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ICEM affiliate Industri Energi (IE) successfully negotiated salary increases for its members at Statoil&rsquo;s offshore Gullfaks B and Gullfaks C fields, and at Shell's Draugen field, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Talks between union officials and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, mediated by Nils Dalseide of Norway&rsquo;s National Arbitration Tribunal, reached agreement that avoided strike action after extending a midnight deadline and concluded in the early hours of Thursday 17 June. 
 
&quot;No strike,&quot; reported Industri Energi Spokesman Arild Theimann, swiftly following conclusion to the talks which had begun 2 days prior. Workers ready to down tools if talks failed included employees of Halliburton, Geoservices, Baker Hughes and Oceaneering. 

<img src="" width="136" height="148" alt="" />
Industri Energi President&nbsp;Leif Sande
&quot;We feel relieved that we could avoid a strike in the oil sector,&quot; President of Industri Energi Leif Sande stated. &quot;We did not get everything, but we got a good wage increase and better compensation. We were very satisfied with this.&quot; 
 
The new Norwegian Shelf Agreement sees a Nkr 10,000 (US$1573) annual increase in general wages for some 6700 workers involved in operating, drilling and catering on the Shelf, on top of Nkr 4700 from a previous pay deal. 
 
In addition, shift, conference and holiday supplement will be increased. The negotiations also involved discussions on shift rotation policy for near permanent workers. 

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Jointly, the Gullfaks and Draugen fields produce around 270,000 barrels of oil per day, of Norway's daily exports of 1.87 million barrels. 
 
Mature traditions of industrial relations in the sector in Norway permit constructive dialogue and problems to be resolved. 
 
The oil and gas industry is vital to the Norwegian economy, accounting for a third of tax revenues and a quarter of GDP. The dispute was closely followed elsewhere in Europe, with many countries such as the United Kingdom, heavily dependent on Norwegian gas.

Strike Avoided, Salary Increases for Norway’s Oilworkers

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In an attempt to find common ground in a seven-month dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers&rsquo; Union (GB&amp;GWU) and RusAl&rsquo;s Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI), the ICEM met in Geneva with the country&rsquo;s Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister, Mansoor Nadir. 
 
The meeting occurred on 15 June and included Jerry Goolsarran, the representative for the Guyanese employers&rsquo; association, who sits on the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, and Lydia Greene, an assistant in the Labour Ministry. 
 
Discussion during the meeting reviewed the deep divisions resulting from a November 2009 strike by GB&amp;GWU and the subsequent unilateral, and what the ICEM believes is illegal de-authorization by BCGI of the union at the 500-worker mine in central Guyana. The government owns 10% of the bauxite operations. 

<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="191" />
Left to Right: Labour Minister Nadir, Manfred Warda, Employers' Representative Goolsarran
Labour Minister Nadir gave the ICEM a thick dossier of events leading into and beyond the strike, and he pledged to facilitate a meeting between the union and management of the company in order to begin necessary dialogue. The ICEM believes that management of the Russian-based aluminum company has a legal responsibility to meet with leaders of the GB&amp;GWU, and also feels it is the duty of the Labour Ministry to arrange such a meeting. 
 
Responding to the entrenched positions of both labour and management in a follow-up letter to the labour minister, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;The hard work of engagement through tripartite voluntary dialogue must now commence, and we were happy to hear of your willingness to facilitate this dialogue between GB&amp;GWU and BCGI. Therefore, as you agreed to in our 15 June meeting, we call on you to immediately call both parties together to start open and honest talks.&rdquo; (The full letter can be seen <a href="/index.php?id=26&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3886">here</a>.) 
 
In the letter, the ICEM also expressed displeasure over the company&rsquo;s undue coercion and harassment tactics in obtaining signatures by miners following the strike to decertify the GB&amp;GWU. If a de-authorisation ballot is to go before workers by the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, the ICEM is insistent that the government uphold its own law, and global labour standards, ensuring that management of BCGI not interfere in workers&rsquo; free choice for or against union representation. 
 
The ICEM has also offered to be part of dialogue in Guyana to assist in resolving the dispute.

