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ExxonMobil workers in Belgium returned to work on 21 November after a week-long strike in protest of the unfair dismissal of five workers at a refinery in Virton. Work continued inside the refinery behind closed plant gates, preventing any trucks from driving in or out. 
 
On 23 November, workers were forced to reopen the gates after the company had sought and won a legal injunction. According to Belgian union representatives, industrial actions will continue as workers pledge to do whatever it takes to get the US-based oil multinational to respect their rights. 
The spontaneous strike started when it became known that the five workers had been dismissed for &ldquo;not respecting the ethics of the company.&rdquo; Reportedly, the workers were found to have exchanged pornographic e-mails. In addition to the five employees that were dismissed, ten others were temporarily suspended for four days.
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While acknowledging that company e-mail networks are not to be used for distribution of erotic material, ICEM affiliated unions from both national centres,&nbsp;FGTB and CSC, claim management&rsquo;s reaction was completely out of proportion. The dismissals are extreme and drastic punishments, condemning workers and their families to hardship. The unions contend that ExxonMobil has suffered no moral or financial harm as a result of the e-mails. 
The unions&rsquo; statement said that there are privacy laws in Belgium which ExxonMobil can not violate. Workers and unions denounced the company&rsquo;s radical position on the matter, saying it can, under no circumstances, agree with a company that believes it owns the right to decide what is right and what is wrong. 
 
The unions have taken the matter to court and demand the reinstatement of the workers. They also call on ExxonMobil to bring its &ldquo;code&rdquo; before the unions for discussion. The code, FGTB and CSC believes, must conform to Belgian law.

Belgian ExxonMobil Workers Strike after ‘Unethical E-mail’

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Balloting is underway among paperworkers represented by three UK unions to turn the page on the adversarial relationship that has dominated the country&rsquo;s papermaking industry. 
 
A new framework &ldquo;Partnership Agreement&rdquo; has been agreed to by senior industrialists and national officers of Amicus, the Transport &amp; General Workers Union (TGWU), and GMB, together with Britain&rsquo;s Confederation of Paper Industries, an employers&rsquo; grouping of pulp, paper, and converting companies. 
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The agreement sets out modern approaches to the employment relationship across the sector, and includes as its motto &ldquo;Work Together, Grow Together, Stay Together.&rdquo; The three unions briefed local branch leaders on the agreement earlier in November, and union leaders are recommending that workers now accept the concept. 
 
&quot;The new agreement is an important step in securing modern working terms across the industry, such as work-life balance, actively promoting learning and skills, providing safer workplaces, promoting dignity at work and giving employees an opportunity to be informed and consulted, and actively involved in improving the performance of their workplace,&quot; said Amicus Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke. 
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According to the independent chairman of CPI, Professor Frank Burchill, &ldquo;The agreement provides an essential framework for all the parties to work as partners in tackling the challenges in securing a healthy future for the papermaking industry.&quot; 
 
The agreement, if passed, is expected to take effect in early 2007. 
 
UK&rsquo;s papermaking industry employs over 10,000 people in over 60 worksites, but has struggled to remain competitive in the face of reduced output coupled with high energy costs. Papermaking, along with printing in the UK, is one of the few industries to have industry-wide bargaining.

UK Unions Could Embark on New Partnering Relationship in Paper Sector

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Some 1,000 German coal miners will convene in Dresden tomorrow, 28 November, to lobby the Christian Democratic Party to preserve federal coal subsidies. 
 
Miners will handbill the CDU&rsquo;s Congress with a leaflet entitled &ldquo;We Fight for Germany&rsquo;s Energy Future&rdquo;, aimed at reminding German Chancellor Angela Merkel of promises she made to the preservation of the country&rsquo;s coal mining industry. 
 
The action is supported by ICEM German affiliate IGBCE. 
 
Some 700 miners will arrive from the Ruhr region and from Ibbenb&uuml;ren, some 300 others from the province of Saarland. The miners and their union are reacting to motions passed by CDU&rsquo;s North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland regional delegations to reduce the current level of coal mining in those areas, as well as proposing to phase-out mining subsidies by the first half of the next decade. 
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The miners contend that domestic coal is necessary in a balanced energy mix, and argue that Germany has become too dependent on imports of both coal and natural gas. 
 
