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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The European Mine, Chemicals, Energy Federation (EMCEF), the European Chemical Employers’ Group (ECEG), and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) signed on 6 September a declaration to jointly encourage policymakers to implement the recommendations by the High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry. 
 
The agreement was signed at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels with Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commissioner László Andor participating. 
 
The three-pillared blueprint, entitled “Framework conditions for a sustainable chemical industry in Europe,” centers on positive environmental, economic, and social principles. Under the environmental principal, the three social partners share the view that the voluntary Responsible Care programme offers the best possibilities to make continual improvements in safety, health and the environment. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1109.euro merger.jpg" width="134" height="160"/>
Bottom, Cefic President Giorgio Squinzi and Commissioner László Andor; top, ECEG’s Jean Pelin, EMCEF’s Michael Wolters and representative from German chemical employers’ grouping, BAVC
The social component specifies good working conditions, life-long learning, and improving employability through skill development, retention and re-employment. The social partners also emphasize opportunities here for young people, and they say this social framework serves so far as the main contribution to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs under the Euro 2020 strategy. 
 
The economic pillar is built around competitiveness and innovation, and striving to maintain Europe’s strong position in global chemicals. The declaration states that the High Level Group’s recommendations do “form a strategic agenda for areas such as innovation, intellectual property, regulation, energy and climate change, logistics and trade policy.” 
 
EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters said the declaration “highlights the urgent need to see sustainability as a way to safeguard and expand high-skilled, high value-added jobs in Europe through a comprehensive EU industrial policy.”

Europe’s Chemical Social Partners Sign Sustainability Pact

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Accord was reached in Belgium recently for 150,000 metalworkers of three unions, MWB-FGTB/ABVV-Metaal, ACV-CSC Metea, and CGSLB/ACLVB. The two-year collective agreements cover workers in metal manufacturing, including aeronautical, automotive, and metal construction, as well as in the iron and steel industry. 
 
The agreements did not come without discord, however. Contentious bargaining over early retirements, unemployment benefits, contract and temporary workers’ rights, and layoff notices led to issuance of a strike notice that was to take effect on 24 June. 
 
But wage terms were reached in late May between the unions and employers’ federation Agoria in metal manufacturing, and agreement came on 6 June between the unions and the iron and steel grouping GSU. The three union federations won extension of early retirement provisions, and also longer periods of notice before layoffs can take effect. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BelgiumACV.gif" width="130" height="77"/>
The issue of subcontracting and temp workers’ rights was put aside and will be addressed in a separate memorandum. Belgian unions are seeking equal pay for equal work for such workers. 
 
Effective on 1 January 2012, redundancy notices will be extended in iron and steel from seven to 28 days for workers with less than six months service, and from 35 to 42 days for workers with over six months but less than five years’ service. 
 
The indexation of wages from cross-industry negotiations early in 2011 with the Belgian government will take hold in metal sectors. Wage rises of 0.3% higher than inflation will go into effect on 1 July 2011 and 1 July 2012. In addition, an economic “green” bonus of €250 will be awarded. This is intended for purchase of environmental friendly products or services. The contracts run until 30 June 2013.

Two-Year Metalworking Contracts Set in Place in Belgium

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In a letter to Ukraine’s President, Viktor Yanukovych, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda called for the recent escalation of government intimidation and interference into trade union activities to end. 
 
The national centre, Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) has born the brunt of a brutal attack by the Office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, headed by Viktor Pshonka who is said to have “declared war” on the unions. New teams have been established inside various government ministries charged with combating the FPU, and establishing yellow unions to oppose the FPU. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1106.ukraine.png" width="238" height="159" alt=""/>
FPU Picket Office of the General Prosecutor
The illegal attack on the FPU has included brazen attempts at manipulating internal union activity. On 23 May the FPU received instructions from the General Prosecutor’s office, banning items on the agenda of the union’s Presidium meeting the following day. Demands for detailed information of internal union workings are continuing, with FPU leadership being summoned for interrogation to the General Prosecutor’s office, including FPU President Vasyl Khara on 3 June. 
 
Also ongoing is a disinformation campaign run through the country’s mass media, attempting to discredit the FPU. The lie being disseminated is that the FPU leadership unlawfully sold union assets. Whereas it is a clear fact that no FPU facilities have been sold since November 2008. 
 
The intense interference is in breach of national law, international law, and the constitution of Ukraine. 
 
On 8 June, the FPU conducted a large picket in front of the office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, demanding an end to the oppression of trade union rights. 
 
