English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
from International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation website 
The ILO is urging the Mexican government to resolve its dispute with the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) and considers the government has acted in a way that is incompatible with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association. 
 
The ILO released on 26 March the interim recommendations of its Committee of Freedom of Association to the Mexican government in response to a complaint on interference in union autonomy lodged by the SNTMMSRM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) in March 2006, ILO Case No. 2478. 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="145" />
The complaint documents how Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the democratically elected general secretary of SNTMMSRM, was forcefully removed from his position after speaking out against the Mexican government and mining company in response to a tragic mine accident in Pasta de Conchos that left 65 miners dead, many of them members of the union. The complaint also documents how the government illegally intervened in independent union activities, forced the dismissal of union leadership, seized union assets, and made government appointments to union elected positions. 
 
In subsequent submissions on Case No. 2478, the union and IMF has also documented ongoing interference and acts of violence by Grupo M&eacute;xico and the Mexican government, including using the national army and federal police to break strikes, kill workers, and arrest union leaders fighting for safer working conditions in Grupo M&eacute;xico-owned mines. 
 
In its recommendations to the ILO Governing Body, the Committee on Freedom of Association states that it &ldquo;considers that the labour authorities engaged in conduct that is incompatible with Article 3 of Convention No. 87, which established the right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom.&rdquo; 
&ldquo;The Committee deplores the excessive length of the judicial procedures relating to various aspects of the case and the grave prejudice that this has caused to the complainant union&rdquo; and &ldquo;urges for a rapid conclusion of the judicial procedures.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="98" height="91" />
The committee requests addition information from the government on several points and in particular on the question of the death of worker Reynaldo Hern&aacute;ndez Gonz&aacute;lez, the use of force by public security forces at the Cananea mine, continuing arrest warrants, freezing of union accounts, threats and acts of violence, including the death and injury of trade unionists. 
 
The Committee calls on all the parties concerned to continue to make efforts within the existing round of negotiations to resolve the collective dispute to which this case results. 
 
A copy of the report is published on the ILO website under Mexico, Freedom of Association Cases, and can be found <a href="http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/newcountryframeE.htm ">here</a>.

ILO Backs Los Mineros, Cites Mexican Government with Convention 87 Interference

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM North American affiliate, Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), continues to win legal victories for 140 Massachusetts workers of Covanta, a private sector waste-to-energy company specializing in public solid-waste contracts that burns the waste for creation of electric energy. 
 
On 26 March, an administrative law judge of the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the company owes the 140 workers nearly US$1 million for withholding wage increases and bonuses in retaliation for staff exercising their lawful right to join the UWUA in May 2008. 
 
The 49-page ruling requires Covanta to repay to workers the money illegally withheld, plus interest, and to bargain with UWUA Local 369 a first collective agreement at a Rochester, Massachusetts, incinerator before it makes any unilateral workplace changes. 
 
The company&rsquo;s illegal conduct caused workers to lose between 8% and 11% of their annual income in 2009. 

<img alt="" src="" width="216" height="160" />
The judge&rsquo;s ruling involves the administrative phase of numerous workplace charges brought by the union against Covanta&rsquo;s unfair labour practices following the NLRB-conducted union authorization vote nearly two years ago. Late in 2009, the labour agency invoked its powers under US labour law to petition a federal court for injunctive relief against Covanta for labour law violations. 
 
The NLRB invokes Section 10(j) of the labour code only rarely, and only when it deems cases are egregious enough to warrant federal court intervention. The injunction petition is currently pending before a federal court in Boston. 
 
Covanta is likely to appeal the administrative law judge&rsquo;s ruling to the five-member NLRB, but the recent ruling should lend credence before the federal court. 
 
We&rsquo;ve &ldquo;long known that Covanta viciously punished these workers because they organized and demanded dignity and a voice in the workplace,&rdquo; said Local 369 President Gary Sullivan. &ldquo;This ruling lets the rest of the world know that, without question, Covanta broke the law and will have to put things right.&rdquo; 
 
The company operates some 40 solid waste facilities in the US. As Covanta has tried to expand its waste-to-energy business into the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Canada, the ICEM has assisted the UWUA to illuminate the American company&rsquo;s work rights violations, as well as health/safety infractions and certain environmental practices before communities and trade unions in those countries. 
 
