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Global worker No1 2022

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Press

Mr. Jukka Härmälä 
CEO 
Stora Enso Oyj 
Kanavaranta 1 
FIN-00160 Helsinki 
FINLAND 
 
Sent Via Fax +358 2046 21471 
 
 
Dear Mr. Härmälä, 
 
The ICEM, a 20-million-member Global Union Federation with affiliates in 122 countries of the world, has been informed by our Canadian affiliate, the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers’ Union (CEP) of Canada, that the North American management of your company’s Port Hawkesbury mill in Nova Scotia locked out 600 workers with crippling effect on the whole of the local economy in that Canadian province. 
 
The lock-out came as workers predictably rejected North American management’s contract proposal, which would have given managers unprecedented rights to outsource unionised work. Such a proposal regarding the use of contract labour is in total contradiction to the norms now in place regarding contract labour in the paper industry’s pattern agreement for Eastern Canada. 
 
The ICEM strongly urges you to personally intervene to amicably resolve this dispute. We believe attitudes demonstrated by Stora Enso’s North American managers are contrary to your publicly-declared international principles of sustainability. 
 
We appeal to you to apply the principled custom of Nordic fairness and to direct your North American managers to immediately reopen dialogue with the CEP to resolve this dispute. 
 
The ICEM will closely monitor this dispute and we will bring it to the attention of our global affiliates who represent Stora Enso workers across the world. We look forward to an early and just settlement of this lockout. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM letter to Stora Enso

A torch-lit parade and protest in the Belgian city of Gent against the retaliatory measures of paper company Stora Enso has the full endorsement of Brussels-based ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing pulp and paper trade unions across the world. 
 
The parade and protest, to be held beginning at 19h00 on Tuesday, 7 February, is sponsored by the Gent-Dendermonde Region of ICEM affiliate De Algemene Centrale ABVV (La Centrale Générale FGTB). The march will convene in front of ABBV’s regional headquarters at Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market), 9000 Gent, and after assembly, will proceed for one hour through the city streets of Gent. 

<img height="99" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMpaper.jpg" width="100"/>
 
The retaliation involves the sudden dismissal of two ABVV shop stewards at Stora Enso’s Langerbrugge paper mill on 30 December. Mill Management executed legal papers for their dismissal and had constables deliver the termination notices to their homes. 
 
The union protested directly to Stora Enso, and alerted the Finnish-Swedish paper company that it had 30 days to reinstate the pair to their rightful jobs, or it would set the Belgian legal process in play. The company, responding through its law firm, said that if ABVV/FGTB filed legal action for compensatory damages for the two, it would sue ABVV/FGTB for business losses connected to a short, but legal strike last fall that the union and two other trade unions conducted. 
 
Such a lawsuit against a union is unprecedented and currently not possible in Belgian courts due to the legal definition of a trade union. But right-wing political parties inside Belgium are pushing for a legislative debate on holding unions responsible for financial restitution during a work stoppage, and Stora Enso has now entered that debate. 
 
Tuesday’s event will showcase the necessity to strengthen workplace protections for on-the-job trade union leaders. And Stora Enso’s anti-worker practices at Langerbrugge will be shown as the shameful example of anti-social behaviour in Belgium. 
 
“This march is intended for the citizens and politicians of Belgium and to alert them that current law protecting shop stewards is inadequate,” said Katrien Van der Heist, regional Secretary for De Algemene Centrale. “It is clear to us that Langerbrugge management holds our two shop stewards responsible for the strike, and this is illegal.” 
 
But under Belgian law, a trade union’s only legal recourse is to seek a fine against the company and compensation for the individuals, but not reinstatement. “This is something that must change,” added Van Der Heist. “We must make the law stricter and force companies to take back union representatives who are fired for carrying out their legitimate duties.” 
 
The sackings came as a result of a 12-day strike by 330 workers at the Langerbrugger newsprint and publication papers mill from 28 October to 8 November, 2005. During that strike, mill management used coercive tactics by petitioning a Gent court to impose a €1,000-a-day fine on the union and its representatives for each worker that did not cross picket lines. The company also publicly declared that its concessionary proposals would only get worse each day that the strike lasted. (Further information on that strike can be found at <a href="/?id=19&doc=1482 &la=EN" type="internal">/?id=19&doc=1482 &la=EN</a> and <a href="/?id=19&doc=1485&la=EN" type="internal">/?id=19&doc=1485&la=EN</a>.) 
 

