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 height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. of South Korea received sizeable development and training subsidies in 2006 from the Hungarian government when it built an auto and light truck tyre plant in Dunaujv&aacute;ros, south of Budapest. A year later and several months following the start of production, the pay-back has been broken labour laws and blatant discrimination of trade unionists. 
 
The world&rsquo;s seventh largest tyre producer, 10% owned by Michelin, has paid fines for labour code violations, has seen large portions of its subsidies suspended by the Hungarian government, and has sacked one leader of the VDSZ Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union, while refusing to negotiate with the ICEM affiliate, the Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ).
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Since production start-up early this year, the company has circumvented EU labour standards, and has violated ILO Conventions at its 28,500-unit-per-day tyre factory, now employing 800 blue-collar workers. Hankook Tire Magyarorszag Kft. has been found guilty or charged with non-payment of overtime pay, unsanitary work conditions, forcing a six-day work-week before a two-day leave, making work mandatory on public holidays, interrogating workers on their lawful right to join a union, and illegal dismissing workers. 
 
Besides using Hungarian subsidies to get the plant up and running this year, Hankook has used aid totalling nearly &euro;100 million from the European Commission. The company has reciprocated by paying fines for illegally employing 32 Korean workers and missing deadlines on registering employees to social security programmes. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Hankook&rsquo;s anti-social behaviour in Dunaujv&aacute;ros was a major talking point in mid-September discussions between South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk Soo and Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs&aacute;ny. 
 
VDSZ is adamant that Hankook respect EU, ILO, and Hungarian standards and regulations. The ICEM supports VDSZ in its struggle with Hankook. In a further letter to Hankook&rsquo;s managing director on 23 November, VDSZ President Gy&ouml;rgy Pasztern&aacute;k stressed that a Hungarian court has certified the union&rsquo;s Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union as bargaining representative, and that the company must negotiate terms and conditions with the union, as well as deal with the VDSZ branch on matters related to EU Works Council elections.
At its 4th World Congress in Bangkok, from 22 to 24 November, the ICEM adopted unanimously adopted a solidarity statement in response to the ongoing violation of workers&rsquo; rights by Hankook Tire Hungary Ltd. The statement was conveyed by the ICEM in a <a href="/index.php?id=20&amp;doc=2495&amp;la=EN">letter to the company</a>.

Korea’s Hankook Tire Company Setting Bad Precedents in Hungary

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Tuesday, 4 December, is Unilever Day of Action in Europe, and beyond. European trade unions will manifest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Unilever workers throughout the world are expected to take action. The Anglo-Dutch consumer products conglomerate is inflicting job cuts on 20,000 workers worldwide. 
 
Half those numbers are occurring in Europe. Already, Unilever&rsquo;s reorganisation has cost hundreds of jobs in The Netherlands, UK, and Italy. 
<img height="150" alt="" src="" width="150" />
The Rotterdam agenda tomorrow includes a 13h00 forum at De Doelen conference centre, Kruisplein 40, that will highlight adverse Unilever case studies of job abuse from six countries. European labour leaders will also speak. At 15h00, a march to Unileverhouse in central Rotterdam will happen. 
 
The ICEM has joined with the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) to call attention to this Action Day against Unilever in workplaces and at union meetings globally. Unilever initially avoided proper social dialogue in its recent European reorganisation, and the company has violated workers&rsquo; rights in India, Pakistan, Chile, Colombia, and South Africa. IUF has brought abuses in India and Pakistan before the UK National Contact Point for OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
ICEM and IUF encourages Unilever workers throughout the world to distribute the joint statement that can be found <a href="/index.php?id=154&amp;doc=2488&amp;la=EN">here</a>. 
Take action against Unilever on European Day of Action, 4 December!

Day of Action on Unilever Rings Tomorrow in Europe

On August 2nd, Unilever announced to the financial community its intention to cut 20,000 jobs world-wide over the next three years, with 60 factories to be closed or disposed of. 
 
Under pressure from shareholders and ratings agencies, Unilever has over the last 7 years closed or sold off over 125 factories around the world, halving the global workforce to 179,000. Over these years, profits have steadily risen. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="86" alt="" src="" width="100" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Systematic outsourcing has led to the elimination of permanent jobs at Unilever in many parts of the world and the creation of vast complexes of precarious labour. Outsourcing is now set to increase from 15 to 25% of volume. Many workers who produce for Unilever have been employed on renewable, &quot;temporary&quot; contracts for over a decade! 
 
By looting its own resources, Unilever management has been paying itself bonuses and buying back its own shares with cash made available through job cuts and outsourcing. Cash freed up through restructuring will be used to finance &euro;25-30 billion in dividends and share buybacks. The money will not be invested in the long-term future of the company. 
 