For more information on the UWUA&rsquo;s Campaign for Justice at Covanta, visit the campaign website <a href="http://www.cjcw.org/ ">here</a>.

UWUA Wins US$1 Million Judgment for Covanta Workers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On the basis of a March 2008 provision mutually agreed to between ICEM and French-based specialty chemicals company Rhodia in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA), a joint Global Safety Forum was created in order to bring higher health and safety standards into the company for its 15,000 worldwide employees. 
 
Having agreed to an addendum to clarify terms and conditions of the global forum, ICEM and Rhodia recently signed and officially established the body. 
 
It will consist of nine members, three appointed from Rhodia Group&rsquo;s general management, two from the ICEM Secretariat, and one Rhodia employee each from the company&rsquo;s four operational zones (Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America), to be selected by the ICEM. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="130" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="99" height="149" />
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Brian Kohler
The ICEM representatives will be Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Rubber and Chemicals Officer, and Brian Kohler, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer. Following consultation with ICEM affiliates in the four regions, the regional representatives include Maurice Tritsch from France, Scott Harrington from the US, Thiago dos Reis Martins from Brazil, and Jie Dong from China. 
 
The addendum defines the role of the Global Safety Forum as a monitor for &ldquo;the safety situation within the Group.&rdquo; The forum is to meet at least once yearly, with each annual meeting to be held at a Rhodia plant chosen by the nine-member committee. With a commitment to a continuous progress approach to health and safety, the forum shall &ldquo;issue observations and recommendations for improvement.&rdquo; 
 
Having realised a first-ever joint activity on health and safety at Rhodia&rsquo;s subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany, on 19 June 2009, the Global Safety Forum will have its first official meeting in the second half of 2010. 
 
View this addendum to the ICEM-Rhodia GFA <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1004.Rhodia.Agreement.pdf">here</a>.

Formal Safety Forum Adopted Inside Rhodia Global Agreement

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM-affiliated Italian Chemical, Energy and Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union, FILCEM-CGIL, has merged with the Italian Textile Workers&rsquo; Union, FILTEA-CGIL, to establish the new union FILCTEM-CGIL (Chemical, Textile, Energy and Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union). The official creation of the new union occurred at its Founding Congress, held on 7-9 April 2010, in the city of Pesaro. 
 
Representing over 250,000 members, the newly-created FILCTEM has 28 national collective agreements, covering more than 1,300,000 employees, in Italy, in chemicals and pharmaceuticals, textiles and clothing and footwear, rubber, plastics, glass, leather tanning, ceramics and tiles, energy (oil, gas transport, mining) and utilities (electricity, water, gas). 
 
FILCTEM-CGIL is affiliated to the ICEM, PSI and ITGLWF at the global level, as well as to EMCEF, EPSU and ETUF:TCL at the European level. 
 
The Founding Congress, held under the slogan &ldquo;Founded in the Workplace&rdquo;, was attended by around 800 delegates and guests. International participants were ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer, ITGLWF and ETUF:TCL&rsquo;s Patrick Itschert, General Secretary, EMCEF&rsquo;s Reinhard Reibsch, General Secretary, and EPSU&rsquo;s Jan Willem Goudriaan, Deputy General Secretary. 

<img src="" width="199" height="153" alt="" />
Alberto Morselli
Alberto Morselli, General Secretary of the new organisation, opened the Congress, and outlined priorities for the upcoming period as increasing employee participation, workers&rsquo; rights beyond the crisis, constitutional transparency and legality, government&rsquo;s policies on production and employment, energy efficiency, and renewable resources for the future. General Secretary Morselli emphasised the importance of unity and strength in light of a continued attack on workers&rsquo; rights. He declared that the new FILCTEM will struggle for change. 
 
Other Italian unions, FEMCA-CISL, FLAI-CISL, UILCEM-UIL, and UILTA-UIL participated in the Congress, and will work together with FILCTEM. 
 
The second day of the Congress was marked by a round table discussion entitled &ldquo;Industrial Innovation for Developing Employment and Overcoming the Crisis&rdquo;. Chaired by Alberto Morselli, the round-table was attended by Guglielmo Epifani, General Secretary of CGIL, Giorgio Squinzi, President of Federchimica (chemical employers&rsquo; organisation), Michele Tronconi, President of Sistema Moda Italia (textile employers&rsquo; organisation) and Giuliano Zuccoli, President of Assoelettrica (electricity employers&rsquo; organisation). There were also a number of high level representatives of large companies such ENI and ENEL. 
 
