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Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining corporation, will face protests from a broad alliance of international campaigning organisations inside and outside its Annual General Meeting at London's Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre tomorrow 12 May. 
Prominent among the protesters is the Australian miners' union CFMEU and its supporters from the UK and other countries. The unions are targeting Rio Tinto's continued refusal to recognise basic trade union rights in its Australian operations. 
 
Leading the Australian contingent is CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland. He is also Vice-President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the CFMEU is affiliated at the global level. Maitland commented: 
 
"Rio Tinto continues to use labour laws in Australia which in March of 1998 were found by a committee of experts of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) to violate international standards on collective bargaining rights and freedom of association. Rio Tinto is directly implicated in this because they helped the Australian government to draft this legislation. Since the ILO ruling, Rio Tinto has neither apologised nor sought to reverse its input into the Australian government's breach of international law. 
 
"Rather, the company is actively seeking to deunionise its Australian operations by replacing unionised workers with non-union labour and by forcing workers onto individual employment contracts instead of trade union collective agreements." 
 
ICEM British Vice-President Fred Higgs announced today that the ICEM had discussed the Australian situation with Rio Tinto CEO Leon Davis at a recent meeting. "We offered the services of the ICEM to find a resolution to the issues in Australia," Higgs said. "We are extremely disappointed that Rio Tinto has not so far taken up this offer, and we will continue to campaign on behalf of our Australian affiliate." 
<ul>
 <li>A Stakeholders' Report on Rio Tinto will be distributed to shareholders and others at the AGM tomorrow. Published by the ICEM in cooperation with a wide range of organisations campaigning on rights and environmental issues, the report severely criticises Rio Tinto's performance in many parts of the world. It also raises questions about the company's non-standard reporting of profits and the sustainability of its current dividend pay-outs. </li>
 <li>A motion was tabled in Britain's House of Commons today criticising Rio Tinto's human rights performance and calling on the British government to press the company to comply with international standards. Rio Tinto is headquartered in London. The Commons motion was brought in by Labour Member of Parliament Michael Clapham and others. </li>
 <li>This week, US unions in Rio Tinto operations agreed to step up their participation in the worldwide campaign. 
 </li>
</ul>

Rio Tinto AGM Faces Protests Over Rights Abuses

Global tyremaker Continental faces a new worldwide cybercampaign on the Web over an eight-month unfair labour practice strike at its US subsidiary. 
 
The cybercampaign in support of strikers at Continental's General Tire plant in Charlotte, USA, was launched today by their union, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The ICEM, to which the USWA is affiliated, is known for its innovative global trade union campaigning on the Web. 
 
Last Friday in Brussels, leaders of ICEM unions worldwide backed the USWA and pledged full support for their fight to gain justice from the company. 
 
The new cybercampaign lets Web users pump up the pressure on Continental. As well as giving background on the dispute, it enables anyone to send electronic messages to top Continental management in Charlotte and at the company's world headquarters in Hanover, Germany. 
Cybercampaigners can also e-mail German government officials in Bonn and in Germany's Washington embassy at the click of a mouse. 
 
For US and Canadian shoppers, the website gives the toll-free numbers on which they can phone the company's customer relations department and major tyre retailers Sam's Club and Wal-Mart Stores. In this way, customers can register their feelings about the ongoing dispute. 
 
Supporters can also download handbills for distribution at dealers which market Continental's tyres. 
 
At issue in the dispute is Continental's refusal to pay its Charlotte workers the going rate among leading US tyremakers, even though the company now has the fastest-growing profits of any tire company in the world. The American workers accuse Conti of failing to bargain in good faith and of trying to break the Charlotte local of the USWA. After provoking a strike, the company drafted in "permanent replacement" workers last September, a practice illegal in Germany. 
 
In 1995, after Continental bought General Tire, the workers bailed out the Charlotte plant by "giving back" about 90 million US dollars in pay and benefits cuts. Charlotte is now showing a healthy profit, but the company is still refusing to bring its pay and conditions up to standard. 
 