See the full text of <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/62.ICEM.Ukraine%20President.FPU.20June.pdf" type="internal">Warda’s letter</a> to President Yanukovych here.

ICEM Protests Crackdown on Ukrainian Trade Unions

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The Pulp and Paper sector of the ICEM selected Jan-Henrik Sandberg, President of Sweden’s Paperworkers Union (Pappers), as the new chairman of the global sector. Sandberg replaces Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland, who will become the head officer for the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) on 1 June. 
 
Sandberg’s nomination came from a work group meeting of Geneva-based ICEM’s Pulp and Paper sector in late May, with the ICEM Executive Committee approving the nomination on 25 May. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0511paperpresident1.jpg" width="131" height="110" alt=""/>     <img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1106.jan henrik p n p chair.jpg" width="104" height="120" alt=""/>
Jouko Ahonen, Jan-Henrik Sandberg
Sandberg, 52, has been President of 18,000-member Pappers since 2006. Prior to that, he worked for 17 years as a recovery boiler operator in the pulp mill of Korsnäs AB in Gävle, Sweden. He served as Pappers local branch chairman at Korsnäs in Gävle from 2001 to 2006 and previously served as education director of the branch union. 
 
Ahonen had served as President of Paperiliitto since 2003. In his new duties with TP, he will oversee collective bargaining and industrial policy for 14 Finnish trade unions. Petri Vanhala has been elected at Paperiliitto as General Secretary to succeed Ahonen. 
 
Both Ahonen and Sandberg steered their respective trade unions through pivotal and success bearing labour disputes in their home countries, Ahonen in a 2005 industry-wide lockout in Finland and Sandberg in a 2010 strike by paperworkers across industry in Sweden.

ICEM Pulp/Paper Sector Selects New Global Chairman

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For a country in which 49% of all export revenue is derived from mining, Chile’s mining safety is in the dark ages. A dichotomy was in full view last fall: while the government of Sebastián Piñera marshalled the very best global technical and engineering expertise to rescue 33 miners from the San José copper mine under the world’s spotlight, Chile continues to wallow in safety practices that are cumbersome, unmanageable, and deadly. 
 
Despite an October 18 Piñera promise heard throughout the world – five days after the rescue – that Chile would reform a disjointed national safety structure and adopt global standards, nothing has happened. In fact, in early 2011 ICEM met with senior government officials and was told there is nothing on the agenda to reform internal safety standards or to adopt global standards. 
 
The ICEM reminded the leaders that just as Piñera lifted Chile’s world status during the rescue, the country’s significance is because it is a rich exporter of basic metals and minerals. If it is to be world-class in any way, it must implement world-class safe mining practices for the workers who dig those riches. 
 
Thus, the ICEM, together with the IMF, began a campaign to press the Piñera government for change. That campaign was joined by other Global Union Federations, national unions, and trade union activists to demand that Chile ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. (See <a href="/en/209-ILO " type="internal">ICEM’s global Convention 176 campaign</a>.) 
 
The campaign was joined simultaneously by unions affiliated with Chile’s two main mine union federations, representing workers at both state-run copper company Codelco and at the major mining houses that own large-scale operations. 
 
Government cynicism might best be found in the commission Piñera set up to investigate San José. No trade union representatives were invited to sit on the commission, even though 130 miners were represented by a union. ILO Convention 176 states that workers and their trade unions shall participate in mine inspections and accident investigations. 
 
At San José, Union No. 2 of Campañia Minera San Esteban repeatedly warned of safety hazards and once even presented a legal challenge to close the mine. But the common refrain from both government and industry when unions warn on safety and health conditions is that the union’s duty is to negotiate economics, not to take part in safety or health matters. 
 
After a miner was killed in 2007, San José was shut for a brief period by SERNAGEOMIN, the National Service of Geology and Mining. But it quickly reopened on orders from another government official who failed to read the closure report, and relied on the owner’s pledge that deficiencies would be corrected. 
 
One such pledge was to install a ladder through a ventilation shaft as a second exit, a standard in Convention 176. That was not done, there were no follow-up inspections, and the lack of a second exit, in fact, led to the 69-day entrapment of the 33 miners. 
 
SERNAGEOMIN is not a health and safety inspectorate. It plays that role, but so do bureaus inside six Chilean ministries. Chile has overlapping safety agencies inside the six that cover all sectors of work. None of them have judicial powers to enforce the few regulations there are in mining and all are without the technical capabilities to inspect and prevent accidents before they happen. 
 
