English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy 

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 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 src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
In Mexico on 25 August, an appellate court overturned the government’s freeze on bank accounts of the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros. But a week later, on 2 September, Mexico’s Attorney General reissued an order freezing those accounts. 
 
The appeals court ruled that the government’s asset freeze on union accounts could only be imposed on specific evidence, not on a general suspicion of money laundering. The court thus ruled against a decree from late last year that continued a freeze on the union’s funds, now tied up for nearly three years. 
 
The Attorney General’s office again used Article 181 of Mexico’s penal code to freeze the union’s assets.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0612IMF2.jpg" width="180" height="214" alt=""/>
 
Los Mineros will continue to appeal this order, despite not having the necessary information from the government in order to wage its legal fight. 
 
Meanwhile, a special working group of the Mexican Senate has agreed to accept videotape testimony from the union’s leader in exile, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, over the Cananea mine strike. Napoleón Gómez, who is in exile in Canada, will be allowed to testify on Grupo México’s complicity in alleged human rights abuses at the mine where SNTMMSRM members have now been on strike for 25 months. 
 
The Mexican Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union was approved for ICEM affiliation during the 23-24 June Executive Committee meetings.

Los Mineros Bank Assets Unfrozen, Then Frozen Again

African trade unions affiliated with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), meeting yesterday, 15 September, in Lagos, Nigeria, passed a unanimous resolution criticizing Brazilian-based global mining giant, Vale, for its “anti-worker, anti-union practices” in Canada, and called on African governments to stop Vale from developing mines and exporting such practices to the continent. 
 
Rayford Mbulu, Chairman of ICEM’s Sub-Sahara African Regional Organization (SSARO), and President of the Mineworkers' Union of Zambia (MUZ), said, “The time has come to challenge these global mining giants, and Vale will be a test case for us.” African trade unions will be contacting their respective governments about not granting permits to Vale and its partners for exploration and mine development. 
 
Vale forced a strike in mid-July by 3,500 miners and smelter workers in Canada, members of the United Steelworkers (USW), by demanding unnecessary cuts in pensions and other areas. The company, which earned vast profits from its Canadian operations since its purchase of Inco Mining in 2006, has recently announced it will use replacement workers to break the strike. 
 
The African unions are also protesting Vale’s practices in Brazil where the company routinely terminates staff without cause, denies workers the right to union representation, and forces workers to sign individual contracts to circumvent collective bargaining agreements. 
 
“We don’t want Vale to come here and export its anti-union practices to our countries,” said Mbulu. “So either Vale improves its labour practices or stays out of Africa.” 
 
“Vale’s strategy is to gut its best collective bargaining agreements and to set a precedent for deep cuts in wages, pensions, and worker rights worldwide,” said Ken Neumann, Canadian National Director for the USW, and an ICEM Vice President for the North American Region. “Vale will use the savings extracted from workers to finance the company’s ambitious plans for expansion and further its campaign to weaken trade unions throughout the world.” 
 
Vale has opened offices in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and recently signed an agreement with South African-based African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. to conduct exploration and participate in joint ventures. It is targeting numerous Africa countries for expansion. 
 
Vale earned US$13.2 billion in net profit in 2008 and paid its six top executives US$33 million in 2008 compensation. 
 
The USW is working with trade unions in Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as with the ICEM and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), which together represent over 45 million workers, in a widening campaign. 
 
The ICEM is a Geneva, Switzerland-based Global Union Federation consisting of 467 affiliated trade unions in 132 countries. 
 
For further information, contact, Joe Drexler, ICEM, at +41 22 304 1845, or <a href="mailto:joe.drexler@icem.org">joe.drexler@icem.org</a>, or Bob Gallagher, USW-Canada, at +1 416 487 1571, or <a href="mailto:bgallagher@usw.ca">bgallagher@usw.ca</a>.

ICEM’s African Trade Unions Tell Vale: Improve Labour Practices or Stay Off Continent

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
During this week’s G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, USA, ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers’ Union (UE) is spearheading, together with a citizens’ group called Pittsburgh United, a series of events that will depict how global finance ministers and economic institutions place the neoliberal agenda of “seed-for-greed” above that of a “people-first” agenda. 
 
Called “People’s Voices: Challenging the G20’s Agenda of Corporate Globalization,” a broad US network of civil society groups, including trade unions, will join with their counterparts from Central and South America to conduct four sessions across three days, 23-25 September. The forums will highlight a G20 agenda that has brought poverty, inequality, job and wage loss, and environmental destruction to many parts of the world.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USUE.jpg" width="149" height="87" alt=""/>
The first event will occur on 23 September and includes a panel that will discuss G20 policies and how they affect community life. The panel will feature Untied Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard and Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz. 
 
