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<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Turkish affiliates of the ICEM, some 13 in total, have come together to form a committee with a view to working efficiently and being actively involved in the activities of the ICEM. 
 
The first meeting of the ICEM Turkish Coordination Committee was held in Ankara on 2 August 2007. Chaired by Mustafa Kumlu, President of Turkish Electricity, Water and Gas Workers’ Union (Tes-İş), which hosted the historic gathering, the meeting was attended by 30 representatives from the affiliates. 
 
At his opening speech, Mustafa Kumlu, an ICEM Executive Committee member, said, “Turkey is situated in a unique part of the world. On the one hand we have Europe and the Balkans, and on the other Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Mediterranean basin.
<img height="260" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0707Turkey5.jpg" width="390"/>
 From left, ICEM’s Özkan and Warda; Mustafa Kumlu, President of Tes-İş; and Mustafa Öztaskin, president of Turkish ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş 
“This gives us very important, but very difficult tasks,” he added. Kumla said part of the difficulty lies with the fact that the Turkish trade union movement is facing an era of privatisation, rampant subcontracting, trade union rights violations, and redundancies that are steadily growing. “We expect the ICEM to support us in promoting trade union rights and freedoms, as well as to provide solidarity in time of conflicts, especially during organising drives,” Kumla said. 
 
Turkish unions, he stressed, want to make their own inputs into the activities of the ICEM, as well as support and solidarity worldwide. “One of the important pillars of our trade union work is to reinforce international solidarity and transnational cooperation,” Kumla said. 
 
But there can be no denying that Turkish labour legislation is wilfully lacking in meeting international standards, particularly ILO conventions. Turkey’s trade union leaders are well aware that the ILO’s Committee on Applications of Standards has placed the country and employers operating in the country on the agenda at its meetings this year. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda presented the federation’s activities, and spoke of the developments in connection with ICEM’s 4th World Congress in November in Bangkok, Thailand. He also spoke on the different projects of the ICEM, including HIV/AIDS and Contract and Agency Labour. He also addressed regional-based projects, and said that it was essential that affiliates use the ICEM’s Global Framework Agreements to organise inside multinational companies. 
 
Warda took up potential cooperation areas and joint initiatives in which Turkish unions are welcome and invited to participate. Specifically, he mentioned the ICEM’s role in bringing free and democratic trade unions in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East, as well as further involvement in the highly successful energy project in the Caspian Region.
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Turkey.png" width="250"/>
  
The ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industry Officer, Kemal Özkan, informed participants about ICEM’s specific services for affiliates, such as efforts to create a Turkish language version on the ICEM website. Özkan, a trade unionist who spent many years in the Turkish labour movement, also cited specific projects for the country in the coming months, including a workshop on Contract and Agency Labour in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). 
 
Commenting on the reports given, the participants expressed their appreciation to the ICEM as it actively continues to back ongoing industrial actions and strikes in different industries inside Turkey.

ICEM’s Turkish Affiliates’ Coordinating Committee Meets in Ankara

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The ICEM is in strong support of oilworkers’ trade unions in Iraq over the most recent denial of their rights. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Sharistani, through his legal adviser Laith abd al Hussein Shahir, issued a formal directive to the country’s oil companies, ordering them not to deal with trade unions and to exclude trade unionists from work committees. 
 
The directive, in effect, is meant to silence Iraq’s oil unions from having an effect on the proposed Hydrocarbon Law. That law, which allows outside companies to exploit Iraq’s wealth, has been approved by the Iraqi government and now is before the country’s parliament. Iraq’s oil workers and their unions have become the most outspoken opponents to the measure, arguing that it would ignite already dangerous regional rivalries and enrich global oil companies at the expense of ordinary Iraqis.
<img height="67" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraqflag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Sharistani’s directive, which states that “unions do not enjoy any legal status to work inside the government sector,” is a repeat of the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Decree 8750, issued by the occupational forces in 2003 to prevent public-sector oil workers from forming trade unions. It is also a replay of Saddam’s Decree 150, which banned all public-sector unions. 
 
“The promotion and development of free and democratic trade unions, and the necessary social dialogue attached to that is essential for the reconstruction and reconciliation in Iraq,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We stand with our Iraqi brothers and sisters, and ask that this draconian directive be rescinded.” 
 