Through closures, job cuts, outsourcing and labour contracting, Unilever is destroying jobs and livelihoods across the globe, harming communities, and weakening the collective strength of Unilever unions. 
<img height="161" alt="" src="" width="150" />
Europe is now being targeted in a major way: 10-12,000 of the announced job cuts will be carried out there. 
 
On Tuesday, December 4th, Unilever unions in Europe will organise a day of action featuring a protest march and public assembly in Rotterdam. Concurrently and throughout the week, unions will stage actions at Unilever plants throughout Europe. 
 
Unilever's attack on jobs in Europe is only the latest in a continuing world-wide attack on employment. Unilever unions throughout the world are called on to support their comrades in Europe and to take global action as part of the fight to halt the global job destruction and to expand global union power at Unilever!

4 December 2007 Joint ICEM/IUF Unilever Message

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM affiliate Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) successfully brought 600 new members into its fold recently. Senior staff at AngloGold Ashanti&rsquo;s Obuasi Mine joined the GMWU, and will become the Professional and Managerial Staffs Union of the GMWU. 
 
At an inaugural event on 5 October, Ghana Trade Union Congress General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwa called the integration a milestone event for the 65-year-old GMWU, a union, he said, that has dramatically improved work conditions and community life in Ghana&rsquo;s gold belt.
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
GMWU General Secretary Prince William Ankrah stated that having senior staff in the union will go far in healing the colonial legacy of the 50-year-old west African nation that once saw senior and junior workers pitted against one another by the divide-and-rule dictums of labour relations by mining companies. 
He welcomed the senior staff of the South African-based company into the GMWU, stating they will now be offered the same excellent services built over many years, including job security, career development, dependent educational opportunities, and other social programmes. 
 
The Obuasi Mine is AngloGold&rsquo;s most productive of three mines in Ghana, and the only one that is underground. Gold mining, which accounts for 30% of all revenues derived from the country&rsquo;s exports, occurs at 1.6 kilometres deep at Obuasi, with a current project now underway to dig deeper, expecting to extend the mine&rsquo;s life span beyond the year 2040.
<img height="77" alt="" src="" width="140" />
This mine was the major catalyst behind the 2004 merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana. The company also operates open cast mines at Iduaprim and Teberebie. With several other gold producers operating in Ghana, including Goldfields, Newmont Mining, Red Back Mining, and Golden Star of Canada, the country is Africa&rsquo;s second largest gold producer behind South Africa. 
 
The Professional and Managerial Staff of GMWU has an eight-member executive, including Chairman Seidu Adam Bogobiri, Deputy Chairman Charles Owusi, Secretary Samuel Dwamenah, Deputy Secretary Isaac Newton Kusi, First Trustee Collins Ankomah, Second Trustee Eric Obeng Foshuhene, Chaplain M.C. Turkson, and Women&rsquo;s Representative Doris Apem.

Ghana Mine Workers&#039; Union Organises Senior Staff of AngloGold Ashanti

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) petitioned South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) last week to conduct a one-day strike. The strike would call attention to severe safety deficiencies by mining houses operating in South Africa in the wake of the near catastrophe at Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Elandsrand Mine on 3-4 October. 
 
Some 3,200 miners were trapped there when a piece of steel pipe dropped 2.2 kilometres down an elevator shaft, severing electrical cables and shattering the framework of the mine&rsquo;s main elevator. Fortunately, all were rescued, but it took the company 38 hours to complete the rescue.
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />
But even after that near tragedy, the death toll in South African mines&nbsp;has risen. On 10 October, three miners were killed at Goldfields Kloof gold mine near Westonaria when a rope hoisting a skip loaded with rock snapped, sending the load back down a shaft and crushing the three miners. On the same day, another Goldfields miner was killed by falling rock 2,700 metres underground at the company&rsquo;s South Deep Mine. 
 
Three NUM members at Northam Platinum in Thabazimbi lost their lives in accidents recently. The NUM said the company had failed to report the deaths. The company responded by stating that its policy has been not to report single fatalities. On 17 October, one miner at AngloPlatinum&rsquo;s Paardekraal Mine in Rustenburg perished and another was critically injured and remains hospitalised from an underground rock fall. 
 
