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Negotiations are presently taking place between the ICEM-affiliated, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) and the Iraqi Drilling Company, following demonstrations and a workplace strike 24 June, 2009. 
 
Management called in Iraqi security forces, who cordoned off the demonstrators and workplaces. We are informed that only the demonstrators&rsquo; determination and good will prevented violence, given that the management had informed the military forces that the demonstrators were terrorists. Workers left at the end of their working hours but returned on the second day, gathering in front of the worksites and halting operating machines. 
 
Workers submitted their demands to the management which include: reopening the trade union, which had been closed by the Director-General, upon the Minister's directive; re-activating the productivity allowances payments and various other allowances; and moreover, the workers called on the ministry to be patient in the signing of licensing contracts which the ministry want to conclude. 

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Iraq&rsquo;s oil workers are legally prevented from forming unions, based on remaining Saddam Hussein-era laws. The workers have organized nonetheless. The 2005 Constitution calls for new labour laws. 
 
Iraqi oil unions have repeatedly protested working conditions; including pay and housing, and opposition to the draft oil law, viewed as too open to foreign investment. The Oil Ministry has instructed its state oil companies not to deal with the unions and has come down hard in the past, as often reported by the ICEM. See recent ICEM reports on Iraq <a href="/en/67-Search-ICEM-site?keywords=IFOU">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
Iraq has the world&rsquo;s third largest oil reserves, with considerable potential for increased levels of production. Iraq earns around 95 percent of state income from oil sales, nearly $62 billion last year. 
 
Negotiations are continuing with workers at the Iraqi Drilling Company. The ICEM will report further developments in this brave struggle for trade union rights.

Iraqi Oil Workers Struggle for Trade Union Rights

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In Bandung, Indonesia in mid-July, the ICEM contributed to a two-day ILO Sectoral Conference on Chemicals. The ICEM presentation was on &ldquo;Benefits of Social Dialogue and the Roles of Unions,&rdquo; and the overall conference served as an effective regional follow-up to an ILO meeting entitled &ldquo;Instruments, Knowledge, Advocacy, Technical Cooperation, and International Collaboration on Hazardous Substances.&rdquo; 
 
Other subjects presented included the ILO&rsquo;s chemicals convention, the convention on Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents, the ILO&rsquo;s health and safety framework, and various green jobs initiatives. Safety and health issues common inside Indonesia also were discussed. 
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The workshops endorsed improved social dialogue techniques, better information gathering and sharing, and heightened promotional activities on safety and health, and sustainability. The forum provided a valuable set of learning tools to ICEM&rsquo;s Indonesian affiliates. 
 
The ICEM presentation in Bandung was made by Brian Kohler, Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer.

ICEM Participates in ILO Indonesian Forum

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ICEM Latin America/Caribbean affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago was proud to have ICEM President and National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa) President Senzeni Zokwana keynote its 24-25 July Delegates Conference. Over 300 militant OWTU members attended the conference inside the proud union&rsquo;s headquarters in San Fernando, with OWTU terming opening day and Zokwana&rsquo;s keynote a &ldquo;momentous occasion.&rdquo; 
 
His theme was &ldquo;The Only Way Out of the Global Economic Crisis: an Independent Workers&rsquo; Agenda and Solidarity Actions.&rdquo; Comrade Zokwana highlighted the need for independent trade unions to engage political activism and collective mass action in solidarity with workers everywhere. He also addressed the necessity for unions to fight hard to always retain the right to strike and other protests. 
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Ancel Roget and Senzeni Zokwana
&ldquo;Your conference is taking place at a critical time when the global political economy is facing major challenges,&rdquo; said Zokwana. He added that the crisis has sent sharp signals to trade unions and citizens in the developing world &ldquo;that capitalism as a system cannot deliver.&rdquo; 
 
The Delegates&rsquo; Conference also reviewed the OWTU&rsquo;s Report of the General Council, which confirmed that the country&rsquo;s most powerful union, led by General President Ancel Roget, is continuing OWTU traditions of placing workers&rsquo; interests first on the agenda of Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
The conference ended on a high note on 25 July with delegates&rsquo; expressing full commitment to OWTU&rsquo;s &ldquo;Rescue Mission,&rdquo; a programme whereby the OWTU lends solidarity to all workers in struggles, with a series of community meetings held in areas affected by employer neglect and labour strike.