Iraq’s constitution, passed in 2005 with great hoopla praise from the occupational forces, enshrines the right of forming and joining professional associations and unions, and states this will be set in law. Sharistani’s directive of 18 July 2007 is directly contradictory to Iraq’s constitution. Iraq has also ratified ILO Convention 98 on Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, and thus has international obligations to promote voluntary unionism and collective bargaining rights.
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Maps/Iraq.png" width="250"/>
Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Workers, representing 26,000 workers in the Southern Oil Companies, said his members would not recognise the directive since “we are working for Iraq.” He had called the oil law a “planned theft of Iraqi oil disguised as ‘The Hydrocarbon Law.’” 
 
The General Union of Oil Workers and Technicians (GUOWT), part of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), sent a delegation on 6 August to meet with the oil minister. Sharistani refused to meet, but sent the Information director of the ministry to tell the trade unionists that the oil minister “will not meet with people that represent unions in the oil sector” because there are no workers in this sector, only “state employees.” 
 
The GFIW delegation did deliver a letter, which demanded that Sharistani withdraw the directive.

Reckless and Repressive Union-Busting by Iraqi Oil Minister

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Pakistani workers of the Water and Development Authority (WAPDA), behind ICEM affiliate Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU), marched and rallied 29 October in Peshawar. 
 
They were protesting government neglect in investigating the kidnapping of a driver employed by Peshawar Electricity Supply Co. Mukhtiar Khan was abducted on company property in October, and is being held for ransom.
The protest came five days before General Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s constitution and declared a state of emergency. Musharraf’s illegal decree is aimed at a judiciary trying to install democratic principles in law-making, and the decree could bring police force against any future protests by PWLU.
The kidnapping and subsequent march and rally on 29 October reinforced PWLU’s commitment to hold the government responsible for the physical security of Pakistan’s public workers. Terrorism, lawlessness, and unemployment have all shown their ugly traits in the country, and Musharraf’s decree will not alleviate that. The consequences are magnified inside the 130,000-worker WAPDA, a public utility now on the privatisation chopping block in a plan put forward by the World Bank. 
<img height="97" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMelectricity6.JPG" width="100"/>
PWLU General Secretary Imtiaz Syed Pirzada Said made a point of that a week ago. He said global funding agencies are “pressuring the government to privatise profit-earning units at throw-away prices to multinational corporations.” At present, a World Bank plan to split off the Pakistan Electric Power Co. (PEPCO) from WAPDA has entered its final phase.
PWLU rightly claims that privatisation will mean burdens on consumers that “translates into increased energy charges.” Unionised workers at WAPDA are keen that any restructuring at the public utility start with an overhaul of the political patronage system, a system in which appointments and transfers at administrative levels have hampered efficiency of the company. Workers also claim this system is a major factor in the government’s non-delivery of basic services, such as education and health.
At the 29 October protest, hundreds of WAPDA workers marched from a staging point to the Peshawar Press Club, where they blocked traffic on a major road through the city. Workers chanted slogans demanding full security on the job, or, if not, government officials must quit their posts. PWLU provincial leader Shahnaz Akhtar told the rally that Peshawar’s provincial government has not taken the steps necessary to recover Mukhtiar Khan. 
 
The rally follows a WAPDA demonstration a week earlier, in which hydro-electric workers protested a company take-away of a bonus scheme as part of a privatisation plan at another enterprise. At that rally on 23 October, WAPDA union leaders publicly highlighted another major lapse in government security by honouring the working journalists who were killed covering Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming on 18 October. A total of 141 people were killed in a bomb explosion in Karachi then.

Security Concerns High in Pakistan with Utility Worker’s Abduction

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A general strike across South Africa’s mining industry is still very likely to occur in November, according to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The 300,000-member union issued a rejection of a mediated offer put forward by the Chamber of Mines to conduct only shift strikes. 
 
The NUM formally applied to South Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for the right to strike in mid-October. They await a certificate granting them 48-hour strike notice. The strike is to call attention to serious safety deficiencies brought on by high production.
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfrica.png" width="250"/>
The NUM is engaged at the CCMA with the Chamber of Mines at the bargaining table, and they are in full mobilisation with 250,000 miners to bring a 24-hour general strike against all mining houses in South Africa. The last general strike in mining occurred 20 years ago. 
 