A day earlier, Reuters in Johannesburg reported that the subsidiary of Anglo American was contemplating reducing the number of contract workers in its mines because the safety record of such workers is not as good as for permanent staff. &ldquo;We have identified this as the key challenge,&rdquo; stated AngloPlats head of Strategy, Frances Petersen. 
<img height="240" alt="" src="" width="160" />
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
The NUM formally applied to the CCMA for a certificate to strike on the same day of the AngloPlats Rustenburg tragedy. The strike could come as early as next week, or the first week of November. It would mark the first time in 20 years that the ICEM affiliate took strike action across the country&rsquo;s entire mining sector.
In a statement, the NUM said a &ldquo;genocide is unfolding, and the NUM is preparing for a strike that seeks to divert attention from the obsession with production targets to the one that deals with realising the sacrosanct human life.&rdquo; 
 
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni added that the loss of black miners has come at the expense of enormous profits made through continuous operations.

NUM Files for One-Day Safety Strike in South Africa’s Mine

Bangkok, 17-18 November 2007 
&ldquo;Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre&rdquo;, Bangkok
<img height="38" alt="" src="" width="30" />
Day 1 
 
9:30&nbsp; Opening
Evgenia Esenina, Chair of ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee 
Senzeni Zokwana, President of ICEM 
Manfred Warda, General Secretary of ICEM 
 
Greetings from: Elsa Ramos, ILO, Vesna Rodic, FES 
 
THEME ONE: PEACE 
 
Contributions from: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>Burma</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Sintraelecol, Colombia</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians, Iraq</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>General Union of Petroleum, Mining Chemicals and Similar Substances Workers in Palestine</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers Union </div>
 </li>
</ul>
11:00 Coffee break 
 
11:30 Conference reconvenes 
 
 
THEME TWO: CONTRACT AND AGENCY LABOUR 
 
Presentations by: Thailand and India 
 
Discussion 
 
13:00 Lunch 
 
14:30 Conference reconvenes 
Two presentations by Government Pharmaceuticals Organisation 
 
 
THEME THREE: HEALTH 
 
Presentations by Brazil and Germany 
 
17:00 Meeting of ICEM women from Central Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe 
 
18:00 End of Day One 
 
 
Day Two 
 
9:00 Presentation by Japanese Affiliates on work-life balance 
 
9:30 Working Groups on work-life balance 
 
10:30 Report Back from Working Groups 
 
11:00 Coffee break 
 
11:30 Conference reconvenes 
 
13:00 Lunch 
 
14:30 Conference reconvenes 
 
14:30 Working Groups on Motions 
 
16:00 Elections of Chair and Vice-Chair of Women&rsquo;s Committee 
 
17:00 End of Women&rsquo;s Conference

4th ICEM World Congress - Women’s Conference

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Calling the work-lives of temporary and agency workers in the UK the &ldquo;dark underbelly&rdquo; of British society, Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber gave the issue of contract and agency labour prominence on the opening day of the TUC Congress, 9 September, in Brighton. 
 
Setting out specific instances of temporary or contract worker abuse in the UK, Barber called for new labour rights to be given to such workers in Britain. And in his keynote address to Congress, just prior to Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaking, Barber called on his government to quit the stalling, and endorse the EU Directive on Temporary and Agency Workers. 
<img height="114" alt="" src="" width="80" />
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
&ldquo;Since we launched the commission on vulnerable employment,&rdquo; Barber said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve met so many victims of unfair, systematic exploitation. 
 
&ldquo;There are so many issues to tackle in this dark underbelly of British life,&rdquo; stated Barber. &ldquo;I urge the government to deliver the promised European directive to give agency workers justice and dignity,&rdquo; he said. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" />
In 2004, the Warwick agreement was made in the UK, which was aimed at providing equal employment rights for temporary and agency workers, and to support the EU Directive. Even though the Blair government pledged to do so, it never did. The TUC has now called on the Brown government to not only support the directive, but also to pass UK laws giving temporary and agency workers full employment rights.

UK’s TUC Congress Calls on Government to Adopt EU Directive

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
One year ago, New Zealand&rsquo;s labour unions, led by its national centre, the Council of Trade Union (NZCTU), successfully prevented a regressive bill from becoming law. The so-called Probationary Employment Amendment Bill would have made it easy for employers to hire and then sack temporary workers during their first 90 days of employment. 
 
The unions did it with mass demonstrations and outreach to many groupings that effectively generated mass support among New Zealanders. 
<img height="142" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Now labour unions and the CTU are pushing for passage of legislation that would aid contract workers. The Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill is now before the Parliament, and the measure has a good change of passing. The proposed law would assure that people doing work under individual contracts are at least paid New Zealand&rsquo;s minimum wage. 
 