ICEM President Zokwana Addresses OWTU Delegates’ Conference in Trinidad/Tobago

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Last week, ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) pulled out of talks with the American Petroleum Institute on developing two new safety standards, worker fatigue and a set of process-safety performance indicators. 
 
The discussions originated with a 2007 US Chemical Safety Board report investigating BP&rsquo;s deadly Texas City, Texas, oil refinery explosion, which killed 15 contract workers in March 2005. The Safety Board recommended that labour unions and the industry lead a working group to develop the two standards in the aftermath of the disaster. 
 
The USW formally withdraw from the process on 4 August, citing skewed industry representation on the committee and lack of earnestness toward transparency issues, overtime work, and contract labour questions inside US refineries regarding safety. 
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Gary Beevers 
&ldquo;This industry will simply not get serious about developing standards that have real meat in them,&rdquo; said USW Vice President and ICEM Executive Committee Member Gary Beevers. He added that USW realised its work on the committee was being met by industry wanting &ldquo;as few regulations and mandates as possible.&rdquo; 
 
USW sought to introduce transparency measures by proposing to make public all safety failures in facilities. The union also wanted manning levels monitored and increased due to an industry practice of constant overtime and continuous work that has led directly to worker fatigue. USW was met with resistance on this, saying industry has called it strictly a &ldquo;management rights issue, and their solution is to force overtime.&rdquo; 
 
In a news release announcing the withdrawal, the USW was sharply critical of an American Petroleum Institute statement claiming injury rates inside refineries average less than in other manufacturing sectors. In fact, the union said, the industry drew data only on refinery workers that are directly employed by a primary energy operator, and failed to account for injuries, accidents, and deaths of contract employees. 
 
The work group is charged with developing two new standards for the American National Standards Institute. It had been composed of representatives from 22 oil companies and only three trade union representatives, with government and other stakeholders serving as well. 
 
The American Petroleum Institute responded defensively to USW&rsquo;s withdrawal. In a statement, also issued on 4 August, it charged the union with undermining the process and &ldquo;trying to silence the voices of other stakeholders on the committee.&rdquo; Beevers, in an interview with the Houston (Texas) Chronicle newspaper, called industry&rsquo;s assertion &ldquo;absolutely ridiculous.&rdquo; 

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Leo Gerard
Amerca&rsquo;s largest industrial union forewarned of management&rsquo;s recalcitrance to improve safety and health inside the downstream oil and gas sector in collective agreement talks that concluded early in 2009. After making health and safety the primary topic in the negotiations, USW was stonewalled on the issue, with USW President Leo Gerard saying &ldquo;the industry refused to allow us to be equal partners with them in resolving health and safety problems.&rdquo; 
 
The USW will now conduct a survey related to the two proposed standards and then use it in a direct and targeted campaign in order to get the US Chemical Safety Board to recommend proper fatigue and process-safety standards.

Steelworkers Say US Oil Industry Tainting Safety-Practice Standards

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Contract workers at a Petrobras refinery called Get&uacute;lio Vargas, in Araucaria, Paran&aacute; state, achieved considerable advances in working conditions and salaries, following a strike. The 17-day work stoppage ended Monday, 27 July, after agreement was reached between the Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores do Paran&aacute; (CUT-PR) and the state-run company. 
 
The talks chaired by the National Ministry for Labour. 
 
Gains achieved by the unions include a minimum monthly salary of US$726, a 10% increase, a new food and housing allowance of US$150, and improvements to overtime. Overtime from Monday to Saturday will be paid at 60% above regular work rates, and on Sundays and holidays, 120%. Workers will now also receive a hazard allowance, health and life insurance, and bonuses linked to profits made by Petrobras. 
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Roni Anderson Barbosa 
&quot;The negotiation has fulfilled its purpose. We gained a good collective agreement for most workers,&quot; stated Parana State President of CUT, Roni Anderson Barbosa. 
 
There are 31 contract companies operating at the two plants in Araucaria, employing around 10,000 workers. The CUT Parana mobilised support and solidarity, nationally and internationally, for the workers of Repar Fosf&eacute;rtil, during negotiations.

