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

M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal is a 27-year-old single mother of one who was and still should be employed at the Tezol T&uuml;t&uuml;n ve Kagit (Twezol Europap) recycled pulp, paperboard, and tissue mill in Izmir, Turkey. In July, she and 35 others at the 250-worker mill tried to organise with ICEM affiliate Sel&uuml;loz-İş. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="106" />
M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal
Management then maliciously called each of the 35 in individually and gave them a choice: resign from the union and maintain employment, or resign from the company and collect the meager, statutory state entitlements under Turkish law. Acunal did neither. When she turned up for the work the day following her interview, managers put her in the middle of the workplace to perform meaningless and humiliating work chores for the sole purpose of other workers to witness. 
 
When she complained and said she wanted to return to the machine operator job she had held for seven years, she was fired. She has filed suit, through her union, with both a labour court and a civil prosecutor. In the meantime, she and her child are living on stipends coming from the individual pockets of Sel&uuml;loz-İş officials, while long court cases wait. 
 
In your own words and in your own language, send a message of support to M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal at <a href="mailto:muzeyyen-acnl@hotmail.com">muzeyyen-acnl@hotmail.com</a>. 
 
If you care to make a contribution to help with her subsistence, write to ICEM Pulp and Paper Officer Dick Blin at <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>. He will provide bank details in order to make a bank transfer. 
 
Also in Turkey during the final week of October, at the Mondi Tire Kutsan Paper Mill in Tire, near Izmir, seven workers were fired for attempting to organise with Sel&uuml;loz-İş. Reportedly, South African-based Mondi, which owns 64% of the recycled pulp and corrugated packaging mill, is trying to install a yellow union inside the 400-worker mill. ICEM will provide more details on this as information becomes available.

Turkish Woman Fired for Union Organising at Izmir Packaging Mill

The quest to resist austerity measures imposed on public services and public-sector workers in the wake of the financial crash is a noble one and one worth fighting. But global unions need also look within boundaries of certain countries to witness an unparalleled assault on public-sector workers and trade unionists who courageously step up to lead those workers. 
 
I refer specifically to the troubling and untenable trade union situation in Iraq, where reconstruction to essential, publicly-owned industrial sectors has come at a steep price to ordinary Iraqi workers and the brave men and women who lead them toward a true democratic society. 
 
In Iraq, roughly 80% of all industries are in the public sector. Yet even as foreign investment arrives, and privatization of certain manufacturing sectors appears inevitable, trade unionism is prohibited. It is still illegal to be a member of a trade union, just as it was under the dictator Saddam, and two years into the rule of the occupation forces (2005), Decree 8750 was mandated that forbid unions from owning property, holding bank accounts, or collecting fees from workers. 
 
It is unconscionable that seven years after the fall of Saddam, and 23 years after his notorious Public Law 150 banning all trade union activity in the public sector, Iraq is still without a legal framework for industrial relations that meets ILO standards. Sadly, the Saddam-era ban was one of the few laws not overturned by the occupation administration when it took power. 
 
In 2005, the provisional government of Iraq did re-draft the country&rsquo;s constitution. Section 22 of that constitution calls for a new labour law to defend the rights of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. But due to political stalemate, lack of will by Iraqi politicians across all political parties, and indifference by the United States government, a Labour and Social Security Law that was written by the ILO has not even been considered by Iraq&rsquo;s Council of Representatives. 
 
Instead, Iraq&rsquo;s Cabinet members resort to ministerial orders that close union offices, confiscating all materials, equipment, and literature. The most recent such order, in July against all unions attempting to operate in the electric power industry, was carried out in a day, showing the government to be serious in its clamp-down on unions, perhaps as a signal to foreign investment. 
 
With the order shutting electrical union offices, a threat was also issued warning workers and trade union leaders that they would be incarcerated under Iraq&rsquo;s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 if they tried to protest the shutdowns. This came only months after the al-Maliki government laid down an order banning trade unionists from travelling abroad unless they got a hard-to-get &ldquo;internal visa&rdquo; from the Supreme Ministerial Committee. 
 
This was the government&rsquo;s response to trade unionists from a whole range of Iraqi unions who for several years had travelled to Jordan, Lebanon, Europe, or America for union training and development programs. Donors and trade union organizations such as the British Trades Union Congress (TUC), the American AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, and ICEM have supplied that support and training. 
 
