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A united grouping of six Belgian trade unions, representing all unionised oil workers, picketed at the gates of the Belgian Refining Corporation (BRC) last Thursday, 30 June, in protest of the sacking of three workers, calling for the company to spend their money on better terms in collective bargaining instead of unnecessary severance pay. 
 
A nationwide action is also planned. 
 
Two of the three sacked workers were union representatives of ICEM-affiliated Centrale Generale &ndash; FGTB, making the company even more liable for unfair dismissal. The three are guilty of no misconduct at all, although management have actively spread lies relating to the intimidation of a security guard and his family. 
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The Swiss management of BRC, under CEO Massenhaurer, has shown itself to be staunchly anti union, but inventing misconduct stories in order to sack union reps is new. 
 
The BRC refinery is located north of the Port of Antwerp at the centre of the ARA region, owned by European refiner Petroplus Holdings. BRC has production capacity of 107,500 barrels per day, and sells primarily inside Benelux. 
 
The ICEM joins calls of the six unions involved, five of which are affiliated, for the immediate reinstatement of all three sacked worker.

Belgium Unions Unite Against Belgian Refining Corp.’s Sackings

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&quot;Solidarity and Equal Opportunities: Principles of Trade Union Networks&rdquo; was the motto of the second meeting of this kind conducted by ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate CNQ-CUT, the National Confederation of Chemical Workers which took place on 15-16 June, through the support of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), at the facilities of Sao Paulo Glass Workers&rsquo; Union in Praia Grande, with participation of more than 60 union representatives from 24 companies. 
 
The meeting was supported and attended by ICEM, CUT, Solidarity Center AFL-CIO, FETQUIM, Social Observatory Institute (ISO) and DIEESE. 
 
The opening session of the event was marked with a broad debate on the role of union networks in national and international solidarity in the chemical industries. ICEM&rsquo;s Regional President Sergio Novais highlighted the importance of the meeting and the need for unification of the sectors. Participants dynamically discussed their expectations of the meeting. 
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Later in the meeting a delegates discussed various topics such as solidarity, participation of youth and women, network running, communication mechanisms, network models and statutes, decent work, and training policies. The presentation of research on the situation of trade union networks in the chemical sector with a detailed analysis on multinational participation and trade union activity conducted by ISO gave an overview to the participants. 
 
The participants were then divided into working groups to account for future referrals and deepen the discussions presented. Gender, collective bargaining, network funding, social dialogue, internal and external challenges, and strengthening the networks were among the topics that came up with important resolutions that should strengthen the fight in the upcoming period. 
 
At the end of the meeting participants evaluated discussions by saying &quot;we have to act differently if we want a different life, what we did here was simply to think differently&quot;. Over the next couple of months, a report with the outcomes of the meeting will be publicised. 
 
&ldquo;Networking is one of the major priorities of ICEM sector work. The work performed by our Brazilian comrades in the chemical industry is an excellent model for the rest of the world&rdquo; said ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Our objective now is to widen this drive to the whole Americas region&rdquo;.

Brazilian Chemical Workers Discuss Solidarity Through Union Networking

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Today, the ICEM Presidium held its bi-annual meeting in Geneva, with the annual meeting of the Executive Committee scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, 24-25 May. The meetings are being held at the ILO. 
 
Besides presenting a Secretariat Report and preparations for ICEM&rsquo;s Fifth Statutory Congress, the decision-making bodies will receive an ICEM Action Plan for the Congress and beyond. The Action Plan will be a working document through to the Congress, scheduled for 24-26 November 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
 
On Wednesday afternoon, 25 May, the Executive Committees of ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Leather, Textile and Garment Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) will meet in joint session to review the integration progress. IMF and ITGLWF statutory bodies are also meeting separately in Geneva this week. 
 
The three Global Union Federations (GUF) have been conducting joint task force deliberations to explore integration and to lay the groundwork for it. The task force has met four times since September 2010, with the most recent meeting &ndash; in Frankfurt on 5 May &ndash; producing a tangible outline for a new and dynamic industrial GUF. In Frankfurt, Nordic trade unions stepped forward and offered Copenhagen as the site for a founding Congress, likely to be held in 2012.

ICEM Statutory Bodies Meet in Geneva this Week

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The already-limited freedoms of association in Iraq are under further attack. Last month, the Cabinet arbitrarily dismissed the executive board of the country&rsquo;s largest trade union organisation, the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), and established a new committee to take over all union structures and assets, oversee and control upcoming union elections. 
 
