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

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A three-day workshop in&nbsp;basic safety&nbsp;radiation training for workers employed around uranium and uranium mining was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 24-26 March. The ICEM-sponsored workshop was the second such workshop, the first one held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2009. 
 
The training was attended by 22 people, including 15 African mine union leaders and seven trainers. Funding came from the ILO and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. Besides the ICEM, the Power Workers&rsquo; Union (PWU) of Canada, the Untied Steelworkers (USW), and the Canadian Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Council committed resources. Nuclear power companies Cameco and Ontario Power generation also provided support and assistance. 
<img alt="" src="" width="289" height="179" />
The workshop addressed radiation sources, protection, detection measurements, as well as radioactive gases in underground, open cast, and milling workplaces. ILO Conventions 176 and 183 were also reviewed, and sessions on national legislative and regulatory frameworks were held. 
 
Instructors included Dave Shier and Bob Walker of the PWU; Nancy Hutchison of the USW; Michael Schultheiss of FES Namibia; Marko Baran of Cameco; and Brian Kohler of the ICEM. ICEM Sub-Saharan African Regional Officer Fabian Nkomo was also a facilitator and selected the 15 African trade unionists, with the aim to give them basic training in safe uranium&nbsp;processes in order that they carry the training back to their worksites.

Namibia: ICEM Conducts Second Uranium Training Programme

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Employment law changes in New Zealand&nbsp;took effect 1 April have given all employers the right to dismiss employees within a first 90-day &ldquo;trial&rdquo; period, with no rights to&nbsp;grievance procedure. This rule previously applied for small businesses of fewer than 20 employees.
Now it applies in all workplaces, no matter the side of the workforce.&nbsp; 
 
The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to a worksite, relaxation of&nbsp;fairness tests on dismissals, the ability&nbsp;of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, the&nbsp;right to shift public holidays without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day&rsquo;s sick leave. 
 
There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes, according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="124" />
EPMU National Secretary, Andrew Little
Click here to sign the <a href="http://www.epmu.org.nz/petition-2/">EPMU&rsquo;s petition</a>. 
 
&quot;We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law, or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers, or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents,&quot; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which employs 7,000 employees in New Zealand.

New Zealand Labour Law Changes Damage Worker Rights

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Turnout by EDF and GDF SUEZ workers for a day-long strike 7 April called by five French unions was enough to cut power output by over 15,000 megawatts across the country, according to one of the unions. Upwards of 80% of workers of the two former French government companies protested last Thursday, although the utilities said only half of total staff participated. 
 
The electric and gas workers were striking over a plan by the companies to reduce the preferential rates that workers get on electric and gas bills. French unions CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, and CFTC endorsed the industrial action as a way&nbsp;to express workers&rsquo; displeasure with the proposed take-aways. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="139" />
French workers have had the discounted rate plan since 1946, when the companies where chartered and nationalised following World War II. The partial rate discounts&nbsp;amount now&nbsp;to between &euro;1,000 and &euro;1,500 annually and workers consider the discounts a complement to their now stagnant wages. 
 
The last time management of the then state-owned companies tried to eliminate the discounts, in 1983, strike participation by 96% of workers dissuaded the companies from following through. The unions met last Friday, 8 April, to assess what next step to take if the current plan to reduce discounts continues. 
 
Last Thursday&rsquo;s power outages saw the equivalent of ten nuclear plants out of France&rsquo;s 58 total plants that&nbsp;stopped generating electricity. Gas and supply deliveries were also halted across the country, as manifestations occurred in scores of French towns and regions, including a massive one attended by thousands of EDF and GDF SUEZ staff at la D&eacute;fense, Paris&rsquo;s corporate capital and site of headquarters of the two companies.

French Power Cut as EDF, GDF SUEZ Staff Manifest on 7 April

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A two-week strike against Finnish papermaker UPM by 1,000 members of ICEM affiliate Ammattilitto Pro is continuing. Production is seriously crimped at six pulp and paper mills of Finland&rsquo;s largest pulp and paper firm, with work stoppages at 20 other facilities including UPM&rsquo;s administrative centre in Tempere and its export facility at the Kotka port. 
 