ICEM, Guyana Labour Minister Meet to Air Concerns in Bauxite Mine Dispute

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ICEM&rsquo;s global level company networks now include a new one: Akzo Nobel. Over 20 trade unionists from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil decided to form a global network among the unions organising the Dutch-based chemicals company. 
 
The formation meeting which was held on 31 May-1 June 2010 in Amsterdam, upon invitation of ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch affiliate FNV-Bondgenoten. The host union considers international networking within multinational companies as a priority, and as a result, the union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries. 
The meeting was opened by Henk Van der Kolk, President of FNV-Bondgenoten. 
 
&ldquo;Organizing labour across borders is difficult and therefore much slower than transferring capital all over the world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We all know that. And I wish you fruitful discussions about how we can cooperate in organizing and empowering workers at Akzo Nobel plants all over the world to strengthen our unions.&rdquo; 

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President of FNV-Bondgenoten, Henk Van der Kolk
After the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, on the global chemicals industry and Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s global picture, trade unionists gave country-based reports on labour relations in their respective countries. 
Ron Vos, FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s National Officer for Akzo Nobel, explained the situation in the company&rsquo;s homeland, the Netherlands, and he defined employment, pensions, wages, a flexible workforce and use of temporary workers, the health of an aging workforce, and sharing results with the company on a major trade union agenda. 
 
Sergio Carasso from Brazil reported national and regional level networking activities within Akzo Nobel and the former British company, ICI, now absorbed by the Dutch company. According to his report, the first network of Akzo Nobel workers in Brazil was formed in 2002, and yearly meetings began at national level. 
 
The range of this national network was later extended to Argentina and Mexico. The network conducted a research for making a comparison between different workplaces on various items. A strategy on communications was also developed through bulletins and a web- blog. 
 
Helmizan Sakrani from Indonesia reported on union activities at an Akzo Nobel plant located Cimanggis-Depok. He reported that his plant has 280 permanent employees and 167 of them are union members. Founded in 1983, the union has good relations with the company through plant level social dialogue with some positive result. 

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Erhan Kaplan and Hokan Ko&ccedil;ak from Petrol-Iş of Turkey reported their union&rsquo;s organizing activities in general and at unorganized Akzo Nobel plants. They reported a constructive cooperation and solidarity with the Dutch union on doing so. 
 
The situation and activities of the company&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC) were also discussed by Belgian, Dutch, and German participants. It was agreed to handle the problems and challenges in this context. The meeting also communicated with union representatives from Akzo Nobel in the US, from ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) via teleconference. 
 
Following the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan on ICEM&rsquo;s activities of networking, it was unanimously decided to form a global network of Akzo Nobel unions. In this, FNV Bondgenoten takes the lead for coordination of the network. It was also decided to develop an effective communications system among the participating unions, with an aim to enlarge it to non-participating organizations. 
 
&ldquo;After the successful organizing of this network, our intention is to develop a dialogue and an interaction with the company, hopefully with the goal to ultimately reach a Global Framework Agreement with Akzo Nobel, &ldquo;said &Ouml;zkan, who used the company&rsquo;s motto regarding this: &ldquo;Today, we find answers of tomorrow.&rdquo;

ICEM Affiliates Move to Form an Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network

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A first-ever, tri-nation forum to unite trade unions struggling for democratic autonomy in Mexico with US and Canadian unions was held in Toronto, Canada, on 20 June. Some 120 trade unionists, NGO representatives, and Canadian civil society activists gathered for the one-day &ldquo;Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico&rdquo; conference. 
 
As Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada said, the meeting brought together trade union leaders from Mexico who never would be allowed to similarly gather inside Mexico. Those leaders included Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the exiled President of the National Union of Mine, Metalworkers&rsquo;, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM), Mart&iacute;n Esparza Flores of the Mexican Union of Electrical Workers (SME), Francisco Hern&aacute;ndez Ju&aacute;rez of the Mexican Telephone Workers&rsquo; Union (Telefonistas), and others mentioned below. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="200" />
Los Mineros General Secretary, Napole&oacute;n Gomez
The conference consisted of presentations by two Mexican-based labour attorneys, who told of the legal and political institutional obstacles to a free and democratic trade union movement in Mexico, and it also detailed the dreaded but common protection contracts, which inhibit true trade union rights. 
 
