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The Joint Offshore Task Force of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), in cooperation with the ICEM, met in London on 25-26 March and deliberated on many issues related to the oil and gas industry, including the recent spate of helicopter crashes in the offshore sector. 
 
Representatives from the UK, Norway, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Russia, and Australia attended, and the work saw a plenary session break into work groups for detailed discussions on drilling, diving, maritime issues, well services, and catering. The central focus in all groups was safety, with ICEM Energy Chairman Lars Myhre of Norway’s Industri-Energi (IE) emphatically stating the situation regarding offshore transport is nearing a crisis. 
<img height="109" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904.onShore.offShore.jpg" width="260"/>
Myhre said a recent decision by servicing companies to reduce the number of pilots by 30% can only worsen the critical situation in offshore work, increasing both the hours and fatigue of remaining pilots. The ICEM/ITF meetings came following two major helicopter crashes, one killing 17 Canadian oil workers on 12 March, and a helicopter ditch on 18 February in the North Sea, in which 18 workers were miraculously rescued. 
 
(On 1 April, 16 North Sea workers died when a Super Puma L2 helicopter operated by Bond Offshore Helicopters of Aberdeen, Scotland, went down in the North Sea. That has caused other North Sea oil workers, as well as members of ICEM affiliated Brazilian Oil Workers’ Federation, FUP, at Petrobras to boycott the carriers made by the manufacturer Eurocopter.) 
 
The ICEM/ITF Task Force meeting sent condolences to the Canadian union, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP), while Myhre’s details on flight safety resulted in a unanimous resolution adopted by attendees. 
 
Other business included a report by Australian trade unionist Mick Dolman on organizing cooperation between the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) in offshore work in Asia-Pacific areas; the background and work of both the ICEM and ITF in Iraq; and discussions related to an upcoming ILO meeting. 
 
The ITF’s Offshore Task Force Chairman, Norrie McVicar, called the two-day event “a groundbreaking meeting, which identified the need to examine and work on all aspects, good and bad, of workers’ experiences in the offshore field, from health and safety to wages and conditions.”

ICEM/ITF Oil Workers’ Task Force Takes Up Safety Issues at London Meeting

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Pencho Torkmachiev, President of the Federation Independent Union of Miners of Bulgaria (FIUM), opened a day-long celebration on 31 March of the 100-year anniversary of the founding of Bulgaria’s oldest and largest mining union in Pernik, the industrial city where the trade union movement and FIUM were born. As in many other countries, the miners’ union became the leading force in the trade union movement and survived numerous cataclysmic changes including two world wars and the advent and fall of communism. 
 
The importance of the FIUM was demonstrated in the final event of the day when Georgi Parvanov, the president of Bulgaria, spoke to the audience, which included several government ministers. President Parvanov spoke about how the FIUM shaped his life, having grown up in Pernik. 

<img height="112" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904.parvanov.bulgaria.jpg" width="86"/>
President Parvanov
Joe Drexler, ICEM’s director of industry and corporate affairs, spoke in the final event on the economic crisis sweeping the world and how mining trade unions are addressing the crisis. He also spoke on the importance of Bulgaria moving to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. In private conversations, the FIUM expressed confidence that Bulgaria will make a major step toward ratification in 2009. 
 
There are few places in the world that would rival Pernik in terms of its celebration of miners. Monuments and sculptures to miners dominate the city center along with a mining museum that includes an underground coal mine. Those attending the event were given a tour of the underground mine which showed how technology has changed the nature of mining 
 
FIUM President Torkmachiev along with Vice Presidents Alexander Kanev and Valentin Valchev, expressed their appreciation to the ICEM for its continuing support to the trade union. The FIUM has approximately 11,000 members engaged in coal, metal, and industrial materials mining.

Bulgarian Miners’ Union Celebrates 100 year Anniversary with President of Bulgaria

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In September 2007, ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly signed a Global Framework Agreement with Belgian-based Umicore, a chemicals, metals technology, and catalysts systems company. In line with a relevant article of the agreement calling for the parties to have an annual mission to a Umicore worksite to monitor compliance, a visit to a plant in Shanghai, China, producing cobalt and zinc powders for battery application was made from 16-20 March. 
 
The ICEM was represented by Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan, while IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi, IMF Director of Education, Health and Safety Magnus Palmgren, and Jef Peeters, chairman of Umicore’s European Works Council also were along. The company was represented by Ursula Saint Léger, Senior Vice-President of Human Resources. 