The Congress appointed Valeria Fedeli as Vice-General Secretary. She had been General Secretary of FILTEA-CGIL and continues as President of ETUF:TCL.

Italian Merger Congress Creates New Union FILCTEM-CGIL

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO), at its Executive Committee Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, 6 April, adopted a resolution of strong solidarity and support for the striking Canadian Vale workers. 
 
The Resolution marked the Vale &lsquo;Week of Action&rsquo; of 5-11 April, called to denounce to denounce Vale Inco&rsquo;s attacks on workers in Canada and throughout the world. Vale, the second biggest mining company in the world, operates in 36 countries. 
 
More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Sudbury, Port Colborne, and Voisey&rsquo;s Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, are into the ninth month of a strike, the longest ever at Inco. While the company persists with its demands on profit-sharing, pensions, job security, outsourcing, and seniority rights. Vale continues to refuse to enter into a binding arbitration, as instructed under Canada&rsquo;s labour laws. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
The SSARO Resolution comes in light of the 50/50 joint venture between Vale and African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a South African mining company that will act as a gateway for Vale to Africa&rsquo;s mineral resources. 
 
ICEM SSARO affiliates resolved to lobby their governments, national centres, NGOs, and communities, to condemn and take concrete actions in support of the struggle. 
 
View the Resolution in its entirety <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1004.ssaro.resolution.vale.pdf">here</a>. 
 
View the USW Vale strikers&rsquo; campaign website <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca/">here</a>.&nbsp;

SSARO Meeting Vale Resolution in Support of Canadian Strikers

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
An ash cloud from Iceland's spewing volcano halted air traffic across most of Europe on Thursday 15 March, with air travel still impossible today throughout Northern Europe, and beyond. 
 
The cancelled flights have disrupted ICEM&rsquo;s activities, leaving staff members and affiliates stranded. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s President Senzeni Zokwana is still unable to fly home to South Africa from London, while General Secretary Manfred Warda was unable to fly to meetings in Germany, Singapore, and Australia over the last few days. 
 
Joe Drexler, Director of Corporate Affairs, is attempting to return to Geneva from North America. 

<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
ICEM Officers are currently unable to travel, and therefore unable to reach planned activities and meetings. Kemal Ozkan, Rubber and Chemicals Sector Officer, and Brian Kohler, Sustainability Officer, are unable to leave Istanbul. Dick Blin, Information, Pulp and Paper Officer is unable to leave London. Fons Vannieuwenhuyse, ICEM Projects Officer was also unable to fly to Singapore. 
 
Many ICEM affiliates are also stranded, J&oslash;rgen Juul Rasmussen, General Secretary of the Danish Union of Electricians (Dansk El-Forbund), is unable to return home for important union business in Denmark following the ICEM CAL event in Singapore. The Danish Union of Electricians' members will be balloted on a new agreement, if it is voted against a national strike will begin Sunday.&nbsp; 
 
This unforeseen disruption will continue to affect ICEM actions and work over the coming days. We hope affiliates and colleagues will understand.

Special Notice: ICEM Work Disrupted, Iceland’s Volcanic Ash Stops Air Travel

Miners locked out of Rio Tinto&rsquo;s site in Boron, California for refusing to give in to demands by the company that could threaten their ability to work and support their families are highlighting their plight as shareholders attend the global mining giant&rsquo;s AGM in London today (Thursday). 
 
Almost 600 workers, all members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 branch, were refused entry to the Borax mine and processing plant owned by Anglo-Australian corporation Rio Tinto when they showed up for work on 31st January. This followed their refusal to accept the imposition of a new contract that threatened to convert good jobs into temporary, part-time or outsourced positions. 
 
Rio Tinto has used a firm with a notorious reputation for union busting, J.R. Gettier of Delaware, to bus replacement workers across picket lines to mine and process borates. Borates are used in numerous products, including detergents, glass, building materials and as an ingredient in chemicals. 
<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
In negotiations Rio Tinto sought to agree to a new contract which would give the company the right to award jobs to outside contractors; require miners in dangerous occupations to work overtime; and require the workers&rsquo; themselves to pay for the company&rsquo;s legal penalties, fines and damages if the company violates state and federal labor laws. 
 