The handbilling campaign also seeks to remind Merkel, as well as North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister J&uuml;rgen R&uuml;ttgers and Saarland Prime Minister Peter M&uuml;ller, of pledges they made that any adjustments in the coal mining industry would be socially acceptable, and occur without closures to existing mining operations.

German Coal Miners Take Protest to CDU Congress on 28 November

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. 
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It also cites a coal mine explosion in early February in G&aacute;meza, Boyac&aacute; 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

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ICEM&rsquo;s Chemical Workers&rsquo; 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&rsquo;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.
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&nbsp; 
&ldquo;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,&rdquo; 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 &euro;12.12-per-share for the government&rsquo;s stake in Kemira GrowHow, or &euro;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&rsquo;s largest producer of nitrogen-based fertilisers, while Kemira GrowHow is a leader in feed phosphates with production facilities in eight countries. Under Finland&rsquo;s Securities Market Act, Yara is now obligated to place tender offers for the remainder of Kemira GrowHow&rsquo;s shares at &euro;12.12-per-share, a 30% premium over the Finnish&rsquo;s firm&rsquo;s 23 May trading price. The merged company will control about 7% of the world&rsquo;s fertiliser market.

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

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The ICEM, together with its Norwegian paperworkers&rsquo; 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&rsquo;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.
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&nbsp; 
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&rsquo; 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 &ldquo;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.&rdquo;

ICEM Conducts Global Agreement Review Meeting with Norske Skog

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Arrests and injuries from police gun-fire haunt Democratic of Congo&rsquo;s (DRC) trade unions, as activists struggle to exert their rights in the war-torn but resource-rich African country. 
 
On 22 May, General Secretary Jean-Benoit Ntando of the ICEM affiliated mining and energy trade union, Organisation des Travailleurs Unis du Congo (OTUC), was arrested near Kinshasa. He was leading a demonstration of Foire Internationale de Kinshasa (FIKIN) workers and along with two other union leaders, was detained at a police detention centre in Limete, Kinshasa. 
 
The three were released two days later.
<img height="130" src="" width="280" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
 
The main reason for industrial action by the FIKIN workers&rsquo; was non-payment of salaries and other benefits, a persistent problem in the DRC. In spite of the many promises by the company, workers, as well as middle managers, suffer from non-payment of wages for up to 17 months. Trade unionists also were protesting against the abusive dismissal of co-workers, and the employer&rsquo;s failure to consult with the union on important decisions, as required by the company&rsquo;s statutes. 
 
In a memorandum addressed to the DRC&rsquo;s Minister of Portfolio, Jeannine Mabunda, on 22 May, the FIKIN trade union delegation called for the removal of the company&rsquo;s top-level management. 
 
The situation for the workers at the state-run diamond mine called Soci&eacute;t&eacute; Mini&egrave;re de Bakwanga (MIBA) near Mbuji-Mayi, in south-central Kasai-Oriental Province, also remains precarious. 
 
A strike there by some eight ICEM-affiliated mining unions over non-payment of wages began on 23 April, but was suspended four weeks later after a new interim management team was installed. Although the company did pay one month&rsquo;s back wages, the dispute regressed when MIBA used police force against workers. 
 
Ngandu Ntumba, a union leader of the ICEM-affiliated SYTRAME-CDT, disappeared for 48 hours into the hands of DRC&rsquo;s security forces, while another SYTRAME trade unionist named Tshimpaka was shot in the leg by police, and then was trampled by police forces as they rushed other protesters. This occurred in mid-May. 
 
The victim remains in a hospital in Bonzola in eastern DRC, after doctors removed a bullet from his left leg. But he is still without proper medical necessities. The ICEM is cooperating with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in order to get the necessary care and medicines to him.
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&nbsp;L&eacute;on Ngoy Bululu 

Also in the DRC, Vice President L&eacute;on Ngoy Bululu of the Solidarit&eacute; Syndicale des Travailleurs et Cadres du Congo, an affiliate of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) was released from Makala prison in Kinshasa on 15 May. Bululu was arrested on 20 April following an appearance on local television, where he criticised the state-owned transport agency ONATRA. 
 
A hearing on 11 May had already acquitted him of all charges. Both ITF and ICEM had demanded his release.

Dangerous Times for Mining Union Activists in Congo

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The Amicus section of newly-formed UK union, Unite, has accused ExxonMobil of an attack on North Sea oil drilling jobs. In a letter to the UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, the union says ExxonMobil&rsquo;s decision to suspend drilling in the Beryl field for a period of three years will cost 70 jobs. 
 