Agreement Ends Oil Workers’ Contract Strike in Brazil

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A full season of biannual wage negotiations is nearly complete, following several fierce but short strikes in a handful of ICEM sectors. Other sectors, including public service and the construction trades witnessed raucous strikes in July. 
 
In mining, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) settled major gold and coal contracts covering 200,000 miners without strikes, while another ICEM affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) was forced to take industrial actions against companies in the chemicals, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, and fast Moving Consumer Goods in order to achieve wage objectives. 
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One set of negotiations that remains contentious is in electricity, with ICEM affiliates NUM and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) poised to take protest and industrial actions this week against Eskom. The state-run utility, Africa&rsquo;s largest electrical provider, and the unions are not far apart in negotiations, talks now being conducted by South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCCM). 
 
The agency presented a mediated offer of 9.5%, but the unions, including a third one, seek an increase in housing allowances on top of a first-year 9.5% increase. Eskom has remained fixed on offering only 8%, but that is likely to change this week as industrial actions draw closer. Some 29,000 workers are employed at Eskom, with NUM representing 16,000 and NUMSA covering 5,000. On 5 August, the two unions held a joint strategy meeting and charted a common course of action for the coming days. It will start with a march and mobilisation scheduled for Thursday this week, 13 August. 
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It is unclear what shape industrial actions will take against Eskom since, by law, the power generator and supplier is considered an essential service. A majority of workers at Eskom would be exempt from striking. But the unions are prepared to stretch the law in order to win fair wage gains. &ldquo;Our workers are angry, they are very angry and they are prepared to get fired by Eskom if need be,&rdquo; said NUM&rsquo;s Eskom Chief Negotiator, Paris Mashego. 
 
Elsewhere in South Africa, wage discussions that now are complete show better than inflation gains. The Consumer Price Index had been 8% or higher during most of the second quarter, but dropped to 6.9% late in June. The rand has weakened of late, which should help the country&rsquo;s export-oriented economy and the major hope is that the jobs situation will improve. 
 
CEPPWAWU used nine-day rolling strikes against several employers to win wage increases ranging from 8% to 10% for 45,000 workers. Companies that faced walkouts included industrial chemicals firms Sasol, Omnia, and Afrox; pulp and paper producers Sappi and Mondi; pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline, Pharma, and Indigo Cosmetics; and Fast Moving Consumer Goods, such as Unilever, Colgate, and Tiger Brands. Strikes lasted from 20 July to 29 July. 

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CEPPWAWU negotiates with industry associations or companies in ten separate areas, including petroleum, glass, sawmilling, tissue and allied, particle board, and Sasol Mines. In petroleum, a two-year accord was reached with such companies as BP, Shell, PetroSA, Engen, and Chevron&rsquo;s Caltex without a strike. The agreement calls for a 9.5% increase effective 1 July, with another 0.5% hike coming in January 2010 that will be based in June 2009 wages. 
 
In 2010, petroleum workers will receive the South African inflation rate then, plus 1.5%. They will get another 0.5% increase in January 2011. 
 
A priority for CEPPWAWU in this set of talks was extending paid maternity leave, and abolition of labour brokers and upgrading jobs held by casual workers to permanent status. In pharmaceuticals, where 10% gains were realised, and in Fast Moving Consumer Goods, maternity leave was extended to six months, at 33% of pay. 
 
As for the NUM, the gold and coal contracts were concluded for the first time without dispute resolution involvement by the CCCM. On 28 July, NUM settled with the mining houses in both sectors. In gold, with AngloGold, Harmony, and Goldfields leading the way, miners will see 10.5% for lower-classified staff and 9% for those in the higher categories. In 2010, the increase will be inflation plus 1%, with a minimum increases of 7.5% guaranteed. 
 
In coal mining, where BHP Billiton, AngloAmerican, and Xstrata dominate, lower-tiered miners receive 11% retroactive to 1 July, with higher classified workers getting 9%. 
 
The NUM is in dispute with Murray and Roberts, a contract mining and construction services company, and with Two Rivers Platinum, jointly owned by African Rainbow Minerals and Impala Platinum. Talks with the major platinum producers are continuing. 
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Fierce strikes were waged by the NUM in mid-July against construction companies, specifically on the FIFA 2010 World Cup stadium, and by the South African Municipal Workers&rsquo; Union (SAMWU) late in July. Satisfactory wage terms were reached in both, ending the strikes. The Communications Workers Union (CWU) is still in dispute with several companies, including Telkom.