Dave Irish, one of the locked out miners protesting at the AGM, said: 
 
&ldquo;After working the mine for generations, families are being jeopardized by a newly-proposed system of insecure working patterns and conditions, and dog eat dog struggles for jobs I believe. Rio Tinto wants to starve us into submission, forcing us to accept a contract that we fear will destroy decent, family-supporting jobs. When we tried to use our legitimate negotiation rights, we were locked out of our own jobs and replaced by union busters. We&rsquo;ve been forced to survive on unemployment insurance and handouts ever since. We are determined to fight for our jobs, our families and our community. 
 
&ldquo;Having us back in our jobs is in the best interests of shareholders, too. As experienced workers, we are much better able to guarantee the quality and quantity of production to meet customer demand. We hope the shareholders will listen to us and demand that the corporation ends the lock out and negotiates a fair contract with us so that we can get back to work.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="163" height="231" />
Dave Irish left, locked out Local 30 worker, and ILWU VP Ram Familathe 
Ray Familathe, International Vice-President of the ILWU, said: &ldquo;We have come to London to highlight the courage of ordinary workers and their families in standing up to a powerful global business. The Boron miners simply want to work hard and to be treated fairly and with respect. This seems the latest example of appalling behaviour by Rio Tinto around the world in terms of the way it treats its workers, communities and the environment. This is not just a problem for the small community in Boron, California which relies on the mine for its survival but a global threat when a corporate giant such as Rio Tinto gets away with riding roughshod over its employees.&rdquo; 
 
The action against Rio Tinto is a joint initiative of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), which is based in the UK; the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union; and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF). It is supported by a range of other organisations, including the London Mining Network. 
 
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: &ldquo;The lockout is the lowest reaction of the employer to a workforce that strives for dialogue. We support the fight of the miners and applaud their strength and courage and support the ILWU&rsquo;s call for an end to the lockout and proper negotiation to reach agreement on staff contracts.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
Four Rio Tinto executives were found guilty of bribery and commercial espionage by a Chinese court at the end of March. This follows a case against the company by residents of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea accusing it of complicity in human rights abuses by the operation of its copper-gold mine. Rio Tinto has also been alleged to have colluded with the Apartheid government in South Africa and some of the world&rsquo;s most despotic regimes, including Suharto&rsquo;s in Indonesia. 
 
Workers from South Africa, Australia, Turkey, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Papua New Guinea have expressed solidarity with the locked out Boron miners in the USA. 
View the Fact Sheet on the&nbsp;Rio Tinto lockout in&nbsp;Boron&nbsp;<a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3705">here</a>. 
 
 
For further information, please contact: 
&bull; about the Boron lockout &ndash; Craig Merrilees, Communications Director, ILWU, on +1 (0) 415 775 0533 ext 113 or <a href="mailto:craig@ilwu.org">craig@ilwu.org</a> &nbsp; 
&bull; about the AGM protest or to interview Dave Irish or Ray Familathe &ndash; Dee Sullivan on 020 8613 8071, 07949 010639 or <a href="mailto:dee@greenshootsconsultants.co.uk">dee@greenshootsconsultants.co.uk</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;

Unions Protest Rio Tinto&#039;s US Lockout at AGM

The Global Union Federation representing workers in the food, agriculture, and services sector, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), has written to John Ruggie, UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, requesting that the relationship between precarious work and the effective realisation of human rights be incorporated into his investigations and recommendations as a matter of priority. 
 
In June 2008, Ruggie proposed a policy framework which was unanimously welcomed by the Human Rights Council. The &quot;Protect, Respect, Remedy&quot; framework is made up of three pillars: the state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, by avoiding infringing on the rights of others; and greater access by victims to effective remedy, judicial and non-judicial. 
<img alt="" src="" width="145" height="73" />
John Ruggie 
In preparing to make operational the framework, Ruggie is currently consulting with a wide range of actors, including through an online consultation forum, that can be found <a href="http://www.srsgconsultation.org">here</a>, the forum for which the IUF used for its submission. 
 
