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<img height="48" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
A 14-month-long freedom of association fight on behalf of workers of Lafarge subcontractors in Korea ended on 28 May when the company and ICEM affiliate Korean Chemical and Textile Workers’ Federation (KCTF) signed an accord granting the workers employment rights and union rights. 
 
The agreement ends a bitter dispute that started when workers of Woojin Industry, a Lafarge subcontractor at its Okgye, South Province, cement plant, joined the KCFT in March 2006. Thirteen of the workers were sacked, and Lafarge cancelled its contract with Woojin, moving the jobs and the company’s equipment to two other subcontractors.
<img height="83" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthKorea.png" width="180" alt=""/>
Under terms of last week’s agreement, covering six workers who still sought their rightful return to work, Lafarge Halla management in Korea will make “best efforts” for the former Woojin workers to be employed by three subcontractors now on site. The agreement also pledges to ensure that none of the subcontractors, Sehwa Sanup, Daewon Sanup, and Soogwang Maintenance, will discriminate against the workers because of their union membership. 
 
Additionally, all legal complaints, petitions, and requests for remedies – from both sides – were to be withdrawn. 
 
The ICEM, together with the Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI), the two global union federations signatory to a Global Framework Agreement with Lafarge, had ardently pressed the issue of freedom of association for the contract workers before senior managers of the company in Paris on several occasions.
<img height="165" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704Manfred.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda
“We commend our affiliate, the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers’ Federation, for its diligence in seeing that justice was delivered for these contract workers,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “This serves as a strong example that trade unions have an important role to play in protecting labour standards that contract workers and agency workers are entitled to.”

Lafarge Agrees to Give Employment, Union Rights to Korean Contract Workers’

<img height="48" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief%201.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
On 29 May, ICEM’s three Italian affiliates called a one-day strike across the country for natural gas workers of the Eni, Italy’s largest energy concern. The protest was over the company’s mid-May announcement that it would close 37 of 49 customer service centres. 
 
Italian trade unions Filcem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl, and Uilcem-Uil also conducted a mass mobilisation in Rome on 29 May at Piazzale Mattei, home of Eni’s corporate headquarters. The unions fear Eni will outsource the jobs of its Conus gas and electric subsidiary. The unions also protest unfair transfers of some 250 of 850 jobs that are expected to occur in the restructuring.
   <img height="73" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ItalyFEMCACISL.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> <img height="62" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITALYUILCEM.gif" width="110" alt=""/> <img height="122" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITALYFILCEM.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>   
The unions contend that transfers of workers to service centres of up to 150 kilometres away from their current job locations will threaten their employment. The unions did negotiate with Eni over the restructuring, but those talks broke off when commitments were not made over which jobs would be retained, and which would be outsourced. 
 
Eni announced that its restructuring would take effect on 1 July. Besides keeping open only 12 service centres, the company would retain only two call centres, in Rome and in Turin.

Eni’s Gas Workers in Italy Protest Restructurings

<img height="48" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
The ICEM, together with its Norwegian paperworkers’ union affiliate, Fellesforbundet, conducted its annual Norske Skog Global Framework Agreement review in Oslo on 21 May. The parties have been signatory to a Global Framework Agreement since June 2002, and the agreement was extended on 21 May for another two-year period. 
 
Chief among items discussed were proposals by the ICEM and Fellesforbundet for the agreement to incorporate the ILO’s Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS, and to initiate a consultation process between the company and its trade unions prior to management at particular worksites engaging contract labourers or agency labour providers.
<img height="103" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/icem-logo.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
  
Another request put before senior managers of Norske Skog by the unions was to drop a lawsuit brought by managers at the Tasman paper mill in New Zealand against ICEM affiliate Manufacturing and Construction Workers’ Union. Members of the union did stop-work actions after managers failed to fully consult with the union over cost-cutting measures concerning the elimination of back-up shifts. Such elimination presents serious safety concerns for workers. 
 
Norske Skog is reviewing that situation. The company has pledged to fulfil a section of the Global Agreement which states that employment in the company “shall, as a main rule, be based on permanent employment. Temporary and part-time employees should as a main rule receive the same relative terms and conditions as full-time permanent employees.”

