English

Español

Français

Русский

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 2021-2025

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

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
French ICEM affiliate CGT Verre et Céramique calls for a day of action on 9 October, following the withdrawal by MEDEF, the French employers’ association, from the ‘hazardous jobs’ dialogue in the glass and ceramics sector. 
 
A 2003 French law calls for negotiations on the recognition of ‘hazardous jobs’ to be finished by 31 December 2006. Ongoing negotiations between unions and employers so far have not yielded results. Worse still, MEDEF has now decided to leave the bargaining table, stating it will push back the whole effort until after the elections of 2007. According to the CGT, this is clearly an attempt to postpone discussions indefinitely, and therefore unacceptable. 
<img height="112" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceCGTVerre.jpg" width="81" alt=""/>
The CGT Verre et Céramique wants to keep the early retirement age at 55 and considers the recognition of ‘hazardous jobs’ in the glass and ceramics industries to be one of its priorities. Several studies have indicated a critical reduction in workers’ life expectancies when operating in hazardous environments. 
 
The CGT calls upon its members to organise, together with the other professional Federations of the CGT, as well as with other unions in France, actions necessary on 9 October, ranging from petitions to strikes.

 ‘Hazardous Jobs’ Action Day in the French Glass and Ceramics Sector

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Belgian ICEM affiliate La Centrale Générale / de Algemene Centrale, together with its national centre FGTB/ABVV organised a series of actions on 13 September in Belgium at the occasion of its second “Day on the Rights of Temporary Agency Workers.” 
 
About 300.000 copies of the ‘Interim Times,’ a special free “newspaper” dedicated to the issue of agency labour, were distributed at train stations throughout the country. The Francophone version of newspaper is available online on the union’s site <a href="http://www.accg.be/sec/be-fr/ser/inte/news/20060913%20Interim%20Times%20FR.pdf ">here</a>. For the Flemish (Dutch language) version, click <a href="http://www.accg.be/sec/be-du/ser/inte/news/20060913%20Interim%20Times%20NL.pdf ">here</a>. 
<img height="90" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belgiumaccg.jpg" width="80" align="middle"/>       <img height="44" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belgiumfgtb.jpg" width="130" align="middle"/>
Among other things, the paper contains a series of personal stories, revealing a large number of problems related to agency labour. These include obvious insecure job situations and the often all too vague promises for permanent work “later on.” Possibly less obvious, but equally omnipresent, are several other problems, such as the difficulty to fight for one’s rights, which opens the door for abuse, or simply not being able to get a loan from a bank. 
 
The “Interim Times” paper was also available on many shop floors, where meetings were held by health and safety committees or company councils to discuss the issue of agency labour. The FGTB wanted all relevant bodies to talk to their managements about the problems connected to agency labour. 
<img height="65" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belgium.gif" width="100"/>
The FGTB warns that temporary agency work tends to replace more and more permanent jobs. The union also observes many legal violations in the sector. Under Belgian law, temporary agency labour can only be used in three circumstances: when a worker with a permanent contract needs to be replaced temporarily; in case of a temporary increase of the work volume at a company; or when extraordinary work needs to be performed. 
 
However, there is an ongoing discussion on the subject of a “fourth category,” which would allow employers to also use temporary agency workers as an “in-flow” method. The FGTB’s position is clear in this: there is to be no agreement as long as there are no guarantees towards permanent employment and towards solid trade union verification. The FGTB also rejects the idea of temporary agency work in the public sector. 
 
On the occasion of the day of action, the FGTB encouraged all its members to consider a few key questions: does the company inform the workers’ representatives and/or company councils adequately on its use of agency labour? Does management stick to the rules in those cases where it needs to have an agreement from the workers representatives on agency labour? Is agency labour only used for temporary work, as required by law?

Agency Labour Day in Belgium

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
The ICEM has sent a letter to the Unilever headquarters to protest the planned illegal closure of the Hindustan Lever's Mumbai factory. Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever, sold its plant in Mumbai in July 2005 to another company, Bon Ltd. Two months later, the new owner made an application to the local government to close the factory. 
 
