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<img alt="" height="59" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="120" />

	Just over a year after a People’s Revolution shook Egypt, a glimmer of legislative light regarding trade union freedoms and formation of independent unions has come to the country. On 8 February, the Draft Law on Trade Union Freedoms was submitted to the People’s Assembly, the lower house of Egypt’s Parliament.

	After months of promises to leaders of the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress (EDLC) and the Centre for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS) for such legislation, it was introduced just over two weeks from the time the People’s Assembly opened its session following elections.

	If enacted, the law would codify many of the core ILO Labour Conventions that Egypt has ratified over the years, but has failed to implement due to draconian laws and decrees by the Mubarak regime, and more recently the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Continuing Revolution Party Parliamentarian Aboul Ezz Al-Hariry is said to be championing the new law, and the EDLC and CTUWS – as well as the newly formed Independent Union of Workers in Electricity and Energy—are hopeful some provisions of it can still be strengthened.

	The draft law was prepared by Minister of Labour and Migration Ahmed Hassan El-Borai and had been discussed in eight tri-partite meetings of Egypt’s Manpower Committee before it was submitted to SCAF, which was silent on it.

	Now officially in Parliament, it will go before the Committee for Suggestions and Complaints and then to special Committees on Manpower and Legislative in public sessions.

	Foremost, the law would guarantee the right of freedom of association and encourage free and independent trade unions to thrive. It is hoped that other debate in Egypt will also occur on adopting an effective minimum wage policy, giving permanent contracts to temporary employees, and lifting bans and penalties on sit-ins, demonstrations and other forms of freedom of expression.

	“A year has gone by since the people of Egypt – most specifically workers’ groups – have stood and demanded their freedoms,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We are encouraged by the Trade Union Freedoms draft law and fully intend to support an Egyptian labour law that is in full compliance with global labour standards.”

ICEM Encouraged by Draft Labour Law in Egypt

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" style="width: 130px; height: 63px" width="390" />

	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever's Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world's third largest consumer products company's unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner “Unilever, Don’t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits”, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers' Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK's Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled €8 million, while Unilever’s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-2-web.jpg" style="width: 208px; height: 150px" width="390" />

	At today's manifestation, led by Unilever's European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: "We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever's corporate culture. 
	 
	"We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman's pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting 'sustainable living' but that he says nothing about sustainable employment."

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-1-web.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever's Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company's UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, "We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	"The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into." 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies' Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever's Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	  <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-3-web.jpg" style="width: 95px; height: 160px" width="390" />  

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

Spirited Rotterdam Rally Calls on Unilever to Save UK Pensions

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil services company, has been scrambling to defend actions of local management in Egypt who sacked the entire leadership of a nascent trade union.  Pressure has been exerted by the ICEM and its affiliated Norwegian and Canadian unions, IndustriEnergi (IE) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP/SCEP), on senior management to intervene and remedy this unacceptable violation of rights in Egypt.

	Schlumberger employs around 2,500 workers in Egypt, 40% of whom are workers of subcontractors at 10 different worksites. 

	In April 2011, the process to establish an independent company-level trade union at Schlumberger Egypt was begun, as part of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), the trade union centre established during the final days of the Mubarak regime. In May 2011, signatures and required documents were collected to complete the legal process of establishing the union.

	On 11 May, local management was informed of the new union structure, at which time management responded with threats leading to the dismissal of General Secretary Mohamed Abd Elrahman. On 3 July, the day of the union’s general congress, local management dismissed the union’s President, Brother Essam. On 5 July, local management summoned union members to the head office and threatened them with dismissal if they did not leave the union. And then on 7 July, local management followed through on an earlier threat and dismissed the union’s Assistant General Secretary, Ayman Abd Elmonem.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-egypt-schlumberger-sacked-pres-and-other.jpg" style="width: 195px; height: 161px;" width="390" /> 

	ICEM’s Jim Catterson with Sacked Union President, Brother Essam, at left

	No reason or dismissal letter was given to Abd Elmonem, he was simply blocked from entering the workplace. On 12 July, another union member was dismissed in similar circumstances, Mr. Hossam Al-deed Mostafa, again no written dismissal notice was produced.