In that submission, the IUF argues that a meaningful investigation of the relationship between business and human rights must address how the degeneration of traditional employment relationships has impacted on workers&rsquo; human rights. Non-traditional forms of working arrangements, such as agency work, contract work and bogus self-employment, are being used to undermine trade union organising and bargaining. Says the IUF, this is a &ldquo;fundamental human rights issue demanding a strong response rooted in a comprehensive human rights framework.&rdquo; 
 
The IUF draw attention to the ILO&rsquo;s 2008 report on industrial relations at Coca-Cola&rsquo;s Colombia bottlers, which found that the company was systematically denying and restricting the ability to join a union by outsourcing many core jobs. In order to redress this and ensure that workers are capable of fully exercising their rights the global union calls for urgent, systematic action by governments and business to restrict the use of precarious work.

IUF Urges UN Special Representative to Probe Precarious Work

The Zambian Labour and Social Security Minister, Austin Liato, has publically criticised some employers for using temporary workers to fill traditionally permanent positions simply to evade paying statutory employment benefits to workers. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia&rsquo;s (MUZ) 12th quadrennial conference on 27 April, Mr. Liato said this trend is found not only in the mining industry but other sectors as well. 
<img alt="" src="" width="83" height="107" />
MP Austin Liato
Mr. Liato said that despite the Government&rsquo;s commitment to halt the casualisation of employment, the situation has not improved. &quot;The Government has always led a campaign against casualisation. This state of affairs can't be allowed to continue and I urge labour leaders to be vigilant. We should not turn permanent jobs to temporary jobs,&quot; he said.

Zambia’s Labour Minister Decries Labour Casualisation at MUZ Conference

In occupational health and safety, accidents are best described as the results of failures in those systems that ought to keep workers safe. These can include choices of materials, tools, equipment, processes; the design of specific tasks or the work process; level and competence of supervisory control; workplace environment including noise, dust, fumes, heat, cold, and conditions of floors, surfaces, lighting; and the characteristics of workers themselves, including experience, skills, training, and other human factors. 
 
When one or more of these systems fails, an accident can occur. Was an inappropriate tool provided? Was the task poorly designed to begin with? Were supervisors absent or negligent? Was the workplace environment inhospitable? Did the workers have the appropriate skills and capabilities to do the work safely? Systems failures that expose workers to hazards must be corrected at the source, with personal protective equipment used only where elimination at the source is not possible or practical. 
 
Unions demand three fundamental rights for workplace health and safety: the right to know about the hazards of the work; the right to participate in health and safety systems, and the right to refuse unsafe work. 
<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="66" />
The systems above are far more likely to be weak or absent entirely for Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) workers. The hazards they face are less likely to be corrected at the source, and more likely to be dealt with by providing personal protective equipment - if even this is provided. Finally, contract and agency workers are in a weak position to demand any of their three basic occupational health and safety rights, without the risk of losing their job. 
 
The vulnerability of CAL workers is reflected in accident statistics. Last year in Belgium, agency workers were twice as likely as permanent workers to suffer a workplace accident. The ICEM&rsquo;s Peruvian mining affiliate, FNTMMSP, reported that 49 miners died in the first nine months of 2009, 37 of whom were working for subcontracting companies. In Turkey, thousands of young migrants who work in jeans factories are likely to develop silicosis, following exposure to high levels of silica during the denim sandblasting process. Forty-four workers have already died this year and 550 have so far been diagnosed with the disease. 
 
Unions and decent work make work safer. Insecure contract and agency labour can and does injure workers.

Job Vulnerability Puts Health of Temp Workers at Risk

Archive

ILO Backs Los Mineros, Cites Mexican Government with Convention 87 Interference

UWUA Wins US$1 Million Judgment for Covanta Workers

Formal Safety Forum Adopted Inside Rhodia Global Agreement

Italian Merger Congress Creates New Union FILCTEM-CGIL

SSARO Meeting Vale Resolution in Support of Canadian Strikers

Special Notice: ICEM Work Disrupted, Iceland’s Volcanic Ash Stops Air Travel

Unions Protest Rio Tinto's US Lockout at AGM

IUF Urges UN Special Representative to Probe Precarious Work

Zambia’s Labour Minister Decries Labour Casualisation at MUZ Conference

Job Vulnerability Puts Health of Temp Workers at Risk

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us