In 2007, at the ICEM&rsquo;s World Congress in Bangkok, Iraqi trade union development and full trade union rights for the country&rsquo;s unions became a priority in our work plan. That was reiterated at our 2010 Executive Committee where a strongly worded resolution was adopted condemning the government&rsquo;s most recent repressive tactics. &ldquo;We demand the immediate repeal of all restrictions on union activity and the immediate enactment of fair labour legislation which fully complies with ILO Conventions and provides fundamental human and trade union rights as provided in the Iraqi constitution,&rdquo; read the statement. 
 
To be sure, other trade union bodies and Global Union Federations have taken up the cause in order to achieve this. At the 97th International Labour Congress in June 2008, five labour organizations, including ICEM, TUC, AFL-CIO, Public Services International (PSI), and Education International (EI), stood in front of the Committee of Standards and condemned Iraq&rsquo;s ruthless attack on trade unionism. 
 
The ICEM is proud of the work it has done with Iraq&rsquo;s unions and with trade union leaders, but we know that far more needs to be done. The ICEM is even prouder of the great trade union leaders who have risen inside Iraq against what would seem insurmountable odds to carry out a most noble struggle with perseverance and self-sacrifice. 
 
One is Hashmeya Muhsin Al-Saadawi, the first woman to head a trade union in the Arab world and one leader who was forcefully removed from her office in Basra this past July when the government closed the union offices in the electrical sector. As president of the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians of Iraq (GUEWT), affiliated to both the ICEM and the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Hashmeya Muhsin in 2009 won the Dutch labour center FNV&rsquo;s prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez award. 
 
The award, along with a cash prize, is given to a trade union leader who takes risks in defending workers&rsquo; rights in countries where they are routinely violated. In poverty-ridden Iraq, however, what she did with the prize money is most exemplary: she produced a training manual for launch of an Iraqi social security campaign to promote social justice and equality as means to achieve job opportunities, decent work, and health, education, and quality living. 
 
The ICEM offers this as the way in which to go about nation-building. 
 
There are many other Iraqi trade union leaders who have stood tall in the face of repression, and we owe it to them to raise full ire outside Iraq to what is happening to them within. Some have been arrested, others forced from their work and transferred away from co-workers and their families to remote job sites because they led protests against salary curtailments, cuts to food rations, or common social entitlements withheld. 
 
I would be remiss to not mention the dozens of Iraqi trade union leaders have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their union activities &ndash; their lives. Dedicated unionists such as Hadi Saleh of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), Shukry al-Shukry, a founder of the IFTU, Ali Hassan Abd of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union, Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, an academic and adviser to the GFIW who reviewed the ILO&rsquo;s labour law proposal, Moaaid Hamid of the GFIW, Ahmed Adris Abas of the Transport and Communications Workers&rsquo; Union, Thabet Hussein of the General Union for Health Sector Workers, General Secretary Najim Abd-Jasem of the Mechanic Workers Union, Hassan Hamza, president of the Hotel and Tourism Workers&rsquo; Union, and Majiid Karim, an executive member of the GFIW, to name only a few, all were assassinated in order to stifle union activity. 
 
The assassination of journalists, as well, has regrettably set civil society back in Iraq. In recent weeks, the lives of Ryad al-Saray in Baghdad and Safaa al-Khayat in Mosul ended because cowards could not bear a free and open society, and their deaths serve as reminders that public-sector life in Iraq is dangerous and deadly. 
 
One has to ask, how far has Iraq come since the overthrow of Saddam? Is destroying Iraq&rsquo;s labour movement the way to ensure a stable, civil society in which democratic institutions can thrive? By neo-liberal norms in an age of greed-filled privatization, free and democratic trade unions do stand in the way to unfettered access of a country&rsquo;s resources. 
 
But for the vast majority of Iraq&rsquo;s citizens, after five decades of living under severe repression, they want better. Nationalist sentiment inside Iraqi society considers electricity, the oil sector, pipelines, ports, transportation, and other enterprises as integral public services that stand as guarantees of sovereignty and economic well-being for all citizens. 
 
There can be little debate that war makes privatization easier. First you destroy the infrastructure, and then you re-build with no-bid contracts awarded to favored corporations. Iraqi unions have seen this first-hand over the past seven years, and the fights they wage to defend what is rightfully theirs, against forces of neo-colonialism, are heroic and just. Global Union Federations like the ICEM recognize this, we recognize it as a shining example of what public-sector trade unionism is all about, and we pledge to continue to do what is necessary to assist Iraqi trade unions in winning their fight.