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Umicore’s corporate officials presented the topics covered in the global agreement related to social objectives, human rights, working conditions, and environmental issues. Both Global Union Federations explained their activities regarding multinational companies, and Peeters provided information on the structure of the company’s European section. The union side commented on the reports given and put forward expectations for the future. 
 
The delegation then visited the company's subsidiary in Shanghai, called Shanghai Blue Lotus. Employing 88 workers – 71 men and 17 women – the plant does have trade union representation. ICEM and IMF had the opportunity to meet Lu Yaozhong, chairman of the branch union at Shanghai Blue Lotus, and discussed working conditions and trade union rights. 
 
Commented Özkan on the visit, "This first joint activity has created hopeful expectations for the future. In view of the importance of international industrial relations, the global agreement between ICEM/IMF and Umicore will continue to serve to improve working conditions of the company worldwide."

ICEM, IMF Join Umicore on a Joint Mission to Shanghai, China, Plant

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A strike by 190 Turkish paperworkers, members of ICEM affiliate Tümka-İş, against Procter & Gamble ended on 30 March. The end came when workers voted in front of the plant gates in Gebze, Turkey, for a two-year agreement. 
The negotiated agreement is a significant improvement over the American company’s proposed wage freeze in the first year of the agreement. Workers will receive a 3.9% increase, an improvement over the 2% offer made by Procter & Gamble 11 days into the strike. In addition, all workers will receive a lump-sum TL 1,250 payment upon returning to work. 
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The second year’s wage increase, to come on 1 September 2009, will equal the rate of Turkish inflation. The company’s offer in early March was two-thirds the inflation rate. Tümka-İş retained all work rights already in the collective agreement, and won increases in certain compensations, including night-shift premium pay. 
 
Tümka-İş General President Kemal Yilmaz thanked the ICEM and the many pulp and paper unions throughout the world which supported workers during the strike. “For success to come in a struggle against a giant multinational company such as P&G, international solidarity is a necessity,” said Yilmaz. “When it is coupled with the decisiveness of workers on the front lines, success can come easily.” 
Procter & Gamble manufactures paper towels, tissue, and hygiene products, including nappies, at the Gebze plant outside of Istanbul.

Turkish Paperworkers at Procter & Gamble End 37-Day Strike

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The UK’s National Union of Mineworkers and Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) largely financed the Second International Coal Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, last month. The others on the preparatory committee were the ICEM, CITU and INMF of India, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa, and FNME-CGT of France. The ICEM raised US$7,000 from the ILO to ensure attendance of delegates from Colombia, Mexico, Vietnam, and Mongolia. In total, 120 delegates from 20 coal-mining unions in17 countries attended. 

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The declaration of the conference included two items put forward by the ICEM. One related to the situation with Mexico’s National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, and the other with the urgency for countries to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. 
 
Delegates were appalled by trade union rights abuses reported by Mexican representatives present, especially compliance of the Mexican government with such abuses. The delegates declared their full support of Los Mineros, as well as ICEM-affiliated Sintracarbón of Colombia. 
 
“We pledge to provide as much political, financial, and moral support as are within the means of our national unions and call on our internationals to similarly focus on supporting these struggles,” read the declaration. Unions pledged to send a delegation of trade unionists and members of parliament to Mexico within 90 days of the Edinburgh meeting to protest the efforts of Grupo Mexíco and the Mexican government to destroy Los Mineros. 
 
All those present at the conference demanded the ratification of ILO Convention 176, by all member states of the United Nations. Also demanded was a dramatically increased focus on ratification by the ILO itself, including the adoption of Convention 176 as a core convention, and focusing on its ratification in countries where there are the most deaths and injuries at work. India, for example, has yet to ratify the Convention. 
 
Andrew Vickers of CFMEU presented a paper to the conference on the effects of the financial crisis on the coal sector worldwide, pointing the blame for millions of job losses to greed and deregulation of bankers. He noted that demand for coal will be reduced in developed countries, but greatly increased in developing nations. China, Vietnam, and India plan massive expansion in their capacity to produce coal. Vickers called for collective worldwide efforts to protect the interests of coal miners. 
 
The declaration found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904.mining.pdf" type="internal">here</a>, was passed unanimously amid enthusiasm of the delegates.

Second International Coal Conference held in Scotland

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ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarbón in Colombia is calling for international solidarity for the outsourced workers of transport contractor SOTRANS. Those workers are being subjected to a fierce campaign, in response to their attempts to exercise their right to organise and bargain collectively. The new trade union SINTRANS, faces a difficult challenge, as all SOTRANS workers are contracted on a fixed term, six-month basis. Colombia has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98. 
 
