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The ICEM today, 12 September, signed its first Global Framework Agreement in the Materials Sector&mdash;a social responsibility code of behaviour with French-based Lafarge, a building materials manufacturer. The agreement was signed in Paris jointly with the global union federation International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW), and the World Federation of Building and Woodworkers Unions (WFBWU), a Christian labour federation. 
 
The Global Agreement marks ICEM&rsquo;s twelfth such international code of standards contract with a multinational enterprise, and the second that has been jointly signed with another global union federation. 
 
&ldquo;We welcome Lafarge&rsquo;s commitment to uphold high principles of social responsibility in all global operations, whether it&rsquo;s on workers&rsquo; rights, union recognition, environment, health and safety, or other recognised international work standards,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
IFBWW General Secretary Anita Normark also welcomed the commitment of Lafarge to apply international labour standards at all worksites worldwide. &ldquo;The value added of the agreement with Lafarge must be seen, that the three federations have a global network of trade unions which are able to monitor the agreement,&rdquo; said Normark. 
 
&ldquo;Lafarge is convinced that there can be no sustainable economic success without progress in the fields of social responsibility and environmental protection,&rdquo; said Christian Herrault, the company&rsquo;s Executive Vice President for Human Resources and Organisation. &ldquo;Consequently, this broader vision which goes beyond economic factors to embrace human, labour and environmental aspects has been built into our programmes underpinning performance and managerial processes.&rdquo; 
 
Herrault added that Lafarge &ldquo;has consistently valued the central role played by its workforce within the company and signature of this agreement represents a further step forward in our ongoing dialogue with staff.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement cites the International Labour Organization&rsquo;s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO&rsquo;s Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development&rsquo;s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
The agreement states in its preamble: &ldquo;Lafarge considers respect for workers&rsquo; rights to be a crucial element in sustainable development&rdquo; and the 172-year-old company &ldquo;will seek to use the services of those trading partners, subcontractors and suppliers, which recognise and implement principles&rdquo; contained in the Global Agreement. 
 
Those principals include: 
&bull; No forced labour; 
&bull; No discrimination in employment; 
&bull; No use of child labour; 
&bull; Freedom of association and right of workers to collective bargaining; 
&bull; Living wages paid at least at the level of national legislation or collective agreements, as applied in the industry/sector concerned; 
&bull; Working hours comply with relevant national legislation, national agreements and industry/sector standards; 
&bull; Safe and healthy work environment in accordance with ILO Convention 156 and ILO Guidelines for Occupational Health Management Systems; and 
&bull; Development of Skills Training for all workers in cooperation with trade unions. 
 
The Lafarge Global Agreement establishes a review process group composed of representatives from company management and the signatory trade union federations that will meet at least annually for review and implementation of the principles in all Lafarge worksites. 
 
Lafarge employs 77,000 workers in 75 countries. The company is the worldwide leader in building materials; number two producer of aggregates and concrete; and the world&rsquo;s number three producer of gypsum. 
 
The ICEM has 420 affiliated trade unions in 125 countries, encompassing 20 million workers. The IFWBB has 10.5 million members in 281 trade unions, also in 125 countries. The WFBWU represents 1.5 million workers affiliated to 55 Christian unions in 41 countries.

ICEM Signs Global Agreement with French-based Lafarge

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Spanish affiliate FITEQA-CCOO conducted a meeting 24-26 October in Brazil of workers employed for Repsol YPF, the world&rsquo;s tenth largest private oil company headquartered in Spain. 
The meeting, coordinated by FITEQA-CCOO&rsquo;s Isidor Boix and Helio Seidel of FUP Brazil, served as a start for making concrete improvements for workers of Repsol in Latin America. A second such meeting will be held next year in Argentina, the country with the second highest number of Repsol employees after Spain. 
The conclusions of the meeting can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0511conclusionesBrazil.pdf">here</a> (in Spanish and Portuguese only).

Spanish Union Aids Repsol Networking in South America

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Croatian ICEM affiliate Autonomous Trade Union in Power Industry, Chemistry and Non-Metal Industry (EKN) has a merger agreement in place with another powerful union in the Balkan country. 
On 19 October, EKN&rsquo;s Main Committee and the committee of the Metalworkers&rsquo; Trade Union of Croatia (SMH) signed a declaration of intent to merge to create the Confederation of the Trade Union of Metal and Chemical Industries.
The two unions will hold concurrent congresses in 2006 to formalize the merger, and a two-year process is proposed to coordinate the merger of affiliated unions into the new trade union, which will be independent and free from political party association.

ICEM Affiliate in Croatia to Merge with Metalworkers Union

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The ICEM has issued an urgent Circular to all affiliates for solidarity action on behalf of a branch of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada concerning a five-month strike at a plant of Invista, a global chemicals company owned by US-based Koch Industries.
The Circular can be found at <a href="/?id=155&amp;doc=1464">/?id=155&amp;doc=1464</a>&nbsp;and will be available in all statutory languages by clicking the respective language at the top-left of the homepage. ICEM has provided two model letters, one to the CEP local union as a sign of support, the other a protest letter to management in the US.

