copper deposit are far apart. 
 
Production at the 175,000-ton per day operation has completely ceased due to a road blockade by strikers and family members. The blockade has prevented the US-based company from getting construction crews to a set of slurry pipelines that were ruptured by vandals. 
 
The pipelines carry gold and copper concentrate 114 kilometres from the Grasberg mine 4,200 metres high in the Sudirman Range to the port city of Timika, where today’s bi-lateral talks are being held. A diesel fuel line running from the Timika airport up to the mine also has been slashed. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.grasberg reuters photo.jpg" width="288" height="160"/>
Last week an ICEM-led global trade union delegation met separately with both the union and mine managers doing the bargaining. The delegation successfully convinced the union (see <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4747-Global-Trade-Union-Delegation-Urges-Restraint-Good-Faith-Talks-to-Resolve-Grasberg-Mine-Strike" type="internal">ICEM news release</a>) to return to talks, while PT Freeport Indonesia tried unsuccessfully to get the ICEM team to have SP KEP SPSI lift the blockade.  
 
The company said it was stockpiling ore with some 3,000 temporary workers and contractors’ employees, which is a violation of Indonesian labour law. The ICEM met as well with Indonesian ministry officials and an MP from Papua. In another meeting with a commissioner of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, the delegation was told the strikers are within their rights to engage in strike activity at the blockade points. 
 
But the situation is tense at Miles 27 and 28, the points near Timika were the blockade is in force. Twice last week local police issued 24-hour ultimatums for the strikers and their families to move, or be met with police force. Both times the warnings passed and nothing occurred. The ICEM delegation was told by multiple sources, including members of the union committee, that workers will not be moved and will fight in resistance. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.indo mile 28.jpg" width="241" height="160"/>
Mile 28 Blockade
On Friday, 4 November, police did approach the blockade. Skirmishes broke out and police fired over the heads of strikers before retreating. The stand-off is compounded by mass media reports last week that Freeport-McMoRan was subsidizing local police in the amount of US$14 million for mine security. 
 
When confronted with this by the ICEM, management said it has been completely transparent on these costs and that figure was for 2010. Managers said 2011 security payments to public law enforcement have yet to be calculated. They also said 80% of such costs are for in-kind services, including all-terrain vehicles, food, fuel and other necessities for police. 
 
On 1 November, ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) lodged a complaint with the US Department of Justice over such payments being illegal under America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (The <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/usw%20fcpa%20freeport%201%20Nov%202011.pdf " type="internal">USW letter</a> can be seen here.) 
In Timika, in Indonesia’s eastern-most Papua province, the two sides are wide apart. When bargaining halted on 27 October, the company had increased a prior 25% wage offer first to 28% and then to 30%. The union is seeking an average hourly wage of US$7.50, which is some 250% above the current rate US$2.13 for non-staff miners and US3.54 for staff. Some seven other issues also need to be negotiated, including educational assistance, dependent care, housing loans and assistant, and aspects to a savings plan programme. 
 
The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union is supporting the 10,000 strikers and their families with five mass open-air feeding kitchens some 500 metres in distance. But supplies are running short and the union’s Solidarity Fund is low. This week the ICEM will put a call out to affiliates to replenish that fund in order that the union can continue nourishing strikers and their families.

Grasberg Talks Resume, But Tensions High in Papua, Indonesia

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM North American affiliate, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), issued a report on 25 October accusing Massey Energy and its managers of “industrial homicide” in the 5 April 2010 explosion that killed 29 non-union miners at Upper Big Branch in the state of West Virginia. 
 
In the 90-page report, the UMWA said that Massey management “deliberately flouted” well-established safety and health laws in the US even after the mine was cited multiple times for violations by state and federal agencies. 
 
The union cites many factors throughout the report that led to the deadly explosion, but concludes in stating “there is only one source for all of them: a rogue corporation, acting without real regard for mine safety and health laws and regulations, that established a physical working environment that can only be described as a bomb waiting to go off.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.boilermakers%20cecil%20roberts.jpg" width="327" height="161"/>
The full UMWA report, called “<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/134334-Upper-Big-Branch.pdf">Industrial Homicide</a>,” can be accessed here.  
 