Iraq: Trade Union Repression Must End

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other news items, on the first ICEM &ndash; IndustriEnergi (IE-Norway) workshop on HIV/AIDS in Jordan, on the adoption of an ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and on the launch of the Global Fund &ldquo;Born HIV Free&rdquo; campaign. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
ICEM, IndustriEnergi of Norway Break Ground on HIV/AIDS Work in Jordan 
 
The ICEM organised a first HIV/AIDS workshop in a Middle Eastern country! Following a request from its affiliate in Jordan, the General Union of Petroleum and Chemical Workers in Jordan (GUPCW), and with solidarity funding from its Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi, the workshop was organised in Amman in June. 
 
The workshop was attended by some 30 participants, of whom about 35% were women. Essential elements of the programme were presentations by local facilitators, power point presentations by the ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant, and working groups in the evening. A highlight was the presentation by a person living with HIV/AIDS, a first step to reduce stigma and discrimination. 
 
For a first workshop of this kind, the most important objective was to initiate an open discussion and to launch the union&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS work with the participation of civil society organisations and government agencies. 
 
Unionists who came from workplaces have gone back with a better knowledge of basic facts about HIV and AIDS and they are prepared to talk about it. They recognise the importance of reducing stigma and the value of policies against discrimination. They can use the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and its ten principles in their work. 
 
Khaled Elzyood, the GUPCW President, was actively involved in the workshop. In his presentation on the ILO Code of Practice (and on numerous other occasions), he emphasised that HIV/AIDS is a union issue and that the union has the responsibility to provide workers with information and to safeguard their rights. Lack of knowledge creates stigma and leads to discrimination. People do not talk about HIV and AIDS but we have to accept the realities even though this may go against cultural traditions and religious beliefs. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
International Labour Conference Adopts New HIV/AIDS Instrument 
 
The annual International Labour Conference of the ILO adopted a new Autonomous Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, as well as a resolution. The new standard was adopted by a vote of 439 to 4, with 11 abstentions. 
 
High-level engagement and consensus on the urgency to act prevailed during this second and final round of discussion in the Committee on HIV/AIDS for the formulation of the first international human rights instrument to focus on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
Over the 19 sittings of the Committee, delegates representing governments as well as employers&rsquo; and workers&rsquo; organizations discussed and reached consensus on 118 amendments without resorting to a single vote. Throughout the amendment process, committee members worked at formulating a recommendation all-inclusive in scope and as practical as possible. Universality of human rights, feasibility, efficiency, sustainability, and accountability were kept at the forefront of all discussions, spurred by a great sense of urgency to address the HIV pandemic. The adoption of the recommendation is accompanied by a strong resolution for its follow-up, promotion, and implementation, which also invites the ILO Governing Body to request regular reports from member States. 
 
For more information and links to interviews with delegates from the HIV/AIDS Committee, please consult the new ILOAIDS web site at <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>. 
 
Note by the Editor: The new standard is in the form of a Recommendation, one of two types of labour standards the ILO can adopt. While distinct from a Convention in that it does not require ratification under Article 19 of the ILO Constitution, a recommendation must still be communicated to national parliaments and discussed in terms of how it might be implemented through national policies and legislation. 
 
(Source: ILO website) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
UNAIDS Welcomes Creation of New UN Body for Women 
 
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has welcomed the merging of four gender entities of the United Nations into UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The new entity will provide a new powerful voice for women and girls and help move the AIDS response forward. 
 
&ldquo;I look forward to working with UN Women,&rdquo; said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib&eacute;, &ldquo;Together we can ensure that all women living with HIV access treatment when they need it. And most importantly, we can restore their dignity and rights.&rdquo; 
 
Nearly half the people living with HIV in the world are women. In sub-Saharan Africa more women are infected than men. HIV is a major cause of maternal mortality. It is behind nearly one-in-five of all maternal deaths. 
 
Gender inequities, violence, lack of access to education, health, and economic opportunities are making women vulnerable to HIV. But by teaming up and working on common goals the AIDS movement and the women&rsquo;s movement can dramatically reduce the impact of HIV on women and their families. 
 
