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<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
By way of introduction to the full ICEM background report on the Pulp and Paper Industry, the ICEM prepared a presentation on globalisation in the pulp and paper sector for the ICEM World Conference for the Pulp and Paper Industry, in Brussels, on 15-16 November 2005. 
The presentation builds upon the background document, highlighting the latest sector&nbsp;statistics, unavailable at the time the document went to press. It also provides a few examples of recent labour disputes in the sector, and makes suggestions towards solutions at the global level. 
 
For the presentation, click <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0511EugenePaper.ppt">here</a>. 
 
For the full report, click <a href="/?id=147&amp;doc=1513">here</a>.

ICEM Presentation on globalisation in the pulp and paper industry

23 November 2005 
 
His Excellency Dr Thaskin Sinawatra 
Prime Minister 
Kingdom of Thailand 
Government House 
Pitsunalok Road 
Bangkok 10300 
Thailand
Dear Sir, 
 
I write on behalf of the 20-million-member ICEM on a serious labour matter affecting your country. It is the unregulated and unceasing use of contract and agency labour by major employers in Thailand. 
 
In assessing a number of labour disputes in Thailand, some of which are in ICEM sectors such as energy and rubber, others in sectors such as metals and food, covered by other, fraternal Global Union Federations, the issue of extensive use of contract labour is at the forefront. I ask you to consider the harm such labour practices bring to the overall social development in Thailand. 
 
I write this prior to a group of trade unionists&mdash;many of whom are members of trade unions affiliated to the ICEM&mdash;bringing this issue forward in a rally outside the Ministry of Labour, and I implore you to hear their voice as it calls forth the ill-effects brought to workers, their families and entire communities when permanent jobs are replaced by contractors and agencies. 
 
I invite you to meet with these trade unionists, and I invite the Thai Government to initiate discussions on this critical issue affecting workers and the communities in which they live. 
 
The ICEM is leading a global campaign on contract and agency labour. We would be quite willing to join a dialogue between your government and trade unionists in Thailand who are recognising the dangers, and rightfully speak out on this issue. The ICEM realizes that it is not practical to call for a total ban on contract and agency labour. 
 
But what we do seek is that contract and agency labour be properly controlled to avoid the unnecessary displacement of direct workers and when there is a need to utilize contract or agency arrangements, trade union representatives be consulted and dialogue occur prior to contracts being signed. The logic to this in terms of productive enterprises, and well-being of workers, families and the communities in which they live is clearly evident. 
 
The ICEM is promoting such simple and precise language for employers, governments and inter-governmental institutions to adopt. Again, I respectfully request that your government give this labour issue serious attention, and I and the ICEM stand ready to assist in any manner possible. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
 
CC Mr Somsak Thepsuthin, Labour Minister, Thailand

ICEM letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand on Goodyear Contract labour problems

ICEM&rsquo;s Global Network of ExxonMobil Workers&rsquo; Solidarity is spotlighting recent deaths and physical abuses to protesters among 4,000 contract workers who have been denied overtime pay by Chad-Cameroon Constructors (TCC), a pipeline-building consortium led by Esso-Tchad, Chevron, and Petronas of Malaysia. 
<img height="80" src="" width="120" alt="" />
On 18 September, national gendarmerie of Chad violently broke up a peaceful sit-in, leaving three dead, three with serious injuries and 30 arrested. Workers have been protesting in the capital of N&rsquo;djamena and in the southern oil regions of Chad. 
The network&rsquo;s attention on the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, opened in 2003 and now carrying 200,000 barrels-per-day, comes just months after Amnesty International issued a comprehensive report on how commercial contracts between Chad&rsquo;s government and private-sector interests have destroyed human rights for both workers and civilians. 
Contract workers are owed some US$12 million in overtime wages collectively for completing the US$3.7 billion pipeline ahead of schedule. Visit the website of the ExxonMobil workers&rsquo; network at www.ExxonMobil-solidarity.org.

Two Dead Among Contractors on Chad-Cameroon Pipeline

Fourteen workers were hospitalized and 30 treated for injuries following a 24 September hydrogen sulphide leak at Caltex Australia Ltd.&rsquo;s refinery in Sydney. Less than a week later, on 29 September, another suspected gas leak forced evacuation of hundreds of oil workers at the country&rsquo;s second largest refinery. The incidents occurred near a new, A$395 million clean fuels plant inside the Kurnell refinery, a major producer of transport fuels in Australia. Caltex, 50% owned by US-based Chevron, is behind schedule and has been burdened with unplanned maintenance and outages at the 124,000 barrel-per-day refinery.