Urgent Action Needed in Support of Striking Canadian Union

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Belgian affiliate FGTB-ABVV was joined by two other trade unions 28 October in a second general strike against government plans to raise the nation&rsquo;s voluntary early retirement age from 58 to 60. 
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The center-left governing coalition led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has conceded to several demands put forward by FGTB-ABVV over end of career issues and adequate funding of social security. But the age for early retirement is still outstanding. 
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A 7 October strike that did not include formal endorsement of Christian union CSC-ACV and the Liberals CGSLB-ACLVB paralyzed the nation of ten million, and the two unions decided to join FGTB-ABVV in the 28 October action.

Second Belgian General Strike Aimed at Retaining Early Retirement

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In ten days, the world will remember the tenth anniversary of the hanging of Nigerian human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by that country&rsquo;s then military dictatorship. 
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Ken Wiwa, son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and Anita Roddick, environmental campaigner and head of Bodyshop Company 
(photo: Sion Touhig)
On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa, a writer, environmentalist and leader of the Ogoni people of Nigeria&rsquo;s delta who sought to free his people from the bonds of Shell Oil, was sent to the gallows along with eight other activists. He stood for the reality&mdash;current today as it was then&mdash;that social and environmental justice and the rights of citizens residing in oil producing regions must be protected in a world dominated by oil politics. 
One of several memorials to Saro-Wiwa will be erected in the UK at Jubilee Gardens, which lies across the road from Shell&rsquo;s London headquarters.

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

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ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products&mdash;Refineries and Chemical Industry in Greece is engaged in a dispute with Chevron over the company&rsquo;s restructuring measures. 
On 12-13 October, 78 clerical and technical staff of Chevron&rsquo;s Lubricants Division involved in transport and storage operations struck over the company&rsquo;s disregard of terms in the national Collective Agreement for petroleum products and liquid gases. 
Despite social dialogue and consultation that did not reach mutual accord, Chevron has unilaterally imposed job cuts in certain departments and has said there could be further retrenchments to meet company-set competitiveness goals. 
The ICEM has intervened in the dispute with US-based Chevron.

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

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FNV Bondgenoten, an ICEM affiliate, and Christian union CNV Chemie will strike Shell Nederland this week after the company on 28 October refused to withdraw a demand over changes in energy workers&rsquo; pension scheme. 
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Workers are to meet on 31 October at an oil refinery in Pernis and a chemical facility in Moerdijk to finalize strike plans, and Shell workers at other locations are expected also to commence strikes. Shell has proposed to the Central Works Council and to the unions that the pension age be raised from 60 to 65, with all Shell workers paying contributions on future pension premiums. Currently, Shell employees earning &euro;60,000 or less annually are exempt for payments toward early retirement. 
The unions contend Shell itself must maximize premium payments to ensure adequate pensions for workers choosing to retire early. Workers at NAM Nederland BV in Groningen, the joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil that is Europe&rsquo;s largest onshore gas field, also fall under the Shell pension scheme and also are considering a strike.

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

ICEM-JAF Conducts Informative 30th Anniversary Congress 
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The Japanese Affiliates Federation of ICEM (ICEM-JAF) conducted its 30th Anniversary Congress on 28 October in Tokyo and together with ICEM trade union affiliates from 14 other Asia-Pacific nations, held an action-oriented seminar the day prior on the growing menace of HIV/AIDS in the region. 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
Both ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator Hans Schwass presented ICEM&rsquo;s ongoing work on the pandemic to the assembled trade union leaders, who vowed to strengthen the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s work on the issue both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific Region. The union leaders will organise a broad and high-developed workshop in HIV/AIDS in 2006 in the Asia-Pacific Region. 
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The 27 October seminar also focused on REACH, the European Union&rsquo;s proposed directive on the regulation of chemicals. On REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals), delegates discussed an international response to the directive, focusing on the effect REACH will have on Asia-Pacific&rsquo;s chemicals industry. At the European level, ICEM&rsquo;s sister trade union federation EMCEF is coordinating trade union responses there on the directive and with ICEM, has briefed trade unions globally on REACH developments. 
 
&ldquo;Asia-Pacific is unique in ICEM terms because it is a region with modern and developed economies with strong and vibrant trade unions, as well as one with developing economies and newly organised trade unions,&rdquo; stated Higgs. 
 
&ldquo;Historically, ICEM-JAF has engaged with us on global projects, and the 30th Anniversary commemoration today reflects a renewed commitment of continued assistance to the ICEM for coordination with all our trade union affiliates across the region,&rdquo; Higgs added. 
 
Kiyoshi Ochiai chairs ICEM-JAF, and Toshio Sato is general secretary. 
 
Founded in the mid-1970s, ICEM-JAF encompasses nine Japanese unions, representing a total of one million workers. ICEM, based in Brussels, Belgium, represents 20 million workers that are affiliated to 389 industrial unions in 122 countries.

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

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The first issue of ICEM&rsquo;s e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS was published in early October and can be found on the GUF&rsquo;s website, <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>. 
The e-bulletin will be a regular monthly feature to ICEM&rsquo;s information strategy on the pandemic, and gives useful links to materials and websites for union activists who desire to deepen their knowledge on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ICEM&#039;s HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

Archive

ICEM Signs Global Agreement with French-based Lafarge

Spanish Union Aids Repsol Networking in South America

ICEM Affiliate in Croatia to Merge with Metalworkers Union

Urgent Action Needed in Support of Striking Canadian Union

Second Belgian General Strike Aimed at Retaining Early Retirement

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

ICEM's HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

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