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The ICEM Executive Committee, meeting in Geneva on 26-27 May 2010, is deeply disturbed by the extraordinary high number of workplace deaths and injuries in recent months, particularly in mining and both upstream and downstream oil and gas industries. This deterioration in safety and health conditions is attributable, the Executive Committee believes, to the rush to maximize profits by corporations in the wake of the financial crisis, and a general disregard to follow best practices in safety and health by these same corporations and, in some cases, governments. 
 
The ICEM points to the 17 May mine explosion in Zonguldak province, Turkey, which killed 30 workers as just one example. The Karadon mine is state-owned, but private contractors without trade union representation and with limited experience on safety matters operate this mine. The ICEM also points to the tragic explosion in May of the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation. Ninety miners perished and although cause of the methane gas explosion remains unknown, the ICEM deplores the coal-mining pay structure in Russia in which monthly salaries are kept extremely low and workers are expected to supplement their pay by reaching high production quotas. 
 
As well, the ICEM condemns Massey Energy in the United States, a company that has viciously avoided union representation while challenging all US federal mine safety citations given the company. Such appeals serve to delay corrective measures needed in Massey&rsquo;s mine. The 5 April explosion inside Massey&rsquo;s Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia, killing 29 miners, was compounded and made worse by the callousness and arrogance of the company&rsquo;s CEO in the aftermath of the explosion. 
 
In South Africa, where overall, mine safety is improving due to the militancy of the National Union of Mineworkers, the ICEM notes three miners were needlessly killed at AngloGold Ashanti in late April, bringing to over 30 the official death toll thus far in the country&rsquo;s mining industry. The ICEM also cites a recent roof collapse inside the Barapukuria Coal Mine Company in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, which killed and maimed several workers. An improper support system was the cause. Major mining accidents dating back to 2009 have also occurred in Poland, the Ukraine, and India. Also, the ICEM takes notice of continued deaths inside China&rsquo;s vast coal-mining industry and the fact that the death rate increased by 14% in the first quarter of 2010 over the same period in 2009. ICEM strongly believes this increase is due to negligence in safety in pursuit of greater production. 
 
In the oil and gas industries, the same is true. While much is made of the environmental destruction along the United States Gulf coast brought about by the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which indeed merits attention and the wrath against BP, who is the overall responsible operator, and its contractors, Transocean and Halliburton. Little is made of the fact that 11 offshore workers died and 15 others were severely injured. 
 
In the downstream oil sector as well, a rash of fires and explosions recently in the USA and elsewhere proves that the industry is neglecting correct process safety principles and procedures. 
 
The ICEM calls on the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries to engage the legitimate trade union representatives in correcting systematic deficiencies in safety procedures and methods to minimize this industry&rsquo;s inherent risks. 
 
The ICEM specifically recalls at this time recent and horrific accidents such as the tragic refinery explosion of the Tesoro company at its Anacortes, state of Washington, refinery that killed seven dedicated union members in April 2010, as well as the death of a contract employee in the state of Texas, and very recent fires at ExxonMobil&rsquo;s refinery in the state of Louisiana and a Valero refinery in the state of Tennessee, both seriously injuring workers. The ICEM grieves the death of a Petrobras worker at an onshore oil field in the state of Bahia in May. 
 
The ICEM also recognizes that there have been further workplace deaths in other sectors, many brought on by the expanded utilization of contract workers by companies attempting to decrease direct employment. 
Therefore, the ICEM firstly endorses the hour-long strike actions planned by affiliate Genel Maden-Is of Turkey in the Zonguldak region in the aftermath of the Karadon explosion that will take place on 26 May in protest of the government&rsquo;s general disregard for adherence of global safety standards. 
 
The ICEM also reiterates its campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, and pledges to intensify efforts to directly engage governments of resource-rich nations that have not ratified this Convention into doing so. Further, as an integral component of Convention 176, the ICEM insists that trade unions be fully involved in all design, safety methodology, and implementation of safety equipment, as well as fully involved in investigatory work following accidents or malfunctions. 
 
The ICEM pledges it will alert affiliates when there is incidence of mass deaths inside any work facility that is caused by negligence or faulty safety systems. It is the expectation that trade union affiliates will bring attention to these horrific acts to their own governments and inside their own enterprises in order that a new safety consciousness is raised. 
 
