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" />
&ldquo;Expanding borders from Brazil to other Mercosur countries&rdquo; was the central decision taken at the Fifth Meeting of the Solvay Trade Union Network in Curitiba, Paran&aacute;, Brazil, from 29-31 March. 
 
During the first day of the network meetings, the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Bah&iacute;a Blanca of Argentina formally joined the multi-union network, which is now to be called the Solvay Mercosur Trade Union Network. 
 
Solvay is a Belgian-based chemicals company, and the network already had participation from workers at a number of Brazilian locations of the company. 
 
&quot;The principles guiding the network are the same principles guiding our own union work,&rdquo; said Oscar Strutenberg from the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Bah&iacute;a Blanca. &ldquo;We are committed to be together, so we will officially work within the group to boost the network.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="235" height="197" />
In fact, representatives from the Argentine union already had participated in two meetings of the network, but now membership is official, a move viewed very positively by the other unions present. 
 
&ldquo;I believe this formal new entry shows the growth and maturity of our network,&rdquo; stated Network Coordinator Juvenil Nunes da Costa from Sindicato dos Quimicos do ABC, a CUT-affiliated regional chemical workers&rsquo; union of S&atilde;o Paulo state. &ldquo;It is an important step in our process, because unions organising workers at the same company in different countries enhances our global alliance.&rdquo; 
 
With the arrival of the Argentine union, the Network is composed of Sindicato dos Quimicos do ABC, Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Ind&uacute;stria Qu&iacute;mica, Petroqu&iacute;mica (the Chemicals and Plastics Union of S&atilde;o Paulo), the Oil and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Osasco, and the Paran&aacute; Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
The next steps for the network will be to create a logo, exchange further information, and schedule common actions of the workers&rsquo; representatives, including a possible trip to ICEM headquarters in Geneva later this year to discuss issues related to effective social dialogue.

Solvay Brazil Union Network Expands to Include Other Mercosur Countries

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM has issued stern rebuke to the cowardly perpetrators of an assassination attempt on two union officers of the National Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (USO) of Colombia, and calls on the government of President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe to apprehend and prosecute those responsible. On 27 March, in the city of Villavicencio, in Meta Department south of Bogot&aacute;, hired killers on a motorcycle fired automatic weapons at Fernando Navarro and Yesid Prieto, two USO subcommittee officers of Bogot&aacute;. 
 
Although both escaped unharmed, their bodyguard, Antonio Pedro Carre&ntilde;o, was shot and killed. 
 
The attack comes days after USO marked the eight-year anniversary of the assassination of the union&rsquo;s Director, Rafael Jaimes Torra, by paramilitaries. Rafael Jaimes&rsquo; nephew, the only witness to the attack, was also murdered shortly after. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
ICEM-affiliated USO reported the attack to the Attorney General&rsquo;s office, as well as to national and regional government officials and to the government&rsquo;s ombudsman. USO and the ICEM call on Colombian authorities to investigate this attack as a matter or urgency and to bring those responsible to justice. The union wants assurances from the government, as well as from the state oil company Ecopetrol, that their right to life and right to conduct trade union activities are protected. 
 
Paramilitary groups, such as Cuchillo (Knife) and El Loco Barrera (the Crazy Barrera), intimidate workers and trade unionists in the oil fields without reprimand. Recent public statements by paramilitaries that they receive regular payment from oil companies, has added weight to USO&rsquo;s claim that complicity at many levels is involved in the trade union murder-for-hire racket. 
 
One recently example was the 13 March killing of the teachers&rsquo; union ADIDA activist, Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid, who was gunned down together with his wife a day after speaking to media about armed groups who extort money from teachers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="138" />
Manfred Warda
&ldquo;The ongoing deaths, assassination attempts, and common forms of threats and intimidation by telephone and other means against trade unionists have got to stop,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;If the Colombian government continues not to take action, then it is up to the world community to take sharp measures against the government of Colombia and its denial that violence impedes free, democratic trade unionism.&rdquo;

Assassination Attempt on USO Leaders in Colombia Kills Bodyguard

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
from International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation website 
The ILO is urging the Mexican government to resolve its dispute with the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) and considers the government has acted in a way that is incompatible with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association. 
 