UNAIDS recently recognized the importance of promoting gender equality and eliminating violence and discrimination against women, by appointing the renowned singer Annie Lennox as International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS. Her particular mission is to raise awareness and support for women affected by the AIDS epidemic. 
 
(Sources: UNAIDS Press Statement, Geneva, 5 July) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Kenya: Muslim Leaders Champion HIV Testing 
 
Binti Omar waits anxiously for her HIV test in a tent erected as part of a testing drive being conducted by the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) in the coastal city of Mombasa. Omar is accompanied by her fianc&eacute;, Abubakar Ismael, and his two wives. 
 
&quot;I'm about to be part of Abu's larger family, so we found it necessary to come here and get ourselves tested so that we can plan our future much better,&quot; Omar said. &quot;Life nowadays is so risky. It would be good for us all to get to know each other's HIV status.&quot; 
 
Ismael and his family, as well as hundreds of other locals, are getting tested at the CIPK camps in response to calls by imams - Muslim scholars - in mosques in Kenya's largely Muslim Coast Province. 
 
Outgoing Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ahmed Kassim recently led some imams and locals in getting tested for HIV. He noted that the camps were meant to enlighten and encourage Muslim youths, couples, and Kenyans in general on the importance of getting tested. Muslim men are allowed four wives and the initiative is encouraging all spouses to get tested. 
 
For many years, Muslim leaders in Kenya shied away from discussing HIV, especially in the mosques. More recently, however, they have joined the national prevention campaign, although many still reject some aspects of it, particularly the use of condoms. 
 
The HIV prevalence in Coast Province is 7.9%, marginally higher than the national average of 7.4%. The 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey revealed that an estimated 44% of new HIV infections in Kenya occur among married or cohabiting couples. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Mombasa, 2 July) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Lesotho Suffering 
 
The impact of AIDS has ruined Lesotho. A third of the population is HIV positive. Of the total number of inhabitants of 1.9 million, as many as 400,000 are AIDS orphans. Life expectancy has fallen to 34. Uniquely in the developing world, Lesotho&rsquo;s deaths are close to outnumbering its births. 
 
The impact of AIDS has also ruined the economy of the Kingdom. In 1980, Lesotho produced 80% of the cereals it consumed; now this is down to 30%. Due to tariff modifications, its textile industry, largely Chinese-owned, which at its height employed 50,000 people, has collapsed. 
 
In an unusual move, 30,000 people have signed a petition which was delivered to the Lesotho parliament and the South African High Commission, requesting that their country be integrated into its giant neighbour, which completely surrounds it. This followed a move by South Africa barring thousands of people from Lesotho from crossing its borders in the wake of higher security measures ahead of the Soccer World Cup. 
 
(Source: The Observer, 6 June) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
WHO Issues Technical Brief on Addressing Gender Inequalities in Global Fund Proposals 
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a technical guidance brief on &quot;Addressing Gender Inequalities: Strengthening HIV/AIDS Programming for Women and Girls&quot; in Global Fund proposals. The information in the seven-page brief is designed to support the development of proposals to improve access to, and the quality of, HIV prevention, treatment, and care programmes for women and girls through approaches that address gender inequalities. 
 
The brief discusses gender-related elements that should be included in a situation analysis (e.g., harmful gender norms and practices, violence against women, lack of economic security, lack of education for girls). The brief also provides a list of essential elements for gender-responsive programming, as well as examples of strategies and activities for standard HIV/AIDS interventions and broader interventions that promote gender equality. 
 
Examples of strategies and activities for standard HIV/AIDS interventions are: providing skills to women and girls to negotiate safe sex; behaviour change communication strategies that target harmful gender norms and practices; and reducing barriers faced by women in accessing HIV/AIDS services. Examples of strategies and activities for broader interventions that promote gender equality are: working with law enforcement to respond to violence against women; providing economic opportunities to women; and keeping girls in school and making schools safe for them. 
 