It is also the ICEM&rsquo;s expectation that the ILO take immediate action in regard to implementation of ILO Convention 176, focusing on stricter methane gas controls and ventilation systems. ICEM also expects that the ILO will investigate causes of recent negligence in mine safety accidents, namely pay systems that reward maximum productivity to the detriment of safety, and mining enterprises that rely on temporary or short-term contract workers. 
 
The ICEM also calls for ratification and strict adherence to ILO Convention 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention; Convention 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention; Convention 162, the Asbestos Convention; Convention 148, the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise, Ventilation); Convention 136, the Benzene Convention; Convention 170, the Chemicals Convention; Convention 115, the Radiation Protection Convention; Convention 139, the Occupational Cancer Convention; Convention 183, the Maternity Protection Convention; as well as attention to the ILO Guidelines on Health and Safety Management Systems. 
 
Finally, the ICEM calls on other Global Union Federations to join its campaign for better safety and health conditions throughout all industries.

Executive Committee Resolution on Safety in ICEM Sectors

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Canada-based mining house Gammon Gold &lsquo;suspended indefinitely&rsquo; operations at the El Cubo mine, in Guanajuato State in southern central Mexico, in a bid to end union demands on profit sharing and shift length. It is predicted that management aim to re-open the mine via a contractor, and therefore block union organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The mine closure sees 397 workers sacked, while the company has filed criminal charges against 7 union leaders. Workers are represented by Section 142 of the Mining Union of the Mexican Republic (El Sindicato Minero de la Republica Mexicana). The dispute was addressed by Napole&oacute;n Gomez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, at the recent ICEM / IMF &ldquo;Triple Crisis of Sustainability Conference&rdquo; in Toronto. 
 
The miners&rsquo; only demand is that they receive their legally entitled share of the company&rsquo;s profits, a condition agreed to by Nova Scotia-based Gammon when management lengthened miners&rsquo; working day from 8 to 10 hour shifts. In the absence of a profit-sharing arrangement, union leaders are demanding a bonus of 50,000 pesos (US$3,968) per worker. 

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As is often the case in Mexico, the government has been criticised for siding with the company, against workers. Another familiar problem was seen earlier in the dispute, as workers were physically attacked by the company&rsquo;s private security firm on 18 June. 
 
Gammon Gold recorded US$207 million in revenue from gold and silver mining operations in 2009. The company operates exclusively in Mexico, with a large gold-silver complex in the northern state of Chihuahua, known as Ocampo, exploration work is on-going at the neighbouring Guadalupe y Calvo gold-silver mine, and Gammon recently acquired the El Mezquite and Venus projects in the states of Zacatecas and Chihuahua, respectively. 
 
The union is studying the legal options for keeping El Cubo open, and have strongly stated that they will block operations re-starting with contracted scabs. The potential at the mine corresponds to 14% of the overall company net assets as well as 24% of overall gold production for 2010, and is therefore too valuable for the company to close completely.

El Cubo Mexican Mine Shut in Attempt to Crush Union

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The second world congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), meeting in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, 21-25 June, elected Sharon Burrow to become the first woman to head the global trade union body. Burrow succeeds Guy Ryder as the second General Secretary of the ITUC, which was created in Vienna in 2006, and leaves her position as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a post that she has held since 2000. She has been President of the ITUC and its predecessor the ICFTU, since 2004. 
 
In her acceptance speech, Burrow described herself as a &quot;warrior&quot; for women and committed the ITUC to continuing to champion women's rights. 
 
Hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over 1,400 delegates assembled in Vancouver under the theme, &lsquo;Now the People, from the crisis to global justice&rsquo;, as the main focus was around issues related to labour&rsquo;s demands for restructuring and reform of the global economy. Delegates criticised the recent trend of governments, especially in Europe, introducing deficit control and austerity measures, under pressure the same banks that caused the economic crisis to begin, instead of keeping jobs at the centre of the recovery. This, according to Burrow, is turning the possibility of a double-dip recession into a probability. 

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ITUC General Secretary, Sharon Burrow
Among the 13 resolutions passed by the congress, were strong declarations on democracy, peace, gender equality, fighting HIV/AIDS, and on sustainable development and a just transition. See those resolutions in full at the link below. 
 
The congress called on G20 governments to increase economic stimulus to create more jobs. On Thursday, 24 June, over 1,000 Congress delegates conducted a rally outside the Vancouver Convention Centre, calling on world leaders to move towards global justice. 
 