	Under Egyptian law, workers can only be dismissed from their employment following a due legal process and a court ruling. The court procedure cannot even be initiated without justifiably serious reasons. Arbitrary unilateral decisions such as these cannot stand. Four sacked workers have been without income for several months now.

	“I write seeking your immediate intervention to remedy shocking violations of labour rights at Schlumberger operations in Egypt. In a vicious attack on workers’ rights to organise and bargain collectively, Schlumberger employees’ nascent trade union has been illegally dismantled through the sacking of its leaders,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda in a letter to Schlumberger.

	Register your protest to Schlumberger Chairman Andrew Gould, CEO Paal Kibsgaard, and Egypt Area Manager Amr Essawy by clicking <a href="mailto:gould1@exchange.slb.com; pkibsgaard@exchange.slb.com; AEssawi2@exchange.slb.com">here</a>.

	    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayIE.jpg" style="width: 80px; height: 107px;" width="390" />    

	The company has responded to ICEM and IE calls with an investigation into the sackings.  ICEM will continue to monitor the situation closely and will mobilise the next phase of the campaign with Schlumberger’s clients, the oil and gas multinationals that use Schlumberger’s services, if positive action by the company is not taken soon.

	IE of Norway organises Schlumberger employees, and those workers registered their protest with Norwegian national management and local managers over the last ten days. Local Schlumberger union reps in Norway are meeting today with the ICEM.

	Egyptian activists in Paris on 18 February conducted a picket at Schlumberger headquarters and met with the manager of Schlumberger France, who has also now been mobilised to intervene into the case.

Oil Services Giant Schlumberger Pressured over Egyptian Union Busting

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Swiss-based cement multinational giant Holcim continues to anger the ICEM with its illegal treatment of contract workers in India. Attempts by contract and agency workers employed at Holcim’s subsidiaries, ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cement Ltd., to organise and establish collective bargaining with management are being crushed with intimidation, coercion, and dismissal.

	On 12 January, the ICEM joined a complaint to the OECD submitted by the local union Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS).  PCSS is a member of the ICEM global family and represents 1,500 contract workers in the state of Chhattisgarh.

	The complaint focuses on a number of breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim’s cement companies. Other than the clear violation of the contract workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively, Holcim is also cited for refusing to engage in collective bargaining with PCSS, which is officially registered as the trade union representing workers at the cement installations.  Further violations are outlined in the complaint with respect to the surrounding communities around the Holcim plants.  The companies acquired land from local farmers and went on to destroy living conditions in local communities, namely shoddy water management and destruction of homes by blasting and mining. The subsidiaries also refuse to give permanent jobs to locals.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-holcim-india-press-conference.jpg" style="width: 245px; height: 160px;" width="390" /> 

	Today in New Delhi, ICEM participated in a press conference with the Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) and PCSS and their national federation, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI).  ICEM Asia-Pacific Representative Phee Jungsun said at the press conference, “It is through such practices as these that clearly violate workers’ basic rights to representation of their choice, as guaranteed by the UN, OECD and ILO, as well as the Indian constitution. That Holcim has doubled its profit margins through Indian operations stand as further disrepute in terms of the rights’ abuses of contract and agency workers.”

	Holcim celebrates its 100th anniversary this week and claims “We have placed Sustainable Development at the heart of our business strategy for many years, because we believe it contributes in adding value and ensuring continued success.”

	Holcim is in breach of Indian legislation, namely the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act that stipulates that contract workers may only be hired to perform non-core functions, and that those who perform the same or similar kinds of work as regular workers must receive equal treatment in terms of wages and conditions.

	However, contract workers in both plants are employed to carry out tasks which are fundamental to production, but receive only one third of permanent workers’ wages. 

	Holcim-ACC last year refused to respect a Chhattisgarh State High Court ruling that it is using “sham and bogus” contracts, and should regularise 27 contract workers. It was proven that contract workers at the plant do not have basic personal protective equipment, such as gloves, boots and masks, and are denied access to medical facilities, including basic first aid, in the factory.