<img height="173" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602ACCGCEPpicture.JPG" width="260"/>
From left: CEP President Brian Payne, ABVV Regional Secretary Katrien Van der Helst,and FGTB/ABVV National Federal Secretary Bruno Bachely.
Stora Enso also took indirect action against two ABVV shop stewards of cleaning contractor ACS. They informed the contractor that the stewards could not work inside Langerbrugge under threat of ACS losing the cleaning contract. The two women shop stewards had stopped by picket lines during the strike to express solidarity. 
 
The torch-lit march through the streets of Gent comes 12 days after the world’s largest pulp, paper and paperboard company locked out 600 members of ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada at a mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. (For information on the lockout, see <a href="/?id=77&doc=1635&la=EN" type="internal">/?id=77&doc=1635&la=EN</a>.) Brian Payne, president of CEP, was in Brussels yesterday and not only pledged a presence at the parade, but also pledged a continued link of solidarity and communication between CEP Local 972 in Nova Scotia and Belgian ABVV-FGTB.

Stora Enso Retaliates Against Union Leaders in Gent, Belgium

<img height="80" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ThailandFlag.gif" width="120"/>
An ICEM intervention in a Thai glass factory dispute at Saint-Gobain Sekurit produced a victory for 700 workers last week. 
The majority of the workers, members of a plant union affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers’ Unions, had been locked out since 6 January by hostile local managers. They conducted demonstrations in front of the factory in Thailand’s Rayong province and at the Labour Ministry in Bangkok, while the ICEM and French trade unions used a steady stream of facts and data in open-channelled dialogue with senior officials of Saint-Gobain in Paris. 
<img height="225" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602ThaiSaintGobainprotest.jpg" width="300"/>
The factual matter included the harsh treatment inflicted on trade unionists at the plant, including initiating a court case in order to sack four of them for leading plant-gate protests. The contract dispute was over many issues, including bonus payments for 2005 and management proposals to cut Sunday overtime pay by half. 
After Saint-Gobain Sekurit imposed the lockout on half the workforce and sacked the four, bargaining became regressive as Thai managers dramatically reduced the bonus proposal and said it would be for two years instead of one. 
With front-line information provided by the ICEM, French unions Fédération Chimie Energie CFDT, CGT Verre Céramique and Fédéchimie CGT-FO were in daily contact with Saint-Gobain in Paris, putting pressure on top-level decision makers who steered the dispute to a successful conclusion. 
The result is that Thai glass managers reinstated the four and dropped the court cases. Union and local managers also agreed on all collective bargaining issues, including a bonus. The ICEM commends the French unions for delivering a fair and just labour agreement to workers at the productive and growth-filled glass factory.

Saint Gobain Glass Workers in Thailand Gain When ICEM Intervenes

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
In Canada, joint union-management rescue teams succeeded in bringing 72 potash miners who were trapped one kilometre deep in Saskatchewan province to safety. The incident occurred on 29 January when a fire started inside the world’s largest potash mine, owned by US-based Mosaic Co., which is controlled by giant foods group Cargill. 
Mine rescue teams from Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union Locals 890 and 892 began tried and tested methods of progressive procedures to rescue the 72 after being trapped for 25 hours. The miners had retreated to sealed refuge stations after the fire—caused by a cutting torch—that ignited polyethylene piping. 
Union-management rescue teams, backed by similar rescue teams from nearby unionised potash mines, extinguished the suffocating fires, reached the miners, cautiously vented toxic gas and smoke, and then brought the 72 safely to the surface. The mine has 3,000 miles of underground roads and tunnels covering a 20-mile-wide surface area. 
“It really looks like a textbook recovery to me,” one former US mine director observed. The trapped miners, however, were unimpressed by the food inside the wet-clay-sealed refuge stations. “Ample water but the food sucks … dry biscuits that are like eating gravel or sand,” complained one miner in a local newspaper.

