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ExxonMobil revealed unfavourable employment plans at two European sites last week. 
In the UK at the Fawley oil refinery, ESSO announced it would recruit foreign labour for contract maintenance, prompting threat of strike action by trade union GMB. Esso said in a statement that consultations with the union to find flexibility in the UK working agreement failed, and that it would reach beyond British workers to find contract labour. Fawley employs 900 full-time staff and 500 contractors. 
In Belgium, the company announced cuts of 550 jobs on 13 October at the ExxonMobil Chemical Films plant in Virton. The firm said excess capacity of polypropylene films, used for food and other labeling, would cause two of 11 production lines to shut in January. Management has been in dialogue with unions since early this year on the restructurings. A union at the plant in southern Belgium did not rule out industrial action.

Job Cuts, Outsourcing for ExxonMobil in Europe

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The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), together with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a number of NGO's has called on two South Korea companies to divest their interests in Burma. 
At a 14 October press conference and rally in Seoul, the centers called on Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corp. to review human rights, workers’ rights and environmental destruction being carried out by the Burmese military government. 
FKTU also asked the South Korean government, as a member of the ILO, to review its relations with Burma, and to take preventative measures against possible violations of human and labour rights.

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

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Not Walking the Talk: DuPont’s Untold Safety Failures is the name of a report issued by the USW in the US. The report challenged the chemical company’s behaviour-based safety programme. 
USW asserts in the document that DuPont encourages under-reporting of injuries, and the company’s own safety and environmental record belies a division inside DuPont that sells safety programmes to other chemical companies. Copies of the full report can be obtaining by visiting the union’s DuPont website, www.dupontcouncil.org.

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont's Safety

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The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued labour law violations against Asarco LLC, the Grupo Mexico copper subsidiary that 1,550 USW members struck in early July in the states of Arizona and Texas. 
The violations include illegally intimidating workers, which the NLRB says had provoked and prolonged the strike. Grupo Mexico, the world’s third largest copper mining concern that placed Asarco in US bankruptcy proceedings following the strike’s start, said 2005 would be a record-breaking year for profits. High metal prices are expected to bring the company net earnings of US$2.5 billion.

Labour Code Citations in US Mining Strike

ICEM-JAF Conducts Informative 30th Anniversary Congress 
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The Japanese Affiliates Federation of ICEM (ICEM-JAF) conducted its 30th Anniversary Congress on 28 October in Tokyo and together with ICEM trade union affiliates from 14 other Asia-Pacific nations, held an action-oriented seminar the day prior on the growing menace of HIV/AIDS in the region. 
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Both ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator Hans Schwass presented ICEM’s ongoing work on the pandemic to the assembled trade union leaders, who vowed to strengthen the Global Union Federation’s work on the issue both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific Region. The union leaders will organise a broad and high-developed workshop in HIV/AIDS in 2006 in the Asia-Pacific Region. 
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The 27 October seminar also focused on REACH, the European Union’s proposed directive on the regulation of chemicals. On REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals), delegates discussed an international response to the directive, focusing on the effect REACH will have on Asia-Pacific’s chemicals industry. At the European level, ICEM’s sister trade union federation EMCEF is coordinating trade union responses there on the directive and with ICEM, has briefed trade unions globally on REACH developments. 
 
“Asia-Pacific is unique in ICEM terms because it is a region with modern and developed economies with strong and vibrant trade unions, as well as one with developing economies and newly organised trade unions,” stated Higgs. 
 
“Historically, ICEM-JAF has engaged with us on global projects, and the 30th Anniversary commemoration today reflects a renewed commitment of continued assistance to the ICEM for coordination with all our trade union affiliates across the region,” Higgs added. 
 
Kiyoshi Ochiai chairs ICEM-JAF, and Toshio Sato is general secretary. 
 
Founded in the mid-1970s, ICEM-JAF encompasses nine Japanese unions, representing a total of one million workers. ICEM, based in Brussels, Belgium, represents 20 million workers that are affiliated to 389 industrial unions in 122 countries.