The fact that all SOTRANS workers are limited to six month contracts, enabled the contractor to end the employment of union leaders Vicente Pomarico and Jorge Diaz, ignoring their protections as founders and leaders of the workers’ organisation and members of the bargaining committee. The company have since continued their strategy of persecution and harassment of the union, making 33 more workers, involved in the union, unemployed. Eighty per cent of the SOTRANS workers are still reported to be organised. The management of Cerrejón and the Ministry of Social Protection have voiced no objection at all to this blatant violation to the right to organise. 

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SINTRANS is the first union of subcontractors at Cerrejón. Sintracarbón, with full ICEM support, seeks to set a precedent of SINTRANS at the site, an example for workers at other subcontracting firms there. There are around 300 contractor companies at the site in La Guajira, conducting much of the operation’s work. The union continues to organise meetings and demonstrations at the world’s richest coal reserve. There is no sign of the union backing down. 
 
As reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3290-Sintracarbón-Seeks-Unionisation-for-Subcontractor-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia" type="internal">InBrief</a>, SINTRANS are pushing for two priorities, firstly full-time permanent employment contracts, and secondly wages and social benefits that are, at least, in line with the national minimum standards. They are currently paid US$250 a month. Subcontractors at Carbones del Cerrejón, the world’s largest open-pit coal mines, are often described as working in “slave labour” conditions. It is the responsibility of Carbones del Cerrejón management to block SOTRANS’ campaign of harassment and union-busting at their site. 

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Carlos Gaviria
Colombian politician Carlos Gaviria Díaz, president of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), has stepped in on the side of subcontractors, “the realization of these rights is an indicator of the vitality of a democracy and the rule of law". Gaviria does not accept the claims from Carbones del Cerrejón, that these rights violations are not their responsibility due to the “independence” of contractor firms. "Outsourcing can not be a dodge to evade responsibilities and violate workers' rights," he added. 
 
Senator Jorge Robledo has also weighed in supporting the victimised SINTRANS workers, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 33 union members sacked by the contractor. Robledo has also denounced the complicity of the Cerrejón management. 
 
In unrelated news in Colombia, new ICEM affiliate Union Sindical Obrera (USO) are facing intimidation during their collective negotiations with petroleum company Ecopetrol. Thursday 17 July saw riot police attack workers at the Barrancabermeja refinery with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun bombs. Workers flocked to listen to union leaders at the refinery front door, but were attacked by the security forces, leaving 3 injured workers and arresting 2 more. The attack occurred two days after the start of the negotiations; USO suspended the meeting to focus on treating the injured and securing the release of detainees. 

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USO President Germán Osman condemned the attack. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia.

Temporary Workers in Colombia Attacked for Attempting to Organise

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The human rights group Amnesty International said last week at the time of the illegitimate inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran has experienced an “alarming spike” in the number of executions since the disputed 12 June election. 
 
“In just over 50 days, we recorded no less than 115 executions,” said the London-based watchdog group in a statement. “That is an average of more than two each day.” 
 
In comparison, Amnesty said that between 1 January 2009 and the election day, Iran carried out 196 executions. “This represents a significant increase, even compared to the appallingly high rate of executions that has been so long a feature of the human rights scene in Iran,” Commented Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Kahn. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EI.jpg" width="70" height="70"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITF.jpg" width="70" height="70"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IUF.jpg" width="70" height="70"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITUC100.jpg" width="70" height="67"/>
Amnesty International joined Education International (EI), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF), and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on 26 June in drawing a global focus on the plight of trade unionists who have been jailed and falsely charged and convicted for trade union activities. Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi of the Syndicate of Workers’ of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, Farzad Kamangar of the Irainian Teachers’ Trade Association, and a group of five activists of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Workers’ Union continue to be persecuted and imprisoned for exercising their basic human rights.

Amnesty International Cites Execution Spike in Iran to June Elections

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The strike by Bridgestone workers at an aircraft tyre retreading plant in Frameries, Belgium, has ended after nine weeks of continuous striking. 
 
After the failure of conciliatory negotiations at the national level, a draft agreement at the local level was finally agreed. Workers ratified the agreement by 57% to 42% on 7 August. 
 
The agreement accepts the closure of the plant, but with a number of conditions. Those conditions include payment of compensation to workers in lieu of plant-closing notice, plus compensation based on seniority. Also, placement of each worker into another job in a different company near the worker’s home also was a condition. 

<img height="171" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.bridgestone.strike.jpg" width="250"/>
A bonus pay-out with an advance of €500 was agreed to, as well, to compensate for the loss of job security. The bonus also covers early retirement options. The eight temporary workers were given permanent contracts, this qualifying them for the benefits, and Bridgestone has lifted all sanctions or punishment related to the strike. 
<img height="183" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0905.rubber.conf.jpg" width="276"/>
The strike by all 140 workers, led by ICEM Belgian affiliate FGTB Centrale Générale, started on 11 June over eight job cuts. 
 