A central focus throughout the conference was the continuing harmful effects of the now 16-year-old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the US. 

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Ben Davis, US Solidarity Center
Ben Davis of the US Solidarity Center did provide several inspiring examples on how SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, continues to organize workers despite overt suppression by the Mexican government. He also outlined work done at the US federal level to press the Obama administration to take a stronger stance against Mexican trade union repression. And on the global level, Davis told of work being done at the ILO over protection contracts, as well as institutional shareholder pressure against Grupo M&eacute;xico, the major corporate protagonist of Los Mineros. 
 
Jorge Robles of the Mexican Authentic Workers&rsquo; Front (FAT) addressed inherent deficiencies in current labour law reform inside Mexico, while Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General of the National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTGTM), spoke on the harmful effects of the free trade agreement. 

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Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General SNTGTM
Espinosa said NAFTA has been &ldquo;evil for Mexico&rdquo; since previous good wages and benefits have eroded. He said in both the tyre industry and auto-parts industry, &ldquo;year-to-year, employers are taking contractual rights away.&rdquo; 
 
Espinosa was fired in 2003 for impeding General Tire&rsquo;s agenda during collective negotiations, but remained a union activist for the three years he was off the job. In 2006, he was reinstated as a maintenance mechanic and in 2008, was elected Secretary-General of SNTGTM. 
 
At the conference conclusion, delegates shaped a strategic plan that includes insertion of strict worker protections in NAFTA, continuation of work on Mexican protection contracts, and solidarity and campaign work on specific Mexican labour struggles. 
 
The conference was sponsored by several North American trade unions, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and Union Network International (UNI).

Mexican Teach-in Charts North American Union Solidarity

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Some 5,400 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US gave approval to a four-year labour agreement on 24 June with Alcoa Inc., the world&rsquo;s second largest aluminum producer. The accumulated vote, by workers at 11 company facilities in eight US states, was 68% in favour, and comes three-and-a-half weeks after USW and Alcoa narrowly escaped a strike. 
 
The new labour accord was a compromise, with the USW fending off a complete overhaul to workers&rsquo; health care coverage that would have included a two-tier system, denying all new hires any future retiree health coverage whatsoever. In return, the union agreed to an increase in worker-paid health premiums and a slight decrease to medical coverage in the existing plan. 
 
The agreement also contains lump-sum payments in the first two years instead of percentage salary increases, with 2.5% increases won for 2012 and 2013. The final agreement also contains an increase in the pension benefit pay-out, and preserves longstanding seniority provisions. 
 
But most significantly, the USW&rsquo;s Alcoa Aluminum Negotiating Council &ndash; consisting of leaders from 11 branch unions in addition to four smaller unions &ndash; rejected Alcoa&rsquo;s &ldquo;Choices&rdquo; health care plan that would have dramatically reduced coverage while increasing workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs. 

<img src="" width="156" height="206" alt="" />
USW District 7 Director, Jim Robinson
&ldquo;The new contract does raise employee premiums, but they will still be much less than paid by Alcoa salaried and non-union employees,&rdquo; said USW District Seven Director and Alcoa Negotiating Chair Jim Robinson. 
 
&ldquo;Alcoa was not only insisting on implementing a plan that would have required our members to pay much higher costs for a lower level of coverage, but Alcoa also wanted the right to set future costs and coverage at whatever the company deemed appropriate,&rdquo; said Robinson. 
 
Alcoa US workers covered under the contract will receive a ratification bonus of US$1,250, with another bonus in 2010 amounting to US$1,000. In 2011, they will receive a lump-sum pay-out of US$1,750. 
 
The workers are employed at smelters and rolling-mill operations in Alcoa, Tennessee; two plants in Massena, New York; Badin, North Carolina; Warrick, Indiana; Lafayette, Indiana; Davenport, Iowa; Gum Springs, Arkansas; Point Comfort, Texas; Rockdale, Texas; and Wenatchee, Washington. The facilities comprise 40% of all US aluminum production. 
 