Eskom Strike Looms, But South African Pay Talks Wind Down

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The mining strike in Canada by members of the United Steelworkers (USW) against Brazilian Vale-Inco intensified on 1 August when 450 staff at Voisey&rsquo;s Bay in the eastern province of Labrador and Newfoundland struck. Those nickel, copper, and cobalt mining and processing workers join 3,500 USW nickel and smelting staff of Vale, who have been on strike in Ontario since 13 July. 
 
There, USW Locals 6500 and 6200 in Sudbury and Port Colborne are resisting affronts to their work standards by Vale, including deep reductions to pension benefits, downgrading a production bonus, loss of value in cost-of-living increases, and greater company flexibility on outsourcing, something that stands as a serious threat to job security. The same set of concessions is before USW Local 9508 in Voisey&rsquo;s Bay in talks over a separate labour agreement. 
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(Visit the strike website here <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a> to learn more.) 
 
Although no formal talks have been held, USW and Vale-Inco in Ontario came to a picket-line protocol ten days ago that gives union officials on-site monitoring of contractors in order to protect bargaining-unit work. With the strike in Ontario hitting its one-month mark this week and global nickel prices starting to creep upward due to the walkout, the USW has launched a global campaign to pressure profitable Vale to drop demands that most certainly would bring social depravation to Canadian miners and their communities. 
 
The USW has rapidly activated the 150,000-worker Vale Union Network, a workers&rsquo; network started in 2006 with the &ldquo;Sudbury Accord&rdquo; that linked then-CVRD trade unions in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Mozambique, and New Caledonia with one another. The network has expanded since, and with the start of the Canadian strike, mining and other unions in Australia, Germany, Peru, Sweden, South Africa, and within other countries have picked up the call of support. 
 
The &ldquo;Sudbury Accord&rdquo; contains six basic priorities, including stronger collective agreements, capitalisation by the company to ensure job security for miners, and the elimination of outsourcing and contract labour. 
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In the company&rsquo;s home country, the Brazilian labour federation Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) reaffirmed its support of the unity accord by issuing a strong statement condemning Vale&rsquo;s corporate conduct. &ldquo;With the current international financial crisis, workers don&rsquo;t need to pay for a crisis they didn&rsquo;t create,&rdquo; said CUT President Artur Henrique da Silva Santos. CUT, the USW, and the entire Vale Union Network has designated 14 August as an International Day of Struggle on behalf of the Canadian strikers. 
 
The USW has dispatched teams of strikers to Brazil to explain the stakes, and the Canadians have been convincing in questioning Vale&rsquo;s rationale in its proposed social cuts. 
 
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also weighed in on the company social conduct. In a news magazine article, he scolded CEO Roger Agnelli for Vale&rsquo;s job-slashing and investment curtailments. Lula threatened to unleash the state development bank&rsquo;s investment arm and state-run pension monies on Vale in order to force better corporate behaviour. 
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Wayne Fraser
In northern Ontario, public sentiment around the Sudbury and Timmons mining towns is running strongly in favour of the strikers and of the belief &ndash; in the words of USW&rsquo;s lead negotiator and District Six Director Wayne Fraser &ndash; that the USW and local communities will not &ldquo;walk backwards&rdquo; with Vale&rsquo;s plans to negatively change the social culture of the region. 
 
Several Canadian unions have sent delegations to join picket lines in Ontario. Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Mine, Mill Local 598 in Sudbury, a union itself in a jobs dispute with Xstrata and one with a contrct expiration coming early in 2010, marched alongside USW strikers in a 24 July manifestation and contributed C$5,000 to the local USW strike fund. A public employees union in Ontario joined picket lines and contributed C$2,800. 
 
Delegations from another USW branch representing Vale-Inco workers in Canada, Local 6166 in Thompson, Manitoba province, arrived last week in northern Ontario and lent valuable support. The same outpouring will now be extended to USW Local 9508 in Voisey&rsquo;s Bay. 
 