Michael Sommer, DGB (Confederation of German Trade Unions), Germany, was elected ITUC President. Jaap Wienen was elected Deputy General Secretary. Luc Cortebeeck, CSC (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions) Belgium, was elected ITUC Deputy President. Nair Goulart, For&ccedil;a Sindical (Brazil), was elected ITUC Deputy President. 
 
View the ITUC second world congress web page <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/+-congress-+.html">here</a>.

ITUC Congress Elects Sharon Burrow General Secretary

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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the South African state-run utility Eskom inched closer to a new labour accord for 28,000 workers last week in bargaining coordinated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). Even though the CCMA issued a certificate of non-resolution following talks late on 24 June, the two sides were not far apart on wages and differences over the elusive year-long issue of housing allocation for workers also narrowed. 
 
The NUM did set a deadline for tomorrow, 29 June, for the company to make further movement, but the threat of a disruptive strike was diminished by movement made in CCMA talks. Two other unions are also involved in the negotiations, including the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), but ICEM&rsquo;s second largest global affiliate &ndash; the NUM &ndash; represents the greatest number of workers at Eskom, 16,000. 

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Management at Eskom has maintained that a strike would be illegal because a court decision on 25 May ruled the utility an essential national service. But workers have kept the strike option open, and the NUM said it would back rank-and-file staff if they decided to walk off jobs at electric generating facilities, power plants, and administrative servicing centres. 
 
At a press briefing on 25 June, the NUM rejected compulsory arbitration and suggested that the narrow differences between the two sides can be resolved in mediated talks early this week. 
 
The company has increased its wage offer from 4% to 8% in June talks, while the unions have brought their original wage demands down to 9%. The unions are seeking a housing allowance of R4,000 per month, while Eskom is proposing a 5.6% increase in certain benefit allowances, as well as a one-off R12,000 payment, to be made in two equal pay-outs in July 2010 and July 2011.

NUM, Eskom Come Closer to New Pay, Housing Allowance Deal

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ICEM&rsquo;s Bridgestone Global Union Network continued its regular work with the 10th Meeting of its Steering Committee which met in Madrid, Spain on 25-26 June 2010, upon invitation of ICEM&rsquo;s Spanish affiliate the Federation of Related Industries FIA-UGT, represented by Jesus Delgado, Secretary of the European Works Council of the company and as member of the Steering Committee on behalf of Europe. Delgado originally comes from the Bridgestone plant in Burgos. 
 
The Meeting, chaired by Toshiaki Hojo, President ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese affiliate GOMU RENGO, the Confederation of Rubber Workers&rsquo; Unions was attended by members from Japan, namely Akihiro Nagasawa, President, Gen Tashiro, Vice President and Kazutaka Nishihira, Central Executive Member of the Bridgestone Union (BSU); Terezinho Da Martins, President, Daniel Demetrio, Regional Vice-President and Joao Batista Goncalves, Assistant to the President of Sao Paulo Rubber Workers&rsquo; Federation Brazil; Eduardo Alonso, shop steward at Burgos from FIA-UGT of Spain, Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese Affiliates Federation (ICEM-JAF) and Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM&rsquo;s Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer. The meeting also welcomed, as observer, Tamas Szekely, President of ICEM&rsquo;s Hungarian affiliate VDSz, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation. 

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&ldquo;The Bridgestone Global Union Network can be a good model for networking activities in the rubber industry&rdquo; said Toshiaki Hojo at the opening of the meeting. &ldquo;In some countries unions are faced with very hostile relations and the denial of human rights. Networks should also confirm their role in extending solidarity&rdquo; he added. 
 
The meeting received an extensive report from ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan on the economic situation, corporate mergers and acquisitions, future trends of the global tire and rubber industry and their effects on employees. According to &Ouml;zkan, the global tire and rubber industry was in depression and severely suffered from the crisis in 2008. He however noted that the situation was improved in 2009, demand in the industry had not recovered to the peak level in the previous year. For 2010, he reported, the industry seems to continue to recover in a relatively stabilized situation which will give opportunity to the unions in the sector to be in a better position vis-a-vis employers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="180" />
Left: Gen Tashiro, Coordinator ICEM Bridgestone Global Union Network and Vice-President of Bridgestone Union Right: Toshiaki Hojo, Chairman of ICEM Bridgestone Global Union Network and President of GOMU RENGO
Following the particular report on Bridgestone given by the BSU, participants reported on economic and employment situations of the tire industry and Bridgestone in their respective regions and countries. The company&rsquo;s activities on CSR (corporate social responsibility) were discussed by the participants. 
The second part of the meeting dealt with the participants&rsquo; reports on occupational health, safety and environment, particularly on the number of accidents in 2009, involving the workers entangled or stuck in machines, by giving examples as well as unions&rsquo; activities on preventing accidents. The meeting then moved to the reports on health and safety measures being taken by unions and/or the company with a view to preventing similar industrial accidents; promoting education on industrial safety and capacity building, and on the handling of chemical substances and health. 