CEP Mine Safety Teams Rescue Potash Miners

Ron Beaton, President 
CEP Local 972 
323 Reeves Street 
Port Hawkesbury, NS B9A 2W2 
CANADA 
 
Transmitted by Fax Number +1 902.626.5943 
or E-Mail: <a href="mailto:cep.972@ns.sympatico.ca">cep.972@ns.sympatico.ca</a> 
 
 
Dear Brother Ron Beaton, 
 
We have learned from the ICEM of your courageous struggle to maintain the hard earned working conditions and job security provisions contained in the Paper Sector Pattern Bargaining Agreement for Eastern Canada. We also have been alerted that Stora Enso has locked out members of your local branch union in efforts to undermine the pattern. 
 
On the occasion of your union’s rally and march in Port Hawkesbury on 18 March, we extend to Local 972 members our heartfelt Support and Solidarity in resisting Stora Enso’s pattern weakening proposals. We stand with you in this dispute against Stora Enso, and urge Local 972 members to remain strong and unified in order to defeat these concessionary proposals. 
 
Your struggle is our struggle, and your determination and resolve to gain a fair and equitable labour agreement has our admiration and support. 
 
In Solidarity, 
 
(signed) 
 
(Name, 
Position, 
Name of the Union)

Model letter to the union in support of striking Canadian Stora Enso workers

For the urgent attention of His Majesty 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 
Narayanhity Royal Palace 
Durbar Marg 
Kathmandu 
Nepal 

 
Brussels, 28 February 2006 
 
 
Your Excellency, 
 
I am writing to you in name of the 20 million members of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). We have been informed by our affiliate in Nepal, the Nepal Electricity Authority Employees' Union (NEA-EU), about the existing plans by your government to split up the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). 
 
The ICEM strongly objects to the fact that your government is seeking to take advantage of the dissolution of the parliament last year to prepare a new electricity act, which would fragment the NEA and, ultimately, prepare the utility for privatization. The ICEM therefore joins the NEA-EU, together with the NEAEA, another ICEM affiliate, and the NEAEWC, in their protest against the proposed ordinance that would make this privatization possible. 
 
As you know, the trade unions have actively stated their opposition to this ordinance through mass meetings, the wearing of black bands and picketing the office of the Managing Director of the NEA. The ICEM supports the ongoing campaign by the trade unions, including the continued picketing, the vehicle strikes in the central office area of the NEA and the various protest actions that will be organised throughout the country. 
 
The ICEM urges you to halt the plan to split up the NEA and to discuss any possible restructuring of the company with the workers and their elected representatives. 
 
Furthermore, I wish to repeat our call for the immediate release of all trade union leaders and members that have been arrested over the last few weeks in Nepal. The ongoing repression of democratic organisations in your country is violating a wide range of accepted international standards, and this needs an immediate remedy. 
 
Thanking you in advance for your urgent attention. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
 
Cc: Mr. Narayan S. Thapa, Ambassador of Nepal to the Benelux and European Countries

ICEM letter to King of Nepal on privatisation of Nepal Electricity Authority

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
In Nepal, wrapped inside the monarchy’s current autocratic rule and dissolution of Parliament over a year ago, is a government ordinance coming to light that would privatise components of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). ICEM affiliates NEAEU and NEAEA, along with a third union inside the electric utility, are resisting the privatisation and have launched a series of protests and short strikes to keep NEA in the public domain. 
<img height="263" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603NepalNEA.jpg" width="350"/>
 
“The government is preparing a new electricity act for the purpose of unbundling NEA through an ordinance because there is no Parliament in Nepal,” stated NEAEU Secretary General RP Rimal. “We, with the other two unions NEAEA and NEAEWC, are opposing the proposed ordinance,” he said, adding the unions began protests on 15 February. 
The protests include picketing NEA central offices, and a series of one-hour vehicle strikes that have escalated to four-hour strikes. The ICEM joined the protests by writing a strong letter in opposition to the plan, which can be found at <a href="/index.php?id=7&la=EN&doc=1681" type="internal">/index.php?id=7&la=EN&doc=1681</a>.

ICEM Opposes Nepal’s Electric Privatisation

French unions will begin mass protests and strikes today across the country over the government’s broken promise, made a short 18 months ago, that Gaz de France (GDF) would remain at last 70% state held. The actions are due to a proposal made public a week ago to merge GDF with the French-Belgian publicly-traded water/power group, Suez. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMgas.JPG" width="100"/>
The French government stands in the middle of the deal, which would effectively privatise GDF, with France’s stake only 34%. The government currently holds 80% of GDF. 
 