Hindustan Lever had apparently hoped it could use the proposed sale to not only take advantage of tax concessions, but also to avoid its legal obligation to negotiate with the trade union, the Hindustan Lever Employees' Union (HLEU), which is an affiliate of the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations). A recent High Court decision has now clearly established, again, that this transfer is against Indian law. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IndiaFlag.gif" width="100"/>
With this legal victory, HLEU members at the plant continue their struggle against the illegal transfer and closure, stronger then ever before, and supported by many Indian and international trade unions. In the ICEM letter, the Global Union Federation calls on the company to enter into immediate and fair negotiations with the HLEU. 
 
More information on the dispute, including the possibility to send a message to the company, can be found on the IUF’s web-site <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=3697&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1">here</a>.

Protest Against Hindustan Lever Plant Closure in Mumbai

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
According to information received by the ICEM, last week saw the arrest of Javanmir Poradi, the head of the Electrical and Metal Workers’ Trade Association, in the western city of Kermanshah in Iran. He was reportedly released again yesterday evening. Given the regular and persistent ill-treatment of labour activists in Iran, Brother Moradi’s disappearance was very concerning for his family. No information was available on Monday as to his treatment in detention. 
 
Iranian security forces allegedly told brother Poradi, on 12 September, to report to their offices the next day. Whereas his family was initially told on Wednesday that he was taken to the public prosecutor’s house, this office later stated it did not have information as to his whereabouts. He is said to have been arrested for “organising a May Day rally” this year. 
 
Four other labour activists, from the Shaho and Kurdistan textile factories in the city of Sanandaj, were also arrested earlier last week, in relation to a planned protest against a number of dismissals. The four were badly treated while in detention, before being released.

One More Arrest and Ill-treatment of a Labour Activist in Iran

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 15

<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
ICEM HIV/AIDS Regional Workshop 
 
National HIV/AIDS Coordinators from ten sub-Saharan African countries participated in the Regional Workshop in Johannesburg from 4 to 7 December 2006. The workshop was the fourth in a series of workshops held in the framework of the HIV/AIDS projects for the African region during the 2005-2006 project cycle. 
It followed two workshops for national coordinators in 2005 (on initiation and strategies and developing the collective bargaining manual) and one earlier in 2006 on peer education. 
 
The objectives of the workshop were: to identify immediate targets for fundraising, to build arguments on co-investment, to develop own workplace programmes and to write HIV/AIDS projects. The workshop was based on website research and project identification and project writing in small groups. 
 
On fundraising for HIV/AIDS activities it was stressed that funding sources are decentralised. Partnerships have to be built at national and international level; “friendly technicians” have to be found to help in the development of proposals as unions lack the capacity to work with non-traditional methods and arguments (public/private partnerships, co-investment). 
The working of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was explained. The need to have unions on the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) was emphasised. 
 
It was stressed again that unions must take the lead for workers to be tested. Without knowing their status, there can be no follow-up on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support services. Unions can only advocate VCT to employers if workers are secure in their employment. 
Testing at company level is a problem if workers are not confident that results are not passed on, with dismissal as a possible consequence. Workplaces policies and clauses in collective agreements are therefore necessary. An objective should also be to pursue training to have unionists as highly-qualified counsellors. 
 
Two outside experts from the ILOAIDS programme and the German GTZ talked about Tripartite Action in the World of Work and the ACCA (AIDS Control in Companies in Africa) and BACKUP (Building Alliances – Creating Knowledge – Updating Partners) programmes respectively. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
World AIDS Day – 1 December 
 
Workers and their organisations play an important role in making World AIDS Day a success, yet they are often not recognised for their efforts. Global leaders have promised to deliver Universal Access to HIV/AIDS services for prevention, care and support and treatment by 2010. For unions and workers, this promise needs to become a reality in every workplace. 
 
ICEM affiliates all over the world commemorated World AIDS Day. In summary it can be said that there has been a big improvement in the involvement and activities. Leaders are taking leadership on the issue more seriously and the reported involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS is encouraging. 
 
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, companies and unions organised rallies with banners “Let’s kill AIDS!” In Mali, fairs with information on HIV/AIDS were organised. In Côte d’Ivoire, companies and unions campaigned for testing. In Tanzania, trade unions and PLWHA were represented at the central event in the northern part of the country. Testing and treatment were advocated at a number of mines. 
 