<img alt="" src="" width="219" height="209" />
Tamas Szekely of Hungary gave a written report to the meeting on the union situation at the plant located in Tatabanya, Hungary where his organisation has been trying to establish a trade union for three years without success. He asked for the support of the Global Union Network in the process of developing industrial relations with the local management of the company there. Having invited participants to Hungary in the near future, Szekely particularly thanked representatives of GOMU RENGO and BSU of Japan for their interest. 
 
The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled to take place on 24-25 June 2011 in Japan.

ICEM’s Bridgestone Global Union Network Continues to Work

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International pressure and attention has been building around the 19-year strike of 340 Fiji Mineworkers Union (FMU) members at the Emperor Gold Mine in Vatukoula, Fiji, as a resolution becomes possible following Government intervention. 
 
Executive member of ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, Robert Reid, also the General Secretary of the National Distribution Union of neighbouring New Zealand, has been particularly vocal, &ldquo;This is perhaps the longest running strike in the world and it is time it was resolved,&rdquo; Reid stated. 
 
The Executive of the FMU met with Permanent Secretaries of the Fiji Government Wednesday, 16 June, the miners presented a compensation claim of US$8,000 per miner for every year of striking. The Government delegation consisted of Permanent Secretaries for Lands and Mineral Resources, Labour, Defence, and the Attorney General's office, as well as for Prime Minister Bainimarama. 

<img src="" width="250" height="115" alt="" />
Permanent secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, Pio Tikoduadua, said a response on the government's position would be made within the next 10 days. 
 
The strike stems from the Emperor Gold Mine Company choosing to close down the mine, instead of negotiating a settlement over worker grievances of poor labour conditions, substandard housing and environmental damage at the mine. 
 
The FMU moved the ILO&rsquo;s Committee of Experts to analyse and resolve the dispute, this process was begun in December 2009. However, with those deliberations on-going, the miners&rsquo; picket has been removed and workers are now being threatened with eviction from their homes for arrears in rent. 
 
In a letter to Fijian Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged Bainimarama &ldquo;on humanitarian grounds and in accordance with provisions of the International Labour Organization to reach a fair and equitable resolution of this dispute.&rdquo;

International Support for Fiji Miners’ 19-Year Strike

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ICEM affiliate Industri Energi (IE) successfully negotiated salary increases for its members at Statoil&rsquo;s offshore Gullfaks B and Gullfaks C fields, and at Shell's Draugen field, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Talks between union officials and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, mediated by Nils Dalseide of Norway&rsquo;s National Arbitration Tribunal, reached agreement that avoided strike action after extending a midnight deadline and concluded in the early hours of Thursday 17 June. 
 
&quot;No strike,&quot; reported Industri Energi Spokesman Arild Theimann, swiftly following conclusion to the talks which had begun 2 days prior. Workers ready to down tools if talks failed included employees of Halliburton, Geoservices, Baker Hughes and Oceaneering. 

<img src="" width="136" height="148" alt="" />
Industri Energi President&nbsp;Leif Sande
&quot;We feel relieved that we could avoid a strike in the oil sector,&quot; President of Industri Energi Leif Sande stated. &quot;We did not get everything, but we got a good wage increase and better compensation. We were very satisfied with this.&quot; 
 
The new Norwegian Shelf Agreement sees a Nkr 10,000 (US$1573) annual increase in general wages for some 6700 workers involved in operating, drilling and catering on the Shelf, on top of Nkr 4700 from a previous pay deal. 
 
In addition, shift, conference and holiday supplement will be increased. The negotiations also involved discussions on shift rotation policy for near permanent workers. 