The USW and Alcoa negotiated for six weeks in April and May in Cincinnati, Ohio, to achieve a tentative accord. Late on 31 May, with USW branch unions poised to strike, the two sides extended bargaining for 11 hours into 1 June in a successful effort to avoid a strike. 
 
The contract will be backdated to 1 June and will run to 15 May 2014.

Steelworkers Ratify Four-Year US Labour Agreement with Alcoa

On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion on the drilling rig &quot;Deepwater Horizon&quot;. 
 
Eleven oil workers were killed. Two days later the rig sank in an ocean of fire. Oil is flowing completely uncontrolled and is still doing so after almost two months. 
 
We do not know what caused the blow out. The ICEM-IMF-ITGLWF Sustainability conference will however declare that: 
 
1) an independent and open inquiry must be held, and trade unions should be granted full insight in the process; 
 
2) at all times the responsibility rest solely on the operator; 
 
3) blow out prevention (BOP) systems should have remote control capabilities, for instance acoustic signal actuators, in addition to traditional BOP controls; 
 
4) when working in new areas, deep water, and other special conditions, it must be demanded that more than one rig be present in the area to ensure safer evacuation in case of an emergency and to be able to start drilling a relief well in case of a blowout. Two months after the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a catastrophic disaster that the drilling of a relief well had not been started; 
 
5) sufficient and effective oil booms and/or other means to collect oil spillage must be available or in place in all areas where offshore drilling takes place; 
 
6) the demands of deregulation must be reversed. More regulations are needed and the &quot;best available technology&quot; must be demanded, at least in all new and challenging areas.

Global Governance Includes Better Governance of Oil Companies

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Canada-based mining house Gammon Gold &lsquo;suspended indefinitely&rsquo; operations at the El Cubo mine, in Guanajuato State in southern central Mexico, in a bid to end union demands on profit sharing and shift length. It is predicted that management aim to re-open the mine via a contractor, and therefore block union organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The mine closure sees 397 workers sacked, while the company has filed criminal charges against 7 union leaders. Workers are represented by Section 142 of the Mining Union of the Mexican Republic (El Sindicato Minero de la Republica Mexicana). The dispute was addressed by Napole&oacute;n Gomez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, at the recent ICEM / IMF &ldquo;Triple Crisis of Sustainability Conference&rdquo; in Toronto. 
 
The miners&rsquo; only demand is that they receive their legally entitled share of the company&rsquo;s profits, a condition agreed to by Nova Scotia-based Gammon when management lengthened miners&rsquo; working day from 8 to 10 hour shifts. In the absence of a profit-sharing arrangement, union leaders are demanding a bonus of 50,000 pesos (US$3,968) per worker. 

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="132" />
As is often the case in Mexico, the government has been criticised for siding with the company, against workers. Another familiar problem was seen earlier in the dispute, as workers were physically attacked by the company&rsquo;s private security firm on 18 June. 
 
Gammon Gold recorded US$207 million in revenue from gold and silver mining operations in 2009. The company operates exclusively in Mexico, with a large gold-silver complex in the northern state of Chihuahua, known as Ocampo, exploration work is on-going at the neighbouring Guadalupe y Calvo gold-silver mine, and Gammon recently acquired the El Mezquite and Venus projects in the states of Zacatecas and Chihuahua, respectively. 
 
The union is studying the legal options for keeping El Cubo open, and have strongly stated that they will block operations re-starting with contracted scabs. The potential at the mine corresponds to 14% of the overall company net assets as well as 24% of overall gold production for 2010, and is therefore too valuable for the company to close completely.

El Cubo Mexican Mine Shut in Attempt to Crush Union

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The second world congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), meeting in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, 21-25 June, elected Sharon Burrow to become the first woman to head the global trade union body. Burrow succeeds Guy Ryder as the second General Secretary of the ITUC, which was created in Vienna in 2006, and leaves her position as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a post that she has held since 2000. She has been President of the ITUC and its predecessor the ICFTU, since 2004. 
 