The strike began 6 April and will run until 20 April. Ammattiliitto Pro, representing 4,000 white-collar salaried, technical, and clerical workers across the Finnish pulp and paper sector, targeted UPM because of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation&rsquo;s (FFIF) unwillingness to offer a national salary structure during a March reopening of a two-year labour agreement. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="135" />
UPM's Rauma, Finland, Mill
The ICEM issued a <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4355-Action-Needed-Votre-intervention-est-souhaitée-Se-requiere-acción-urgente">Solidarity Alert</a> to global trade unions of the sector on 6 April, and union activists are encouraged here to heed that call by sending messages of support to Ammattiliitto Pro.
 
The industrial action came after a government conciliator failed to put forward a compromise on 4 April. Despite promises in early rounds of talks that a national pay scheme would be submitted and structured around work skills and work requirements in a sector dramatically downsized, the FFIF put forward nothing in federal level talks. 
 
Instead, it deferred all bargaining over pay to the individual mills, or within local workplaces. Pro is seeking some level of equity for lower-paid staff, many of whom are women and deserve some semblance of pay equity. 
 
&ldquo;We want a system that recognises the increased work and greater responsibility taken on by our members,&rdquo; said Pro&rsquo;s chief negotiator for the Pulp and Paper Sector, Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen. Some 1,000 clerical and salaried staff in Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry have been furloughed over the past few years because of an economic downturn that only now is recovering. 
 
On 17 March, the union sent notice of termination of the agreement, effective 1 April. It issued its intent to strike on 23 March and following the complete failure of mandatory government intervention on 1 April and again on 4 April, the strike began 6 April.

Ammattiliitto Pro Strike in Finland Against Paper Firm UPM Continues

<img height="39" width="100" src="" alt="" />
Workers in the chemicals sector scored the highest 2011 pay gains yet in all German industrial and service sectors, thanks to mobilisation rallies, worker involvement, and the bargaining tenacity of ICEM affiliate IGBCE. On the final day (31 March) of the second round of federal talks for 550,000 workers of 1,900 companies in Bad Honnef, a 14-month pay increase of 4.1% was won. 
 
The increase will become effective at different times in different regions: retroactive to 1 March for chemical workers in North Rhine, Rheinland-Pfalz, and Hessen R&uuml;ckwirkend; on 1 April in Westfalen, Bayern, Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg, Niedersachsen/Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein/Hamburg, and Berlin; and 1 May in Saarland and the North-east. 
 
The agreement also gives flexibility for employers still recovering from the economic crisis to effectuate the wage increase in May, while most of the major chemical companies that are on strong standing will have&nbsp;already given the increase. 
 
Of particular note, the IGBCE and the chemical employers&rsquo; association, BAVC, agreed to add small- and medium-sized businesses to the unique &ldquo;Start in den Beruf&rdquo; programme, a &ldquo;start your active job&rdquo; project that places young people into chemical enterprises with opportunities for career enhancement and advancement. 
<img height="140" width="165" src="" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="132" width="175" src="" alt="" /> 
 
Michael Vassiliadis&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Peter Hausmann
These employers will now receive subsides from an industry-funded bank that will offset apprenticeship costs for companies. The highly-successful programme developed in social talks in the mid-2000s between IGBCE and BAVC has brought close to 3,000 young persons into relevant positions in Germany&rsquo;s keystone chemicals industry. 
 
The 2011-12 accord also grants current apprentices a &euro;35-per-month increase. 
 
&ldquo;Last year, we signed an agreement that was a bridge between crisis and recovery,&rdquo; said IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis. &ldquo;Now, as we predicted, we signed a growth agreement. This shows the social partnership in chemicals remains on solid footing in solving some very difficult problems.&rdquo; 
 
IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Peter Hausmann added: &ldquo;We fought hard for this achievement. We mobilised and without the outstanding support from workers in the various enterprises, we would not have come to this result.&rdquo; 
 
An ICEM report on <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4340-IGBCE-Mobilises-for-Second-Federal-Round-of-German-Chemical-Talks ">IGBCE&rsquo;s two months of mobilisations</a> leading up the final Bad Honnef settlement can be found here.