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Jointly, the Gullfaks and Draugen fields produce around 270,000 barrels of oil per day, of Norway's daily exports of 1.87 million barrels. 
 
Mature traditions of industrial relations in the sector in Norway permit constructive dialogue and problems to be resolved. 
 
The oil and gas industry is vital to the Norwegian economy, accounting for a third of tax revenues and a quarter of GDP. The dispute was closely followed elsewhere in Europe, with many countries such as the United Kingdom, heavily dependent on Norwegian gas.

Strike Avoided, Salary Increases for Norway’s Oilworkers

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In an attempt to find common ground in a seven-month dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers&rsquo; Union (GB&amp;GWU) and RusAl&rsquo;s Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI), the ICEM met in Geneva with the country&rsquo;s Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister, Mansoor Nadir. 
 
The meeting occurred on 15 June and included Jerry Goolsarran, the representative for the Guyanese employers&rsquo; association, who sits on the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, and Lydia Greene, an assistant in the Labour Ministry. 
 
Discussion during the meeting reviewed the deep divisions resulting from a November 2009 strike by GB&amp;GWU and the subsequent unilateral, and what the ICEM believes is illegal de-authorization by BCGI of the union at the 500-worker mine in central Guyana. The government owns 10% of the bauxite operations. 

<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="191" />
Left to Right: Labour Minister Nadir, Manfred Warda, Employers' Representative Goolsarran
Labour Minister Nadir gave the ICEM a thick dossier of events leading into and beyond the strike, and he pledged to facilitate a meeting between the union and management of the company in order to begin necessary dialogue. The ICEM believes that management of the Russian-based aluminum company has a legal responsibility to meet with leaders of the GB&amp;GWU, and also feels it is the duty of the Labour Ministry to arrange such a meeting. 
 
Responding to the entrenched positions of both labour and management in a follow-up letter to the labour minister, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;The hard work of engagement through tripartite voluntary dialogue must now commence, and we were happy to hear of your willingness to facilitate this dialogue between GB&amp;GWU and BCGI. Therefore, as you agreed to in our 15 June meeting, we call on you to immediately call both parties together to start open and honest talks.&rdquo; (The full letter can be seen <a href="/index.php?id=26&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3886">here</a>.) 
 
In the letter, the ICEM also expressed displeasure over the company&rsquo;s undue coercion and harassment tactics in obtaining signatures by miners following the strike to decertify the GB&amp;GWU. If a de-authorisation ballot is to go before workers by the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, the ICEM is insistent that the government uphold its own law, and global labour standards, ensuring that management of BCGI not interfere in workers&rsquo; free choice for or against union representation. 
 
The ICEM has also offered to be part of dialogue in Guyana to assist in resolving the dispute.

ICEM, Guyana Labour Minister Meet to Air Concerns in Bauxite Mine Dispute

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ICEM&rsquo;s global level company networks now include a new one: Akzo Nobel. Over 20 trade unionists from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil decided to form a global network among the unions organising the Dutch-based chemicals company. 
 
The formation meeting which was held on 31 May-1 June 2010 in Amsterdam, upon invitation of ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch affiliate FNV-Bondgenoten. The host union considers international networking within multinational companies as a priority, and as a result, the union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries. 
The meeting was opened by Henk Van der Kolk, President of FNV-Bondgenoten. 
 
&ldquo;Organizing labour across borders is difficult and therefore much slower than transferring capital all over the world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We all know that. And I wish you fruitful discussions about how we can cooperate in organizing and empowering workers at Akzo Nobel plants all over the world to strengthen our unions.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="166" height="130" />
President of FNV-Bondgenoten, Henk Van der Kolk
After the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, on the global chemicals industry and Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s global picture, trade unionists gave country-based reports on labour relations in their respective countries. 
Ron Vos, FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s National Officer for Akzo Nobel, explained the situation in the company&rsquo;s homeland, the Netherlands, and he defined employment, pensions, wages, a flexible workforce and use of temporary workers, the health of an aging workforce, and sharing results with the company on a major trade union agenda. 
 
Sergio Carasso from Brazil reported national and regional level networking activities within Akzo Nobel and the former British company, ICI, now absorbed by the Dutch company. According to his report, the first network of Akzo Nobel workers in Brazil was formed in 2002, and yearly meetings began at national level. 
 
The range of this national network was later extended to Argentina and Mexico. The network conducted a research for making a comparison between different workplaces on various items. A strategy on communications was also developed through bulletins and a web- blog. 
 