The ILO released on 26 March the interim recommendations of its Committee of Freedom of Association to the Mexican government in response to a complaint on interference in union autonomy lodged by the SNTMMSRM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) in March 2006, ILO Case No. 2478. 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="145" />
The complaint documents how Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the democratically elected general secretary of SNTMMSRM, was forcefully removed from his position after speaking out against the Mexican government and mining company in response to a tragic mine accident in Pasta de Conchos that left 65 miners dead, many of them members of the union. The complaint also documents how the government illegally intervened in independent union activities, forced the dismissal of union leadership, seized union assets, and made government appointments to union elected positions. 
 
In subsequent submissions on Case No. 2478, the union and IMF has also documented ongoing interference and acts of violence by Grupo M&eacute;xico and the Mexican government, including using the national army and federal police to break strikes, kill workers, and arrest union leaders fighting for safer working conditions in Grupo M&eacute;xico-owned mines. 
 
In its recommendations to the ILO Governing Body, the Committee on Freedom of Association states that it &ldquo;considers that the labour authorities engaged in conduct that is incompatible with Article 3 of Convention No. 87, which established the right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom.&rdquo; 
&ldquo;The Committee deplores the excessive length of the judicial procedures relating to various aspects of the case and the grave prejudice that this has caused to the complainant union&rdquo; and &ldquo;urges for a rapid conclusion of the judicial procedures.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="98" height="91" />
The committee requests addition information from the government on several points and in particular on the question of the death of worker Reynaldo Hern&aacute;ndez Gonz&aacute;lez, the use of force by public security forces at the Cananea mine, continuing arrest warrants, freezing of union accounts, threats and acts of violence, including the death and injury of trade unionists. 
 
The Committee calls on all the parties concerned to continue to make efforts within the existing round of negotiations to resolve the collective dispute to which this case results. 
 
A copy of the report is published on the ILO website under Mexico, Freedom of Association Cases, and can be found <a href="http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/newcountryframeE.htm ">here</a>.

ILO Backs Los Mineros, Cites Mexican Government with Convention 87 Interference

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM North American affiliate, Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), continues to win legal victories for 140 Massachusetts workers of Covanta, a private sector waste-to-energy company specializing in public solid-waste contracts that burns the waste for creation of electric energy. 
 
On 26 March, an administrative law judge of the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the company owes the 140 workers nearly US$1 million for withholding wage increases and bonuses in retaliation for staff exercising their lawful right to join the UWUA in May 2008. 
 
The 49-page ruling requires Covanta to repay to workers the money illegally withheld, plus interest, and to bargain with UWUA Local 369 a first collective agreement at a Rochester, Massachusetts, incinerator before it makes any unilateral workplace changes. 
 
The company&rsquo;s illegal conduct caused workers to lose between 8% and 11% of their annual income in 2009. 

<img alt="" src="" width="216" height="160" />
The judge&rsquo;s ruling involves the administrative phase of numerous workplace charges brought by the union against Covanta&rsquo;s unfair labour practices following the NLRB-conducted union authorization vote nearly two years ago. Late in 2009, the labour agency invoked its powers under US labour law to petition a federal court for injunctive relief against Covanta for labour law violations. 
 
The NLRB invokes Section 10(j) of the labour code only rarely, and only when it deems cases are egregious enough to warrant federal court intervention. The injunction petition is currently pending before a federal court in Boston. 
 
Covanta is likely to appeal the administrative law judge&rsquo;s ruling to the five-member NLRB, but the recent ruling should lend credence before the federal court. 
 
We&rsquo;ve &ldquo;long known that Covanta viciously punished these workers because they organized and demanded dignity and a voice in the workplace,&rdquo; said Local 369 President Gary Sullivan. &ldquo;This ruling lets the rest of the world know that, without question, Covanta broke the law and will have to put things right.&rdquo; 
 
The company operates some 40 solid waste facilities in the US. As Covanta has tried to expand its waste-to-energy business into the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Canada, the ICEM has assisted the UWUA to illuminate the American company&rsquo;s work rights violations, as well as health/safety infractions and certain environmental practices before communities and trade unions in those countries. 
 