In short, all prerequisites of Convention 176 are missing in Chile: regular inspections, set procedures to report and investigate dangerous occurrences and accidents, trade union consultation, regulatory bodies with the authority to shut dangerous mines, the right to refuse unsafe work, workers’ ability to select their own safety representatives, and employer obligations to provide training. Convention 176 places responsibility on employers to not only remove workplace hazards, but to remove the causes of those hazards. 
 
That is why the ICEM has targeted Chile for reforming not only its own mine safety laws, but to ratify, implement, and fully adhere to the standards of ILO Convention 176.

Global Unions to Hold Chile Accountable on Mine Safety

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The ILO Tripartite Meeting on Promoting Social Dialogue on Restructuring and its Effects on Employment in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries, held from 24-27 October, ended with key conclusions. The purpose of the meeting was to examine best practices of social dialogue, which can facilitate a constructive and conducive atmosphere during restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions. 
 
It was also to adopt conclusions that include proposals for action by governments, employers, and workers’ organizations, and the ILO. 
 
The meeting was composed of interested governments, 15 employer representatives, and 15 workers’ representatives appointed by the Governing Body based on nominations submitted by the ILO Director-General after consultations with the respective groups. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.ilo chems meeting.JPG" width="288" height="160"/>
In addition, representatives of intergovernmental organizations and observers representing certain NGOs also attended the meeting. Coordinated by the ICEM, in cooperation with International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and ILO ACTRAV, the workers’ group elected Tomas Nieber, Chairman of the ICEM Chemical Sector and Head of Department Economic and Industrial Policy for Germany’s IGBCE as chairperson, while Alfons de Potter, Vice-President of Belgian CSC Construction, Energy and Industry was selected spokesperson and Linda McCulloch, National Officer of UK’s Unite the Union was selected vice-chairperson. ICEM’s Kemal Özkan was secretary for the group. 
 
The meeting handled eight discussion points: employment changes in both qualitative and quantitative terms occurring in restructuring processes; ILO’s Global Jobs Pact implementations; skills and qualifications, as well as vocational training and education programmes that are conducive to sustainable development; making the industries more attractive to young workers and women, and provide better opportunities for long-term career development; challenges and opportunities by contract and agency labour; best practices of social dialogue in facilitating a constructive and conducive atmosphere for better industrial relations during restructuring; role of social dialogue in improving sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises, contributing to promoting decent work; and possible activities the ILO should take to promote social dialogue and good employer–employee relations. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.ilo chems meeting.2.JPG" width="216" height="161"/>
from left to right: Linda McCulloch, Tomas Nieber, Kemal Özkan, Alfons de Potter
Following long deliberations, a <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/TMCPI-conclusions-2011-En.pdf" type="internal">set of conclusions</a> were unanimously adopted at the plenary session. It was agreed that “social dialogue between worker representatives and employers is a valuable means to manage the process of restructuring in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, thereby contributing to equitable outcomes for all concerned parties whether at global, regional, national or the enterprise levels.” 
 
The groups also underlined that “restructuring in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors should not affect the principles and rights at work as defined by the 1998 ILO Declaration.” 
 
An important step forward was achieved on Contract and Agency Labour. The conclusions state: “Where the use of contract and agency labour becomes necessary, chemical and pharmaceutical firms should at all times ensure that national occupational safety and health laws, regulations and good practice are applied to this category of workers in accordance with the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work and relevant international labour standards. Contract and agency workers should enjoy the same fundamental rights at work as the firm’s directly recruited workers.” 
 
At the meeting’s end, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said that workers, employers, and governments worked in a constructive manner with a view to securing employment issues in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. “These conclusions are an important guidance tool for all of us,” said Warda. “It is now time to make proper follow-up activities for making sure these they have practical applications.”

Conclusions Adopted at ILO Tripartite Chemicals, Pharmaceutical Meeting

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A historical achievement happened in Indonesia on 28 October when the country’s Parliament passed the Social Security Providers Bill (BPJS), thus clearing the way for long-awaited pension, medical, job-related accident, unemployment and other benefits to millions of ordinary Indonesians. 
 
The House of Representatives gave approval to the new law a plenary session when the six-party ruling coalition, which had worked to delay the legislation, was pressured by a mass rally outside Parliament to reach terms with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1110.indo%20demo%20use%20this%20one.jpg" width="285" height="160"/>
25,000 Manifested 28 October at Indonesia’s Parliament
That rally, organized by the trade union/civil society coalition, Action Committee for National Social Security (KAJS), saw 25,000 Indonesians engage in a boisterous sit-in, demanding once and for all passage of the populist bill. BPJS means that the government must now implement compulsory social services mandated by the National Security System Law of 2004. 
 