	Between September 2010 and March 2011, 80 members of PCSS were dismissed by Holcim-Ambuja. Management of the plant repeatedly refused to participate in conciliation efforts by the Regional Labour Commissioner in Raipur.

	The Chapters and Paragraphs of the OECD Guidelines in violation are: Chapter II ( General Policies) specifically paragraphs A (1), (4),(9); Chapter IV (Human rights) specifically paragraphs 1, 2; and Chapter V specifically paragraphs 1 (a), (b), (d), (e), 3, 5.

	See the full text of the PCSS OECD complaint <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/OECD%20Complaint%207%201%202012.pdf">here</a>.

	See more information on the BWI Company Monitor webpage <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/category/mnc-info/holcim/">here</a>.

Holcim’s Violations in India Taken to OECD

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	The Australian High Court recently refused to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto over the company’s illegal non-union collective agreements imposed on iron ore miners in West Australia. The denial is a victory for ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which took the case forward, and a victory for legitimate collective bargaining rights.

	It also stands as a rebuke to Rio Tinto in its efforts to avoid 2009 changes in Australian labour law.

	The 10 February ruling not to hear Rio’s appeal to a 25 July 2011 determination by the full bench of the country’s Federal Court means Rio’s sham labour agreement from July 2008 is not a genuine collective agreement. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4571-Australia-s-CFMEU-Wins-Major-Bargaining-Ruling-Against-Rio-Tinto" type="internal">ICEM report</a> on Federal Court decision from 1 August 2011.)

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-cfmeu-iron-ore-mining.jpg" style="width: 145px; height: 160px;" width="390" /> 

	It also serves as an invitation for iron ore miners – and others – in West Australia’s rich Pilbara region to take membership in the CFMEU, with the aim to negotiate real enterprise labour agreements through the union.  The High Court ruling will also negate other mining firms such as BHP Billiton, which also converted individual work agreements into non-union labour agreements that were intended to keep trade unions away from workers and workers without a union voice.

	In Rio Tinto’s case, it brought ten new hires of its Pilbara Iron Company Pty. Ltd. subsidiary into a bogus Pilbara Iron Employee Agreement for a five-year duration that was meant to include all other new hires during that time. The ploy was done to avoid changes in law that took effect with the July 2009 effective date of the Fair Work Australia law.

	Some 20 such delusionary labour agreements are said to have been put in place to avoid the Fair Work law, and Rio Tinto’s legal failure last week is expected to strike the ones that are still in effect null and void.

	“Rio Tinto made a cynical attempt to circumvent their obligations under the Fair Work laws,” said CFMEU Mining General Secretary Andrew Vickers. “It has tried to dodge its obligation to recognise the rights of its workers to genuinely collectively bargain for future pay increases and improved conditions.

	“It has been a long legal battle, but it’s been worth it to safeguard the rights of our members in the Pilbara and demonstrate that Rio Tinto is not above the law,” added Vickers.

Australian High Court Denies Rio Tinto’s Appeal to Evade Union Contracts

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever's Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world's third largest consumer products company's unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner “Unilever, Don’t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits”, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers' Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK's Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled €8 million, while Unilever’s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-2-web.jpg" style="width: 208px; height: 150px;" width="390" />

	At today's manifestation, led by Unilever's European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: "We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever's corporate culture. 
	 
	"We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman's pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting 'sustainable living' but that he says nothing about sustainable employment."

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-1-web.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px;" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever's Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company's UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, "We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	"The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into." 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies' Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever's Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1202-unilever-rotterdam-3-web.jpg" style="width: 95px; height: 160px;" width="390" /> 

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM has extended support to Colombian mine union affiliate Sintracarbón and 1,200 miners who began strike action on 17 November against Swiss-based Glencore International. The strike at Colombia’s third largest coal mining company, Glencore subsidiary CI Prodeco, broke out at the firm’s Calenturitas mine in northern César department over management intransigence in coming to a collective agreement that would grant just pay awards, benefits, a promotion schedule and job security. 
 