For more information on the UWUA&rsquo;s Campaign for Justice at Covanta, visit the campaign website <a href="http://www.cjcw.org/ ">here</a>.

UWUA Wins US$1 Million Judgment for Covanta Workers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On the basis of a March 2008 provision mutually agreed to between ICEM and French-based specialty chemicals company Rhodia in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA), a joint Global Safety Forum was created in order to bring higher health and safety standards into the company for its 15,000 worldwide employees. 
 
Having agreed to an addendum to clarify terms and conditions of the global forum, ICEM and Rhodia recently signed and officially established the body. 
 
It will consist of nine members, three appointed from Rhodia Group&rsquo;s general management, two from the ICEM Secretariat, and one Rhodia employee each from the company&rsquo;s four operational zones (Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America), to be selected by the ICEM. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="130" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="99" height="149" />
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Brian Kohler
The ICEM representatives will be Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Rubber and Chemicals Officer, and Brian Kohler, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer. Following consultation with ICEM affiliates in the four regions, the regional representatives include Maurice Tritsch from France, Scott Harrington from the US, Thiago dos Reis Martins from Brazil, and Jie Dong from China. 
 
The addendum defines the role of the Global Safety Forum as a monitor for &ldquo;the safety situation within the Group.&rdquo; The forum is to meet at least once yearly, with each annual meeting to be held at a Rhodia plant chosen by the nine-member committee. With a commitment to a continuous progress approach to health and safety, the forum shall &ldquo;issue observations and recommendations for improvement.&rdquo; 
 
Having realised a first-ever joint activity on health and safety at Rhodia&rsquo;s subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany, on 19 June 2009, the Global Safety Forum will have its first official meeting in the second half of 2010. 
 
View this addendum to the ICEM-Rhodia GFA <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1004.Rhodia.Agreement.pdf">here</a>.

Formal Safety Forum Adopted Inside Rhodia Global Agreement

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Collective negotiations across all of Sweden&rsquo;s work sectors were fractious over the past month, but none as much than between the Paperworkers Union, Svenska Pappers, and Skogsindustrierna, the employers&rsquo; Forest Industry Association (SFIF). Late on Thursday, 1 April, a three-member mediation panel used its option under Swedish industrial relations rules and set back by one week planned job actions that Pappers was to begin today. 
 
The two sides had been making progress in the hours up to and beyond the 31 March midnight expiration of a prior three-year labour agreement that covers 18,000 paperworkers at 62 pulp and paper mills of ten companies. 
 
Pappers announced on 22 March that it would impose a total overtime ban beginning at 18h00 on 5 April, as well as a blockade of temporary and agency workers onto worksites. The one-time option by the mediation panel means such industrial actions cannot begin until 12 April. The union and SFIF are expected to return to the bargaining table either late on 7 April or 8 April. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="145" />
In talks that lasted late into the evening on 1 April, the two sides were closing in on a 22-month contract before the panel called adjournment and postponed the industrial action. On wages, that agreement would look much like what was achieved in other Swedish industrial talks &ndash; 3.2%. 
 
What separates Pappers and SFIF is how the pay accord will affect the lowest-paid workers, meaning a supplement should be in order for those workers, and a reduction provision on the pension scheme. Pappers is insistent that the first part of the pay deal be made with a 2% increase on 1 April, with the remainder to take effect on 1 January 2011. An addendum also is under consideration regarding union consultation on temporary or labour agency work. 
 
If no agreement is reached this week, the overtime ban and blockade of non-regular workers will go ahead for 12 April, with industrial action to escalate to selective strikes after that. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="80" />
On 27 March, ICEM affiliate IF Metall reached agreement with Teknikf&ouml;retagen, the Swedish Engineering Industries Association, covering 160,000 workers. That agreement is for 3.2% over 22 months. A centerpiece of the agreement is that employers must negotiate with IF Metall before employing temporary staff for longer than one month. The union pressed this issue because employers should not be using labour agencies while full-time workers are either on layoff or working shortened work weeks. 
 