Cabinet Decrees 95 and 96 were issued on 17 April, withdrawing recognition of the GFIW and appointing a &ldquo;Ministerial Preparatory Committee&rdquo; (MPC), consisting of un-elected, politically bias officials, mostly from the Sadrist Party. MPC employees have already begun distributing union membership cards, arbitrarily choosing members favourable to their faction. Further to this, union offices have been taken over with support from police and military personnel. Upcoming union elections are expected to be held inside the Sadrist Party offices. 
 
The deeply concerning developments follow a recent distribution of government ministries between the various political factions of the coalition. The carving up of responsibilities saw the labour ministry taken over by the small, Shia sectarian Sadrist movement, followers of Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. 
 
Eight years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, his regime&rsquo;s regressive labour laws have not been replaced, meaning all public sector employees have no right to organise or bargain collectively. The vast majority of workers in Iraq are affected by this law. But this latest attack is even in breach of the Saddam legislation. 
 
The TUC in the United Kingdom has been on the front line of a global union backlash, calling on the Iraq government to back down. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber wrote to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki explaining that the TUC will exercise its veto right to block the government-nominated workers&rsquo; delegate to the ILO Annual Conference (ILC) in June, unless the attack is reversed. 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=917">Labourstart campaign</a>, and send your protest message to Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki here. Also send your opposition to this attack on the GFIW to the Iraqi Embassy in your country. International pressure has proved effective in Iraq over recent years. The labour ministry decree has been publically condemned by the Minister of Civil Society in Iraq. Build the pressure, join the campaign. 
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Oil workers protest in Basra for fair wage
Iraqis continue to bravely organise in face of the government attacks. Oil workers in Basra last week, 10 May, walked out and threatened to stop production at the state-run South Oil Corporation, demanding fair salaries and benefits to match those of oilworkers at the international corporations operating in Iraq. Foreign workers were to be blocked from entering oil fields yesterday, but Basra Governor Khalaf Abdul Samad Khalaf agreed to meet the unions and averted the escalation of the protest, for the time being.

Iraqi Government Moves to End Free Trade Unions, Remove Recognition of National Centre

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Negotiations resume today and tomorrow, 20-21 June, for 4,000 Australian coal miners employed by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), the world&rsquo;s top exporter of metallurgical coal. Union allies, led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), conducted successful stop-work meetings last week that saw broad agreement among miners that they want job security and an end to work practices of Australia&rsquo;s bygone WorkChoices era. 
 
The union alliance, called the Single Bargaining Unit and consisting of CFMEU, the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), met yesterday to prepare for this week&rsquo;s pivotal talks. 
 
The six-hour and longer stop-work meetings, held across seven BMA mines of the Bowen Basin, Queensland, from 14-17 June, saw miners vent frustration at BMA intransigence that has stalled bargaining, and company arrogance inside those talks. The two sides have been bargaining since December 2010. See ICEM <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4463-Aussie-Coal-Miners-Vote-92-to-Strike-BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi-Alliance">InBrief No. 182</a> report on this enterprise bargaining dispute here.&nbsp;
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Stephen Smyth
Union members are &ldquo;sick and tired of the same rhetoric being spat out of the company&rsquo;s PR machine,&rdquo; said CFMEU District President Stephen Smyth to the Central Queensland News. Miners and export facility workers voted in May for lawful industrial action by better than 92%. They are vehemently opposed to BMA proposals on changes in work rosters and moves toward subcontracting that will cost jobs and equitable incomes. 
 
The stop-work meetings were attended by between 300 and 1,000 miners each in forums at BMA&rsquo;s Broadmeadow and Saraji mines on 14 June, Blackwater and Gregory Crinum mines on 15 June, Goonyella Riverside and Norwich Park mines on 17 June, and Goonyella and Peak Downs mines on 18 June. BMA is a 10-year-old joint venture between two of the world&rsquo;s industrial titans that produces 58 million tones annually of coking coal.

Stop-Work Meetings Raise Stakes in Queensland Coal Talks

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ICEM-affiliated Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia broke through a major barrier with Rio Tinto on enterprise bargaining when it used good-faith dialogue under the Fair Work Australia law to negate Rio Tinto&rsquo;s long-standing preference for individual work agreements. The breakthrough came in an &ldquo;in principle&rdquo; agreement achieved with the mining giant on 9 June that grants 400 iron ore train drivers and car examiners in West Australia collective bargaining rights. 
 