The La Jagua de Ibirico municipality branch of Sintracarbón gave a list of demands to Prodeco on 21 September and the two sides began the legally required bargaining on 3 October. But after the mandatory 20 days of talks ended on 22 October, management cut off dialogue and announced it would unilaterally implement a previous set of work rules as a collective agreement for a five-year period. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4734-Sintracarbón-Fights-Glencore-Subsidiary-in-Colombia " type="internal">ICEM report</a> from last month.) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.sintracarbon.jpg" width="232" height="174"/>
Sintracarbón then presented workers two options in a vote at the open pit mine: to strike or turn the dispute over to a government arbitration tribunal. Despite Prodeco’s harassment and intimidation at polling areas, including trying to block union leaders from conducting the vote, 97.4% of miners voted to strike, while 2% chose arbitration. 
 
Last week’s walkout will cripple production by 30,000 tonnes per day. Prodeco was expected to mine five million tons of coal this year from the seven-year-old Calenturitas mine, and another 8.8 million tonnes from the La Jagua open pit mine, an operation that saw a 39-day strike from June to August 2010 by non-affiliated Sintramienergetica. That strike saw miners get a two-year labour agreement. 
 
Glencore has posted excellent results from both thermal coal operations and is on line to increase combined production to 19.9 million tones annually by the end of 2013, and to 20.7 million by 2015. Calenturitas has total deposits of 122 million tones, while La Jagua has contains 133 million tonnes.

Sintracarbón Launches Strike at Glencore’s Calenturitas Mine in Colombia

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A three-week strike by 4,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) spilled into the streets of Johannesburg on 15 November, with workers employed at Xstrata’s Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters near Rustenburg took a protest to the Swiss company’s Alloys headquarters. NUMSA members presented a petition to company managers demanding wage parity with workers employed at the Xstrata Lion ferrochrome smelter in Tubatse, Mpumalanga province. 
 
Both operations are undergoing big expansions. Xstrata owns 79.5% of the ferrochrome complexes in South Africa, while publicly-listed Merafe Resources holds a 20.5% stake. Both companies also mine chrome in South Africa. 
 
The strike by NUMSA in the North-West province began on 24 October after conciliation efforts by the country’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. NUMSA and Xstrata Alloys met two days earlier, but a revised pay offer by the company fell short and workers rejected it. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.NumsaXstrata.jpg" width="211" height="140"/>
NUMSA President Cedric Gina (rear) gets Xstrata's Edwin Hlatshwayo Sign Receipt of Petition
NUMSA is seeking an immediate 10% pay increase for Boshoek and Wonderkop metalworkers and a reduction of job grading systems from eight to five. That would close the wage gap with workers at the Lion smelter and equalize the grading system. Currently, Boshoek and Wonderkop workers earn 14 to 39% less than at Lion, depending on pay grades. 
 
NUMSA is also seeking a housing allowance of R3,500. 
 
The petition handed to Xstrata Alloys management last week states: “(The company) has angered workers and instead of focusing on negotiations, they have decided to apply cheap apartheid-era tactics of bashing members through police intimidation of the strike. NUMSA is very angry that workers who went on a legal and protected strike have been treated like common criminals.” 
 
NUMSA President Cedric Gina and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Second Deputy Vice President Zingiswi Losi led the march and handover of the petition. The petition asks the company to respond within 48 hours. 
 
Xstrata is world’s largest producer of metal alloys, which besides ferrochrome includes vanadium and platinum, and accounts for one-third of total global production. The Boshoek smelter is currently seeing an expansion that will lift production to 240,000-tonnes-per-year by the end of next year. A second smelter, meanwhile, is now being constructed at the Lion operation that will see production double from the current 360,000 tonnes when it goes on line in the first half of 2013. 
 
The Xstrata-Merafe joint venture in South Africa will then yield 2.3 million tonnes yearly of ferrochrome, which is used in stainless steel production.