On 30 April, the Region 11 director of the US National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Continental, charging the company with five counts of violations of US federal labour laws. 
 
Continental stands accused of further violating US law, and more particularly of engaging in other "unfair labour practices" - a charge which could lead to the compulsory rehiring of the striking workers and could also make the company liable for millions of US dollars in back-pay and compensation. 
 
"Continental made a serious error in judgement in trying to bust the Steelworkers' union in Charlotte," said USWA Vice-President John Sellers. "It won't work, and through our actions on the ground and in cyberspace we will continue to hold Continental accountable for its actions and let the public around the world know what a bad corporate citizen this company is until a just agreement is reached." 
 
"No global corporation should be allowed to get away with double standards," agreed ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. "Continental is trying to do in America what it would not be allowed to do in Germany and in most of Europe. When another global tyremaker, Bridgestone, was embroiled in a dispute with the USWA, the ICEM launched a worldwide cybercampaign to back the American workers. Industrial action and cyberaction together ensured that the Bridgestone dispute was resolved in the American workers' favour. Continental should take warning from 
that." 
 
The cybercampaign is part of a global ICEM-USWA drive for justice at Continental. Action so far has also included protests at Continental facilities, tyre trade shows and tyre dealers in several countries. 
 
In addition, the USWA and ICEM have filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation, detailing the company's violations of the worldwide labour standards set by the ILO. 
 
And in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated German union IG BCE, USWA representatives attended Continental's annual meeting in Germany last week and warned shareholders there of the possible financial consequences of the Charlotte dispute.

Conti Tyres: Global Cybercampaign Pumps Up The Pressure

A week of action against global tyremaker Continental was launched today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). 
 
The worldwide protest is over German-based Continental's union-busting at its General Tire plant in the American town of Charlotte, North Carolina. The plant is the site of a strike by 1,450 members of USWA Local 850 over the company's unfair labour practices. 
 
The week of action is occurring as the Charlotte strike enters its tenth month. Continental, which has already been indicted by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on five counts of violating US federal labour laws, contends it has hired 800 "permanent replacement" workers at the Charlotte facility. 
 
In addition to replacing the striking workforce with these "scabs", Continental cancelled health care coverage for the Charlotte workers and their families just before Christmas and has hired a private security firm to harass and intimidate strikers. 
 
The centrepiece of the action week is a consumer awareness campaign at Ford Motor Company dealerships in 54 US cities. The campaign raises the question, "If quality is Job 1, why is Ford using General tyres?" General tyres are used as original equipment on several Ford models. 
 
In addition to protest action by union members at the Ford dealerships, the USWA has put up large rolling billboards outside the dealerships picturing a flattened General tyre and the question: "Should You Trust Tyres Made by Strikebreakers?" 
 
The USWA is also airing radio commercials throughout the United States that raise questions about the quality of General tyres available to Ford. The union has cited examples of "scores of defects being returned" and tyre stores "refusing to place orders for General tyres until the strike is resolved." 
 
Unions representing Continental workers in other countries will also be stepping up their action in support of the American strikers. Workplace demonstrations, meetings and petition-gathering are expected to take place this week at Continental facilities in Europe and South Africa. 
 
In addition, unions in several other countries will be taking their case against Continental to German embassies and will urge the German government to help resolve the US conflict. 
 
In the US, protest demonstrations are scheduled to take place at German consulates in several cities. 
 
The week of action has also been endorsed by the 22-million-strong International Metalworkers' Federation, which includes unions representing workers at Continental's recently-purchased Teves braking subsidiary and at the automobile companies which are Continental's largest customers, and by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. 
 
"This week of action represents an escalation of our united campaign to bring justice to the striking tyre workers in Charlotte," said Vic Thorpe, ICEM General Secretary. "It is appalling that Continental has behaved in such an outrageous manner at its operations in the United States." 
 
The ICEM and the USWA recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte.