ICEM Conducts Global Agreement Review Meeting with Norske Skog

<img height="48" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Chemical Workers’ Union affiliate in Finland, Kemianliitto, has taken exception to the recent sale by the Finnish government of its stake in Kemira GrowHow to a Norwegian concern. 
 
In a statement issued immediately following Finland’s 24 May sale of its 30.05% stake in the phosphates and fertiliser company to Oslo-based Yara International ASA, Kemianliitto President Timo Vallittu said the sale sends the wrong kind of investment message concerning Finnish industry.
<img height="177" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMchemical2.jpg.JPG" width="180" alt=""/>
  
“With this decision to sell, it is very reasonable to ask why anybody would go on investing in Finnish industry when even the State abandons a holding of its own,” said Valliuto. 
 
The union was not critical of the sale price, or of the buyer, and vowed to hold both the State and Yara to commitments made in the 24 May announcement that jobs in Finland would be retained and production enhanced. 
 
Yara paid €12.12-per-share for the government’s stake in Kemira GrowHow, or €672 million. A Kemira stock market filing said Yara, which was spun off from Norsk Hydro in 2004, will continue business operations in Finland as usual and there would be no effects on personnel. The company would continue phosphate rock mining, phosphoric acid, and other production at Siilinjarvi and Uusikaupunki in Finland, and Yara would seriously consider opening phosphate production at the Sokli mine in Finnish Lapland. 
 
Yara is the world’s largest producer of nitrogen-based fertilisers, while Kemira GrowHow is a leader in feed phosphates with production facilities in eight countries. Under Finland’s Securities Market Act, Yara is now obligated to place tender offers for the remainder of Kemira GrowHow’s shares at €12.12-per-share, a 30% premium over the Finnish’s firm’s 23 May trading price. The merged company will control about 7% of the world’s fertiliser market.

Finnish Union Kemianliitto Displeased with State’s Sale of Kemira GrowHow

At 6:30 AM this morning, 4 June 2007, oil workers struck the pipeline company in Basra, Iraq, bringing an immediate stop to the free flow of oil products, including kerosene and gas through pipe number 42. 
 
The pipe transfers oil and gas to Baghdad and the governorates of the central region of the country. The workers are members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The IFOU, previously known as the GUOE-Basra, and led by President Hassan Jumaa Awad Alasady, has over 26,000 members throughout the ten state oil companies operating in the south of Iraq. The union has a past history of strike action in defense of its members, and the oil industry as a whole of southern Iraq. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil2.JPG" width="100"/>
The ICEM, the global union federation of national energy unions throughout the world, supports the IFOU in their strike action today. 
 
Earlier strike calls in May were postponed after the union gained a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. That meeting, on 16 May, resulted in the creation of a committee tasked with working on finding solutions acceptable to both sides. The ICEM understands that although several of the union demands have been fully agreed to by Iraqi authorities, the IFOU is still far from having all their demands fulfilled. This is what led to today’s strike. 
 
The union is currently focussing on two core demands in its strike at the pipeline company:
• They demand that the Oil Ministry take action to force the general manager of the pipeline company to resign; and 
• They demand that the company be financially and administratively independent from the Baghdad-based central ministry, and that the pipeline company be managed locally.
ICEM is informed that the reason for the first demand, and the catalyst for today’s action, is that the general manger of the pipeline company, Adel Aziz, who is based in Baghdad rather than in Basra, blocked the orders of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Mailiki to release delayed benefits due workers. Moreover, he stopped a Iraqi Dinar (IQD)50,000 allowance which the workers are regularly entitled to. 
 
The background is available at: 
<a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq" type="internal">/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq</a> 
 
A second phase of the strike has been threatened to begin tomorrow morning, again at 6.30 AM, in the event the IFOU does not receive signs signalling compliance with their demands. The second phase would expand the strike by closing pipeline number 48, which feeds the southern governorates with oil products. 
 
ICEM, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), US Solidarity Center, and the UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the UK is following developments closely, and will keep trade union affiliates and the public fully informed on developments in this key dispute. 
 