As for the ICEM, which closely monitored last spring&rsquo;s negotiations and then the extended contract talks in both Ontario and Labrador from May to July in unsuccessful USW efforts to move Vale off the destructive proposals, it calls on global unions and all of civil society to resist Vale&rsquo;s agenda in Canada. 
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Manfred Warda
Noting the company&rsquo;s overall profitability and its role with two other major mining houses to ratchet up iron ore prices worldwide, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;We demand that Vale return to negotiations and retreat from this harsh social agenda, an agenda that is socially irresponsible of a national company that is aggressively entering global mining markets. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM and its global family of trade unions worldwide say &lsquo;no&rsquo; to Vale&rsquo;s assault on the living standards of Canadian workers and we call on Vale to fulfil the social promises that it made when it acquired Inco in 2006.&rdquo; 
 
Further, the ICEM notes that Vale boasts of its reduced operating margins, as measured by earnings minus tax and interest. In first quarter of 2009, operating margins have decreased a full 12%. That is just one reason why Canadian miners have drawn a line in this struggle by refusing to accept social cuts and contractual take-aways. 
 
As markets now begin to be affected by these Canadian strikes, the ICEM reaffirms its global support to the 4,000 strikers of Vale-Inco, and encourages all unions to provide visible help. The fight by USW Locals 6500 and 6200 in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, and USW Local 9508 in Voisey&rsquo;s Bay, is a flash-point inside the financial crisis &hellip; and more specifically, recovery. Preserving social benefits that protect people is a fight, at this particular time, that deserves broad support. 
 
Again, please visit the strike website here <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a> and learn what you can do to help.

No Talks, But Solidarity on the Rise in Canadian Nickel Strike

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A summer-long Korean labour dispute that spiraled into a 25 August lockout by Kumho Tire Co. at three manufacturing plants was resolved Saturday, 5 September, when South Korea&rsquo;s second largest tyre maker and the Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union of the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU) reached a compromise settlement. 
 
That compromise will preserve 733 of 4,000 jobs that Kumho had proposed be cut. The union, in turn, will extend a 2008 wage freeze through 2009. The Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union also agreed to forego scheduled 2008 bonuses, with talks over 2009 bonus schemes to be held in the first quarter of 2010. 
 
The dispute began in June when management demanded another wage freeze, non-payment of bonuses, a job-sharing plan that would cut work hours, thus reducing salaries between 20-to-30%, and the redundancies, totaling 18% of the entire workforce. The union then began a series of industrial actions, and was prepared to escalate job actions after Kumho reported its restructuring plan to the Ministry of Labour on 24 August.
<img src="" width="140" height="102" alt="" />
Instead, the company imposed lockouts at tyre facilities in Gwangju, Gwanngju province, Gokseong, South Jeolla province, and Pyeonggtaek, Gyeonggi province. When Kumho lifted the lockouts some ten days later, workers embarked on sit-in strike actions. Those ended at the weekend with the negotiated compromise. 
 
The union also retreated on a &ldquo;no work/no pay&rdquo; demand by Kumho for the strike days, and salaries will not be paid during periods of strike. The dispute mirrored some of the negative results from the recent Ssangyong Motor struggle. 
 
Kumho Tire is part of the conglomerate Kumho Asiana Group, a holding company that took on massive debt in 2006 with the purchase of Daewoo Engineering &amp; Construction Co. The group&rsquo;s debt-to-equity ratio rose five-fold and Kumho has tried to reduce debt by reducing labour costs. 
 
Kumho Tire has severed its workforce by 130 each year since ill-advised purchase of Daewoo, but last year, in July, a four-day strike by the Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union convinced the company to withdraw 431 announced redundancies. In the past year, however, Kumho opened its second plant in China, a truck and bus tyre facility in the city of Nanjing. 
 
The Tire Workers&rsquo; Union, through the KMWU, is affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). 

&nbsp;

Korean Tyre Dispute at Kumho Ends in Compromise

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A record number 364 union and management participants attended a Social Dialogue Conference in Thailand last week, 31 August, sponsored by the ICEM, the Thai Ministry of Labour, FNV Mondiaal of the Netherlands, LO-TCO of Norway, and the Employers&rsquo; Federation of Thailand (ECOT). 
 
The title of the conference was &ldquo;International Labour Standards and the Wisdom of Co-Existence,&rdquo; and central in purpose was to shape a common understanding of ILO core labour standards, as well as building responsible social governance between Thai labour unions and multinational companies. 
 