Also in accord with employers is the union GS, which signed a 22-month contract covering 35,000 workers in the forestry, wood, and furniture industries. Another part of GS, the graphical workers&rsquo; section, has an agreement expiring later this year.

Job Actions Delayed as Swedish Paperworkers, Employers to Keep Talking

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers' Association (IUF) scored a victory in its ongoing struggle for the rights of workers at Unilever in June, by reaching a settlement with the multinational to permanently employ members of a union Action Committee at the Rahim Yar Khan plant in Pakistan. 
 
Permanent positions were created for workers, who had previously been employed precariously. Unilever dismissed those workers after they protested against status as fixed-term contract workers. 
 
In October 2007, the IUF began a concerted campaign against the mass dismissals, supported by the National Federation of Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan, which was conducted in the country&rsquo;s courtrooms, as well as on streets. The Action Committee was then formed to fight for rights for permanent jobs. 
 
Last month&rsquo;s negotiated settlement was agreed to through mechanisms of the OECD, including applying standards of its Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which require companies to ensure that all its subsidiaries conform to global labour standards, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="158" />
The 120 new positions were created at the Rahim Yar Khan plant as of 24 June 2009. All Action Committee members were appointed to these posts. Under the terms of the agreement, these workers are to suffer no discrimination or victimization, and will be free to organize and bargain collectively. 
 
Implementation of the agreement will be continuously monitored by the IUF and Unilever. 
 
Despite this positive settlement, Unilever continues its policy to employ large numbers of CAL workers. There has been no improvement to the rights of workers at the Lipton tea factory in Khanewal, Pakistan, which was reported <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3015-Support-Needed-for-Contract-Agency-Workers-Forming-Union-at-Unilever-Tea-Factory-in-Pakistan">here</a> by the ICEM in January 2009.&nbsp; 
 
&ldquo;I am encouraged by the news of a just settlement at the Rahim Yar Khan plant,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;This is a step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before we succeed in ending the anti-union employment strategies of Unilever.&rdquo; 
 
The Khanewal factory employs just 22 permanent workers, with another 723 hired through six labour agency companies.

Victory Noted for IUF in Unilever Contract Labour Struggle in Pakistan

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
At ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee in late June, the body acted on a 2007 Congress resolution to develop a mandate for an ICEM policy on sustainable development. That policy was adopted, following a presentation by Sustainability Work Group Chairman Lars Myhre and ICEM&rsquo;s Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler. 
 
The working document can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/EN%20ICEMsustainability090518.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp; It establishes parameters for ICEM positions and &ldquo;a good, balanced, sensible, and intelligent industrial policy&rdquo; to go forward with, in the words of Tony Maher of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia. 
 
The challenge now, according to Executive members, is to bring this balanced industrial plan to senior-level policymakers at UN climate change forums. 

<img alt="" src="" width="305" height="163" />
ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana gave special tribute to long-time Executive members Michel Decayeux of France and Errol McLeod of Trinidad/Tobago
The ICEM policy calls for a new focus and new dialogue between governments, employers, and unions. The policy calls for an energy future that includes cleaner use of fossil fuels (including carbon capture and storage/sequestration), nuclear, and renewable energy sources. The future of energy must consider questions about access to energy and price fairness and stability. 
 
Pulp and paper, chemicals, rubber, and materials sectors all have their particular sustainability challenges, which the ICEM acknowledges. Most importantly, the notion of sustainable jobs must be decent jobs and inherent in those jobs is the recognition and practice of principles of human rights, labour rights, and particularly respect for the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups. 
 
Also during the June Executive meetings, the body endorsed a resolution submitted by the Asia-Pacific Region of the ICEM. That resolution calls on all affiliates of the ICEM to lend support to Thai labour unions. They are battling hostile work environments imposed by multinational companies, including rubber manufacturers Goodyear and Michelin and industrial gases company Linde, to name just a few.