The Centrale Générale-FGTB is proud of its victory, standing up to a huge multinational, with courageous rubber workers earning the respect of many. The achievements were not the goals that the union had set out for, but they are notable. 
 
The FGTB issued a message of thanks to all those who expressed their solidarity during the struggle.

Bridgestone Strike at Belgian Airplane Tyre Factory Ends

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Eight years after the murders of two trade unionist leaders, Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya, the Colombian judiciary has handed down the first convictions for their killers. 
 
The two leaders of Sintramienergica worked for the American mining multinational, Drummond. Jairo Charris Jesus, a member of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the murders. 
 
Locarno and Orcasita, president and vice president of Sintramienergetica, were killed on 12 March 2001, when they left the mine at the end of a working day. The bus in which they were travelling was intercepted by an armed group of the Northern Bloc of the AUC, in the village of Casa de Zinc, in El Paso province. 

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Victor Orcasita
Locarno was murdered there, while Orcasita was taken by the paramilitaries in a van, and found dead in a rural area the following day. Locarno’s replacement in the union’s leadership was Gustavo Soler Mora, who was murdered seven months after replacing Locarno. 
 
Charris was employed as “security coordinator” at the time of the killings for the contracting firm Industrial Food Services (ISA), a company that provided food to the mining camps of Drummond in Cesar department. Charris was found by the court to have given the order for the union leaders to be killed. 
 
Jairo de Jesus Charris sent written correspondence to the court, during his case, explaining that the murders had been planned with Colombian and American company executives. 

<img height="181" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.drummond.orcasito.2.png" width="205"/>
Orcasita right, with other Sintramienergetica miners
Earlier this year Tolemaida Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, the Commander of the Bloque Norte, was extradited to the US for his part in the killings. 
 
Drummond has denied all links to paramilitary organisations, and all allegations of complicity in the killings. On 26 July 2007, a US federal district court in Alabama acquitted Drummond of any responsibility in a case brought under the US’s Alien Tort Claims Act. A US appellate court later upheld the acquittal, despite the fact that witnesses from Colombia were not allowed to testify in the US federal court case. 
 
However, in May 2009, an attorney for Colombian plaintiffs – the families of Locarno and Orcasita – filed another US lawsuit against Drummond, accusing the company of paying paramilitaries to murder union and community leaders, as well as paying paramilitaries to protect the transport of coal by rail from Drummond’s minds to the port of Cesar Ciénaga.

Murderer Convicted of Killing Colombian Drummond Trade Unionists

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A dispute between South Africa pulp and paper manufacturer Sappi and affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) at the company’s Enstra mill there was resolved early in August. 
 
The dispute, which had garnered ICEM attention, was over the company’s intent to severely discipline and even discharge 19 shop stewards and 24 other workers for engaging in safety strikes late in April and early May. The issue was covered by the ICEM and an earlier report can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3285-ICEM-" type="internal">here</a>.  
 
In a negotiated resolve to the issue, Sappi and CEPPWAWU arrived at a four-page memorandum that was signed on 5 August. There were no dismissals, and the union admitted that its shop-floor leaders had engaged in unprotected strikes. Instead, affected shop stewards and others were given relatively short, unpaid suspensions. And “final written warning” letters will stay in effect for only one year. 

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The ICEM congratulates both parties for using dialogue to resolve what had been a deeply contentious issue. We believe that the agreement is a sign that healing inside the Enstra pulp and paper might begin, as well as a new era in labour-management relations. As part of the memorandum, CEPPWAWU must write a letter to all Enstra workers condemning the illegal strikes. Sappi waives its claims on asset damages stemming from the unprotected industrial actions. 
 
Twenty-three workers received one-week suspensions and returned to work on 18 August 18. Fourteen shop stewards received a 2-week suspension and will return to their jobs this week. Five other shop stewards, plus one other worker, are suspended for one month and will return on 11 September. 
 
Many ICEM affiliates, health and safety activists worldwide, and scores of others issued protests at Sappi and gave the dispute a global voice over health and safety concerns. These protests, CEPPWAWU feels, played the major role in lessening the penalties for what were a series of three illegal strikes. The South African affiliate, as well as the ICEM, conveys sincere gratitude to those who voiced their concerns from every corner of the world.

CEPPWAWU, Sappi in South Africa Resolve Shop-Steward Disciplinary Measures

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