IGBCE Carves 4.1% 2011 Increase for 550,000 German Chemical Workers

<img height="39" width="100" src="" alt="" />
Eighty delegates from eight Latin American and Caribbean countries attended the ICEM&rsquo;s region meeting 4-5 April in Mar del Plata that was marvellously hosted by Federaci&oacute;n Argentina Sindical del Petr&oacute;leo, Gas y Biocombustibles (FASPyGP) at the trade union&rsquo;s hotel. 
 
The regional meeting produced three resolutions, including condolences to Japan over human deaths brought by the earthquake/tsunami and heartfelt appreciation to aid workers, especially nuclear workers of ICEM affiliate Denryoku Soren, who have worked non-stop to prevent mass disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. 
<img height="150" width="222" src="" alt="" />
Another resolution was in support of Chile copper miners represented by Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi over persecution following a recent strike&nbsp;by Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned by Xstrata and AngloAmerican. The third was a statement buttressing the legitimate trade unions of Mexico in their current fight to repel regressive labour legislation. 
 
ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais proudly reported the work plan of the region and that it&nbsp;had exceeded expectations. He also detailed the eight projects he is overseeing in the region. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave a progress report on integration with the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and IMF Regional Representative Jorge Alemida explained how the industrial sectors would be integrated. 
<img height="176" width="150" src="" alt="" />
ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais
Other reports were given by Colombia trade union affiliates, including Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO), and Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz and Lincon Esponoza, representing the Collahuasi copper miners of northern Chile, told of their strike and their efforts to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in the South American country. 
 
A detailed report was given by Secretary-General Alberto Roberti of FASPyGP on the burgeoning biofuels industry in Argentina. He said his union is in the&nbsp;forefront in defending the environment and emphasized the need to maintain a balance between producing biofuels and sustained food production to meet the country&rsquo;s growing needs. 
 
Overall, the regional meeting proved a good prelude to ICEM&rsquo;s Fifth Statutory Congress, to be held 24-26 November 2011 in Buenos Aires, with the host union providing excellent example to Argentine unions in how to meet the logistics for 1,200 delegates and guests expected to&nbsp;attend.

Argentine Petroleum, Gas Workers’ Host ICEM’s Latin, Caribbean Region Meet

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Some 2,000 iron ore miners and pellet-plant workers in northern Qu&eacute;bec, members of four United Steelworkers (USW) locals, came to excellent wage, pension, and work terms with ArcelorMittal Mines Canada. 
 
The six-year agreement, ratified by 75% of union members on 3 April, came after arduous bargaining dating to last November. A prior labour agreement in Qu&eacute;bec&nbsp;between the USW and the world&rsquo;s largest steelmaker expired in February. 
 
The contract will give hard-rock miners and processing-plant workers a 45% pay increase over the six years, inclusive of enhanced bonuses and hefty improvements to the yearly cost-of-living adjustment. The hourly wage increase will average 4.1% per year, and 25.6% over the six years. 
<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="160" />
USW Region Five Director Daniel Roy
Additionally, USW Qu&eacute;bec region and local branch negotiators withstood a management affront to create a two-tier pension scheme, with a proposal to cast new hires into a defined contribution plan. Not only did the bargaining units retain a defined benefit pension plan, but they made improvements to it as well. 
 
Workers with 30 years of service will realise a monthly increase of C$210 per month, or 18%, and the union negotiated a 3% increase for current retirees. Steelworkers under the new agreement are employed at the Mont-Wright and Firelake mines near Fermont in northern Qu&eacute;bec, along a 400-kilometre rail link, and at an ArcelorMittal&nbsp;pellet plant at Port-Cartier on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
&ldquo;This employment contract reflects the mining boom currently underway in the north coast and Qu&eacute;bec region,&rdquo; stated USW Region Five Director Daniel Roy. &ldquo;It is also the product of difficult negotiations, during which the committee showed determination and solidarity. 
 