ICEM’s Executive Formally Adopts Sustainability Policy

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The 2009 annual meeting of ICEM&rsquo;s International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Union Network, (INWUN) took place in Geneva 25-26. INWUN covers all nuclear workers and not just those involved in electric power generation, but also unionised workers producing medical or industrial isotopes, and workers involved in the reprocessing and enrichment of uranium and uranium mining. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Joe Drexler gave a presentation on the increased investment taking place in uranium mining, as well as a programme on radiological hazards in uranium that began in May in South Africa. 
 
A number of unions attended the network meeting for the first time, showing an increased interest in nuclear power from many countries as a possible contributor to reduced carbon emissions and a &ldquo;nuclear renaissance&rdquo; that is clearly linked to climate change discussions. 

<img src="" width="363" height="130" alt="" />
Indeed, interest was shown by a number of unions in the work ICEM has done following the appointment of Brian Kohler late last year as Safety, Health, Sustainability Officer, and in preparations for the UN&rsquo;s COP 15 Climate Change Conference, scheduled for December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 
A presentation on the sustainability work of ICEM was made by Lars Myhre, chair of the ICEM Energy Industries Section who has also chaired the ICEM sustainable development discussions. 
 
A detailed presentation by Roland Schneider of TUAC on their work at the OECD in Paris and the work of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the OECD led to discussions on how ICEM and INWUN can link to the work of these agencies. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Energy Officer, Jim Catterson, is in contact with TUAC to take this further. ICEM made a presentation on the present state of the Energy Industries and the future role foreseen for nuclear power. That was followed by an industry viewpoint from an official of the World Nuclear Association. 
 
Next year&rsquo;s INWUN meeting will be held in connection with the ICEM World Energy Conference, planned for the second half of 2010. This will maximise attendance and increase the input of unions from ICEM&rsquo;s energy sector attending the world conference. 
 
Unions present made detailed presentations of their own national situations, and these presentations will shortly be loaded to the Energy Industry section of the ICEM website. INWUN is presided over by David Shier of the Canadian Power Workers&rsquo; Union (PWU).

Nuclear Workers’ Network Holds Annual Meeting in Geneva

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
As part of the cooperation and alliance between ICEM and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) in the oil and gas industry, the two Global Union Federations (GUFs) cooperated in an ILO tripartite sector meeting called &ldquo;Promoting Social Dialogue and Good Industrial Relations from Oil and Gas Exploration and Production to Oil and Gas Distribution.&rdquo; 
 
Lars Myhre, from Norway&rsquo;s Industri-Energi (IE) Union and the ICEM Energy Industries Chairman, was elected chairperson of the Workers&rsquo; Group, while spokesperson Mick Dolman from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) was elected as Workers&rsquo; Group vice chairman. Dolman chaired one of the plenary sessions of the meeting. 
 
ICEM Energy Officer Jim Catterson was elected secretary of the Workers&rsquo;Group. Ingo Marowski of the ITF closely followed all the discussions and worker delegates from both GUFs participated in both the plenary sessions and the working party, which produced tripartite conclusions following extensive negotiations. 

<img src="" width="330" height="186" alt="" />
The Workers&rsquo; Group ensured that as well as a strong focus on trade union rights and the ILO Core Conventions, there was detailed discussion of health and safety issues, especially the adverse long-term health effects of diving on workers. Helicopter safety to and from offshore rigs, given a recent spate of accidents in the Brazil, Canada, and UK, also was a prominent agenda item. 
 
A special solidarity message was sent by the Workers&rsquo; Group to the Offshore Divers&rsquo; Union in Norway, an organisation that includes many IE-organised divers. The organisation is presently engaged in compensation litigation. Other issues debated at length included the situation of contract and sub-contract workers, the respective responsibilities of operators and contract companies, and the specific problems of contract workers in the Mexican oil industry. The latter was a major issue for ITF, which had nominated both a worker delegate and an advisor from their Mexican affiliates. 
 
The agreed conclusions and report of the meeting&rsquo;s deliberations, as well as the detailed background report provided at the meeting are available from the ICEM Secretariat. However, it should be noted that the conclusions and report need to be approved at the next meeting of the ILO Governing Body before becoming official documents. 
 
ICEM has begun discussions with the ILO regarding follow-up work from the meeting.

ILO’s Oil and Gas Meeting Promotes Social Dialogue

Archive