For further information, contact Jim Catterson, Intl. Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) Energy Officer: +32 2 626 2045 - <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ICEM Supports IFOU in Today’s Oil Industry Strike in Basra

Today, 12 June, is the World Day Against Child Labour, as designated by the ILO. This year focus is the elimination of child labour in agriculture, and the ILO marks the occasion with an event at its International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
The ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing trade unions in the mining, energy, and process industry sectors, calls for the elimination of all child labour in all sectors. The ICEM calls attention to the great number of children who work in mining in many parts of the developing world. 
<img height="91" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/csrhs.jpg" width="100"/>
It also cites a coal mine explosion in early February in Gámeza, Boyacá state, Colombia, in which eight people were killed. One of the eight was a 13-year-old boy. 
 
The ICEM demands that all enterprises respect ILO Conventions 138 and 182 regarding child labour. The World Day Against Child Labour is observed throughout the world each year on 12 June. It serves as a catalyst to halt the growing demand for use of child labourers in all facets of work.

ICEM Calls for End to Child Labour

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
After 18 months of negotiations and consultations, workers UK’s ICEM affiliate Unite – the merged union of Amicus and Transport and General Workers Union – ratified a national agreement on behalf of 3,000 workers in the paper manufacturing industry. 
 
The new accord comes under a framework “Partnership Agreement” put in place earlier this year between the two unions and UK’s GMB trade union, and the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), an employers’ association of pulp, paper, and converting companies. 
 
“I believe this new agreement raises the employment standards for workers in the paper manufacturing industry,” said Unite (Amicus section) National Officer Peter Ellis. “It reaffirms the commitment of Unite members and those conforming companies of the CPI Paper Sector to a modern and sustainable approach to good industrial relations, so necessary for the security of our members’ jobs in a stable business environment.” 
<img height="203" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UK.png" width="200" alt=""/>
The agreement includes significant language regarding temporary and agency work, model information and consultation language, extra personal time, an expanded industry sick pay benefit, up to ten days’ pay for paternity leave, and up to five days’ bereavement leave pay. 
 
Unite, the CPI, and the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry will formally launch the agreement in the days ahead as part of the new “Partnership Agreement,” which has as its motto, “Work Together, Grow Together, Stay Together.”

Paperworkers of UK’s Unite Ratify Partnership Accord with Industry Association

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Over 200 jewellery and gem polishers in Bangkok, Thailand -- mostly women -- staged a spontaneous rally outside their workplace on 5 September in protest to a Belgian company's suspension of the union leader and its blatant union intimidating. The workers were angry at the sacking, 3 September, of Wisoot Chomwihok, president of ICEM-affiliated Ornament Industry Workers' Union. 
 
The company is Siam Stars Co. Ltd., which is controlled by Antwerp-based IGC Group, a world diamond cutting and gem polishing enterprise. 
 <img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMDiamant.JPG" width="100"/>
Wisoot was fired with a formal suspension order last week, less than three months after he received a series of demotions and another suspension from managers at the 600-worker factory. The suspension order means he will continue to receive a minimum and basic wage while his sacking goes to an employment court. But he is denied other benefits contained in the collective bargaining agreement, including food and transport vouchers and a bonus based on piece rate and production. 
 
The ICEM clearly considers the suspension order and sacking of Wisoot Chomwihok as an unfair labour practice, and an effort by management to intimidate union members and leaders as they prepare for collective negotiations early next year. The spontaneous 5 September rally after working hours, the ICEM feels, is full proof that Siam Stars workers know and recognise the fact the company is out to destroy their union, and they will fight to strengthen it in the months to a June 2008 collective agreement expiration. 
In June, Siam Stars Co. had demoted Wisoot from one department to another, resulting in 30% loss of wages and denial of his ability to carry out union leadership duties. Following the Ornament Workers' Union filing charges with a regional labour ministry on the demotion, Siam Stars retaliated by issuing its first suspension order on Wisoot on 11 June 2007. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Thailand.png" width="250"/>
The union took the matter up with the Thai Human Rights Commission, which caused the company to reinstate Wisoot, but at the lower wage and in the inferior job classification. The company cited "no work" in the higher-level department, yet on 20 June it promoted three employees to that department. 
 
The Ornament Industry Workers' Union attempted to negotiate a compromise with managers by offering to keep Wisoot in the assigned department, but at his previous wage and benefit level. The union also sought a commitment that managers would not discriminate against unionised workers. Siam Stars refused to accept. 
 