Labour leaders, however, realize that the BPJS time frame for full implementation of the different social components leaves much room for politicians to maneuver, especially with federal elections coming in 2014. BPBJS I, or the scheme for heath care for all citizens, must come into effect by January 2014, while BPJS II – social benefits related to occupational accidents, pensions, old-age benefits, and death benefit schemes – must be implemented by July 2015. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1110.sjaiful.jpg" width="106" height="110" alt=""/>
D. Patombong Sjaiful
“Yes, it was a momentous day,” said ICEM Indonesian Affiliates’ Union Chairman D. Patombong Sjaiful, the leader of FSP-KEP, the Chemical, Energy, Mines, Oil & Gas General Workers’ Union of confederation KSPI. 
 
“But now it becomes a process to guard the intent of this new law and not let it get sidetracked by the political system.” 
 
Said Iqbal, the KAJS General Secretary and President of the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers’ Unions (FSPMI), agreed, stating that the process must be closely monitored in formulating and calculating sufficient costs for the different benefits. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1110.indo%20metal%20guy.jpg" width="86" height="110" alt=""/>
Said Iqbal
“This marks a fundamental change in Indonesian social security,” he said. “Now we are assured there will be a minimum level of pension benefits for all, that discrimination against the poor regarding health care will end, and that all working people will have some level of social benefits. 
 
“We must now be vigilant that government and employers adequately fund these programmes.” 
 
Said Iqbal led the KAJS coalition that included some 69 organisations, included 40 trade unions. The coalition, including farm organizations, fishery groups, and many more, included three of the country’s main national labour centres, KSPI, KSBSI, and KSPSI. The coalition is expected now to be transformed into “BPJS Watch.” 
 
The new BPJS law re-makes the four state-owned insurance companies (PT Askes, PT Jamsostek, PT Taspen, and PT Asabari) into two non-profit public companies under the auspices of the President’s office. PT Askes will function for the health care scheme, while PT Jamsostek will administer occupational accidents, pensions, old-age risks, and death benefits.

Vigilance Now Needed to Implement Indonesia’s Social Security Law

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With Singapore’s Retirement and Re-Employment Act (RRA) set to take effect on 1 January 2012, two of ICEM’s affiliated unions in the city-state have successfully entered into Memorandums of Agreement with employers and employer organisations stating that salary decreases will not happen once companies are mandated to offer jobs to workers when they reach age 62. 
 
The United Workers of Petroleum Industry (UWPI) and the Singapore Shell Employees’ Union (SSEU) announced last week that the agreements go beyond what will be required in the new law by guaranteeing that salaries and bonus payments will be maintained for workers between the ages of 62 and 65. 
 
The RRA amends a 1999 law that mandates retirement at age 62. The new Act requires employers to offer re-employment to a worker who reaches age 62 after January 2012, but a provision allows bosses to make “reasonable” adjustments in salaries, employment terms, and job assignments. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SINGAPORESSEU.jpg" width="250" height="51"/>
Last week, the UWPI got 13 employers to agree to the memorandum stating no lowering of salaries or elimination of bonus payments for oil or petrochemical workers choosing to continue to work after age 62. SSEU reached a similar deal with the Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary in Singapore two months ago. UWPI must now convince 13 other companies to do the same, and the precedent created by the Shell memorandum and last week’s deal is expected to convince most to sign such accords with UWPI. 
 
Employers in Singapore, many of whom have begun offering re-employment ahead of the new law, have argued that pay cuts for older workers are necessary because seniority-based salary schemes inflate payrolls. Last week’s signing was praised as a “win-win” result by one governmental minister who said the companies benefit from the loyalty and experience of the older workers. 
 
About half of Singapore’s 5,000 oil and petrochemical workers are now covered by the no-cut agreements. The RAA, passed by Singapore’s Parliament on 11 January 2011, is aimed at giving more financial security to older citizens, and these labour agreements recently signed in the ICEM sectors now go further to fulfil this.