The agreement is precedent-setting and it is hoped that the Anglo-Australian mining house and metals producer follows similar Fair Work law practices in its other Australian businesses and with other Australian unions. The agreement allows the 400 essential staff who moves Australia&rsquo;s valuable iron ore resources to West Coast ports to vote on a collective agreement. 
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Gary Wood
&ldquo;This is a long overdue outcome that would never have been achieved under WorkChoices, and has only been achieved because of the Fair Work Act and the determination of the rank-and-file to stand united in support of their collective rights,&rdquo; said CFMEU West Australia Mining and Energy Secretary Gary Wood. 
 
The agreement came through 18 months of bargaining with Rio Tinto under procedures of two-year-old Fair Work Australia that left the company no alternative but to acquiesce and allow workers to vote on a collective agreement. It also ends an 18-year period of hostility by Rio Tinto to remain union-free and operate under individual work agreements at Rio&rsquo;s Hamersly, Pilbara Iron Ore, and other subsidiaries. 
 
The ICEM salutes the CFMEU for this historic accomplishment on behalf of Australian unions regarding Rio Tinto, and now calls on workers in West Australia to make the most of the achievement in order to speak with a collective voice in making life-enhancing gains for all.

CFMEU Wins Bargaining Rights for Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Train Drivers

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The National Union of Mineworkers, South Africa (NUM) are mobilising against an attempt by Brazilian mining multinational Vale to invest in the African copper belt. Vale&rsquo;s proposed purchase of Metorex Ltd was opposed by the NUM Central Committee, meeting 26-28 May, due to the anti-union history of the country, most notably in Canada. 
 
The NUM will now file a complaint to the Competition Commission, and engage the South African government to intervene against the US$1.1 billion purchase. Meterox is based in South Africa, but all its operations are in Zambia, and the DRC. Huge potential for copper extraction in the DRC is especially attracting Vale to the Meterox deal. 
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At the same time, Vale demonstrated its aggressive opposition to workers&rsquo; organising, in Colombia. On 3 June workers at the El Hatillo mine, in the Department of Cesar, Northern Colombia, organised with Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, and presented modest bargaining demands to management. 
 
Vale Coal Colombia responded to its employees exercising their right to organise and bargain collectively with persecution, threats, and outright refusal to bargain. Vale supervisors at the mine have threatened all workers with the sack if they do not renounce the union. Many El Hastillo employees are precariously employed through outsourced contractors, facilitating Vale&rsquo;s union busting at the mine. 
 
On June 12, El Hastillo superintendent Jairo Tamayo locked employee and union leader Mario Prado in his office and aggressively threatened him. This intimidation caused Mr. Prado a suspected heart attack, and he remains in hospital in a serious condition. 
 
The United Steelworkers last week launched an international campaign supporting Sintramienerg&eacute;tica in their struggle to organise at Vale. An international LabourStart campaign is launched today, calling on the Colombian government ensure the fundamental rights of workers at El Hatillo, and calling on Vale Colombia to halt its union busting efforts and negotiate with the union in good faith. 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1027">LabourStart campaign</a> here, and write to the Colombian President and CEO of Vale Colombia.

NUM, USW Take Gloves Off on Vale in South Africa, Colombia

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A tentative collective agreement was reached late in the evening on 19 June in New York City for 15,000 General Electric (GE) workers in the US. The proposed four-year accord came hours before a Sunday midnight expiration of a prior agreement for 11,000 of the 15,000 workers, represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and the International Union of Electronic Workers/ Communications Workers of America (IUE/CWA). 
 
Ten American unions have been bargaining with GE since 24 May as part of a joint union Coordinating Bargaining Council (CBC). The unions represent industrial workers who manufacture everything from jet airplane engines to locomotive train diesels to electrical appliances to small motors to lighting systems. Pension terms negotiated under the agreement will also apply to staff of NBC, the US television network owned by GE. 
 