Leak Hospitalizes 14 at Caltex Refinery in Australia

New Zealand paper workers at a Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) converting factory in Auckland have won a 5% pay hike, but CHH workers in the woods sector are still staging industrial actions to get similar pay increases. On 23 September, 200 workers at a laminated veneer plant at Marsden Point in Whangarei began a week-long strike aimed at achieving affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union&rsquo;s (EPMU) goal of 5% in 2005. The EPMU has succeeded in getting 5% hikes in 269 collective agreements since it&rsquo;s Fair Share Campaign began in February 2005, 85% of all contracts open this year. The &ldquo;5% in &lsquo;05&rdquo; Campaign prompted an industry association spokesman to remark, &ldquo;If you get the message out there, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.&rdquo;

New Zealand Affiliate Succeeding at 5% Wage Hikes

French ICEM affiliate F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie Energie CFDT is calling for a tripartite commission to be established to resolve wage talks in the paper carton industry of France. The trade union rejects the inferior minimum levels put forward by the trade industry grouping Nationale des Industries Papeti&egrave;res pour les Affaires Sociales (l&rsquo;Unipas). FCE-CFDT says the heavy pressure to hold down wages will not be good for this papermaking sector since workers will become reluctant to take promotions into jobs requiring higher technical skills.

French Affiliate Seeks Wage Hikes in Paper Sector

Tomorrow, a general strike will occur throughout France, called by the nation&rsquo;s five major trade union confederations. French workers are saying no to privatisations, no to the new jobs contract proposed by the government, no to erosion of job security, and yes to public service investments and fair pay gains. Some 140 public demonstrations will be held across France, and a weekend opinion poll says 74% of French citizens support the day of actions. The strike has postponed&mdash;at least temporarily&mdash;a government campaign to promote partial privatisation of Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF). Release of analysts&rsquo; reports of EDF&rsquo;s initial public offering commissioned by the government have been ordered delayed until after 4 October strikes.

French Trade Unions Stage 4 October Actions

The Canadian government was target of a 9 September International Day of Protest against the export of asbestos products. Unions in Australia, Asia, India, Africa and Latin America joined the protest against Canada&rsquo;s government, which bans the sale of asbestos products to its own citizens yet profits by export of it. Canada is the world&rsquo;s third largest exporter of asbestos products. Demonstrators gathered in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia, demanding a ban, and Canadian embassies in 12 countries were delivered strongly-worded letters asking for Canada to stop its asbestos exports. In Japan, where 60% of all asbestos comes from Canada, three unions sent a high-level delegation to the Tokyo embassy of Canada formally requesting that its export promotion policy be terminated.

Global Unions Protest Canada&#039;s Asbestos Exports

French oil refinery workers at Total began partial disruptions to production late on 6 September, successfully making the global oil company modify its disciplinary actions against four workers the next day. The four were exclusively blamed for a fuel leak on 7 August at a refinery in Marseille. The refineries in which job actions occurred included Donges, Saint-Nazaire; Normandie, LeHavre; Grandpuits near Paris; Feyzin, Lyon; and the Provence refinery, Marseille.

French Total Workers Strike over Disciplinary Measures

Eighteen Russian coalminers on Sakhalin Island ended their 11-day hunger strike 142 meters underground 9 September when they won backwages totaling four million roubles for 428 miners for the month of June at the bankrupt Sakhalinugol mining firm. They also won assurances that July and August wages due them will be paid this month through sale of mining equipment. The coalmine shut in August. Separate from the strike, the trustee of the mining enterprise in the Uglegorsk region, Tatyana Dmitriyeva, was arrested in early September and charged with profiteering from sale of mining and earth-moving equipment prior to the mid-August shutdown.

Sakhalin Miners End Strike

Archive

ICEM Presentation on globalisation in the pulp and paper industry

ICEM letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand on Goodyear Contract labour problems

Two Dead Among Contractors on Chad-Cameroon Pipeline

Leak Hospitalizes 14 at Caltex Refinery in Australia

New Zealand Affiliate Succeeding at 5% Wage Hikes

French Affiliate Seeks Wage Hikes in Paper Sector

French Trade Unions Stage 4 October Actions

Global Unions Protest Canada's Asbestos Exports

French Total Workers Strike over Disciplinary Measures

Sakhalin Miners End Strike

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