Over 150 people more than were expected turned out for the conference, held at the Siam City Hotel in Bangkok. Managing directors and human resource executives from 28 companies attended, including representatives from Esso, Linde-TIG Industrial Gases, Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., and Norske Skog paper company.
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="210" />
Part of the Partipants at the Social Dialogue Conference
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated those present, and expressed hope that a true commitment to a new era of labour-management relations in Thailand was at hand. He also pledged to extend the resources of the Global Union Federation to Thailand in order that the country ratify core labour conventions, namely Conventions 87 and 98, freedom of association and right to collection bargaining, and Convention 111, the Discrimination in Employment and Occupation Convention. 
 
&ldquo;It is imperative that values of mutual faith and cooperation be built between managers of transnational companies and Thai labour unions,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;For this to effectively begin, the Thai government must lead by starting the process toward ratification of ILO core labour standards.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM organized the conference, jointly with the Thai Ministry of Labour, as a follow-up to a resolution from its 2007 Bangkok Congress. There, delegates recognized a Thai labour-management system structured on authoritarianism and hierarchal in industrial relations.
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="186" />
&nbsp;Yoshio Sato of Japan, representing ICEM's Asia-Pacific Region; in rear,&nbsp;ICEM Thai Chairman Rawai Pupaga, ECOT Gen. Sec. Siriwan Romchat-thong, and the Thai Labour Ministry&rsquo;s Somchai Chumrat
&nbsp;
ECOT General Secretary Siriwan Romchat-thong confirmed in her opening remarks that the employers&rsquo; federation would support ratification of Conventions 87 and 98. A panel discussion composed of labour, management, and governmental leaders showed a consensus toward ratification in the immediate future. 
 
The Thai Permanent Secretary of the Labour Ministry, Somchai Chumrat, stressed the mutual benefit that can be gained through trust between labour and management by dialogue and understanding. &ldquo;Employers cannot live in a vacuum,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Managers and workers&rsquo; representatives must sit together to discuss the wisdom of conducting labour relations in peaceful cooperation.&rdquo; 
 
He added that although Thailand recognizes the benefit of foreign investment, senior executives of multinationals must clarify the roles of local managers in Thailand so that they act according to international labour standards and national laws. 
 
Another speaker that echoed the immediate need for a changed culture was Rawai Pupaga, chairman of the ICEM Thai Affiliates Committee and President of Government Pharmaceutical Employees&rsquo; Association (GPOTU). As a first step, he called on Thai workers and managers alike to show respect for workers&rsquo; rights by taking part in World Day for Decent Work activities on 7 October. 
 
Other resource people calling for a different labour-management culture were Tim de Meyer, senior specialist for the ILO on International Labour Standards and Labour Law, and Lae Dilokwidhayarat of Chulalongkorn University. Dilokwidhayarat stressed that the globalisation of capital and freedom of movement demands respect for the concept of decent work, meaning adequate compensation, trade union representation, and stability, security, and protection of workplace rights. 

A side meeting to the Social Dialogue Conference occurred between the ICEM, local executives of Linde and its Thai Industrial Gases subsidiary, and ICEM affiliate TIG Local Union. The Thai subsidiary of Linde has been neglectful over trade union rights at some 20 Thai workplaces, particularly in respect to work rights and full-time opportunities for short-term contract and temporary workers. The meeting did produce an understanding that TIGLU and the company&rsquo;s managing and human resource directors would meet in the near future to discuss problems and strive for a better relationship.
<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="225" />
&nbsp; 
Visit to the Norske Skog Mill in Singburi 

One employer that has practiced exemplary social responsibility in Thailand has been the Norwegian paper company Norske Skog. On 1 September, Warda, Rawai Pupaga, ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath, and ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Contact Person, Phee Jungsun, visited the factory in Singburi, where workers and local managers, including Managing Director Torpong Thongcharoen, hailed a relationship that can serve as a standard within Thailand. Notably, the collective agreement at Norske Skog in Singburi has strict language regarding the use of contract and agency labour, language that both sides respect and adhere to.

ICEM Social Dialogue Conference in Thailand Exceeds Expectations

ICEM Women’s Bulletin No. 35/Boletín de noticias de las mujeres de ICEM No. 35

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