The merger would have a detrimental effect on Electricité de France, costing mass job losses since Suez and its subsidiaries would supply power to GDF. CFDT Chimie Energie said the proposed merger lacks transparency in that no analysis of the combined industrial plan was presented, and the social aspects of such a Suez-GDF merger had not been studied adequately. 
The deal is an attempt to block Italian energy company Enel’s hostile takeover bid of Suez.

French Unions Strike over Gaz de France Merger Plan

Contents
1. Australia - Companies Benefit from Treating Women Workers Well 
2. Brazil – Women of Colour Receive Half Pay 
3. China – More Protection for Female Migrant Workers? 
4. European Union – Eurostat Publishes Statistics; Commission Issues Gender Equality Roadmap 
5. France – Parliament Adopts Law to Allow Equal Pay for Women 
6. ICFTU – International Women’s Day – Organising Campaign II 
7. South Africa – National Union of Mineworkers Holds 3rd National Women’s Conference 
8. Spain – Equality Law between Men and Women; Agreement to Promote Women in Traditional Men’s Jobs 
9. UNICEF – 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation 
10. United Kingdom – Women and Work Commission Issues “Shaping a Fairer Future” Report 
11. Resources 
 

1. Australia – Companies Benefit from Treating Women Workers Well 
 
Forward-thinking businesses in South Australia are reaping the benefits of treating their female staff well. Paid maternity leave, part-time work and mentoring are features that draw bright female employees to companies with “Employer of Choice for Women” citations. The awards were presented on 21 February 2006 by the Women in the Workplace Agency to a total of 116 companies nationally. 
 
Employees are seen to be selective about where they want to work, and many women use the list as a guide. As a rule, the listed employers have higher numbers of women at senior levels, succession plans for women in management, development plans for high achievers, paid maternity leave, high maternity leave retention rates and the ability to work part-time at all levels. 

2. Brazil – Women of Colour Receive Half Pay 
 
Women of colour in Brazil receive, on average, half the wages paid to white female workers. This was one of the findings of a survey conducted by the Special Secretariat for Women’s Policies, based on data gathered between July and September 2005 in six Brazilian state capitals. 
According to the study, the biggest difference exists in the city of Salvador, Bahia, where women of colour receive on average US$247 per month, compared with white women’s US$598 per month. In Rio de Janeiro, white female workers received US$468 per month, while their black counterparts earned half this amount. 
 
The data indicate that the government should make a greater effort to address the issue of race and gender, invest in schooling and job training for women, and raise awareness about workers’ rights. 
The study, which was completed in December 2005, covered the cities of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Porto Alegre. The research was based on data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics’ (IBGE) Monthly Employment Survey. (Source: Public Services International) 
 
 
3. China – More Protection for Female Migrant Workers? 
 
The All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is stepping up its efforts to protect more migrant workers, especially women, according to a senior official. The ACFTU will work out rules to prevent female migrant workers from doing overtime and protect them from suffering from occupational diseases and sexual harassment. Surveys in different cities show that employers did not abide by the rules when hiring rural women. 
 
Trade unions in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province found that 60 percent of female migrants who were questioned in the provincial capital Harbin did not sign labour contracts with their employers, and 62 percent of them suffered wage defaults. About 653,000 migrants were working in the city last year, and 35 percent of them were women. 
 
 
4. European Union – Eurostat Publishes Statistics; Commission Issues Gender Equality Roadmap 
 
In conjunction with the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2006, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Community, publishes statistics to provide information on women and men in the European Union (EU). For example, women in the EU live, on average, 6 years longer than men. More women than men aged 20 to 24 had completed at least upper secondary education in 2005 (80% of women compared to 75% of men). Almost a third of managers in the EU are women. 
 
The employment rate, that is the percentage of the working age population that has an employment, was lower for women than for men in all member states, 56% for women and 71% for men. The female employment rate varied between 34% in Malta and 71% in Denmark and Sweden. On average about a third of working women were in part-time jobs, compared to 7% of men. Women work longer hours than men, however, including domestic work. Only in the United Kingdom and Sweden are the number of hours worked by women and men almost equal. 
 
Eurostat also produces a study entitled How is the time of women and men distributed in Europe? For more information on both publications, see <a href="http://www.eu.int/comm/eurostat">http://www.eu.int/comm/eurostat</a>. 
 