Another panel, to be held in the afternoon of 24 September, is entitled “People’s Voices: a Global/Local Exchange,” while that evening, a “People’s Tribunal” will take place, in which the economic development priorities of the G20 will be put on trial. On 25 September, in the morning, a session on “Voices from Latin America” will include labour, community, indigenous people, and environmental activists from Bolivia, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. 
 
The complete three-day programme, including times and places in Pittsburgh, and featured panelists, can be found <a href="http://www.pittsburghunited.org/g20">here</a>.

US-based Community Groups Hold Alternative G20 Forums this Week in Pittsburgh

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The daily dangers continually faced by trade union officials and activists in Iraq were graphically demonstrated by the brutal murder 26 November 2009 of Majiid Karim, an executive member of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers. Brother Karim died when his car exploded. An improvised explosive device, believed to have been timed, had been attached to his car by as yet unknown individuals. 
 
The GFIW is the largest national trade union centre in Iraq, two of its affiliates covering workers in the Oil and Gas and Electric Power Industries are affiliated to ICEM. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraq.png" width="250" height="115"/>
Majiid Karim had been a key union official ignoring the anti-trade union legislation from the Saddam era and actively organizing workers in the public sector despite continued government attempts to use legislation 150 of 1987 to ban public sector workers from trade union membership. He was also a key figure in building unity among Iraqi workers and in the trade union movement. 
 
ICEM joins the GFIW in mourning their loss, as well as joining their demand that the Iraqi government and its security authorities conduct an urgent and thorough investigation to uncover the full circumstances of this appalling criminal act, and ensure that the guilty are brought to justice. 
 
We will keep you informed of the case as more information becomes available.

Iraqi Trade Unionist Murdered

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A new three-year labour contract was achieved for 470 Kimberly-Clark paperworkers at the Millicent, Australia, paper mill and Tantanoola pulp mill on 20 November. Union members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), Pulp and Paper Division, ratified the accord with 82% approval, granting proof that a positive labour-management relationship can benefit workers in tough economic times. 
 
The renewal agreement provides wage gains of 2.5%, 2.5%, and 4.5%, with the first year’s increase paid in back wages to 1 July 2009. 
 
CFMEU’s Millicent Sub-Branch leaders used an excellent internal communications network to keep shop-floor workers informed on all details stemming from ten bargaining sessions dating back to mid-year, the date when draconian Australian individual work agreements (AWAs) expired and enterprise or collective agreements again became the official policy of the government of Australia.. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.cfmeu.kimberly clark.JPG" width="240" height="180"/>
At left, CFMEU Sub-Branch Secretary Kevin Millie, Mill Manager Scott Whicker, and CFMEU Pulp/Paper Federal Secretary Alex Millar 
Branch Secretary Kevin Millie said the AWAs were never a concern in the lead-up to this year’s bargain, since Kimberly-Clark local management never had attempted to impose individual work agreements during the latter period of Conservative John Howard’s government. “We kept our members in the loop and that helped us get the agreement we got,” said Millie. 
 
He added that sub-branch leaders issued communiqués after each session and that when management proposed a two-year agreement at 2.5% for each of the years, the committee to workers’ networking produced a massive turnout at a union meeting, thus squelching that proposal and sending the message that workers expect more. 
 
“This is a win,” said Millicent Sub-Branch President Trevor Sinclair. “We maintained our terms and conditions and built on them in some areas.” 
 
The CFMEU gained flexibility on long-service leave, allowing workers to take such time off in smaller blocks instead of the prior and required month at a time period. They also achieved wage guarantees on career-path transfers so workers will never receive less, and got written language that Kimberly-Clark will give formal reports on all temporary work performed inside the mills. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.cfmeu.kimberly clark.2.jpg" width="276" height="183"/>
CFMEU members at Millicent during 20 November ratification meeting 
In compromises to the company, the union agreed to a total on-site ban on smoking, ahead of South Australia state law due to take effect, and agreed to the mandatory wearing of Kimberly-Clark work uniforms. 
 
CFMEU has had a good labour-management relationship at Millicent and Tantanoola, and with general manager Scott Whicker. Workers and managers have worked jointly and hard to deal with high energy costs. They have also dealt together on market pressures on paper towel and tissue manufacturing, including imports and tight domestic profit margins due to only two major Australian major chains that control retailing. 
 