The NUM is now conducting mass meetings of miners, and will ratchet that up with national and region actions, before launching the general strike. The union’s National Executive Committee met late last week in special session to discussion the safety issue. “Our members would like to go on strike to protest safety today,” read a NUM statement, “but the legal system is a disappointment to them since it stipulates processes and processes.”
  
The NUM warned job action will occur. “A showdown looms over safety,” the NUM said. We are “determined to have a solution to the escalating fatalities” in the mining sector. 
<img height="60" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Meanwhile, the fatalities in South Africa’s mines keep occurring. On 31 October, two miners died when explosives ignited inside Goldfield’s Kloof Mine near Westenaria. The NUM blamed end of month spikes in production to achieve bonus levels as the cause. This is the same mine in which three miners died on 10 October when a rope hoisting a skip loaded with rocks snapped, and crashed down a shaft. 
 
In another mine blast, this time at a platinum operation, two miners were killed on 23 October. The company involved was Marula Platinum and the mine is located in Burgersfort, Limpopo. 
 
On October 17, South Africa’s Inspector of Mines, Thabo Gazi, presented his annual report to the Parliament’s Committee on Minerals and Energy. The report included 2006 deaths compared to those in 2005. Deaths in the coal and gold sectors rose in 2006 by 16% and 10%, respectively, in those two sectors, while deaths in the platinum industry fell by 15%. 
 
In 2003, the Chamber of Mines made a commitment to achieve a rate of zero workplace deaths by 2013. In June of this year, 2007 at an employers’ summit, the chamber admitted that drastic action was needed now to curb 2007’s death rate.

NUM Rejects Chamber's Strike Compromise in South Africa

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A year’s worth of steady pressure by the ICEM and the Flint/Glass Industry Workers’ section of the United Steelworkers (USW) of America produced an important initial result. The US-based company that manufactures metal moulding for the Colombian glass industry agreed to joint social dialogue at three plants with ICEM affiliate Sintravidricol. 
 
Talks did begin on 24 October at Ross-owned companies Moldes Medellin Ltda., Andes International Tooling, and Andes Cast Foundry Metals. The plants, in total, employ 220 workers. Workers hope a common collective agreement can be achieved at a single bargaining table.
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombiaflag.gif" width="100"/>
The company’s acquiescence and decision to hold joint social dialogue with workers of the three plants is an important milestone in Colombian labour relations, the ICEM said. 
 
Ross has already agreed that, effective 21 November 2007, workers at Andes Tooling and Andes Cast Metals will receive the same extra-legal conditions that exist at Moldes Medellin, a plant in Sabaneta where currently the only collective agreement exists. 
 
Sintravidricol organised this Ross International plant in 2004, but the company attempted to avert the unionisation and bargaining with the union by opening new plants staffed by short-term contract workers. By combining the union’s organizing outreach at the new plants with relentless intervention by ICEM and USW’s Flint/Glass section, the company agreed to begin the joint talks. 
 
“This is an important step, but negotiations are just beginning,” stated ICEM Colombian Coordinator Carlos Bustos. “We must remain alert, continue to reinforce the unity that has developed between workers here and workers at Ross plants in the US, and keep the willingness to fight until bargaining goals are met.” 
<img height="101" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Maps/Colombia.png" width="220"/>
Bustos singled out ICEM staff in Brussels, as well as the USW’s Flint/Glass Chairman Tim Tuttle for their steady efforts over a two-year period. He also singled out workers at Ross’s US plants in Washington, state of Pennsylvania, and Brockport, Pennsylvania, for their “constant support and solidarity.” USW has taken the struggle in Colombia inside the Ross plants in the US, as well as to local branch unions of glass-maker Owens-Illinois in the US, Ross’s largest customer in Colombia at the company’s Peldar subsidiary. 
 
Sintravidricol already has successfully negotiated conversion of 40 jobs from contract status to full-time and permanent status at the three plants, and further progress on that is a central goal in ongoing bargaining. 
 
The union, the ICEM, and its US partner, the USW, will continue to press for unionisation and inclusion in talks for 115 mostly contract workers at two other Ross start-up companies in Colombia. Those businesses are Ross Sand Casting Industries and Ross International Design and Machining.