Stigma was the central theme in Botswana where peer educators organised stalls on wellness to drive home the fact that HIV is a condition like others. Apart from the main government-sponsored event in Namibia, the MUN and companies organised HIV/AIDS activities in three southern mines. In Nigeria, NUPENG branches, in cooperation with companies, organised “Know Your Status” campaigns with testing facilities on site. PERESSA organised prevention campaigns in remote communities. 
 
In Zambia, the union was involved in condom promotion and VCT advocacy. In Ghana, the GMWU worked with Gold Fields in Tarkwa to launch the workplace policy and to inaugurate the VCT centre at the Tarkwa district hospital, which was refurbished with a grant from Gold Field and AngloGold Ashanti. 
 
In India, INMF branches and the Institute for Miners and Metal Workers’ Education were particularly active in Chhattisgarh state with rallies, debates and competitions on prevention. 
 
On 1 December, the Financial Times published a special supplement on Business and AIDS. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Violence against Women and HIV/AIDS 
 
In conjunction with World AIDS Day (December 1) and International Women Human Rights Defenders Day (November 29), the Center for Women's Global Leadership launched the online version of its new human rights report, Strengthening Resistance: Confronting Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS. 
 
Women in both the global South and North face not only staggering rates of HIV infection, but also un-abating levels of violence, whether at the hands of male partners, police, or community members. While most see these as distinct, women around the world are now calling attention to the ways these experiences can be fundamentally linked. 
When women are - or are even perceived - to be HIV positive, they are at risk of violence, discrimination and other human rights violations. And when women are sexually assaulted, whether in conflict situations or in their homes, they are at risk of contracting HIV. 
 
UNAIDS estimates that there are 17.7 million women living with HIV. There is an urgent need for activists and policymakers to create links between these two crises as they create and reinforce each other. Strengthening Resistance focuses on the points of intersection in the social, political and public health crises of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. 
It provides an overview of the most salient issues, including challenges presented by restrictive and ideologically-driven government donor policies, as well as information on coalition building across HIV and women's movements. It is designed for activists, human rights defenders and policy makers alike. The report highlights nine creative advocacy initiatives from different countries and regions, including South Africa, Haiti, Vietnam, Spain and India. 
 
(Source: Press Release of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, 30 November. The report is available at 
<a href="http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/publications/strengthening.pdf">http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/ 
publications/strengthening.pdf</a>.)
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Global Fund and PEPFAR Announce New Treatment Numbers 
 
The Global Fund and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced on December 1, World AIDS Day, that between them they are now supporting antiretroviral treatment for 1.2 million people living with AIDS. This represents a three-fold increase in the total number of people receiving treatment in low- and middle-income countries since December 2003, and a doubling over the course of the past year. 
 
“Four years ago, almost nobody in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world was receiving treatment. That well over one million people with AIDS are now on treatment through the support of Global Fund and PEPFAR is a remarkable achievement,” said Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Fund. 
 
In their joint statement, the Fund and PEPFAR said that at the end of September 2006, 822,000 people received support for treatment through PEPFAR’s bilateral programs, in fifteen focus countries. The Global Fund supported treatment for 770,000 people worldwide. Approximately 400,000 people in PEPFAR focus countries received treatment support from both PEPFAR and the Global Fund, and are thus counted in the totals for each organisation. 
 
Note from the GFO Editor: When the Global Fund and PEPFAR say that they “support” treatment for a specific number of people worldwide, this does not mean that their grants “provide” all aspects of treatment to that many people. 
This is because other funders, including national governments, employers, and the infected people themselves, make significant contributions to the costs of providing treatment to many of the people included in the Global Fund and PEPFAR numbers. For instance, in Country X, the Fund and/or PEPFAR might pay for something like clinical testing or second line medications, with all other costs for those same patients being covered by other players. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 69, 14 December 2006 – GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/">www.aidspan.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
New Report Focuses on Stigma 
 
The stigma associated with HIV works as a barrier to take advantage of medical advances as it often prevents people affected by HIV from accessing testing or treatment services. This is the conclusion of a new report, Unveiling the Truth, published jointly by Health and Development Networks (HDN) and the global AIDS-Care-Watch Campaign on World AIDS Day. Based on presentations made at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, in August 2006, 40 articles deal with the continuing presence of stigma. 
 
According to the report, hospitals, clinics and other health care settings are among the places where people living with HIV still experience HIV-related stigma. “HIV-relate stigma cannot be tackled until health systems are strengthened at the local level so that everyone has access to basic health care”, comments Mary Robinson, President of Realising Rights in her foreword. “Adopting this approach with those affected by HIV and AIDS must be central to all our endeavours.” 
 