Conti Tyres Faces Global Protest Week

Leaders of trade unions worldwide will be addressed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki on 3 November, when he opens the World Congress of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
<img height="180" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/mbeki2.jpg" width="240" alt=""/>
 
World labour's response to globalisation is the main theme of the Congress, which will run from 3 to 5 November in Durban, South Africa. 
 
More than 600 delegates from all continents are expected to take part. The Congress slogan is AMANDLA AWETHU - POWER IS OURS. 
 
"We are very pleased that President Mbeki will be with us at what promises to be a highly significant Congress for global trade unionism," said James Motlatsi in Johannesburg today. Motlatsi is ICEM Vice-President and President of the ICEM African region. In South Africa, he is President of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers, which is Africa's biggest union. The NUM is co-hosting the World Congress, together with ICEM South African affiliates CEPPWAWU, NUMSA and SACWU. 
 
"Thabo Mbeki's presence at the Congress is a recognition of the vital role played by trade unions in the construction of South Africa and of the developing world as a whole," Motlatsi emphasised. 
 
"We are honoured that President Mbeki will address the Congress," commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels this afternoon. "We will listen to him with great interest and respect. All the more so because, since the ANC came into government in South Africa, it has introduced some of the most progressive and far-sighted labour legislation in the world."

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki To Open Unions' World Congress

Four major mining companies are now being targeted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which held its World Congress in Durban, South Africa, last week: 
 
 
RIO TINTO 
 
In Durban today, John Maitland promised "full solidarity and support" for Namibian miners facing a restructuring programme by the world's second-biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. Maitland is the newly-elected President of the ICEM. He is also National Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Australian miners' union the CFMEU, which has been embroiled in a series of conflicts with Rio Tinto, mainly over the company's attempts to deunionise its Australian operations. 
 
Workers at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia have held a series of protests recently over the company's plans to restructure the operation without properly consulting the workers and their union, the ICEM-affiliated Miners' Union of Namibia (MUN). MUN leaders were among the 800 delegates at the ICEM Congress last week. 
 
"The ICEM and the CFMEU will support our Namibian comrades in every way that we can," Maitland said today. "From our own experience in Australia, we know that when Rio Tinto tries to restructure behind the unions' backs, it is really out to destroy jobs and bust unions." 
 
Rio Tinto's anti-union tactics were condemned by the Australian Federal Court last Friday. The court found Rio Tinto guilty of breaching freedom of association laws by victimising union reps at its Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia. The company refused to allow three miners there to carry out bona fide union business. It treated the union reps as absent without leave and threatened them with dismissal. In fact, two of them had been attending the Industrial Relations Commission and the third had been at a union meeting. The company has decided not to appeal against the verdict, and may now be fined. 
 
A continuing ICEM global campaign is aimed at persuading Rio Tinto to abandon its anti-union stance, while improving both its environmental record and its treatment of indigenous peoples. The action, conducted in alliance with a wide range of campaigning organisations, includes a special Rio Tinto cybercampaign. 
 
 
PLACER DOME 
 
Last week's Congress unanimously approved the launching of a global ICEM campaign on mining multinational Placer Dome. The Canadian-based company recently retrenched about 40 per cent of its South African workforce and has taken an anti-union stance in a number of countries where it operates. Its environmental record has also been severely criticised (see ICEM UPDATE 63/1999). 
 
Among those speaking for the campaign was Lawrence McBrearty. In Canada, Placer Dome's home country, McBrearty is National Director of the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA). His union represents Placer Dome miners in Ontario. "We have a responsibility as a labour movement to support you in rectifying this injustice," McBrearty told South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). "Rest assured that the 180,000 steelworkers in Canada and 500,000-plus members in the United States will do everything we can." 
 
 
INCO and GOLDCORP 
 
McBrearty also told the Congress of two major disputes facing Canadian miners, and asked for global trade union support. 
 