Three-Plant Talks Achieved with US-based Ross International by Sintravidricol in Colombia

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The National Administrative Office (NAO) of Mexico’s trade pact enforcement agency in the Labour Ministry has issued an immediate call for answers to questions on the progress in gaining collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in the US state of North Carolina. 
 
The US, Mexico, and Canada share the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in which a side accord, the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), is being used to challenge the lack of labour rights in North Carolina.
<img height="76" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USUE.jpg" width="130" align="absMiddle" alt=""/>    <img height="96" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/MexicoFAT.jpg" width="100" align="absMiddle" alt=""/>
NAALC is the only NAFTA side agreement signed by the US government that addresses labour standards. 
 
The NAO in Mexico sent a six-page query to its American counterpart. It asked for answers to questions related to a state law that prohibits collective bargaining in the public sector, as well as a progress report by the US NAO following a rebuke of the state law by the ILO’s Freedom of Association Committee. Specifically, the Mexican government asks, “What have the governments of the United States and North Carolina done in respect to the recommendation of the Freedom of Association Committee?” 
 
The action in Mexico is a result of action by trade union Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT), on behalf of their northern comrades, the ICEM affiliate United, Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers of America (UE). FAT’s Mexican petition, and one by the UE to the US government, has 53 co-signers, ranging from community organisations to labour groups, including Global Union Federations ICEM and Public Services International (PSI). 
 
Local 150 of the UE, the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, has build a strong union membership of 3,000 workers in the US state, but most are without bargaining rights due to an archaic state law.
<img height="139" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Mexico.png" width="300"/>
In March 2007, the ILO committee said that failing to comply “with freedom of association principles in North Carolina has resulted in grievous working conditions for many public sector workers.” The Committee on Freedom of Association specifically cited ILO Conventions 87, 98, and 151, and stated that “although these Conventions have not been ratified by the United States,” the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work makes the US government “obligated to respect, promote and realise the principles embodied in these Conventions regardless of ratification.” 
 
Workers of UE Local 150 see other rights being abused as well. On 26 October, the union and supporters delivered a petition to University of North Carolina President, Erskine Bowles. 
 
The petition demanded that Bowles lift a censorship decree on university workers who had submitted an article to a university publication. The workers composed the article as part of its yearly Employee Forum contribution and it spelled out basic information and education on collection bargaining. Administrators at the state-run school censured and stopped the article from appearing in the magazine. 
 
UE Local 150 is comprised of low-wage workers such as janitors, garbage haulers, groundskeepers, housekeepers, medical helpers, and bus drivers, who are mostly employed in different government sectors.

Mexican Government Cites US over Public Sector Bargaining in North Carolina State

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In February 2006, 550 trade unionists and academics from around the world gathered in New York City for a conference called “Global Companies, Global Unions, Global Research, Global Campaigns.” Now, a book called “Global Unions: Challenging Transnational Capital Through Cross-Border Campaigns” has been published from the conference. 
 
Edited by Kate Bronfenbrenner, the book contains 11 narratives from the best of the papers submitted at the conference. It contains essays on Global Framework Agreements, Transnational Companies and Human Rights Abuse in the Global South, and National or European: Local Trade Union Politics within Transnational Business. 
<img height="169" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USWGeorge Becker.jpg" width="120"/>
George Becker, 1928 - 2007
The conference was organised by the New York State Industrial and Labour Relations School of Cornell University, and had strong support from the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers (USW). The book is dedicated to former USW President George Becker, who was gravely ill at the time of the conference. A special tribute to him at the conference focused on his steadfast work during the 1994-95 strike at Bridgestone-Firestone in the US, and the international work that influenced that strike. 
 
The 280-page book is available by visiting <a href="http://www.Cornellpress.cornell.edu">www.Cornellpress.cornell.edu</a>, and orders and sales can be made by contacting Nathan Gemignani at <a href="mailto:ndg5@cornell.edu">ndg5@cornell.edu</a>. The book’s cost is US$22.50, GB£11.50, or A$39.95.