&quot;Addressing Gender Inequalities: Strengthening HIV/AIDS Programming for Women and Girls&quot; is available at <a href="http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/toolkits/2-1a_Gender_Oct08EN.pdf">www.who.int/hiv/pub/toolkits/2-1a_Gender_Oct08EN.pdf</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund press release and Global Fund Observer, Issue 126 of 14 June. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (<a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>); to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Global Fund Launches &lsquo;Born HIV Free&rsquo; Campaign 
 
The Global Fund is hoping that its &ldquo;Born HIV Free&rdquo; campaign will not only mobilise public support for a world where no child is born with HIV, but will also persuade donor countries to give more to the Fund at the Third Replenishment meeting in New York on 4-5 October 2010. The Global Fund and UNAIDS have said that elimination of HIV transmission from mother to child by 2015 is possible if governments continue to invest adequately in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
In a press release, the Global Fund said that the campaign has been designed to work across digital and traditional media, and that it brings together several major companies who have joined up as official partners in support of the Global Fund: Google, JC Decaux, Jean-Paul Gaultier, MSN, Orange, Tiffany &amp; Co., and YouTube which will be a major platform for the campaign. The campaign is operating in several languages. 
 
To check out the Born HIV Free website and to sign up: <a href="http://www.bornhivfree.org">www.bornhivfree.org</a>. 
To see the videos on YouTube: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/bornhivfree">www.youtube.com/bornhivfree</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund press release and Global Fund Observer, Issue 126 of 14 June.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 58, July 2010

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
2010 brings hazards activists a special opportunity - the 12th bi-annual European Work Hazards Conference, hosted by the UK Hazards Campaign at Leeds University. The conference will give hazards activists the chance to meet and work with activists from throughout Europe and other parts of the world. 
 
The conference will explore the impact of the global recession on work environments and occupational health and safety. It is organised by the European Work Hazards Network, a forum uniting activists with different experience, skills and backgrounds - workers, trade union health and safety representatives, campaigners, academics, scientists and occupational safety and health professionals. 
 
Delegates from countries outside Europe are also welcome. Full detail of the conference is available <a href="http://www.ewhn.eu/">here</a>.

European Work Hazards Conference, 10-12 September, Leeds University

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM has supported an initiative sponsored by the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), conducting a global e-petition against maritime piracy. The initiative is co-sponsored by virtually all employer organisations in the shipping industry, forming an unprecedented coalition. 
 
Although campaigning against piracy at sea has for many years been a concern to the ITF Seafarers&rsquo; Section, the recent growth of pirate attacks in the Somalia region has brought the issue to the attention of the public around the world. The ITF and co-organisers are aiming to collect over half a million signatures in time for World Maritime Day, 23 September 2010. 
<img src="" width="350" height="54" alt="" />
With half a million signatures, the global petition will be used to push governments toward committing the necessary resources to end Somalia-based piracy. 
 
Currently at least 379 seafarers from 25 countries are being held hostage, some since December 2009. In the last two years over 1800 seafarers have been kidnapped. 
 
See more information and sign the petition on the dedicated website <a href="http://www.endpiracynow.org/">here</a>.

Global Petition against Maritime Piracy

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Under the auspices of the &lsquo;ICEM Asia MNCs and Social Dialogue Project&rsquo;, worker representatives and management of Thai Industrial Gas (Linde) participated in a joint training session on social dialogue, 28 June in Bangkok, Thailand. 
 
The purpose of the joint training was to seek a possibility of establishing peaceful and cooperative labour relations by analysing how the international standards for social dialogue are respected inside the company. 
 
Forty participants joined the training, with seven participants from senior management, including the Managing Director and heads of all major departments. 
 
The other 33 participants were trade unionists. Four participants came from the ICEM Thai Committee and the other 29 participants from the TIG/LINDE union including Nopphadol Sanom, president of TIG Labour Union, and Sutthirak Yalomphan, Vice-president. 
 
Union participants came from 5 plants, all near to Bangkok; TIG/LINDE has a total of 13 plants in Thailand. The union participants had to use their own annual leave to participate in the training, and applied voluntarily to take part. 
<img alt="" src="" width="357" height="120" />
The company Managing Director, Mr. Keerin, gave a welcome speech on behalf of management, while Nopphadol, union president, emphasized the importance of implementing international standards agreed by LINDE HQ at the local level. 
 
Dr. Ahn Pongsul, ILO Bangkok Office Senior Specialist, made a presentation on the Basic Principles of Social Dialogue. He stressed the basic enabling conditions to materialize social dialogue at enterprise level, such as a democratic environment, union recognition, two-way communication, mutual commitment and good will, respect, and adequate institutional support. 
 
Mr. Keerin (MD) made a presentation on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy of TIG/LINDE. A union participant said that he had never heard of the company&rsquo;s CSR policy in his 12-year service. 
 