That jointness began in 2002 when the CFMEU Sub-Branch and Millicent management signed a memorandum of agreement, giving the go-ahead for the board of directors of the American-based company to make an A$300 investment at Millicent. That capitalization gave the mill Paper Machine No. 5. In return, the union agreed to transform to skills-based career paths and operator/maintenance duties on paper production equipment. 
 
“The magnitude of that investment has become apparent in the years since,” said Sinclair. “Workers here are confident that Kimberly-Clark is committed to a future at Millicent and that has only enhanced our positive relationship.” (Millicent now operates with four paper machines and eight converting lines.) 
 
In other CFMEU bargaining news related to the paper sector, at SCA’s Sancella feminine hygiene plant in Springvale, Victoria, near Melbourne, union members will vote on a new three-year labour contract later this week The tentative accord, also backdated to the summer, contains a wage package with 3.5%, 3.5%, and 3.5% wage increases. At SCA’s Box Hill towel and tissue mill, where 250 CFMEU members have been covered by an enterprise agreement, that contract comes due in March 2010.

Australia’s CFMEU Pulp, Paper Division Makes Gains with Kimberly-Clark

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The IG BCE National Executive last week raised the urgency for a round of collective bargaining for Germany’s 550,000 workers in the chemical sector. Under the motto “Seize opportunities for employment”, the 2010 round of negotiations will focus on job security and good career prospects for young people, along with the goal of achieving commensurate increases in income. The labour agreement will apply for twelve months. 
 
Peter Hausmann, in charge of the tariff policy of the IG BCE’s National Executive stated “Especially during the economic crisis, it is important that we stick to our long-term tariff policy objectives. We want decent work with fair conditions, we want to protect jobs and create more opportunities for employment. And of course we want to make gains in income”. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.peter.hausman.jpg" width="132" height="176" alt=""/>
Peter Hausmann
The new agreements would cover workers in around 1,900 companies in the German chemical industry. There are eleven regional commissions, the debate will occur in each, with collective industry-wide decisions also made. In the collective bargaining districts, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine current contracts run until 31 March 2010, in Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Lower Saxony / Bremen, Schleswig Holstein and Berlin they expire 30 April, in the Saarland and East 31 May. 
 
A date for the negotiations to begin is not yet set, but it is estimated that they will start in spring 2010.

IG BCE Begin Preparations for Collective Bargaining in Germany’s Chemicals Industries

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) held its 2nd World Congress at the Grand Palais in Lille, France, last week, under the theme “Global Solidarity for a Sustainable Future.” The vision of the Congress read, “A world with strong independent and democratic trade unions in the building and timber trades, where all workers have equitable access to stable jobs, fair wages and safe and healthy working and living conditions." 
 
Just fewer than 700 delegates, representing construction, and wood and forestry workers throughout the world, debated the most important issues in these sectors, as well as adopting the Global Union Federation’s (GUF) strategy for the next four years. The plan sets out how to improve working and living conditions in the building and wood sectors and promote sustainable industrial development. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.bwi.anita.normark.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
Outgoing BWI General Secretary Anita Normark
A host of meetings were held around the Congress, including the BWI International Women’s Conference on 5 December, a Global Youth Conference and International Women’s Committee on 6 December, regional committee meetings on 7 December, BWI’s World Board and World Council on 8 December, with the main Congress taking place on 9-10 December. 
 
The Congress took up the General Secretary’s report which prioritized the following areas of work: global migration, climate change, Chinese multinationals, the need for vocational training for affiliates worldwide, and the need to pursue the GUF’s membership growth. 
 
The BWI said farewell to outgoing General Secretary Anita Normark. with BWI President Klaus Wiesehügel, who was re-elected to another term, stating she would be badly missed by all. "She has never forgotten the needs of trade union members and affiliates,” said Wiesehüge. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.bwi.ambet.yuson.png" width="101" height="101"/>
Newly elected General Secretary Ambet Yuson 
Newly elected General Secretary Ambet Yuson also paid tribute to Normark: “Anita, you have been a great leader for this organization. To be your successor will not be easy.” The new general secretary laid out his vision to create "One International, One Movement and One Vision working together.” 
 
Ambet, of the Philippines, worked for 20 years in his country’s pro-democracy movement, which brought down the dictator Marcos. He has served as BWI’s regional representative for the Asia-Pacific Region from mid -2007 to the present, and also worked for over 12 years with BWI affiliates as project coordinator and then globally as education secretary.