Book from New York Labour Conference Available from Cornell University Press

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1. The ICEM Women’s Conference Runs 17-18 November in Bangkok 
2. Africa – More Women in Governments 
3. Mexico – Discrimination Is on the Rise 
4. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) Meets in Washington 
5. ‘Molecular condom’ Is Developed To Fight HIV/AIDS 
6. From Our Readers 
7. Resources
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
1. The ICEM Women’s Conference Runs 17-18 November in Bangkok
All systems are go for the ICEM Women’s Conference, which will kick off week-long events of the ICEM’s Fourth Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. The Women’s Committee will be meeting on 17 and 18 November, and most delegates will stay on to attend Congress as delegates. The conference theme is “Women – Work – 21st Century.” 
 
The theme blocks for the conference will cover peace, contract and agency labour, women’s health in the broadest sense, and the work-life balance. Presentations, debates, and working groups will contemplate these subjects and decide on a work plan covering these issues for the next four years. Congress motions will also be discussed. 
 
The conference will elect the chair and vice-chair of the Women’s Section, who in turn will sit on the ICEM Presidium. We look forward to seeing you in great numbers in Bangkok! 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
2. Africa – More Women in Governments 
In Morocco, seven women were appointed to head strategic ministries, ranging from energy to culture. This compares with two in the previous government. In Senegal, the new Senate has double the number of women. There are now 40 women in that body, out of 100 total, and this compares with the previous chamber, which had only 18 women. 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
3. Mexico – Discrimination Is on the Rise 
A recent Mexican report indicates that accusations for job-related discrimination have gone up astronomically. From 2001 to 2006 the accusations of sexual harassment went up by 122%, firing for pregnancy-related causes by 106%, work-related violence by 61% and general discrimination by 133%. 
 
Employers tend to consider pregnancy to be a crime, instead of it being normal and a social responsibility. The Women’s Institute considers sexual harassment to be one of the reasons why women are not promoted. The salary gap in Mexico is between 7% and 35%. The old forms of discrimination still remain, but they have been joined by new ones – emphasis on size, stature, figure, physical appearance, and simply on being single. 
 
Discrimination is banned by the Constitution, but the Labour Ministry feels that not much can be done against it because there are too loopholes. The main problem is that there is no culture of equality. Economic necessity also forces women to accept jobs that they know beforehand discrimination exists. But when women are heads of families, they have little choice. 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
4. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) Meets in Washington 
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) met in Washington on 5-6 November. The Commission worked on the Draft Declaration of San Salvador: Gender, Violence, and HIV and redrafting its statutes. CIM, a specialized organization of the Organization of American States, is the principal forum for generating hemispheric policy to advance women's rights and gender equality. 
 
Established in 1928 at the Sixth International Conference of American States (Havana, Cuba), the CIM was the first official intergovernmental agency in the world created expressly to ensure recognition of the civil and political rights of women. As such, it has played a crucial role in making the participation and support of women a legitimate and indispensable part of governance and international consensus building in the Americas. 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
5. ‘Molecular condom’ Is Developed To Fight HIV/AIDS
Kavita Gupta, a female doctoral student from India at the University of Utah in the US, has developed a "molecular condom." The condom is really a microbicide gel that kills HIV, and is designed to allow women more control in preventing AIDS since partners need to be involved in the application. 
The university is partnering with a contraceptive marketer to sell the products in India, where AIDS in increasingly being seen as a feminized disease. AIDS is spreading most rapidly in India among young women, according to the World Health Organization, and 2.5 million people there carry the virus. 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
6. From Our Readers 
 