On 14 September, Inco locked out 1,040 USWA members at its nickel mine in Thompson, Manitoba. This followed the union membership's rejection of the company's final offer. The Inco offer did not include any improvements in pensions, wages or benefits. USWA members at two other Inco Canadian operations have suspended their participation in joint labour-management design projects until the lock-out in Thompson is settled. Inco also has production operations in the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Guatemala, France, China, New Caledonia and the United States. 
 
In Red Lake, Ontario, 187 USWA members have been on strike since June 1996 at a gold mine run by Toronto-based Goldcorp. This is the longest mining strike in Canadian history. It began over the company's demand that a stable collective agreement, in place for over 35 years, should be completely rewritten. The effect would have been to reduce all the gains made by the union for its members their over the past 35 years. 
 
"Inco and Goldcorp are two examples of a heartless corporate culture that puts profits before people," McBrearty told the ICEM Congress. "We will take our members' struggle for justice to the four corners of the globe until we achieve fair and just agreements in Thompson and Red Lake." 
 
"We will mobilise our affiliates worldwide to communicate their solidarity with the USWA in these two important disputes," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "and we will use every means to urge both Inco and Goldcorp to reach a settlement with the union expeditiously."

Unions Target Mining Companies

"The ending of child labour - and particularly of its worst forms - is an urgent task for trade unionists everywhere," said Fred Higgs today. Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
<img height="228" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/childlab1.jpg" width="150" alt=""/>
Photo: Yamina De Laet - ICEM
"Child labour is found in a number of ICEM industries," he emphasised, "notably in the very hazardous sectors of mining, diamond and gem polishing and building materials. Our global agreements with multinational companies always insist on full compliance with the standards against child labour set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In the gem sector, we are committed to work together with employers, governments and the ILO to end the use of child labour." 
<img height="173" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/childlab2.jpg" width="250" alt=""/>
Photo: Yamina De Laet - ICEM
Today is the first World Day Against Child Labour, launched by the ILO. Delegates to the 175-nation International Labour Conference in Geneva are today discussing the recently released ILO report "A Future Without Child Labour". 
 
246 million children are involved in child labour, the report says. That is one in every six of the world's children aged between 5 and 17. Of these, some 179 million - one child in every eight - are still exposed to the worst forms of child labour, which endanger their physical, mental or moral well-being. 
 
The World Day Against Child Labour will be held annually, in order to intensify support for the world campaign.

End Child Labour, World's Unions Say

Contents: 
 
1. Algeria - Drop-in Assistance Center for Sexual Harassment Victims 
2. Bayer Honored as Top Company for Working Mothers 
3. Women Expose Rapes by Military Regime 
4. Colombia - Message from Beatriz Chinchilla 
5. FNV Netherlands - Women and Development Project Evaluation Asia 
6. International Transport Federation ITF - Women's Conference 
7. Rwanda - Women's Leadership Spreads to Villages 
8. South Africa - New Equality Inspectors 
9. Spain - Workshop on Sharing Domestic Responsibilities 
10. United Nations Human Development Report 
11. UNIFEM - Progress of the World's Women 2005 
12. UN Division Dialogue on Violence Against Women 
13. United States - Women's Health Resources 
14. World Bank - Equity and Development 2006 
15. World March of Women 

1. Algeria - Drop-in Assistance Center for Sexual Harassment Victims 
 
The General Union of Algerian Workers, the country's largest labor body, has set up and funded a Drop-In Assistance Center for Female Sexual Harassment Victims. One of the goals of the institution is to break the silence around harassment, and another is to create a non-governmental organization which can tackle harassment more vigorously. However, relatively few of those who visit the center have taken the step of filing complaints against their aggressors. Women are afraid the crime is difficult to prove and they will end up losing their jobs and their livelihoods. In response to these difficulties the National Committee of Working Women and human rights groups have been conducting a campaign in recent months to convince women to take harassers to court.
 