Yoon Hyowon, ICEM&rsquo;s Project Coordinator for MNC monitoring and Social Dialogue, made a presentation on ILO Core Conventions, OECD Guidelines and the UN Global Compact. The information on the international standards was almost new to management participants. Management participants had not been aware that LINDE had joined the UN Global Compact in 2005. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="179" />
Yoon pointed out that the Linde Code of Ethics had not been translated into Thai, while it had been into Chinese and Korean in Asia. Mr. Sansern, Head of Human Resources, said that the translation was in process. 
 
In the meeting with union leaders on 27 June prior to the joint training, they said that management had consistently interfered with union activity, that collective agreement were poorly implemented or often ignored, that management had discriminated against CAL workers and union members, that any company information such as financial data and outsourcing had not been disclosed, that unconditional 12-hour work for drivers had been systematically forced by management, and that management had not provided any union facility for constructive collective bargaining. 
 
In concluding the joint training, Yoon Hyowon proposed management and the union to implement the following points: 
1. To organize training for all employees on international standards agreed to by Linde HQ; 
2. To organize a social dialogue forum to compare the actual situation of the company with international standards, especially the chapters 3 and 4 of OECD Guidelines on MNEs; 
3. To translate the Linde Code of Ethics into Thai; 
4. To post and distribute the UN Global Compact inside factories; 
5. To post and distribute OECD Guidelines inside factories. 
 
In the closing session, all participants from management and the union acknowledged that there was a long way to go for both parties to properly implement international standards promised by Linde HQ. At the same time, all participants from both sides expressed their commitment to social dialogue.

Thai Gas Industry Social Dialogue Meeting, Brings Management, Workers to the Table

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
In a rare advisory referendum taken amongst members of the Dutch national union FNV, 80% of those voting agreed with the negotiated result between unions and employer federations to raise the basic retirement pension (AOW) age of the country. 
 
In balloting between 19 June and 1 July, 160,000 of 1.4 million union members voted that the Dutch retirement age ought to be raised from 65 to 66 in the year 2020, and then possibly to 67 in 2025 if a national evaluation of higher life expectancy after 2020 warrants it. The advisory vote goes to FNV&rsquo;s Council on 14 July, which is now expected to endorse the 4 June negotiated agreement between social partners. 
<img alt="" src="" width="166" height="130" />
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk
The negotiated social plan is seen as a guiding measure to a deadlocked government on retirement policy. The results of a 9 June election in the Netherlands revealed that any coalition government quite likely would come up with an even worse solution on pension revenue shortfalls and mandatory retirement age. 
 
Under the proposed social plan, workers would still have the option to retire at 65, but they would face a 6.5% reduction in pension benefits. And under the union-business plan, the lowest-paid workers, and workers who do heavy physical jobs, would be exempt from any rise in the current pension age. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk said he was pleased with the outcome of the late June balloting, calling it &ldquo;a clear result.&rdquo; The advisory referendum, a difficult administrative undertaking, was only the fifth time that FNV has even taken such a vote from its entire union membership.

FNV Members Give Nod to Raise Future Pension Age in the Netherlands

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A strike by 100 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) against an intransigent Brazilian multinational is now in its 18th week with no bargaining occurring since the outset. CAW Local 222 in Bowmanville, Ontario, 65 kilometres east of Toronto, is resisting deep pension and other cuts being forced it by Votorantim Cementos and its St. Marys Cement subsidiary, 
 
&ldquo;Workers have the right to a decent pension,&rdquo; said CAW National President Ken Lewenza. &ldquo;This is outright bullying of this small group of workers. This company is far from destitute and the rollback of any hard won workers' benefits is out of the question.&rdquo; 
<img src="" width="345" height="226" alt="" />
The strike began on 12 March. CAW Local 222 members last month began extending their picket lines to other St. Marys Cement plants and terminals in Canada. Local 222 saw their prior collective agreement expire on 31 January 2010, with the company demanding a change from a defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution plan. 
 
The change could mean as much as a 400% drop in annual pension earnings for workers. St. Marys is also seeking deep work-rule cuts. &ldquo;This is an important struggle against a company&rdquo; attempting to attack workers pensions, said Local 222 President Chris Buckley. 
 