NUMSA Takes Xstrata Ferrochrome Smelter Strike to Streets of Johannesburg

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Members of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) Lodge 778 will begin returning to work this week after ratifying a six-year labour agreement last night, 20 November, with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC. in Kansas City, Missouri. 
 
The vote by a wide margin ends a 42-day strike by 940 workers against Honeywell at the US government owned Bannister Federal Complex, where the company makes non-nuclear components for the government’s nuclear weapons system. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1110.machinists%20usw.jpg" width="215" height="161"/>
Although contract terms were not immediately known following last night’s late vote, it is believed much of the American company’s original offer was accepted. That includes a two-tier pay scheme for new workers hired after 1 January in which such workers come in at lower hourly rates and fall into slower wage progressions than current workers. It also will see reductions to retiree health insurance coverage for those retiring after 8 October 2017. 
 
The contract also contains higher out-of-pocket health care costs for staff. Current workers will see a 13.5% wage increase over the six-year period, and an 11.7% pension hike also will be realized in that period. 
IAM Lodge 778 had given Honeywell with four different proposals up to 17 November through a US federal mediator, but all were rejected by the company. Finally on 17 November, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) official presented the six-year deal and Lodge 778’s bargaining committee recommended it last night to membership. 
 
The 840 workers will return to Honeywell’s payroll this week by undergoing four-hour re-orientation training, and all staff will resume their normal job functions effective 28 November.

US Machinists End 42-Day Honeywell Strike in Missouri

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) today signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, the world’s third largest energy company. The agreement, the 20-million-member ICEM’s 16th since 1998, was signed at the Brazilian company’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, and Petrobras Director for Gas and Industry, Maria Das Gracas Silva Foster, Executive Director for Human Relations, Diego Hernandes, and Joao Antonio de Moraes, General Coordinator of FUP (the Oil and Gas Workers’ Unified federation of Brazil). 
 
A GFA is a social pact between a multinational company and a Global Union Federation that puts in place the very highest standards regarding trade union and human rights, health, safety, and environmental practices, and quality of work principles across all of a company’s global operations. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1112.petrobras gfa signed.JPG" width="214" height="160"/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda signs Petrobras GFA
“This is ICEM’s fourth such agreement with an oil and gas concern,” said Warda, “and it embodies many of the social principles that we expect companies in extractive industries to adhere to.” The ICEM has previously negotiated GFAs with Statoil of Norway, Eni of Italy and Lukoil of Russia. 
 
The agreement was signed with approval from ICEM Brazilian trade union affiliate, the Oil and Gas Workers’ Unified Federation (FUP), whose leaders were present at the signing together with ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President Sergio Novais of Brazil. Support from both FUP and Sergio Novais was important in reaching the agreement. 
 
The agreement commits Petrobras to recognizing the right of freedom of association and to bargain collectively for all employees, as well as establishing formal dialogue channels between staff and management. It also promotes working conditions that are favorable to a balance between work, personal, and family life. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1112.petrobras gfa group.JPG" width="315" height="161"/>
ICEM, Petrobras, FUP
The GFA states that Petrobras “will strive to get all service providers to comply” with nine labour relations points contained in the agreement, including health and safety and providing necessary equipment, permanent institutionalization of negotiation channels, and equal opportunities and promotion of training opportunities. 
 
The agreement also recognizes global standards contained in the ILO Tripartite Declaration on Principles for Multinational Corporations and Social Policy, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact. 
 
Warda and Petrobras CEO José S. Gabriella de Azevedo initiated talks on the ICEM-Petrobras GFA as board members of the Global Compact some three years ago. 
 
Petrobras, 56% owned by the Brazilian government, has 80,500 employees and operates in some 30 countries. The company is a leader in exploration and production of oil, and operates 16 refineries as well as numerous petrochemical, biofuels, pipelines and other installations. The ICEM is composed of 255 national trade unions operating in 94 countries. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM’s Dick Blin (+41 79 734 8994, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>) or Tom Grinter (+41 22 304 1842, <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>).

ICEM Signs 16th Global Agreement with Petrobras of Brazil

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ICEM Signs 16th Global Agreement with Petrobras of Brazil

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