2. Bayer Honored as Top Company for Working Mothers 
 
Bayer Corporation has been recognized by Working Mother magazine as one of 100 best companies in the United States for working mothers for the third time. Bayer was honored for its policies and programs in connection with childcare, culture, flexibility, parental leave, women's advancement, total compensation, work-life culture and family friendly programs. The complete list of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers is available on the magazine's site <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/mainstory.html">www.workingmother.com/mainstory.html</a> 
 
 
3. Burma - Women Expose Rapes by Military Regime 
 
Burmese female activists working to expose the military regime's systematic violence against women, including rape as a tool of counter-insurgency, won an international women's rights award from the Gruber Foundation. Women from the Shan Women's Action Network and the Women's League of Burma traveled to New York and Washington to raise awareness around the globe about human rights violations under the Burmese military dictatorship. In 2002 women in the activist network published the report License to Rape which detailed the incidents of rape since 1996 as part of the military's crackdown on ethnic dissidents. According to the report 83 percent of the rapes were committed by officers, and women who dared speak out were fined, detained, tortured or killed. Many women have fled the civil strife that embroils Burma and settled in neighboring countries. These groups have banded together in exile to help other survivors. Many initially joined student and ethnic organizations along Burma's borders in Thailand, India and Bangladesh. Later they started to focus on protecting female refugees and fighting to make women a respected part of the pro-democracy movement. Burma has kept Aung San Suu Kyi, a leading democratic opposition leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, under house arrest since she and her supporters were attacked by government-affiliated forces in 2003. She has been detained numerous times since 1990, when her party, the National League for Democracy, won 80 percent of parliamentary seats in the last elections held in Burma. 
 
 
4. Colombia - SINTRAELECOL Women's Committee - Message from Beatriz Chinchilla 
 
The national women's committee of SINTRAELECOL Colombia carried out the first regional meeting in the Atlantic coast region from 15 to 17 September, attended by 25 women from the electric power sector, mothers from the community, independent women and university workers, together with 5 men from other unions. The committee worked on free trade agreements, HIV/AIDS and work-related illnesses, gender and women's participation in politics, and social energy. 
 
 
5. FNV Netherlands - Women and Development Project Evaluation Asia 
 
FNV Netherlands has carried out extensive evaluation of its women and development projects with Asian trade unions. The report is available both in English and Spanish and can be requested from ICEM - ask <a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">carol.bruce@icem.org</a>. 
 
 
6. International Transport Federation ITF - Women's Conference. 
 
ICEM participated in the Women's Conference organized by the ITF on 22 and 23 September where the changing transport workforce in terms of gender and globalization was examined. The transport workforce is losing its character of male dominance in particular jobs, sometimes due to restructuring. In addition there are now less typical male operational transport jobs and more jobs that are in white-collar, technology-driven fields. In the ITF the fastest growing sector for women's jobs is road transport, although much of this employment is office-based. There are many overlaps between ICEM and ITF, including in the oil industry and more and more in logistics. ICEM and ITF have a strategic alliance in oil and gas. We will be working together on women in the oil industry and women offshore. 
 
 
7. Rwanda - Women's Leadership Spreads to Villages 
 
In Rwanda women hold nearly 49 percent of the seats in the lower house of parliament. Several women are cabinet members, including the minister of justice. A woman is deputy police chief and another heads the National Reconciliation Commission, which has been working to ease the country's deeply entrenched ethnic wariness lingering from genocide. Much of the women's rise in power is due to the absence of men. As a result of the conflict women outnumber men 7 to 1. Now as the country struggles to rebuild, political organizers are pushing for more women to take charge of local government in hopes of extending women's political gains into the future. Marte Sabre is head of the Rwandan Women's Caucus and runs country-wide workshops for women to teach lobbying and campaigning techniques as well as media relations. She says that while women are making strides in leadership, they still cope with maintaining family responsibilities and overcoming deeply ingrained gender stereotypes that keep men as head of the household. Domestic violence remains a real concern in Rwanda. Female politicians are aware of the importance of gender development for men. Before the genocide about 10 percent of women were literate. Now the figure is over 50 percent. The next step is to transform the numbers into real influence that will transform women's lives. Many women suffer the wounds of war, including rape and physical violence as well as the trauma of witnessing the deaths of family members. The spread of HIV/AIDS continues, with 13 percent of Rwandans infected, although many do not get tested. Life expectancy fell to 39 in 2003 from 45 in 1990. 
 