&ldquo;I invite non-unionised mine workers a take a look at what we accomplished at ArcelorMittal Mines.&rdquo; 
 
The labour agreement contains new restrictions on outsourcing by strengthening the union-rostered stability list. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal purchased the iron ore assets in 2006 from Qu&eacute;bec Cartier Mining Co., then owned by an investment company. ArcelorMittal produces 40% of Canada&rsquo;s iron ore output.

Steelworkers Achieve Exemplary Labour Pact with ArcelorMittal in Québec

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Two weeks after a pair of Norwegian unions, together with&nbsp;ICEM and the&nbsp;International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Norsk Hydro ASA, two workers&rsquo; representatives of the aluminium and energy company&rsquo;s board of directors journeyed to Par&aacute; state in northern Brazil to brief workers and trade union leaders there. 
 
Sten Roar Martinsen, a process operator and full-time union representative from the Kopervik extrusion plant, and Billy Fredeagsvik, also an operator and union representative at Hydro&rsquo;s H&oslash;yanger aluminium smelter, met with workers&rsquo; representatives of Brazilian trade unions on 30 March and 1 April. Martinsen and Fredeagsvik are representatives of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) on Hydro&rsquo;s 11-member board. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="150" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="100" height="150" />
Sten Roar Martinsen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Billy Fredeagsvik
The mission, according to Norsk Hydro&rsquo;s website, was to brief Brazilian workers at a former Vale bauxite mine and aluminium smelter and refinery on the structure and principles for trade union dialogue at Hydro, as well as the impact and significance of the GFA that was signed on 15 March. 
 
In late February, Norsk Hydro concluded the purchase of Vale assets in northern Brazil for US$3.5 billion. Those assets include a 51% stake in the aluminium smelter Albr&aacute;s in Barcarena, Par&aacute; state, 57% of the Alunorte refinery, and a 61% stake in the future Companhia de Alumina do Par&aacute; (CAP) alumina plant, which will start up in 2012. A Japanese consortium of 17 companies holds the minority stakes in these companies. 
 
Also, on 30 March, Martinsen and Fredeagsvik met with union leaders at the former Vale bauxite mine Paragominas. As part of the deal, Hydro bought 60% of the 9.9 million tonne mine, as well as other bauxite mineral rights of Vale in Brazil. Hydro will now call its Brazilian mining assets&nbsp;Minera&ccedil;&atilde;o Paragominas. Hydro will purchase the remaining 40% in 2013 and 2015 for US$200 million in each year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="52" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="80" height="107" />
The Norwegian board members also discussed local issues with Par&aacute; state workers including access to housing in the rural areas, and health and education. 
 
&ldquo;This was an important first step,&rdquo; said Martinsen, &ldquo;towards establishing the right framework for including our Brazilian colleagues in Hydro&rsquo;s internal arenas for dialogue, to ensure that the interests and views of all employees in Hydro are represented in the appropriate forums and decision-making processes.&rdquo; 
 
Added Fredeagsvik, &ldquo;Through these initial meetings, we have created a solid foundation for further work together. The meetings have been interesting, positive, and highly constructive.&rdquo; 
 
Besides ICEM and IMF, Norwegian trade unions IndustriEnergi and Fellesforbundet are signatory to the GFA.

Norsk Hydro’s Worker Reps Talk with Trade Unionists in Brazil

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A long and drawn out court battle in Chhattisgarh state, India, saw exploited contract workers of Holcim Cement again win regularisation of their jobs in March through a High Court appeals ruling. But Holcim Cement of Switzerland is refusing to implement the court&rsquo;s order. 
 