The Women’s Committee in the Petrochemical, Mines and Energy Workers Union in Palestine held a four-day workshop to train women. The aim of the workshop was to enable women to make plans and support women’s issues so that they would have experience and insight into women’s activities in Arab countries and the world. 
The workshop dealt with women and democracy, new technologies, public speaking, and support mechanisms for women workers. The women had many ideas about trade unions and society. At the end they received a diploma. 
 <img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
7. Resources
<a href="http://www.siyanda.org/docs/WGEKN_sen_ostlin_george.pdf">Unequal, Unfair, Ineffective and Inefficient Gender Inequity in Health</a>: Why it exists and how we can change it - Final Report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health - September 2007 - Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network 
<a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/EXTEXTINDWOM/0,,menuPK:3157100~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:3156914,00.html">World Bank’s website – Extractive Industries and Gender</a> 
<a href="http://www.mdgmonitor.org">http://www.mdgmonitor.org</a> 
UN’s new website to track progress on the Millennium Development Goals. 
<a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org">http://www.catalystwomen.org</a> 
On reports on gender stereotyping at work, inclusive work environments and women’s progress in business. 
<a href="http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=3624">http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=3624</a> 
Work Life Law, a site dealing with family responsibilities and discrimination 
<a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_084620/index.htm">Women in the workplace</a>: New ILO report highlights how action in the world of work can help reduce maternal deaths 
<a href="http://www.observatoriogeneroyliderazgo.cl/">http://www.observatoriogeneroyliderazgo.cl/</a> 
Women Leadership (in Spanish) 
<a href="http://www.generoycomercio.org/">http://www.generoycomercio.org/</a> 
Gender and Trade (in Spanish) 
<a href="http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Gender%20Gap/index.htm ">The Global Gender Gap Report 2007</a> 
<a href="http://nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/cms/">http://nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/cms/</a> 
Chilean network against domestic and sexual violence (in Spanish)

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN 26

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The 4th ICEM World Congress begins this Thursday, 22 November, and participants and others can find Congress information on a special sub-section of the ICEM website. Through <a href="/congress" type="internal">www.icem.org/congress</a>, you will find all background information, including several Congress documents, as well as practical information on the venue, the Queen Sirikit Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand. 
<img height="126" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Congresslogotext-EN100.jpg" width="100"/>
The week-long set of meetings around the Congress, which runs 22-24 November, actually began this past weekend. A two-day Women’s Conference was held 17-18 November, and a Contract and Agency Labour Conference will run on Wednesday, 21 November. 
 
In addition, a special meeting of the ICEM’s Pulp and Paper Sector will occur, also on 21 November. 
 
During the Congress, this web-page will also be the place to look for updates and news on the Congress.

ICEM Website Set for GUF’s World Congress

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Around 100 African trade union delegates, from 15 countries, attended the ICEM regional conference of the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO), held in Gaborone, Botswana, on 5 and 6 July 2007. 
 
Welile Nolingo, regional chair and General Secretary of South African ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU, opened the conference and reported on the improved political situation in the region, where several countries are recovering from a period of war. Though corruption is still a serious problem in many of those countries, often badly hampering economic development, trade unions are showing their determination in challenging their governments to deal with these, and other, negative aspects of their governance. 
<img height="171" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0707ICEMAFConf2.jpg" width="200" alt=""/>
Welile Nolingo, General Secretary of South African ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU
The organisational development of the region was discussed, with delegates agreeing that the ICEM members need to be more involved in ICEM activities in the region. This applies not only to the donor funded projects, but also to the need to develop more bilateral contacts and activities. 
 
It was further stressed that the ICEM affiliates in the region need to develop a strategic plan, focussing on the continuing development of strong and democratic unions. A plan was proposed by the secretariat to that extent. Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), HIV/AIDS, Global Framework Agreements (GFA) and Company Networks were also listed as topics that increasingly need to become core business. 
<img height="188" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0707ICEMAFConf1.jpg" width="200"/>
Rayford Mbulu, incoming ICEM regional chair and General Secretary of the Mine Workers Union of Zambia 
Recognising the growth of activity in the ICEM industries in the region (mining, oil, gas, chemicals), the ICEM General Secretary reconfirmed his engagement to devote more attention within the secretariat to this specific region. He also mentioned the need to empower trade unions and their leaderships in Western Africa, and made an appeal to all members to focus on closer cooperation between members, but also with representatives and affiliates of other GUF’s. The integration of the WFIW into the ICEM was expected to lead to additional strength in the region, especially in Francophone countries. 
 
The conference adopted several statutory changes, of which the most important was on formally establishing a Women’s Committee within the regional structure. 
 
The conference elected Brother Rayford Mbulu, General Secretary of the Mine Workers Union of Zambia, as the next Regional Chair. Sister Baru Gaaithoboge of the Botswana Diamond Sorters and Valuators Union was elected as the Regional Women’s Chair at the Regional Women’s Conference, which was held just prior to the SSARO Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

ICEM Sub-Saharan African Regional Conference held in Gaborone, Botswana

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