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3 May, 2010
On 20-21 April, 82 trade union leaders from 14 countries participated in a wide-ranging conference of the ICEM’s Asia-Pacific Region. The Sydney, Australia, meetings were expertly hosted and coordinated by the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia, which also provided generous support for many trade unions of the region to attend.
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda was scheduled to attend, but scheduled flights out of Europe were grounded throughout that week due to volcanic ash from Iceland. Instead, Warda initiated a late-night telephone conference exchange with delegates from Geneva.
The ICEM’s Asia-Pacific meetings were co-chaired by Kiyoshi Ochiai of UI Zensen, Japan, CFMEU’s National President Tony Maher, and ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jung-sun. The CFMEU’s John Sutton chaired the first day’s union meeting.
The regional forum had the distinction to hear representatives from the All China Federation of Labour (ACFTU) and the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union of Vietnam. Representatives from both gave candid and vivid descriptions of multinational companies operating in their countries, and engaged with ICEM’s Asia-Pacific delegates on a number of issues.
Left, Peter Tighe of Australia’s Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union, and CFMEU’s Forestry Division leaders Alex Millar and Michael O’Connor
On 20 April, a morning session consisted of experiences and potential work of trade unions is in the region, while the afternoon session covered ICEM’s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) project in the region. Six unions from Australia and two from New Zealand also joined discussions in central coordination of activities and experiences with multinationals.
Delegates passed two resolutions, one reiterating ICEM’s CAL work, but also stating strong and aggressive policies are needed toward senior leaders of corporations that deny trade union and other rights to temporary workers.
The other resolution is specific to Thailand. It states that violations of freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain are rampant against both regular workers and temporary workers, and that education, establishment of company networks, and raising necessary resources for Thai unions to develop are necessary so that they can resist such anti-worker biases.