(Source: Break the Silence – Issue 1 – December 2006 and Press Release HDN, 30 November. The report can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.hdnet.org">www.hdnet.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Workers and Employers Joint Action in Africa 
 
The African Regional Organisation of the ITUC and the International Organisation of Employers jointly organised a capacity-building meeting on HIV/AIDS for workers and employers in Kampala, 12-14 December 2006 with the support of the ILO and the International Training Centre, Turin. 
 
The objective of the meeting was to evaluate programmes and activities implemented within the IOE-ICFTU joint agreement on HIV/AIDS of 2003 and the action plan agreed in Geneva in 2004, as well as to build capacity in project management. The meeting also discussed ways of strengthening partnerships with key agencies at national level and of mobilising resources – particularly through the Global Fund – in order to scale up joint employer and union action on HIV/AIDS through the workplace. 
 
(Source: ILO website <a href="http://www.ilo.org">www.ilo.org</a> where the recommendations can also be found) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Clinton Announces Breakthrough in HIV/AIDS Treatment for Children 
 
On the eve of World AIDS Day, former US President Bill Clinton announced in New Delhi that his Foundation has negotiated new agreements to lower the price of HIV/AIDS treatment for children. 
 
Indian drug companies Cipla and Ranbaxy will price the new child-friendly product – a three-in-one dispersible tablet that replaces individual solutions which need refrigeration – for less than USD 60 per year for an average child. 
UNITAID, the new international drug purchase facility established in October 2006 (see ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 14, November 2006), will provide the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) with USD 35 million in 2007 to buy medicines and diagnostics and CHAI will contribute USD 15 million for technical assistance to work in 40 countries to treat more than 100,000 additional HIV-positive children in 2007. 
 
“Though the world has made progress in expanding HIV/AIDS treatment to adults, children have been left behind. Only one in 10 children who need treatment is getting it,” said President Clinton. 
 
(Source: Clinton Foundation Press Release, 30 November)
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
ILOAIDS 2006 Report on HIV/AIDS and Work 
 
A new ILO report estimates that more than a million new jobs a year are being lost because of AIDS. It says the workplace should become a major focus for prevention and access to treatment. 
The relentless advance of HIV/AIDS is markedly reducing economic and employment growth in the countries hit hardest by the epidemic, jeopardizing their efforts to reduce poverty, create new jobs for young people and fight child labour, says a new ILO report released on 1 December. 
HIV/AIDS and work: global estimates, impact on children and youth, and response 2006 reports that about 36.3 million people of working age are now living with HIV/AIDS - the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
Moreover, the report says that a reduction in employment growth resulting in 1 million fewer jobs per year in the worst-hit countries is attributable to the epidemic. 
The report presents an economic model which captures the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on economic and employment growth in 43 countries with over 1 per cent HIV/AIDS prevalence, for which sufficient data were available. This made it possible to arrive at an estimate of the annual cost to the global economy in terms of curtailed job growth. 
 
The 43 worst-hit countries lost, on average, 0.5 percentage points in their rate of economic growth every year between 1992 and 2004 due to the epidemic. Among them, 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa lost 0.7 percentage points of their average annual rate of economic growth and forfeited 0.5 percentage points in employment growth. Altogether, the job shortfall is put at 1.3 million a year, of which 1.1 million were lost in Africa alone. 
The impact of the epidemic is particularly severe for children and young people whose lives, hopes and future are blighted directly or indirectly by HIV/AIDS. Globally, 2.3 million children live with AIDS and there are an estimated 15 million AIDS orphans. When children in worst-affected countries do reach working age, they face a severe shortage of legitimate job opportunities. 
 
(Source: ILO ACTRAV Human Rights at Work 6, December 2006 and ILOAIDS website, where the report can be downloaded)

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 16

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
The Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) recently organised a major workers protest against fuel price hikes, on 27 December, in Basra at the Petrochemical State Company. On 12 January, the union also participated in a successful demonstration against corruption in the electrical industry of Karbalā, a city some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. 
 