Details of the proposed agreement will not be released until Thursday, 23 June, to allow the GE Conference Boards of the UE and IUE/CWA time to consider all provisions and make recommendations to their respective memberships. 
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UE President John Hovis
&ldquo;While the proposal contains important improvements and advances, it also contains certain disappointments,&rdquo; said President John Hovis of the UE, an ICEM affiliate. &ldquo;However, given the current economic climate overall, it&rsquo;s an agreement we can support.&rdquo; 
 
Breakthroughs came in bargaining on 18 June when GE negotiators increased its wage offer and withdrew unfair and additional payments on retirees for prescription drug coverage. Entering bargaining yesterday (19 June), the two sides were still grappling with issues related to a company Health Choice medical plan, a pension scheme for new hires, and regressive GE proposals to an early retirement option for workers. 
 
The CBC has representation from the UE, IUE/CWA, United Steelworkers (USW), International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers (IAM), National Association of Broadcast Employees &amp; Technicians (NABET/CWA), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE), the Electrical Workers (IBEW), Sheet Metal Workers Union (SMWIU), the United Association of Plumbing and Pipefitting Union (UA), and the Firemen &amp; Oilers division of the Service Employees Union (SEIU). 
 
The talks were national in scope for multiple local branch unions of the UE and IUE/CWA, while mostly single-site or single-unit bargaining was simultaneously occurring for the other unions although the entire CBC was at the large table in the New York talks. 
 
Messages of support (or congratulations) can still be given CBC negotiators by signing this IUE/CWA <a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/c/783/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=2601 ">Unity Petition</a>.

Tentative Pact Reached in US for 15,000 General Electric Workers

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A new update has been published by the ICEM of its PowerPoint presentation on &ldquo;Contract and Agency Labour and the ICEM CAL Campaign&rdquo;. This regularly updated presentation, which can be used by anyone, contains not only a considerable number of updated key statistics on Contract and Agency Labour and other forms of precarious work, including the ICEM&rsquo;s own statistics, but also a wide range of national and international &ldquo;best practice examples,&rdquo; highlighting, among other, what unions around the world have done successfully to counter the problem. 
 
The full-length English version of the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/11-05-19%20CAL%20ICEM%20PPT%20for%20website.2.ppt">presentation</a> can be found - and downloaded - here.

New ICEM CAL Facts and Figures Overview

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The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has adopted updated Guidelines for Multinational Companies. The new OECD Guidelines were adopted on 25 May at a signing ceremony led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and attended by AFL-CIO and TUAC President Richard Trumka. 
 
The update contains a number of positive elements, including a chapter on Human Rights and the unequivocal application of the Guidelines to suppliers and other business relationships. The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) statement on the update of the guidelines states: &ldquo;These elements significantly increase the relevance of the Guidelines and their potential to raise the standard of responsible business conduct in a global context. The success of the Update now depends on its prompt and full implementation both by adhering governments and by the OECD.&rdquo; 
 
The updated Guidelines have particular relevance to Contract and Agency Labour as the coverage extends to those &ldquo;in an employment relationship with the multinational enterprise.&rdquo; The commentary to Chapter Five on Employment and Industrial Relations clarifies that the terminology is consistent with that used in the ILO Multinational Enterprises&rsquo; Declaration and refers enterprises wishing to understand the scope of their responsibility under Chapter Five to the non-exhaustive list of employment relationship indicators set forth in ILO Recommendation 198 of 2006, paragraphs 13 (a) and (b). 
 
Paragraph 13 of R198 states that the indicators of the existence of an employment relationship might include: 
(a) the fact that the work: is carried out according to the instructions and under the control of another party; involves the integration of the worker in the organization of the enterprise; is performed solely or mainly for the benefit of another person; must be carried out personally by the worker; is carried out within specific working hours or at a workplace specified or agreed by the party requesting the work; is of a particular duration and has a certain continuity; requires the worker's availability; or involves the provision of tools, materials and machinery by the party requesting the work; 
 
(b) periodic payment of remuneration to the worker; the fact that such remuneration constitutes the worker's sole or principal source of income; provision of payment in kind, such as food, lodging or transport; recognition of entitlements such as weekly rest and annual holidays; payment by the party requesting the work for travel undertaken by the worker in order to carry out the work; or absence of financial risk for the worker. 
 
The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/29/48004323.pdf">OECD MNE Guidelines</a> are available here. 
 
The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/TUAC%20Statement%20on%20Revised%20OECD%20Guidelines.pdf">TUAC Statement</a> on the updated Guidelines is available here (PDF)

OECD Guidelines Positively Updated

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