 
8. South Africa - New Equality Inspectors 
 
The South African Department of Labour is going to set up a roving team of inspectors to ensure compliance with the Employment Equity Act. The team should be in place by November. Inspectors are currently undergoing training and will undertake unannounced inspections on companies and government departments with an aim to ensuring compliance with legislation. The legislation requires employers with 50 or more employees to draw up equality plans, display them on notice boards, and discuss them with either workers or their representative trade unions. The team of inspectors will operate like a special task force. The Department has taken this step to improve enforcement of equity legislation. The Department has indicated that companies who fail to comply with the equity laws could be prevented from bidding for lucrative government contracts in the future. 
 
 
9. Spain - Workshop on Sharing Domestic Responsibilities 
 
The Pamplona local council will organize workshops for women and men geared to sharing domestic responsibilities. The point will be for women to learn to do the tasks generally done by men and vice versa. The women's workshop will include plumbing and heating, electricity, bricklaying and other domestic repairs. The men, on the other hand, will learn cooking and baking, cleaning and dishwashing, and mending clothes and ironing. The courses are free and open to 15 participants. 
 
 
10. United Nations Human Development Report 
 
The UN Development Programme UNDP released the 2005 Human Development Report on 6 September, a report well known for its human development index, a ranking of 177 countries on the basis of performance on health and education, in addition to per capita income. This year's report focuses on global aid, trade and security policies and their respective roles in lifting the world's poorest people out of poverty. It highlights the world's unfair trade practices which undermine the livelihoods of those who survive on less than 1 USD a day. Poverty is the obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Human Development Report can be downloaded from http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005 and is also available in other languages. 
 
 
11. UNIFEM - Progress of the World's Women 2005 
 
Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty makes the case for an increased focus on women's informal employment as a key pathway to reducing poverty and strengthening women's economic security. It provides the latest available data on the size and composition of the informal economy and compares national data on average earnings and poverty risk across different segments of the informal and formal workforces to show the links between employment, gender and poverty. It looks at the costs and benefits of informal work and their consequences for women's economic security. It also provides a strategic framework with good practice examples for how to promote decent work for women informal workers and shows why strong organizations of workers in the informal economy are vital to effective policy reforms. This should be a call to make poverty history. The report is available at www.unifem.org. 
 
 
12. UN Division Dialogue on Violence Against Women 
 
The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women is hosting a three-week online dialogue to combat violence against women. It will go until 14 October 2005. The online discussion is intended to provide a forum for activists around the world to feed into and help inform the UN work to combat violence. Visit the website to see reports from expert groups on data and statistics, good practice, consultations on key issues and action, a guidance for NGO inputs and the UN Secretary General's report, including the outline of the study. <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm">www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm</a>. 
 
 
13. United States - Women's Health 
 
The US Department of Health and Human Services publishes a newsletter on women's health which can be accessed at www.womenshealth.gov. It is also available in Spanish at www.womenshealth.gov/Spanish/ 
 
 
14. World Bank - Equity and Development 2006 
 
Inequality of opportunity, both within and among nations, sustains extreme deprivation, results in wasted human potential and often weakens prospects for overall prosperity and economic growth, concludes the 2006 World Development Report, the World Bank's annual publication. To correct this situation and reduce poverty more effectively, Equity and Development recommends ensuring more equitable access by the poor to health care, education, jobs, capital, and secure land rights, among others. It also calls for greater equality of access to political freedoms and political power, breaking down stereotyping and discrimination, and improving access by the poor to justice systems and infrastructure. For more information about this report see www.econ.worldbank.org/wdr. 
 