In November 2006, IGC Group closed a diamond and gem production facility near Bangkok called Thai-Belgium Industrial Co. Ltd., making 230 workers redundant and transferring 70 others to the sister Siam Stars factory in Lak Si. The ICEM will continue to monitor this unfair dismissal, and lend support to workers at Siam Stars as they continue to strengthen their union.

Belgian Gem Employer Sacks Union Leader in Thailand

Senior General Than Shwe 
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, 
c/o Attorney General 
Pyinmana 
Burma 

Re : Extremely harsh prison sentences for labour activists
Dear General Than Shwe, 
 
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), representing 20 million workers from 384 industrial trade unions in 118 countries, joins the wide-ranging international protest against the extremely heavy prison sentences that have been imposed, on Friday 7 September 2007, on six labour activists, after these had wanted to organise a seminar at the US Embassy's American Centre in Rangoon earlier this year. 
 
Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Shwe Joe, Wai Lin, Aung Naing Tun and Nyi Nyi Zaw were arrested, on 1 May 2007, after holding a May Day celebration and having plans to discuss labour issues at the American Centre. This event was immediately cancelled after the arrests. Two of the arrested activists, Shwe Joe and Aung Naing Tun, were released on 4 May. On 10 May, two other men, Kyaw Win and Myo Min, were arrested for going to the Thai-Burma border to inform the outside world about these May Day arrests. 
 
The ICEM has learned that all six men were found guilty of "inciting hatred or contempt for the Government" during a trial held inside Rangoon's Insein prison, and that some of them were convicted for being members of "illegal associations". Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years in prison, and Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw to 20 years. As you and your government know well, detaining and sentencing workers who exercise their right to freedom of association is a clear violation of international labour standards, including ILO Convention 87, which has been ratified by your country. 
 
We have also been informed that the interrogations of the six above-mentioned activists by your country’s security agencies specifically focused on finding links with the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB). The FTUB is recognised by the entire international trade union movement, as well as by the wider global community, as a legitimate organisation that defends workers' rights in Burma. 
 
I am therefore urging you to use your good offices and make sure that the relevant authorities within your government do away with these unjustified and scandalous prison sentences and order the immediate and unconditional release of our six colleagues. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary

ICEM protest letter to Burmese Junta

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
ICEM affiliate in Trinidad and Tobago, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), staged a mass protest on 10 September over delays in bargaining between the union and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. The union members’ protest came at the electric authority’s opening of a customer service centre at the company headquarters in Port-of-Spain. 
 
Management was celebrating the opening of a new automatic meter infrastructure and the utility’s award of some TTD700 million in contracts for that system, as well as for a new power station. Much of that money will be used on contractors and contract labourers. 
<img height="93" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/TrinindadOWTU.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
OWTU members, meanwhile, have been without a current collective agreement for over a year, and have been frustrated by salaries that are tied to 2005 levels at a time when Trinidad and Tobago’s inflation rate is high. 
 
The last negotiations session was held in July, and the company’s chairman said management was waiting for direction from the Ministry of Public Utilities. 
 
Meanwhile, another union in Trinidad and Tobago, the Public Service Association, staged another protest through a series of one-day work stoppages against the Water and Sewerage Authority. That occurred on 14 September, three days after a similar protest following a revised management proposal. Water and sewer workers are also protesting delays and a prolonged negotiations period. They are still attempting to resolve a 2005-2007 contract with the public utility, talks that only started in January 2007. 
<img height="115" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/TrinidadAndTobago.png" width="250" alt=""/>
In a related workplace development in the country, five construction workers last week were hospitalised when they were overcome by gas at the state-owned Petrotrin’s Point-a-Pierre refinery. All 700 construction workers were forced to down tools by what Petrotrin said was a leak from an alkaline plant. It marked the second time in two months that building workers at the refinery walked from their jobs in protest to health and safety concerns. 
 
Petrotrin is currently undergoing a gas optimisation modernisation, as well as a gas to liquids project at the west coast refinery. In early August, the state company dropped production by 15,000 barrels-per-day to 47,000 b/d due to safety concerns. That followed a May 2007 drop in crude production from offshore sites, after a gas explosion on an offshore rig in the Soldado field killed one contract worker, and injured two others.

OWTU Members at Electricity Authority in Trinidad and Tobago Protest

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