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

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In ten days, the world will remember the tenth anniversary of the hanging of Nigerian human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by that country’s then military dictatorship. 
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Ken Wiwa, son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and Anita Roddick, environmental campaigner and head of Bodyshop Company 
(photo: Sion Touhig)
On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa, a writer, environmentalist and leader of the Ogoni people of Nigeria’s delta who sought to free his people from the bonds of Shell Oil, was sent to the gallows along with eight other activists. He stood for the reality—current today as it was then—that social and environmental justice and the rights of citizens residing in oil producing regions must be protected in a world dominated by oil politics. 
One of several memorials to Saro-Wiwa will be erected in the UK at Jubilee Gardens, which lies across the road from Shell’s London headquarters.

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

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Belgian affiliate FGTB-ABVV was joined by two other trade unions 28 October in a second general strike against government plans to raise the nation’s voluntary early retirement age from 58 to 60. 
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The center-left governing coalition led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has conceded to several demands put forward by FGTB-ABVV over end of career issues and adequate funding of social security. But the age for early retirement is still outstanding. 
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A 7 October strike that did not include formal endorsement of Christian union CSC-ACV and the Liberals CGSLB-ACLVB paralyzed the nation of ten million, and the two unions decided to join FGTB-ABVV in the 28 October action.

Second Belgian General Strike Aimed at Retaining Early Retirement

1. Denmark – Paternity Leave 
 
In 2002, new and extended rules for maternity leave were introduced in Denmark. The family has 52 weeks available that can be shared between father and mother. The official figures from Statistics Denmark show that 46,447 fathers went on paternity leave in 2004, the highest ever. It is an increase of 6% over the year before. On average, fathers took 3.6 weeks of paternity leave, a new record in Denmark. 
 
The problem for women who make use of the new and extended maternity leave is that they often return to a job inferior to the one they had before taking leave. A survey shows that 30% of the women who had maternity leave by the new rules find that it has adverse effects on their careers. Only 4% of the men have similar experiences. 
The United Federation of Danish Workers is working on a survey to determine cultural and structural barriers that prevent fathers from having a longer period of parental leave. The survey investigates how workplace culture and traditional roles in the family have an influence when men decide to have paternity leave. For more information on the survey please contact the Department for Equality and Family Policy, c/o <a href="mailto:Marianne.bruun@3f.dk">Marianne.bruun@3f.dk</a>. 
 
 
2. Brazil – Government launches Gender Equality Program 
 
The Brazilian federal government launched a gender equality program on 22 September to boost the promotion of equality between women and men. The program is based on partnership between UNIFEM (UN Women’s Development Fund) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 
The program will grant pro-equality seals for the development of programs to benefit women. The seal is geared to promote company best practices. To start with, the program is geared to public enterprises and will be open to private companies at a later date. 
 
 
3. Brazil – FETIESC and the 10th Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Meeting 
 
FETIESC, the Santa Catarina Federation, was a promoter of the 10th Latin American and Caribbean Feminist meeting held from 9-12 October in Sao Paulo. The main theme of the meeting was Feminism and Democracy. One panel discussed, in addition, Feminism – Present and Future. 
Four dialogues went into the relationship between feminism and racism, ethnocentricity, youth and lesbianism. These meetings have been continuing since the 1980s and have served to create a Latin American and Caribbean network. 
 
In addition, FETIESC carried out a workshop on 6 October on Women’s Communication and Expression. 
 
 
4. Canada – CEP 6th Women’s Conference 
 
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada held its 6th Women’s Conference from 16-18 October 2005 in the maritime province of New Brunswick. The conference theme was “Our Time, Our Terms, Women March On.” 
The conference had workshop sessions on equity, pay equity and women in solidarity in Canada and abroad. Caucuses were also held on young workers, regional caucuses, aboriginal people, people of colour, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered workers, and people with disabilities. 
The conference was held against the background of the women’s world march and the women’s global charter for humanity. The women’s charter is a proposal to build a world where exploitation, oppression, intolerance and exclusion no longer exist and where integrity, diversity and the rights and freedoms of all are respected. The core values for this vision of the world are equality, freedom, solidarity, justice and peace. These, too, were the CEP conference themes. 
The last day of the conference coincided with the arrival of the women’s charter quilt in Burkina Faso after it went around the world. 
 