Helmizan Sakrani from Indonesia reported on union activities at an Akzo Nobel plant located Cimanggis-Depok. He reported that his plant has 280 permanent employees and 167 of them are union members. Founded in 1983, the union has good relations with the company through plant level social dialogue with some positive result. 

<img alt="" src="" width="261" height="154" />
Erhan Kaplan and Hokan Ko&ccedil;ak from Petrol-Iş of Turkey reported their union&rsquo;s organizing activities in general and at unorganized Akzo Nobel plants. They reported a constructive cooperation and solidarity with the Dutch union on doing so. 
 
The situation and activities of the company&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC) were also discussed by Belgian, Dutch, and German participants. It was agreed to handle the problems and challenges in this context. The meeting also communicated with union representatives from Akzo Nobel in the US, from ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) via teleconference. 
 
Following the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan on ICEM&rsquo;s activities of networking, it was unanimously decided to form a global network of Akzo Nobel unions. In this, FNV Bondgenoten takes the lead for coordination of the network. It was also decided to develop an effective communications system among the participating unions, with an aim to enlarge it to non-participating organizations. 
 
&ldquo;After the successful organizing of this network, our intention is to develop a dialogue and an interaction with the company, hopefully with the goal to ultimately reach a Global Framework Agreement with Akzo Nobel, &ldquo;said &Ouml;zkan, who used the company&rsquo;s motto regarding this: &ldquo;Today, we find answers of tomorrow.&rdquo;

ICEM Affiliates Move to Form an Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network

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A first-ever, tri-nation forum to unite trade unions struggling for democratic autonomy in Mexico with US and Canadian unions was held in Toronto, Canada, on 20 June. Some 120 trade unionists, NGO representatives, and Canadian civil society activists gathered for the one-day &ldquo;Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico&rdquo; conference. 
 
As Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada said, the meeting brought together trade union leaders from Mexico who never would be allowed to similarly gather inside Mexico. Those leaders included Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the exiled President of the National Union of Mine, Metalworkers&rsquo;, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM), Mart&iacute;n Esparza Flores of the Mexican Union of Electrical Workers (SME), Francisco Hern&aacute;ndez Ju&aacute;rez of the Mexican Telephone Workers&rsquo; Union (Telefonistas), and others mentioned below. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="200" />
Los Mineros General Secretary, Napole&oacute;n Gomez
The conference consisted of presentations by two Mexican-based labour attorneys, who told of the legal and political institutional obstacles to a free and democratic trade union movement in Mexico, and it also detailed the dreaded but common protection contracts, which inhibit true trade union rights. 
 
A central focus throughout the conference was the continuing harmful effects of the now 16-year-old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the US. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="106" />
Ben Davis, US Solidarity Center
Ben Davis of the US Solidarity Center did provide several inspiring examples on how SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, continues to organize workers despite overt suppression by the Mexican government. He also outlined work done at the US federal level to press the Obama administration to take a stronger stance against Mexican trade union repression. And on the global level, Davis told of work being done at the ILO over protection contracts, as well as institutional shareholder pressure against Grupo M&eacute;xico, the major corporate protagonist of Los Mineros. 
 
Jorge Robles of the Mexican Authentic Workers&rsquo; Front (FAT) addressed inherent deficiencies in current labour law reform inside Mexico, while Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General of the National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTGTM), spoke on the harmful effects of the free trade agreement. 

<img alt="" src="" width="199" height="182" />
Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General SNTGTM
Espinosa said NAFTA has been &ldquo;evil for Mexico&rdquo; since previous good wages and benefits have eroded. He said in both the tyre industry and auto-parts industry, &ldquo;year-to-year, employers are taking contractual rights away.&rdquo; 
 
Espinosa was fired in 2003 for impeding General Tire&rsquo;s agenda during collective negotiations, but remained a union activist for the three years he was off the job. In 2006, he was reinstated as a maintenance mechanic and in 2008, was elected Secretary-General of SNTGTM. 
 
At the conference conclusion, delegates shaped a strategic plan that includes insertion of strict worker protections in NAFTA, continuation of work on Mexican protection contracts, and solidarity and campaign work on specific Mexican labour struggles. 
 
The conference was sponsored by several North American trade unions, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and Union Network International (UNI).

Mexican Teach-in Charts North American Union Solidarity

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