Currently, many of the people that are economically dependent on the sale of their labour are not defined by the law as employees, thus not afforded protections under the country&rsquo;s minimum wage law. 
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
&ldquo;Most contractors in New Zealand are remunerated well above the minimum wage,&rdquo; stated CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont. &ldquo;But this bill would help certain groups of workers who are being unfairly disadvantaged by contracting relationships, and are being paid below the minimum wage.&rdquo; 
 
Added Beaumont, &ldquo;The minimum wage marks a minimum standard in New Zealand that is considered acceptable for anyone being paid for their efforts. That standard deserves to be extended to everyone.&rdquo; 
 
The bill was introduced in July and received its first reading late in August. It could pass NZ&rsquo;s Parliament next month.

New Zealand Labour Pushing Law to Protect Contract Workers

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
A Youth Action Day by German affiliate IGBCE, on 19 September, produced a commitment by the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia to create 205 training positions, funded at &euro;10,000 each, to offset lost employment opportunities from the recent agreement in the coal industry. 
 
The commitment came after youth leaders of the IGBCE met with North-Rhine/Westphalia Employment Minister Karl Josef Laumann. 
 
Some 2,000 students and young workers of IGBCE&rsquo;s Youth Network protested in D&uuml;sseldorf on that day. They came from youth committees from several German companies, including BASF and Evonik Industries. Evonik is the new publicly-traded company created from state coal company RAG. It comprises RAG&rsquo;s power stations, chemicals, and real estate businesses, and was formed in discussions on the future of Germany&rsquo;s coal industry. 
&nbsp;<img height="133" src="" width="100" alt="" />
IGBCE's Michael Vassiliadis
&ldquo;The actions of the young workers of our union have made this a success,&rdquo; said Michael Vassiliadis, head of IGBCE&rsquo;s Youth Activities. &ldquo;Now we will undertake all efforts so that the 205 young persons will be afforded the opportunity to start their work lives with the necessary training.&rdquo; 
 
The IGBCE stressed that the &euro;10,000-per-job commitment from the state will fund only part of the training. Funds have been set aside for this purpose from the hard-coal agreement, and the union said social partners from the employer side must step forward to provide additional training funds.

IGBCE Youth Action Network Wins Training Positions

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
ICEM affiliate Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union (KNG) of Slovenia and the Sava management of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. at Kranj came to wage terms at a tyre factory this summer, but the new contract still needs attention. At issue is how management is &ndash; or rather, is not &ndash; implementing language recently inserted into the collective agreement. 
<img height="100" src="" width="100" alt="" />
In addition to winning a &euro;90-per-month increase, the 900 workers also agreed to a plan to reduce sick leave in exchange for a sizeable bonus scheme. Management has failed to adequately implement this plan, as well neglecting other aspects of the new agreement. Shop-floor leaders at the Kranj tyre and engineered products plants, Goodyear&rsquo;s prize operations in Eastern and Central Europe, together with and KNG&rsquo;s Andrej Zorko, are eager for managers to put the new collective agreement into effect. 
Goodyear produces auto, truck, and bus tyres in Kranj. It makes Sava tyre brands there, as well as its trademarked Avant A3 steer-axle tyre and the Orjak 03 drive-axle tyre. In 2006, Goodyear exceeded all business targets at the Kranj plants. It also made its one millionth tyre there. Goodyear is one of Slovenia&rsquo;s largest exporters. 
<img height="120" src="" width="118" alt="" />
The company entered into a majority-stake joint venture with the Sava Group in 1998, which gave it 60% of the tyre-making plant and 75% of the engineered products operation. Goodyear paid US$120 million for those stakes. Previously, Continental AG of Germany held a 28% share of Sava.In 2002, Goodyear bought another 20% stake in of operations for US$38.5 million, and, two years later, the company bought up the remaining shares to give it full ownership. 
 
Besides being affiliated to the ICEM, KNG Trade Union is a proud affiliate of the Association of Free Trade Unions (ZSSS) of Slovenia, which is currently leading an effort in the country to offset inflation with increases in salaries for all workers.

Contract Settled, But Problems Persist at Goodyear’s Slovenia Tyre Plant

Archive

Korea’s Hankook Tire Company Setting Bad Precedents in Hungary

Day of Action on Unilever Rings Tomorrow in Europe

4 December 2007 Joint ICEM/IUF Unilever Message

Ghana Mine Workers' Union Organises Senior Staff of AngloGold Ashanti

NUM Files for One-Day Safety Strike in South Africa’s Mine

4th ICEM World Congress - Women’s Conference

UK’s TUC Congress Calls on Government to Adopt EU Directive

New Zealand Labour Pushing Law to Protect Contract Workers

IGBCE Youth Action Network Wins Training Positions

Contract Settled, But Problems Persist at Goodyear’s Slovenia Tyre Plant

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us