In her acceptance speech, Burrow described herself as a &quot;warrior&quot; for women and committed the ITUC to continuing to champion women's rights. 
 
Hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over 1,400 delegates assembled in Vancouver under the theme, &lsquo;Now the People, from the crisis to global justice&rsquo;, as the main focus was around issues related to labour&rsquo;s demands for restructuring and reform of the global economy. Delegates criticised the recent trend of governments, especially in Europe, introducing deficit control and austerity measures, under pressure the same banks that caused the economic crisis to begin, instead of keeping jobs at the centre of the recovery. This, according to Burrow, is turning the possibility of a double-dip recession into a probability. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="132" />
ITUC General Secretary, Sharon Burrow
Among the 13 resolutions passed by the congress, were strong declarations on democracy, peace, gender equality, fighting HIV/AIDS, and on sustainable development and a just transition. See those resolutions in full at the link below. 
 
The congress called on G20 governments to increase economic stimulus to create more jobs. On Thursday, 24 June, over 1,000 Congress delegates conducted a rally outside the Vancouver Convention Centre, calling on world leaders to move towards global justice. 
 
Michael Sommer, DGB (Confederation of German Trade Unions), Germany, was elected ITUC President. Jaap Wienen was elected Deputy General Secretary. Luc Cortebeeck, CSC (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions) Belgium, was elected ITUC Deputy President. Nair Goulart, For&ccedil;a Sindical (Brazil), was elected ITUC Deputy President. 
 
View the ITUC second world congress web page <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/+-congress-+.html">here</a>.

ITUC Congress Elects Sharon Burrow General Secretary

7 June 2010 
 
 
Felipe de Jes&uacute;s Calder&oacute;n Hinojosa 
President 
United States of Mexico 
Residencias Oficial de los Pinos 
Case Miguel Alem&aacute;n 
Col San Miguel Chapultepec 
11850 M&egrave;xico, D.F. 
 
Sent to fax numbers +52 55 5093 4901, +52 55 52772376, 
e-mail <a href="mailto:felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx">felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx</a> &nbsp;
 
Dear President Calderon: 
 
On behalf of our --- members, I urge you to stop the violent actions taken yesterday and today by your government against trade union members and their families of Section 65 of Mexican National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union (SNTMMSRM) in Cananea, Mexico. 
 
The ICEM has continually urged a negotiated end to the conflict in Cananea, and we condemn your decision to send in federal police and attack trade union members. 
 
We call upon you to immediately withdraw your forces, and seek a peaceful and negotiated end to the conflict. 
 
Sincerely,

Calderón Model Letter

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The Taiwan Electric Power Labour Union (TPLU) has been protesting in Taipei for clarification of their pension status. Some 6,000 members of the ICEM affiliate, working at several water and electric enterprises, turned out 2 June at the Legislative Yuan to manifest and then to march. 
 
Under current law, workers at the enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning their pension pay-outs are miniscule, not paid out in monthly installments, their retirement earnings are not covered by a state-legislated pension insurance programme, and they are without the preferred interest rate on pension savings accounts.
<img src="" width="280" height="155" alt="" />
TPLU Members Marching on 2 June&nbsp; 
 

Under three classifications of work in Taiwan, employees are classified as civil servants, workers, or civil servants and workers. Public sector engineers and administrators, for example, have the latter classification, which grants them more in terms of pension benefits and better regulated retirement schemes. 
 
But workers at Taipei Power Company (Taipower) and water and other enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning they have the advantages of nether and bear the disadvantages of both. 
 
We are orphans under a system that does not recognise our rights and does not provide any safeguards, said a TPLU spokesperson close to President Guo-Kang Hu. TPLU wants lawmakers and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to amend the provisions of the &ldquo;State-Run Enterprise Administrative Act&rdquo; that better reflects a high court ruling in 1990 that sets forth details on retirement and retirement benefits. 
 
Taipower management supports the workers demands and has laid out three schemes that would correct the legal status. The ICEM also has endorsed TPLU&rsquo;s campaign to achieve fairness and a sense of balance into Taiwanese pension schemes.

Taiwanese Power Workers Protest Over Slight in Pension Laws

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