The UMWA demands criminal prosecution for some 18 Massey Energy managers, including CEO Don Blankenship, who retired in December 2010, two months before the thermal coal company was sold to Alpha Natural Resources for US$8.5 billion. The report also recommends over a dozen changes in both state and US federal mine safety laws, mainly concerning tougher penalties on deviant mine operators and stronger protections for whistleblowers who report safety infractions. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/KaneDanUmwa.jpg" width="120" height="172"/>
Dan Kane
“Don Blankenship knew exactly what was going on at that mine,” said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. “He got production reports several times a day. He saw the levels of safety citations and (safety) orders going up. But instead of taking the needed steps to correct the problems, they just kept on running coal.” 
 
Added UMWA Secretary-Treasurer and ICEM Executive Committee Member Dan Kane: “It is unconscionable in the 21st Century for a mine to be operated in the manner that Upper Big Branch was.” 
 
A <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UMW%20UBB%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf " type="internal">fact sheet</a> on the Massey’s horrid Upper Big Branch mine disaster of April 2010 is here.

Massey US Coal Mine Deaths Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’ by UMWA

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The Norwegian trade union Fellesforbundet has announced that Norway, in cooperation with the European Union, has created a “Fund for Decent Work and Tripartite Dialogue” targeted for 12 Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries. The Norwegian Financial Mechanism is calling for applicants by social partners in the European Economic Area, with a deadline for applying of 31 March 2012. 
 
Fellesforbundet put the call out through the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) and <a href="http://emcef.org/database/uload/pdf/PA22call-20111020.pdf">details of the project</a> can be found here.  
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayFellesforbundet.gif" width="325" height="70" alt=""/>
Innovation Norway, the sponsoring agent, said the total available for the 12 states is €8 million, and a grant will cover 90% of approved project costs, and range from €20,000-40,000 per project. The sponsor is seeking project proposals that promote decent work and/or tripartite dialogue; bilateral activities based but not mandated on the Norwegian model; partnership building between social partners; and other suggested proposals. 
 
Trade unions and employer organisations are encouraged to apply, as are public authorities and entities or social partnerships at the national, regional, or local level. Further details from <a href="http://emcef.org/database/uload/pdf/NorwegianFund20111020.ppt ">Innovation Norway</a> can be found here. 
 
The 12 countries covered under the call include: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Funding is available for each.

Norway Seeks East Europe Proposals for ‘Decent Wage, Tripartite Dialogue’ Fund

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda conveyed the condolences of the organisation to its Turkish affiliates following the deadly earthquake that hit eastern Turkey on 23 October. The 7.2 magnitude quake killed at least 530 people, injured over 1,600, and destroyed well over 2,000 buildings. 
 
Warda expressed deep regret for the terrible events, especially in Van province and Ercis county, which bore the brunt of the quake, “On this occasion on behalf of the ICEM family which represents 20 million workers around the world, I convey condolences and best wishes to the people of Turkey, and wish speedy recovery for those who are injured”. 
 
ICEM affiliates and supporters are urged to donate to international humanitarian agencies in their own country, towards much needed recovery efforts. Hundreds of families rendered homeless by the quake now have their situation worsened by bad weather, including heavy snow and continued aftershocks.

ICEM Saddened by Disastrous Turkey Earthquake

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="100" height="45"/>
The Irish union, Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), is fighting attempts by the government of Ireland to dilute the provisions of the European Union Temporary Agency Workers’ Directive, which comes into force across Europe on 5 December. 
 
The Directive, which was passed in 2008, states that “The basic working and employment conditions of temporary agency workers shall be, for the duration of their assignment at a user undertaking, at least those that would apply if they had been recruited directly by that undertaking to occupy the same job.” 
 
The Directive applies from day one of an assignment, and further states that temporary agency workers have the right to be informed about permanent employment opportunities in the user enterprise and must have improved access to training and childcare facilities in periods between assignments, in order to enhance employability. 
 