The result is that hundreds of contract workers at one of Holcim&rsquo;s Indian subsidiaries, Associated Cement Co. Ltd. (ACC), and supporters are staging an ongoing&nbsp;&ldquo;dharna,&rdquo; or strike at the Bhilai Industrial Estate statue of Shankar Guha Niyogi, the legendary workers&rsquo; leader and founder of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) political party who was assassinated in 1991. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="150" />
Shankar Guha Niyogi
The CMM-associated labour union Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh is carrying the struggle for the contract workers, much like Niyogi did for irregular workers in mining, metalworking, and textiles three decades ago. 
 
The rightful fight for contract workers at ACC Jamul Cement to gain full wages, provident fund benefits, and even proper safety equipment dates back nearly 20 years. Holcim bought controlling interest in ACC and Ambuja Cement in 2006-2007 and has continued resistance to the legitimate rights of contract workers at its Indian cement plants. 
 
In 2006, an Industrial Court ruled that some 573 contract workers at ACC Jamul, many subsequently fired, must be made regular employees, with their wages and working conditions tied to the Cement Wage Board, or the&nbsp;Nevatia Award. Holcim, Lafarge, the Aditya Birla Group&rsquo;s Ultratech, and other major cement producers are tied to the Wage Board by hard fought strikes of the past. 
 
The Wage Board agreement has tight restrictions on the use of contract labour, limiting it to loading and unloading raw materials but with pay at the same rate as permanent workers. 
 
Holcim defied the Industrial Court&rsquo;s ruling by paying only between two-to-five days salary per month &ndash; at US$2 per day &ndash; because that is how few days contract workers were on the job at the time of the Industrial Court filing because Holcim was trying to get them to resign. 
 
Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh filed a writ petition with the High Court, and that portion of litigation is still pending. However, on 21 March, the High Court did rule that the paper arrangements between irregular workers and Holcim&nbsp;are &ldquo;sham and bogus&rdquo; and directed management&nbsp;to regularise over 100 contract workers. However, the ruling neglected to recognise the rights of about 400 who were coerced into accepting voluntary resignations. 
 
India is the world&rsquo;s second largest cement producer behind China. The country has an annual growth rate in cement of 11%, which has seen the leading cement producers make major investments and acquisitions. 
 
But multinationals like Holcim and Lafarge are doing nothing to stabilise employment and bring decent work to&nbsp;rural people who are recruited and then exploited as contract workers. Alone in Chhattisgarh state in central India, it is estimated that 3,200 permanent workers are employed in the cement industry, while 11,000 others toil as short-term, expendable contract workers.

Holcim Defies India Court Ruling on Rights for Contract Workers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The beginning of a Latin American network for Vale workers took root in Peru from 9-11 March, when 35 trade union representatives from six countries met in the city of Piura to discuss common problems and joint strategies to combat the anti-social policies of the Brazilian mining company. 
 
The meeting was sponsored by the US Solidarity Center and its Peruvian and Brazilian offices, and hosted by the ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region and the ICEM affiliate, the Peruvian National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP). 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="143" />
The Piura department in northern Peru is where Vale intends to supply its entry into agri-business following last year&rsquo;s purchase of Bunge&rsquo;s Fosfertil subsidiary in Brazil, a manufacturer of fertiliser. Vale has recently begun production at the Bay&oacute;var mine, a phosphate development that is under its Peruvian subsidiary, Minera Miski Mayo. 
 
Union representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Peru, and the US were present, and serious discussion occurred over Vale&rsquo;s social conduct throughout the world. The Canadian representative was from United Steelworkers Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, and he told of Vale&rsquo;s anti-people policies following the purchase of Inco nickel mining and smelting assets in 2006 and a subsequent 360-day strike by 3,500 steelworkers in 2009-2010. 
 
ICEM Regional Vice President Sergio Novais chaired the meeting, and besides several FNTMMSP delegates attending, participants also included Brazilian union leaders from CNQ/CUT, the chemical workers&rsquo; union; SINDIMINA, a Brazilian mineworkers&rsquo; union representing Vale miners; STEFAM, a union of railway workers at Vale mines and other workplaces; and STIQUIFAR, a chemical, pharmaceutical, and agri-chem union.

Workers’ Network Meeting of Vale Convenes in Peru

Archive