Singapore’s Oil, Chemical Unions Blocking Pay Cuts after Age 62

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The Sub-Saharan Africa arm of ICEM’s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Project held its regional conference in Accra on 25-26 October 2011. Next month marks the end of the first phase of the project, which began in 2009 with the support of Finnish solidarity organisation SASK, and Finnish trade unions TEAM and PRO. This CAL Project, coordinated by Joseph Toe, has been a great success in bringing CAL to the fore of trade union work in the project countries. 
 
Participants spoke about the various approaches, challenges and successes they had experienced over the three years of the project. 
 
A number of unions participating in the project have driven the adoption of legislation and industry guidelines on the use of CAL. In Senegal, for example, an innovative campaign by ICEM affiliate Sutids led to the signing of the President Decree to regulate short-term employment. This law limits the duration of a short-term contract to two years; makes the user-enterprise responsible for working conditions, as well as for salary obligations should the agency “fail”; requires that CAL workers must enjoy the same working conditions as similar workers at the user enterprise; and provides for the short-term worker, at the end of his or her contract, to receive a severance pay equal to 7% of the total gross remunerations paid since the start of the contract. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.CAL Bayo.png" width="105" height="139"/>
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile 
In Nigeria, ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have worked closely together to raise awareness of CAL with the government, including through a three-day warning strike. Following pressure from the unions, the Ministry of Labour and Productivity convened a technical tripartite working group to review how CAL was being used in the oil and gas industries. This engagement led to the adoption of the Nigeria Guidelines on Labour Administration issues in Contract Staffing/ Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Sector. These guidelines, according to PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile, set the minimum standard for using CAL and are the first of their kind in any sector in Nigeria. 
 
Other unions reported a reversal of declining membership figures since efforts were focused on recruiting CAL workers and achievements in gaining permanent status for CAL workers. In Mozambique, about 400 workers have moved from CAL to indefinite contracts as a result of the work of the work of ICEM SINTIQUIAF. The union has also managed to recruit 360 CAL members. In Mauritius, from 2009-2011, a total of 3,000 contract workers joined ICEM affiliate CMCTEU. With the help of the CAL campaign, the union redefined its strategy to organise and bargain on behalf of contract workers, migrant workers, and workers in the informal economy. This included a decision to reduce the union’s membership fees from Rs 50 to Rs 1 (one symbolic rupee) for the most vulnerable CAL workers. CMCTEU demanded that the government review the Domestic Workers Remuneration Order, which had been static for 25 years. This review led to domestic workers gaining an increase of 110% in salary, as well as other gains such as holiday leave, wedding leave, and end of year bonuses. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1111.CAL Accra.png" width="220" height="164"/>
In South Africa, ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU, with the support of an international delegation organised as part of the implementation of ICEM’s Global Framework Agreement, encouraged Umicore in South Africa to change its practices with regard to CAL. Umicore signed an agreement stating that all new work contracts will be on a permanent basis, with all ensuing social protections. Unions participating in the conference declared that targeting multinationals must be a key component of future work on CAL and committed to increasing cross border trade union cooperation in this respect.

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Conference Reviews 3 Years of CAL Work

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Actrav’s biennial symposium was held from 4-7 October 2011 at the ILO in Geneva, and was devoted to exploring Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) and other forms of precarious work. Over 100 unions from around the world participated in the symposium, including ICEM affiliates and experts from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Africa. 
 
Participants analysed the use of CAL around the world, the impact of the degeneration of permanent employment on the rights of workers, and what steps must be taken to mitigate these impacts. 
 
Participants agreed that combating precarious work requires a comprehensive policy response that includes economic, fiscal, and social policies geared towards full employment and income equality, a regulatory framework to reduce and ultimately eradicate precarious work, and greater efforts to empower workers by promoting the extension of collective bargaining. This will ensure that all workers can access and exercise their right to associate and to bargaining collectively, freely, and without fear. 
 
Basic income security through a universal social protection floor and minimum wages globally are indispensable to limit precarious and indecent employment and living conditions, as well as policies to combat the erosion of the employment relationship. 
 
The symposium drew attention to the vital role the ILO must play in providing a regulatory framework to stop the growing circumvention of labour and social protections through precarious employment arrangements. The conclusions call on the ILO to produce a Law and Practice Report and convene an ILO expert meeting on obstacles to collective bargaining for precarious workers. They also recommend increasing efforts to implement the Employment Relationship Recommendation 198 and other relevant ILO standards. 
 
A copy of the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/actrav/what/events/lang--en/WCMS_153972/index.htm ">Symposium’s conclusions</a> as well as all documents relating to the Symposium can be found here.

Unions from Around the World Ask ILO to Take Action on CAL 

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