The European Commission adopted a “Roadmap for equality between men and women 2006-2010” in view of International Women’s Day. The roadmap sets out six priority areas for action in the 2006 to 2010 period: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>Achieving equal economic independence for women and men; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Enhancing reconciliation of work, private and family life; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Promoting equal participation of men and women in decision-making; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Eradicating gender-based violence and trafficking; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Eliminating gender stereotypes in society, and; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Promoting gender equality outside the EU. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
The Committee on Women’s Rights and Equality of the European Parliament has also adopted a number of texts, including on the future of the Lisbon strategy from a gender perspective and on the call for the Gender Equality Institute. 
 
 
5. France – Parliament Adopts Law to Allow Equal Pay for Women 
 
The French government adopted, on 23 February 2006, a law aimed at guaranteeing equal pay rights for women, who currently earn - on average - one-fifth less than their male counterparts. The text sets a five-year target for wiping out pay inequalities, calling for more negotiations between companies and unions, but does not provide for any sanctions. 
A national review, to be carried out in three years’ time, will decide whether to introduce financial penalties for employers who are in breach of the regulations. The law requires French companies to carry out their own audits every year, including a comparison of salaries by gender. 
 
 
6. ICFTU – International Women’s Day – Organising Campaign II 
 
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, ICFTU, is launching phase two of the Global Unions’ Organising Campaign “Unions for Women, Women for Unions” on 8 March. The ICFTU Women’s Committee decided that phase two will aim at a significant increase in female membership rates in trade unions, particularly amongst women workers in the export processing zones, in the informal economy, among migrant women workers and young women, as well as a net increase in women’s representation in decision-making levels of trade unions. 
 
Through the campaign unions will continue to advocate for women workers’ rights. More focus will also go to transforming the cultural and structural barriers that prevent women from becoming active members and leaders. For more information see: <a href="http://www.icftu.org">www.icftu.org</a>. 
 
 
7. South Africa – National Union of Mineworkers Holds 3rd National Women’s Conference 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) held its 3rd National Women’s Conference from 16 to 18 February 2006 in Johannesburg. The conference was held against the background of the 50th Commemoration of the Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, in 1956. It also was a prelude to the NUM Congress in May 2006. 
 
The theme of the conference was “Mobilise, organise and lead against chains of domination, exploitation and oppression of women.” 285 delegates attended the conference, including some 30 men. NUM’s emphasis is on women’s development in order to generate cadres. NUM’s structures must also be an engine to generate women activists. There are now women in the regional structures in 5 of the 11 national regions. 
 
In 2004, when the Mining Charter was adopted, women made up 1.5% of the workforce in South African mines. Now it is 6%. Growing numbers of women are also engine drivers. In addition, there are currently much more women in the mining engineering school than before. 
 
 
8. Spain – Equality Law between Men and Women; Agreement to Promote Women in Traditional Men’s Jobs 
 
Draft legislation was approved in Spain on equality between women and men. The aim is first to transpose the European directive into Spanish law and to define direct and indirect discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying. The sanctions to punish these violations are already set. 
 
Parental rights are defined and broadly extended. Measures to improve work-life balance are also provided for. Furthermore, gender-related social security rights are improved. The path is open for positive action measures to eliminate inequality. 
 
So far, equality plans are voluntary, but companies with more than 250 workers ought to try to set up such plans. 
 
An agreement was signed between the Education and Science Council, the Spanish Chemical Employers’ Federation, the CCOO Chemical and Textile Workers’ Federation (FITEQA-CCOO) and the UGT Industrial Federation (FIA-UGT) to increase the number of girls taking vocational training courses in sectors that are not traditionally feminine. The point is to develop programmes and activities in secondary schools to help avoid discrimination in the chemical industry. 
 
 
9. UNICEF – 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation 
 
6 February was UNICEF’s 4th Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). UNICEF operates programmes in 18 of the 28 countries where this traditional practice exists. Of these 28 countries, 14 countries have passed anti-FGM laws. However, according to the London-based Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development, only Burkina Faso, Ghana and Kenya actively uphold those laws. 
 