 
15. World March of Women 
 
The World March of Women has published a document critical of the Millennium Development Goals, providing a feminist vision of the 8 goals. It makes suggestions to improve the indicators and to really eliminate poverty as well as violence against women. See www.marchemondiale.org/en/index.html - which is also available in French and Spanish. 
 

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ICEM Women’s bulletin No. 5 – October 2005

In the 1990s, the ICEM led the global labour movement by innovative use of the early Internet for instant and effective solidarity. The Wall Street Journal, in a front page 1999 article, said the ICEM “is changing the face of traditional labor protests by moving strikes, pickets and other union actions into cyberspace.” A mining house spokesman admitted in the same article it was the advent of labour activists “trying to globalize via the Internet.” 
<img height="86" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/icem-logo.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
The 20-million-member Global Union Federation launched a new and improved website this past weekend, effectively and seamlessly tying together countless struggles, issues, and worker-related facts on all things relevant in the ICEM’s six major industrial sectors as well as the world of labour with a new website that replaces the global labour movement’s initial, trend-setting static website. 
 
The new site maintains the same address as the old: http://www.icem.org, and visitors are welcome to explore the ICEM’s topical website. 
 
The site provides information in ICEM’s seven statutory languages—English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish and Russian. 
 
“We are proud to present our affiliates, firstly, with a practical and useful website as an aid to built strong trade union structures,” said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “The new website takes full advantage of the most modern communication technologies to support and advance our work with our affiliates.” 
 
The ICEM website contains a wealth of materials and documents on current ICEM projects and campaigns such as Contract and Agency Labour, HIV/AIDS relief, Gender Issues, Health/Safety and Sustainable Development, Global Framework Agreements and Global Union Networks. In easily accessible archives are all ICEM News Releases, InBrief newsletters, Circulars (direct action calls), and other ICEM documents and information from past events. All materials are indexed by ICEM regions and major industrial sectors, and by individual country as well. 
 
ICEM sectors: Energy including Oil, Gas and Nuclear; Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals; Mining/Diamonds and Gems; Pulp and Paper; Rubber; and Materials, which includes Glass, Ceramics and Cement. 
 
ICEM’s website design is compatible with the many and varied web browsers available. This means the site can also be read on small-screen and mobile information technology. Conversely, the website has been deliberately designed to allow easy access and easy download for the many workers of the world in regions where only slow internet service exists. 
 
The ICEM, based in Brussels, has 420 affiliated trade unions in 125 countries.

ICEM Introduces New, Advanced Website

Mass protests rather than a general strike have begun in Nigeria to protest the government’s 26 August fuel price hike. ICEM oil workers’ union affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have joined the rallies, which began 14 September to continue for two weeks. The government hiked the price of gas and diesel fuels by 40% in efforts to reduce subsidies and bring the price in line with global prices. Despite being one of the world’s leading exporters of crude, Nigeria depends on imports of refined fuels to meet domestic demand because the country’s five refineries under-perform from lack of capitalization. Nigerian unions are using the protests to get the government to roll back the fuel price hikes, as well as to demand higher wages incorporating cost-of-living increases.

Nigerians to Stage Protests Against Fuel Price Hikes

In Nepal from 10-12 September, presence of top-level global trade union leaders made a march and working seminar entitled Wider National Workers’ Conference both peaceful and unprecedented for the Himalayan country. Some 1,800 workers and their representatives from Nepal’s three national union centers marched from Dilli Bazaar in Katmandu into a mass meeting at Padmakanya High School in Naya Baneshwore on 10 September denouncing the Nepalese monarchy’s autocratic rule and calling for an “absolute democracy” that ensures workers’ and human rights. The conference adopted a 15-point resolution and a declaration calling the weekend event a turning point for all Nepal’s workers to escape the killings, torture, suppression and harassment imposed on them by both the ruling monarchy and extremist political forces inside Nepal.

Nepal Conference to Challenge Authoritarian Rule

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