 
5. Germany – Gender and the 3rd IGBCE Congress 
 
IGBCE women presented motions to the 3rd IGBCE Congress held 9-14 October 2005 on work-life balance and gender and health. Some German companies have best practices to share, the so-called chemical triangle in Leuna, the Mapa Company and Tesa. 
The chemical triangle around Leuna is expecting a labour shortage in the coming years, which means that even employers are keen on developing work-life balance. It is, however, as a rule easier for large-scale companies to develop work-life balance arrangements than for small and medium-sized companies, which is why IGBCE organized a project on good practice for small and medium-sized companies, including Mapa in Northern Germany. 
The focus there was on part-time work. Most people are interested in working part-time in order to be able to look after children and elderly parents. Not all part-timers are happy, however, and many earn less, work more intensely, and are not involved in company life. 
The project will continue discussing these obstacles and developing solutions. Tesa organized one workshop and will soon have another on job and family because of the experience that young families have to walk a tightrope between children and career. The workshops are geared to boosting acceptance for alternatives on the part of management as well as the employees. 
 
IGBCE will continue its work on gender and health. 
 
 
6. ICEM-IUF Workshop on Women and Work 
 
A workshop on women and work was held in the framework of the ICEM-IUF Southeast Europe project in Crikvenica, Croatia, from 10-12 October 2005. The workshop focused on bullying, sexual harassment and equal pay. The women agreed to do research on pay issues in their jobs and to find out what women and men earn in eight specific occupations. 
The meeting was one more in the series to build a women’s network in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. 
 
 
7. Multi GUF Training on Equal Pay 
 
Public Services International (PSI), with the support of FNV Netherlands, sponsored training for all Global Union Federations (GUFs) from 5-7 October 2005 in Montevideo, Uruguay, on equal pay and job evaluation.
The training was provided by Daina Green, an expert from Canada on equal pay and job evaluation. The point is to organize job evaluations that avoid gender bias. The idea is first to minimize gender bias and maximize awareness of the potential problems. Organisations can and will adapt to the systems that fit their needs. For more information see 
<a href="http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/volume1-en.asp">www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/volume1-en.asp</a>. 
 
This work will prove useful to ICEM in its work on equal pay for work of equal value in the pharmaceuticals industry. Some employers, particularly in Brazil, have already expressed an interest in it. 
 
 
8. UN Population Fund UNFPA State of the World Population 2005 
 
Resolute action to end discrimination against women and lower their fertility rates is the key to meeting the ambitious goal of halving world poverty by 2015, according to the UNFPA report released in October. The report titled The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals noted that despite new laws and programs to improve the lot of the world’s poorest women, “the pace of change is far too slow.” 
The report urged world leaders to fulfil promises made to the world’s women and young people as part of poverty reduction goals agreed five years ago and reaffirmed at a UN summit last month. “Investing in women and girls makes sound economic and social sense,” according to the report which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the UN charter that enshrined gender equality. 
In the field of education, the study noted that today, 600 million women are illiterate as compared to 320 million men. The report indicates that reproductive-health problems, including HIV/AIDS, are the leading cause of death and illness among women between the ages of 15 and 44. It made the case that secondary education for women and girls had been shown to translate into improved economic prospects, better reproductive health, improved AIDS awareness and more enlightened attitudes toward practices such as female genital mutilation. 
For more information see <a href="http://www.unfpa.org">www.unfpa.org</a>. 
 
 
9. Uruguay – CUOPYC Cleaning Cooperative 
 
The Uruguay Paper Workers’ Union (CUOPYC) has set up a cleaning cooperative to provide employment for women and daughters of union members, as well as single mothers. This means a new role for the union since it is now involved in creating jobs instead of looking after existing jobs. 
The FANAPEL paper company proposed using the cooperative’s services to replace the contract that had expired with the company. Thirteen women, who up to then had no stable income, were provided with cleaning jobs. Very little employment is available for women in Juan Lacaze, the site of FANAPEL, and even less jobs for women who left school early. 
The women are between the ages of 18 and 35. They were trained not only in industrial cleaning processes but also in tools to enable their industrial cooperative to stand on its own feet. This enterprise is made up of 13 women, it is a cooperative, and it is lead by a trade union. 
 