The strike at the massive petrochemicals plants in Basra last month was marked by slogan-wearing workers denouncing an Iraqi government policy. The government is increasing costs on all commodities, a move aimed at facilitating privatisation. FWCUI is adamant that rising production costs – mainly coming through fuel increases – will render the Basra’s state refineries complex, where some 5,000 Iraqi workers are employed, uncompetitive, thus ripe for privatisation. Such a scenario is certain to produce job cuts. 
<img height="192" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0701Iraq1.jpg" width="300"/>
Strike at Iraq's Petrochemical State Co., 27 December 
“Under the pretext of a lack of production profits, layoffs of thousands of workers will come,” said FWCUI President Falah Alwan. Throughout the country, millions of Iraqis are suffering severe economic harm, as price increases have far outpaced pay and salary increases. The lifting of fuel subsidies, with another one due to be scrapped in March, will only make matters worse. 
 
At the successful secular protest in Karbalā this weekend, multi-sector FWCUI was a major participant. The protest saw workers from many sectors, Shia and Sunni alike, march and protest against rampant corruption inside the regional authority’s electric administration. 
 
FWCUI has called for the end to the military occupation in Iraq, and believes it necessary that workers take a real and active role in determining the structures, labour laws, and constitution of the Iraqi government.

Iraqi Trade Union FWCUI Condemns Fuel Price Hikes, Corruption with Protest

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Three gold miners, jailed on 17 December, for illegal gold mining in the southern Zimbabwe region of Matabeleland, died six days after their arrest from exhaustion and starvation. The three died after days of filling trenches without being given food or enough water by the police forces of Robert Mugabe’s government. 
 
In a country with 80% unemployment and an inflation rate that hit a new high of 1,281% in December, the three miners were arrested with 12 other gold diggers as part of the government’s crackdown on illegal mining, called Operation Makorokoza Zvakwana by the Mugabe police forces. 
<img height="111" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Zimbabwe%20ZCTU.gif" width="107"/>
One police officer told ZimOnline, Zimbabwe’s independent news agency, that when the workers tried to resist the continuous trench filling, or complained of hunger, they were beaten “because that’s how our bosses had instructed us to treat them.” 
 
The three died at separate times on 24 December after experiencing extreme dizziness before collapsing. 
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s labour leaders, who were severely beaten in September after police forces broke up an anti-poverty rally, have sued top Mugabe aides for unlawful arrests and injuries incurred to them. Zimbabwe Council of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Sec. Gen. Wellington Chibebe and 14 other labour leaders sued Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, and several other police officers for Z$1.34 billion (US$9.13 million), which includes general damages, and unlawful arrest and deprivation of liberty. 
<img height="140" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0609ZCTU3.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe 
In the lawsuit, attorneys for the labour leaders cite violations of the Zimbabwe constitution, Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 of the African Charter for Human and People’s Rights, Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatments. 
The labour leaders, on 12 and 13 September, were subjected to beatings that caused bone fractures, serious cranial/facial bruising, and head injuries. Some 256 ZCTU activists were arrested at the time. 
 
The current economic crisis in Zimbabwe, which saw the inflation rate jump a full 182% from November to December 2006, has caused mass labour strikes in the health care and education sectors, not to mention in mining and energy industries, because salaries have become miniscule compared to the vast inflation jumps. For example, staff of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority staged a two-day strike on 3-4 January, when an internal memo was released stating that salaries would only increase by 50%.

Mugabe Regime Starves Jailed Gold Miners

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Belgian unions FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV have boosted their joint project in Colombia to draw attention to human and trade union rights. The unions now have a petition drive underway on the project’s website, aimed at the government of Colombia, including members of Parliament. The petition drive also addresses the management of both Colombian and multinational companies to take action. 
The project, called Syndicol, is operated by the two Belgian unions, in full cooperation with all three Colombian national labour centres, CUT, CGT, and CTC. A number of ICEM’s Colombian affiliates are directly involved in the project.      
<img height="42" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belgiumfgtb.jpg" width="123" align="absMiddle"/>        <img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BelgiumACV.gif" width="120" align="absMiddle"/>
Syndicol’s action plan is to bring aid and solidarity to the workers of Colombia. Its aim is to build broad campaigns of information around the abuses of human and trade union rights in the South American country, including the many assassinations of trade union leaders. 
The current petition, located on Syndicol’s French language website at <a href="http://www.syndicol.be/Petition">http://www.syndicol.be/Petition</a>, states that over 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated since 1990, and calls on government and business leaders to take immediate action to end this state of terror. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="250"/>
“The flagrant and inadmissible violations of human rights and, in particular, of the rights and trade union freedoms are a denial of justice, and disgraceful for those who commit the crimes, as well as their protectors. The systematic assassination of trade unionists and human rights defenders is a throwback to another age and what’s worse, the perpetrators enjoy impunity from the Colombian legal system and the country’s authorities.” 
 