BWI Says Fond Farewell to Anita Normark; Elects Ambet Yuson New GS

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The ICEM has expressed condolences to the families of victims of a horrible methane gas explosion in Turkey. The blast killed 19 miners and occurred late in the evening, 10 December, at a privately owned mine near Mustafakemalpasa, Bursa province. 
 
The explosion happened some 200 metres underground and caused a cave-in to several narrow mine shafts. Seven miners were rescued and hospitalized with gas poisoning. All of the dead miners’ bodies have now been recovered. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Turkey.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
The Turkish Trade Union of Miners issued a statement following the blast, stating that mines in the country are plagued by lack of proper safety regulations and inadequate inspections. Turkey’s Minister of Labour and Social Security, Omer Dincer, was at the site of the tragedy and said the mine had undergone numerous inspections. 
 
The ICEM has targeted Turkey as a country that must ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, “The ICEM calls upon the Turkish government and employers to support the ICEM campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 176.

Explosion Kills 19 Inside Coal Mine in Western Turkey

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Industrial actions by 1,000 coal miners employed by New Zealand state-owned Solid Energy and its contractors ended in early December when members of the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) accepted two-year wage and benefit terms from mine operators. 
The settlement at four mines on both the North and South Islands ends an eight-month dispute that erupted into industrial actions, full strikes, sympathy strikes, and a lockout, covering a period from late October to the end of November. The accord also sets in place the terms of the Multi-employer Collective Agreement (MECA), contract terms that had been elusive since March 2009. 
Miners will receive a 5% salary increase in 2010 and 2011, with miners from the Huntly East colliery on the North Island accepting an 8.5% increase to compensate for shift rotation changes. In addition, staff receive a one-off NZ$2,000 bonus for their roles in Solid Energy posting record 2008 profit results. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector2.JPG" width="120" height="115" alt=""/>
A series of industrial actions started with a “go-slow” job action at the Rotowaro mine on the North Island in late October. That immediately resulted in a lockout by contractor RWE Mining, leading to sympathy strikes at two South Island mines – Stockton and Spring Creek – that are operated by Solid Energy and another contractor. After miners quit the strikes to return to bargaining, the employers again submitted the same regressive terms, resulting in walkouts and renewed sympathy strikes in late during the November. 
With Solid losing millions of dollars each week due to the work stoppages, the two sides reconvened talks on 29-30 November. Shortly after, miners at Huntly East, Rotowaro, and Stockton accepted a revised MECA deal, with miners at Spring Creek ratifying the contract on 3 December. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealandFlag.gif" width="120" height="60" alt=""/>
Stated EPMU Assistant National Secretary Ged O’Connell, “Throughout the dispute, Solid tried to set miners from different areas against each other by offering them different deals within the MECA, but our members stood by each other and made sure that the company knew that an injury to one was an injury to all.” 
This is “a membership,” he added, which was “united in their strength and determination to get a fair deal.”

New Zealand Miners Win New Contract through Solidarity Strikes

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM participated in the Congress of its affiliate the Vdsz, the Hungarian chemical workers union, in Budapest, 18-20 November. Tamas Szekely was elected as the union’s new president, replacing the retiring Gyorgy Paszternak. Tamas, who is 40 years old has served the union as vice-President for several years. Bela Kiss, 53 years old, was elected Vice-President. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.hungary.tamas.jpg" width="130" height="173" alt=""/>
New Vdsz President, Tamas Szekely 
Congress reports showed that there are still many uncertainties about economic developments in the sectors that the union covers. However, although the chemical industry made 40 percent of the workforce redundant earlier this year, many companies have started to rehire. The tyre sector seems to be profiting from the German car-scrappage program, and has in recent weeks even started with overtime work. 
The union was successful in the Works Council elections in Hankook, but still faces problems about trade union recognition with that company and with Bridgestone-Firestone. Tamas and the union contributed considerably to action against Unilever, as part of the 7th October World Day of Decent Work activities in Budapest. He is planning now to start a campaign to organise Unilever (foodworkers are very poorly organized in Hungary and split into several very small unions). 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.hungary.2.jpg" width="155" height="152" alt=""/>
Retiring President, Gyorgy Paszternak
Another future plan of Vdsz is to develop cooperation with the construction workers union and seek a future merger with them. Vdsz serves as a bridge between various splits between unions in the manufacturing industries of Hungary, as they are affiliated to the autonomous confederation but maintain close cooperation with the major confederation Mszos. Both confederations were invited to the congress and made speeches, as did ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

Hungarian Chemical Workers’ Congress Elects New President

Archive