Under the Directive derogation from the principle of equal treatment is permitted provided an agreement can be reached between a state’s social partners. In an eleventh hour attempt, Irish Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton has called for a derogation which would mean that an agency worker would only be entitled to equal treatment after six months, rather than from the first day of employment. 
 
In a letter to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), Bruton said, “Without the benefit of some leeway in transposing the directive in the shape of a framework agreement, Ireland will be in a position of significant competitive disadvantage, vis-a-vis our European trading partners,” adding, “In the current climate and with the significant challenges that face us on the road to economic recovery, we must avail of the flexibilities afforded by the directive.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.CAL patricia.png" width="108" height="140"/>
Patricia King
Patricia King, Vice President of SIPTU, has made clear that the union is opposed to any attempt by the government to seek a derogation. King said, “We do not see any reason for a derogation to be applied. Why would we? If someone is entitled to equality of treatment, they are entitled to it and there is no reasonable argument being put forward, that I can see, for us to agree to the derogation.” 
 
“If somebody is employed to do a job, which commands a certain skill, background knowledge and experience, and they put themselves forward for that job and are capable of producing the goods, why would they not get the rate of pay on an equal basis as somebody who was doing the job already and who is going to work alongside them?” 
 
Commenting on Bruton’s claims that implementing the Directive would have a negative impact on jobs and economic growth, King said, “All that is a code for not paying the rate and keeping people in low pay”.

SIPTU Fights Attempts to Dilute EU Agency Workers Directive

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A dramatic month-long occupation of an M-real paper mill in Alizay, France, ended on 18 November after trade unions CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC signed an agreement with the Finnish company to end the blockade and release stockpiled printing papers. The strike began on 19 October after M-real dropped plans to sell the mill to one of two remaining buyers, and announced redundancies for 330 French paperworkers. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4726-French-Paperworkers-Continue-Protest-Today-to-Keep-M-real-Mill-Operating" type="internal">ICEM report</a> of 24 October.) 
 
The workers voted in front of plant gates at the Haute-Normandie mill by 95% on 15 November to stop the occupation and leaders of the two unions signed an agreement with M-real on 17 November that provides a temporary reprieve to the plant closure, plus financial and other considerations. 
 
Workers receive a €3,000 bonus for ending the occupation, €1,500 immediately and the remainder in January. M-real commits to running the 230,000-tonne-per-year mill until 7 March 2012 and pledges not to remove equipment or machinery prior. In addition, workers will be paid their salaries during the 30-day strike. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM.Solidarity.JPG" width="140" height="136"/>
The negotiated agreement and ending of the occupation came just before French police were to move in and force opening of warehoused paper. The plant closing standoff reached the highest levels of French government, after the unions petitioned the state to expropriate the paper mill assets, and spilled into European Parliament meetings in Strasbourg, France, last week, when French political leaders met with Finnish parliamentarians to complain of intransigence by M-real and its 40% owner, Metsäliitto, a forest products company based in Finland. 
 
“No one should believe that we capitulated,” stated CGT-Filpac plant delegate Thierry Philippot. “We will continue to make sure that this company pays for the moral and physical suffering of workers.” Workers filed harassment complaints with French authorities over the psychological effects of M-real changing its plans. 
 
M-real announced on 4 May a major restructuring to exit office and printing paper manufacturing and focus instead on paperboard used for packaging. It meant putting two fine paper mills up for sale, the Alizay mill near Pont-de-l’Arche and the Gohrsmühle mill in Germany, as well as discontinuing carbon paper production at the Reflex mill in Germany. 
 
After paring a potential 65 bidders for Alizay down to two, M-real last month stopped negotiations with a Thai paper company and a French-based equity company and said it would shutter the mill. 
 
That set off the anger of French paperworkers of CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC and the occupation began, which included placement of large vehicles in front of plant gates that were locked with heavy chains. The unions also brought the case into a French district court in Evreux over failure by M-real to provide the necessary documents on a possible sale. Statutory consultations over the plant closure did start on 8 November but were quickly suspended due to high tensions, and those talks must begin again separate of last week’s protocol agreement to end the occupation.

French Paperworkers End Mill Occupation in Deal with M-real

Archive