Unite, the merged unification of Amicus and Transport and General Workers&rsquo; Union, is requesting that Britain&rsquo;s Trade and Industry agency investigate the US supermajor&rsquo;s decision, and to suspend the company&rsquo;s license to operate in the field if necessary.
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The loss of jobs would affect Aberdeen, Scotland, based KCA Deutag, ExxonMobil&rsquo;s main drilling contractor at the 40-year-old Beryl field production site. Workers at KCA Deutag, long represented by Amicus, say that over the past year, ExxonMobil has spent more that ₤20 million in preparing rigs for a renewed five-year drilling project. 
 
Unite&rsquo;s Aberdeen-based regional officer, Graham Tran, said that Deutag detailed the project&rsquo;s work to staff, guaranteeing they had a long-term future on Beryl field platforms. He said the drilling contractor had instituted a two-weeks-on, three-weeks-off rotation schedule for staff.
<img height="139" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&ldquo;ExxonMobil has now put the drilling programme on hold for three years, which has put around 70 drilling jobs at risk,&rdquo; said Tran. &ldquo;The behaviour is disgraceful and deceitful. (ExxonMobil is) being dishonest to the employees, and also to the UK government and the UK taxpayer,&rdquo; he added, alluding that ExxonMobil just might be attempting to get out of North Sea oil production. 
 
&ldquo;I am therefore calling on the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to investigate this matter and if ExxonMobil refuses to reverse this decision, then government should take the necessary steps to remove its operating license and make this productive field available to operators who believe in the future of the North Sea.&rdquo;

ExxonMobil Accused of Job Destruction in North Sea

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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&rsquo; 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&rsquo;s equipment to two other subcontractors.
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Under terms of last week&rsquo;s agreement, covering six workers who still sought their rightful return to work, Lafarge Halla management in Korea will make &ldquo;best efforts&rdquo; 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 &ndash; from both sides &ndash; were to be withdrawn. 
 
The ICEM, together with the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; 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="" width="120" alt="" />
ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda
&ldquo;We commend our affiliate, the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation, for its diligence in seeing that justice was delivered for these contract workers,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;

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

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Leaders of ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian mining affiliate, Sintracarb&oacute;n, marshalled an occupation of La Guajira&rsquo;s state Social Security building from 23-25 May in the city of Riohacha. The occupation, by some 40 trade unionists and activists in Colombia&rsquo;s northeast region, occurred because of failed health care practices by both the state and the area&rsquo;s single biggest employer, Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n. 
 
The two-day sit-in produced redress of all demands made by the protestors, some of whom included employees of the state&rsquo;s health department. Day-long negotiations occurred on 24 May between 11 Sintracarb&oacute;n leaders, representatives of the state and federal health agencies, &Aacute;lvaro L&oacute;pez, Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s Labour Relations director, and Dr. Rodrigo Daza, Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s chief medical practitioner.&nbsp;
<img height="173" src="" width="260" alt="" />
&nbsp;Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s leaders, who led the occupation: Jos&eacute; Nicol&aacute;s Brito Mendoza, union director; Jaime Deluquez Dias, president; and Jes&uacute;s Brochero, Maicao Mine president 
 

&ldquo;Normally, we engage the company in social dialogue over issues,&rdquo; stated the union&rsquo;s Maicao Mine President Jes&uacute;s Brochero. &ldquo;But there are times when direct action is necessary. With the number of health cases both from the mine and from communities not being addressed, this was one of those times.&rdquo; 
 
Specifically, the occupation was to draw attention to over 40 miners who have had various work disabilities lingering for as long as a year. Also, it sought to focus attention on some 700 patients in surrounding communities who have been stricken with diseases, and who have not had adequate health treatments from either the mine &ndash; owned equally by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata &ndash; or state and federal agencies. 
 
Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n employs 4,700 full-time miners, while another 3,500 contractors work at a complex of eight coal pits and a 150- kilometre rail link to the Caribbean Sea port of Puerto Bol&iacute;var.
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
The negotiated end to the building occupation granted assurances that all medical payments due disabled miners would be made immediately. Among some other 20 points of agreement stemming from the occupation, accord was made that all pending health care cases will be examined individually and diagnoses of diseases or injuries both on the job and in communities will occur promptly.

Building Occupation in Colombia Yields Health Care Assurances

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