 
10. United States – Where are the Women on TV? 
 
On US news networks, women only represent 14% of guests on influential Sunday morning talk shows. This is one of the findings of a new report by the White House Project. The study also found that more than half of the talk shows did not even include one single woman. Since 2001, the number of women in talk shows has gone up only slightly, from 11% to now 14. 
Why does it matter? It should be a concern because people draw conclusions about real life from what they see on television. When they see no women in positions of power, they assume that women are not credible in these positions. If no women speak on TV about national security or arms control, the assumption is that women are not qualified to speak on theses issues and there are no female experts in these fields. 
The lack of women on influential political shows also matters because of what media call “agenda setting.” It means that whatever is discussed on these shows is designated as important, and the people doing the talking are recognized as influential. A lack of female voices allows the agenda to be set to exclude them and their issues. 
<hr/>
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ICEM Women’s bulletin No. 6 – November 2005

ICEM affiliate EGAT-LU continues to be repressed by Thailand's government and management of public utility Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). On 28 April at the union's extraordinary meeting at EGAT headquarters in Nonthaburi, the company broke precedent by denying hundreds of union members and EGAT-LU use of a meeting room and sound system. The meeting was moved outside and a key issue was an EGAT freeze on a scheduled 15% annual wage adjustment. Other public sector workers received the increase. The government and utility are pushing privatisation of an initial 25% and that process escalated recently when the State Enterprise Policy Committee approved corporatisation of the utility.

Thai Government Repressing Electric Union over Privatisation

The chemical sector will be under continuous and intense public scrutiny for the foreseeable future, workers' spokesman Fred Higgs told a UN-backed world meeting of unions, employers and governments now in session in Geneva. 
Health, safety and the environment will remain the focus of that public attention, Higgs emphasised. Voluntary initiatives such as the chemical industry's Responsible Care programme could play an important role in meeting the sector's responsibility to ensure the highest possible health, safety and environmental performance. But these initiatives have to be credible - and that means they must fully involve workers and their trade unions. 
 
Fred Higgs is Vice-President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). He is the spokesman for the workers' group at the Geneva meeting, which is being held under the auspices of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). Unions, governments and employers meet on equal terms within the ILO, whose Tripartite Meeting On Voluntary Initiatives Affecting Training and Education on Safety, Health and Environment in the Chemical Industries ends tomorrow. 
 
According to Higgs, "Voluntary industry initiatives - in particular the Responsible Care programme - will only be viewed by workers and their trade union representatives as important and legitimate components of industrial policy and strategy if they fully and meaningfully involve workers and their trade union representatives from the plant level through to the international level." That was why companies must base their voluntary approaches on the development of mutual trust and joint union/management involvement at the workplace. 
 
Both the ICEM and his own union, ICEM British affiliate the TGWU, see these voluntary initiatives as part of their everyday concerns, Higgs said. They "very much hope to agree with employers this week the principles necessary to build the joint commitment and involvement on which the Responsible Care programme ultimately depends for its effectiveness and credibility." Failure to reach such agreement would inevitably result in a considerable hardening of union attitudes towards the Responsible Care programme in particular, and voluntary initiatives more generally. 
 
Unions representing chemical workers worldwide have every interest in ensuring that the chemical industry is at the forefront when it comes to health, safety and environmental protection, Higgs pointed out. "If this can be achieved by genuinely joint commitment and involvement of both sides of industry in voluntary initiatives such as the Responsible Care programme, then voluntary initiatives will perhaps finally have come of age." 
 
The ICEM has consistently pressed for the chemical firms' Responsible Care programme to be made credible and verifiable, with full union participation. A 1997 world survey by the ICEM found that workers and their unions were neither widely involved in nor well-informed about Responsible Care. Among those that were, many were sceptical about its real value. 
 
In fact, chemical manufacturers now increasingly accept that unions and others must be better involved in the programme if it is to be credible. 
 
"Dialogue is an imperative if Responsible Care is to succeed," Bryan Sanderson told the Geneva meeting this week. "Governments and Trade Unions are essential stakeholders in this process of dialogue." 
 
Sanderson is President of the chemical manufacturers' European council CEFIC and chairs the board of their world council, the ICCA. 
 
In Geneva, he called for the development of verification systems for Responsible Care. He also recognised that the chemical industry still has much to do to improve its workers' and external stakeholders' knowledge of the Responsible Care programme. "But we are committed to improving this," Sanderson promised.

Chemical Safety: Union Involvement Vital, UN Meeting Told

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