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 2025-2029

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

Press

The initial conference of ICEM&rsquo;s ExxonMobil Workers&rsquo; Global Network has been set for 3-4 November 2004 in the US city of Houston, Texas. US affiliate PACE is the lead union of the network. Unions representing ExxonMobil workforces are encouraged to attend. A call letter went out last month and trade union leaders can contact Gino Govender at ICEM or Keith Romig at PACE for further information.

First Global Meeting of ExxonMobil Network to Meet in US

Australian affiliate CFMEU criticized building firm Kavernar Clough for reprehensible conduct following an accident in which a crane dropped a 75-tonne steel vessel through a smelting tower. The accident occurred 1 June at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Hi Smelt nickel plant in Kwinana, West Australia. The CFMEU halted work for 48 hours to insure the smelting tower was fully inspected and certified safe. The construction firm, however, instructed its men to continue with a concrete pour just minutes after the accident directly beneath the tower.

Union Critical of Firm’s Safety Procedures at Rio Tinto Jobsite

ICEM&rsquo;s Global Agreement, as well as US affiliate PACE&rsquo;s strategic accord with Swedish paper producer SCA were instrumental in bringing union representation to state of Arizona workers. In a two-day vote 27-28 May conducted by the US government, workers at a tissue plant in Bellemont, Arizona, voted for PACE 88-50. The union and SCA agreed to a &ldquo;principles of behavior&rdquo; code during the election campaign, which came as a result of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Agreement signed with the company in April, as well as PACE&rsquo;s cooperative accord signed with SCA in October 2003.

PACE in US Wins Union Recognition for SCA Workers

Rio Tinto Australian subsidiary Energy Resources may face prosecution in the Northern Territory following a March incident in which contaminated water from uranium processing was connected into workers&rsquo; drinking and showering supplies. Some 30 workers took ill. A report by the Northern Territory government identified serious breaches of regulations and NT&rsquo;s Mines and Energy minister said a &ldquo;lack of duty of care&rdquo; by management exists at the Ranger Mine in Kakadu National Park.

Rio Tinto May Be Prosecuted over Australian Water Contamination

Australian oil workers are battling the world&rsquo;s largest energy concern to preserve a family&rsquo;s way of life. Members of ICEM affiliates Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) were informed by Esso, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, and its contractors working the Bass Straight oil rigs off Victoria that it would shift to a two-week on, two-week off schedule, replacing the current seven-day roster. The unions are resisting the change. Contractors are seeking to terminate the enterprise bargaining agreement through Australia&rsquo;s Industrial Relations Commission. The contract for oil rig workers expired last year and contractors backed by ExxonMobil refuse to discuss issues until workers agree to the 14 continuous days away from families.

Australian Affiliates Resist ExxonMobil’s Shift Changes

As InBrief reported on 1 March that USWA was about to win its second card check organization with Goodyear, a majority of 350 workers at a plant in Asheboro, North Carolina, did choose the US&rsquo;s leading steel and rubber union for representation. Per terms of the collective agreement between USWA and Goodyear, an independent arbitrator ruled 12 March that a majority did want the union. Goodyear manufactures steel wire for truck tyres at the plant.

USWA Wins Unionisation for Goodyear Workers through Accord

USW members in the US at Bridgestone/Firestone tyre plants ratified a master agreement late in June with the Japanese rubber manufacturer. The agreement runs until next year, 2006, and USW won job security for workers and capitalization commitments from the company at most plants grouped in the master agreement. BSF has committed some US$200 million in capital improvements through 2006. USW took no concessions, gained value on a pension plan, and made the company pay past cost-of living advances. Some 6,000 USW members had collective agreements lapse in 2003, and a majority of union members in six bargaining units tied to the master pact voted acceptance. At two other BSF US plants not tied to the master contract, one workforce voted for the agreement while one did not.

Bridgestone Workers in US Ratify Collective Agreement

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
In the chemicals sector, bargaining will resume 19 July in Canada in the five-week-old strike between CEP and Invista. Some 380 members of CEP Local 28-0 have been on strike in Maitland, Ontario, since 4 June over a concessionary company proposal. 
That proposal would cut benefits in the third year of a proposed three-year contract, force unwanted language on them in which they would be made redundant before contract workers are laid off. The proposal also includes longer working hours, which, judging by Invista&rsquo;s experience, would result in layoffs. 
CEP has taken the fight to Ontario&rsquo;s elected officials fearing Invista is braced to start production with replacement workers, an obvious health and safety menace to the Maitland community. 
The plant manufactures nylon intermediates, refrigerants, and engineered polymer products. Invista was formed in 2004 when DuPont spun off its textiles and interiors business to Koch Industries of the US for US$4.4 billion. Koch combined its KoSa fibres business with the DuPont business, and Invista now has 24,000 employees at operations in 50 countries, including 90 plants in the US and Canada.

CEP Members Strike Former DuPont Plant in Canada

The labour dispute between New Zealand&rsquo;s state-run coal company Solid Energy and ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) has heated up again. Some 200 union members at two of the company&rsquo;s mines were locked out by Solid Energy and by one of its operating contractors for engaging in limited industrial action. Some 700 miners are seeking EPMU&rsquo;s national call for a 5% pay increase and a commitment to pay parity at underground and surface mines on both New Zealand&rsquo;s North and South Islands. Solid Energy, posting windfall profits this year due to high prices of coking coal, is offering only 10% over three years.

EPMU, Solid Energy Dispute Continues in New Zealand

Leaders and activists of the unaffiliated Lepanto Employees Union in the Philippines are still off work at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.&rsquo;s gold operations in Benquet province. The trade unionists were sacked for continuing an allegedly illegal strike. The country&rsquo;s Department of Labor and Employment stepped in last week to resolve the pay dispute that has lingered since last November for 1,700 miners, but made no provisions to reinstate the leaders. Workers struck legally on 4 June, but the labour agency issued a back-to-work order on 8 June. Many of the miners are remaining off jobsites in sympathy with the discharged leaders. The company says it will attempt to reach full production using supervisors and contract workers.

Mine Workers&#039; Leaders in Philippines Still Off Jobs

Archive

First Global Meeting of ExxonMobil Network to Meet in US

Union Critical of Firm’s Safety Procedures at Rio Tinto Jobsite

PACE in US Wins Union Recognition for SCA Workers

Rio Tinto May Be Prosecuted over Australian Water Contamination

Australian Affiliates Resist ExxonMobil’s Shift Changes

USWA Wins Unionisation for Goodyear Workers through Accord

Bridgestone Workers in US Ratify Collective Agreement

CEP Members Strike Former DuPont Plant in Canada

EPMU, Solid Energy Dispute Continues in New Zealand

Mine Workers' Leaders in Philippines Still Off Jobs

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us