Countries have been under international pressure to ratify the African Union’s Maputo Protocol banning FGM. However, they simultaneously face opposition to cultural change from many traditional ruling classes within their own societies. The African Union needs to set up a monitoring mechanism to follow compliance with the protocol. In addition, rights groups are needed to do field work to follow up at local level. 
 
 
10. United Kingdom – Women and Work Commission Issues “Shaping a Fairer Future” Report 
 
On 27 February 2006 the UK Government issued a report by the Women and Work Commission, entitled “Shaping a Fairer Future”. The commission was chaired by former Deputy General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (and also former Chair of ICEM Women’s Committee) Baroness Prosser. 
 
According to the report, women work in the lowest paid jobs, the so-called “five c’s”: catering, cleaning, cashiering, clerical work and caring. The report claims that the equal pay gap is bad for the British economy and recommends 40 measures to boost women’s careers and earnings. 
 
British trade unions, however, had mixed reviews about the report. The Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G) welcomed the report but also said the commission should have gone further and recommend a mandatory pay audit. “Being a woman still means being paid less – a quarter less than men, which is the highest gap in Europe,” said Diana Holland, T&G’s National Organiser for Women, Race and Equalities. 
“Audits simply ensure an employer is complying with the law. Without an audit, employers will be vulnerable to thousands of individual, costly equal pay cases.” 
For more information, see: 
<a href="http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/women_work_commission/index.htm">http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/ 
women_work_commission/index.htm</a> 
 
 
11. Resources
<ul>
 <li>WEDO's (Women’s Environment and Development Organisation) Latest Global Monitoring Report: Beijing Betrayed. 
 
 In this appraisal of the status of women worldwide, which comes 10 years after governments adopted the groundbreaking “Beijing Platform for Action”, women in 150 countries assess the progress in the implementation the commitments. For the report, available in five languages, see <a href="http://www.wedo.org">www.wedo.org</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>UNESCO launched its initiative “Women Make the News” to ensure that the issue of gender equality must remain at the forefront of each society’s agenda. See <a href="http://www.unesco.org/march8">www.unesco.org/march8</a>. 
 
 For news and information on the global action on gender and the media see <a href="http://www.whomakesthenews.org">http://www.whomakesthenews.org</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>The view the minimum wage and equality campaign in New Zealand, see <a href="http://www.supersizemypay.com">www.supersizemypay.com</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>Play an interactive game on working time at <a href="http://www.worksmart.org.uk">http://www.worksmart.org.uk</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>For a resource on good quality, affordable childcare, see the British TUC: <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-11300-f0.cfm">www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-11300-f0.cfm</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>To learn about women’s vital contributions to peace and security, see <a href="http://www.womenwagingpeace.net">www.womenwagingpeace.net</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>Mama Cash works for social transformation and the advancement of women’s rights worldwide. She strives for a peaceful and just world where women are free to make their own choices and secure their human rights: <a href="http://www.mamacash.nl">http://www.mamacash.nl</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>The International Transport Federation ITF has a campaign site that includes news on activities around the negotiation of equal rights for women airline employees in Jordan, the demonstrations outside train stations in France and India, and on surveys of women members in New Zealand. For information on strengthening women’s participation in transport unions, see <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/women/NetworkNews.cfm">www.itfglobal.org/women/NetworkNews.cfm</a>. 
 
 </li>
 <li>For information on the long-term earnings gap in the United States, Still a Man’s Labor Market: The Long-term Earnings Gap, see the web site of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research: <a href="http://www.iwpr.org">www.iwpr.org</a>. </li>
</ul>

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 9

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
A potentially deadly offshore oil disaster was averted last week in the North Sea by quick action from platform firefighting teams. The incident occurred at Shell Exploration & Production’s 180-worker Tern Alpha platform, 105 miles northeast of Shetland Islands, and caused the evacuation of 128 workers. 
 
The fire started in the early hours of 16 March when a high voltage electrical motor in the gas compression module overheated. Onboard emergency teams fought the fire for four hours, during which time coast guard helicopters from the UK and Norway, as well as a BP rescue team, ferried the 128 to other platform installations. 
 
The fire, in an area of compressed gas, could have triggered a major disaster had it not been for the trained emergency teams. Shell Exploration operates Tern Alpha for Shell and Esso in the Hudson fields of the North Sea. The platform began production in 1989.

Emergency Response Teams Prevent North Sea Catastrophe

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