ICEM affiliates and activists are encouraged to visit the website to sign the petition.

Belgian Unions Team on Colombia Petition Drive

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Members of ICEM’s Colombian mining affiliate, Sintracarbón, were braced to strike the massive coal enterprise called Carbones del Cerrejón, in Guajira state, over the weekend. The mining operation in northeastern Colombia, complete with a 150-kilometre rail link to company-owned deep-water port facilities at Puerto Bolivár, is owned by global mining houses AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
Sintracarbón union members at the world’s largest open pit coal mine voted to strike over a week ago. The union’s National Assembly of Delegates, which met on 25 January, voted to give approval for a possible strike to begin anytime in the next ten working days. Company and union representatives were continuing bargaining over the weekend. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="250"/>
A total of 4,000 workers are represented by Sintracarbón, while the mining enterprise employs another 4,000 contract workers. 
 
All three multinational mining companies, along with the Colombian subsidiary, are partners with the ICEM and Sintracarbón in a unique Social Dialogue arrangement in the South American country. That agreement, set in 2004, covers some eight global companies doing business in Colombia, and establishes a formalised procedure not only for the safety and security of trade unionists, but also for meaningful labour-management discussions on all issues. 
 
Carbones del Cerrejón and Sintracarbón called on the ICEM to intervene in the dispute two weeks ago. The ICEM had been monitoring the negotiations since November. 
 
General Secretary Manfred Warda responded to the company, as well as to the three parent firms, stating, “ICEM has taken note of the extended period of negotiations involved in settling a new, two-year collective agreement between Sintracarbón and your company. We are also keenly aware of the profitable coal mining and export operations that Carbones del Cerrejón and its three multinational partners have in Guajira state, as well as the high demand for this coal on global markets. 
“We urge your company not only to maintain the level of respectful Social Dialogue that exists in the charter developed by the ICEM with multinational companies doing business in Colombia, but also to seriously consider the proposals set forth by Sintracarbón. These social proposals are just and proper in view of the operation that your company has in Colombia.” 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100"/>
Sintracarbón is seeking a 2007 salary increase of 8%, and a 2008 increase of 2.5% above the Colombian consumer price index for this year. The ICEM affiliated trade union is also seeking monthly health care stipends to cover the costs of medicines for family members. It also seeks a university educational stipend for children of miners, as well as a non-conditional production bonus. Management is attempting to apply conditions to such a bonus plan. 
 
Another legitimate union demand calls on Carbones del Cerrejón to begin discussions on buying the land of indigenous people who live in the vicinity of Cerrejón, and possibly relocate them to areas away from the company’s vast mining operations. Sintracarbón is proposing immediate “working sessions” between the union, company, and community leaders to analyse environmental problems and find solutions. 
 
A last unresolved issue involves the high number of contract workers on Cerrejón worksites. Sintracarbón is seeking for the minimum level of pay for contract workers to be increased and linked to the minimum legal salaries in Colombia. It also seeks application of all Colombian employment laws for these workers, including the right to union representation. 
In the ICEM letter to the companies, the Global Union Federation asks Carbones del Cerrejón to actively monitor the work practices of contract employers. The ICEM also insists that “contract workers receive the same protections and rights that full-time, permanent employees have, including the right to trade union representation.” 
 
The mining operation, once jointly owned by ExxonMobil and the Colombian government, has ramped up excavation of thermal coal from 17 million tonnes in 1995 to an expected 28 million tonnes this year. Cerrejón’s coal reserves are estimated at 930 million tonnes. 
 
The coal is highly desirable on global markets because it is high in energy and has a low sulphur and ash content. Europe accounts for 56% of exports, while 20% is exported to North America. The three parent companies have seen coal prices tripling over the past year, and the operation posted revenues of US$1 billion.

Sintracarbón’s Miners Poised to Strike at Carbones del Cerrejón in Colombia

Archive