Votorantim purchased seven cement plants and terminals, as well as 39 ready-mix operations from Lafarge&rsquo;s Blue Circle operations in Canada and the US in 2001 for US$700 million. It then revived the name St. Marys to the Toronto-based subsidiary, a name the operations went by for eight decades prior to Blue Circle buying them in 1997. Votorantim is a privately-held S&atilde;o Paulo-based industrial conglomerate that controls one-third of the Brazilian cement market. 
 
The ICEM supports CAW Local 222 in its struggle to retain a fair labour contract in Ontario.

Canadian Cement Strike Now in Its 18th Week

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Two UK trade unions are demanding an independent inquiry into the explosion at Total&rsquo;s Lindsey oil refinery in the afternoon of 29 June that killed one union member, and injured two others. The explosion was followed by a fire in a crude oil distillation unit of the massive refinery in North Lincolnshire. 
 
Twenty-four-year-old Robert Greenacre, a pipe fitter, was killed. He did not answer a safety roll call following the blast and his body was recovered late in the evening of 29 June. Greenacre, a member of Unite the Union, was an employee of a sub-contractor working for Jacobs Engineering, the primary contractor for Paris-based Total at Lindsey. 
 
&ldquo;Unite puts the highest premium on health and safety in the workplace and we are calling for an immediate, independent, and comprehensive inquiry into what happened,&rdquo; stated Unite National Officer for Construction Tom Hardacre. &ldquo;We would particularly like to know why further searches were not made when our member was unaccounted for in the roll-call when employees were evacuated.&rdquo; 
<img src="" width="190" height="230" alt="" />
Robert Greenacre
The GMB National Organiser for Engineering and Construction, Phil Whitehurst, also demanded that Total be held accountable. He said hard questions need to be asked both of the company and UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive over why a &ldquo;Permit to Work&rdquo; was issued for pipefitting work inside the HDS-3 plant of the refinery. This &ldquo;brings into question Total&rsquo;s safety record yet again,&rdquo; said Whitehurst. &ldquo;They have to be held accountable.&rdquo; 
 
The GMB union leader was referring to a very recent verdict in a case from Total&rsquo;s Buncefield oil depot in which the French company admitted health and safety regulations had been breached, causing a 2005 explosion that injured 40 workers. 
 
In the days following the 29 June Lindsey blast, Total did send home 2,000 workers from the site because of asbestos exposure concerns due to damage from the explosion. Those workers began returning to work today, with the remainder due back to work tomorrow. All received full pay while idled. 
 
Greenacre, who had worked at his trade for five years, was engaged to be married and he and his wife-to-be recently purchased their first house together. The ICEM extends its condolences to the young worker&rsquo;s family, to Unite and GMB, and to all workers at Lindsey.

UK Unions Want Answers to Total’s Lindsey Refinery Blast, Killing One

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Following three days of intense negotiations, 2-4 July, South African state-owned electric utility provider Eskom and three trade unions won 2010 wage terms with increases of 9%, plus long-awaited housing allowances. With the threat of a strike looming during the final week of the World Cup &ndash; despite a labour court ruling now on appeal that deemed the entirety of Eskom an essential service &ndash; the company met the unions wage demands in talks before the nation&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
The ICEM affiliated unions National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and a third union, representing a combined 28,000 workers, are expected to sign the agreement this week, with the across-the board salary increase backdated to 1 June. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="96" />
A major issue throughout bargaining was the housing allowance. In that, a compromise was reached in which workers will receive a R1,500 (US$194) monthly allowance. Entering early July&rsquo;s final mediated bargaining session before workers were prepared to strike, Eskom had an 8.5% wage offer and a R1,000 housing stipend on the table. The unions had demanded R2,500 for housing. 
 
The housing allowance issue was a carry over from last year&rsquo;s bargaining, when Eskom promised to establish a commission by year&rsquo;s end to award a first-ever stipend for staff who work away from home. That never materialized. 
 
Labour unions and management are expected to decide this week when the R1,500 allowance will take effect, with unions arguing it should be backdated. Also this week, talks will continue towards reaching a minimum service agreement, an accord that will determine which Eskom employees are not essential state workers and thus have the right to strike. The unions also have this matter before a labour appeals court. 
 
The NUM represents 16,000 workers at Eskom, while NUMSA represents about 5,000.

Eskom and South African Unions Agree to 9% Wage Hikes

Archive