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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 82/2001
The explosion at the AZF plant in Toulouse, France, this September caused one of the worst disasters ever in the European chemical industry.
Have chemical employers learned anything from this catastrophe?
Certainly not BP.
On 1 October, just over a week after the Toulouse explosion, a fire broke out at BP's Chembel chemical plant in Feluy, Belgium. Like AZF, Chembel is classified as hazardous under the EU's Seveso directive.
The fire was eventually brought under control, but several people were injured. With the Toulouse disaster still fresh in their minds, a 12-person shift of chemical process operators at Chembel asked for additional safety measures. In particular, they called for a check on the installations, some changes to operating procedures and an urgent enquiry by the plant's health and safety committee.
Not only did the BP-Chembel management ignore the workers' requests, it promptly suspended them for insubordination and refusal to work!
Three days later, all twelve were dismissed for "gross misconduct" ("faute grave"). In Belgium, "faute grave" is a ground for dismissal without notice. The sacked workers include a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council.
On 5 October, workers throughout the plant launched a strike to get their colleagues reinstated. Three weeks later, despite the union's best attempts at negotiation and conciliation, BP is still refusing to take the fired workers back. So the strike is continuing and the union has gone to court over the unfair dismissals.
To make matters worse, on 8 October, the management at BP Chembel Feluy announced restructuring plans aimed at cutting 25 percent of the jobs there. The timing of this announcement leaves no doubt in the union's mind that the restructuring plans and the management's high-handedness to the dismissed workers are directly linked.
The Belgian union Centrale Générale FGTB is demanding:
- reinstatement of the sacked workers
- social dialogue to improve health and safety at the plant
- full union involvement in any restructuring plans.
The union's call is backed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Centrale Générale is affiliated at the global level.
The ICEM is "fully behind all efforts undertaken by the Centrale Générale FGTB to get management to urgently resume social dialogue on the issue of health and safety at the plant and have the dismissed workers and union delegates reinstated," says ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter to Dr. B. E. Grote, Managing Director and Chief Executive of BP Chemicals. Higgs has written in similar vein to T. Armstrong, Managing Director of BP Belgium.
In a lecture that he gave in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 10 October, BP's Dr. Grote spoke of the need for "committed leadership and the ability to create and build a culture that believes it can run injury-free operations." This, he said, is "one area where we work to truly global standards. There is no difference in the safety standards we expect from a chemicals plant - whether it's in China or in Europe."
Higgs takes Grote up on this and asks him to censure "the high-handed action of the local management" at BP Chembel. Higgs also asks for Grote's "personal intervention in the dispute at the Feluy plant." Such intervention would, Higgs points out, "demonstrate BP's commitment at the highest level to the 'standards' you have set for your operations worldwide."
Higgs also raises the question of the proposed restructuring and job cuts in Feluy. "We are advised that this restructuring plan will negatively affect safety whilst increasing company profits," Higgs tells Grote. "BP management must respect union rights to negotiation, consultation and disclosure of information to the trade union, the works council and the safety and health committee."
COURT TURNS DOWN BP CASE: A Belgian court has now refused to uphold BP's sacking of two of the Chembel workers. On 25 October, BP Chembel asked the court to legalise its firing of the two workers, who are a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council.
The court refused to hear the dismissal cases, after it found that BP Chembel had not followed the correct procedures.
The twelve sacked workers have still not been reinstated, and the campaign continues.
Have chemical employers learned anything from this catastrophe?
Certainly not BP.
On 1 October, just over a week after the Toulouse explosion, a fire broke out at BP's Chembel chemical plant in Feluy, Belgium. Like AZF, Chembel is classified as hazardous under the EU's Seveso directive.
The fire was eventually brought under control, but several people were injured. With the Toulouse disaster still fresh in their minds, a 12-person shift of chemical process operators at Chembel asked for additional safety measures. In particular, they called for a check on the installations, some changes to operating procedures and an urgent enquiry by the plant's health and safety committee.
Not only did the BP-Chembel management ignore the workers' requests, it promptly suspended them for insubordination and refusal to work!
Three days later, all twelve were dismissed for "gross misconduct" ("faute grave"). In Belgium, "faute grave" is a ground for dismissal without notice. The sacked workers include a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council.
On 5 October, workers throughout the plant launched a strike to get their colleagues reinstated. Three weeks later, despite the union's best attempts at negotiation and conciliation, BP is still refusing to take the fired workers back. So the strike is continuing and the union has gone to court over the unfair dismissals.
To make matters worse, on 8 October, the management at BP Chembel Feluy announced restructuring plans aimed at cutting 25 percent of the jobs there. The timing of this announcement leaves no doubt in the union's mind that the restructuring plans and the management's high-handedness to the dismissed workers are directly linked.
The Belgian union Centrale Générale FGTB is demanding:
- reinstatement of the sacked workers
- social dialogue to improve health and safety at the plant
- full union involvement in any restructuring plans.
The union's call is backed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Centrale Générale is affiliated at the global level.
The ICEM is "fully behind all efforts undertaken by the Centrale Générale FGTB to get management to urgently resume social dialogue on the issue of health and safety at the plant and have the dismissed workers and union delegates reinstated," says ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter to Dr. B. E. Grote, Managing Director and Chief Executive of BP Chemicals. Higgs has written in similar vein to T. Armstrong, Managing Director of BP Belgium.
In a lecture that he gave in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 10 October, BP's Dr. Grote spoke of the need for "committed leadership and the ability to create and build a culture that believes it can run injury-free operations." This, he said, is "one area where we work to truly global standards. There is no difference in the safety standards we expect from a chemicals plant - whether it's in China or in Europe."
Higgs takes Grote up on this and asks him to censure "the high-handed action of the local management" at BP Chembel. Higgs also asks for Grote's "personal intervention in the dispute at the Feluy plant." Such intervention would, Higgs points out, "demonstrate BP's commitment at the highest level to the 'standards' you have set for your operations worldwide."
Higgs also raises the question of the proposed restructuring and job cuts in Feluy. "We are advised that this restructuring plan will negatively affect safety whilst increasing company profits," Higgs tells Grote. "BP management must respect union rights to negotiation, consultation and disclosure of information to the trade union, the works council and the safety and health committee."
COURT TURNS DOWN BP CASE: A Belgian court has now refused to uphold BP's sacking of two of the Chembel workers. On 25 October, BP Chembel asked the court to legalise its firing of the two workers, who are a union representative on the plant's health and safety committee and the secretary of the works council.
The court refused to hear the dismissal cases, after it found that BP Chembel had not followed the correct procedures.
The twelve sacked workers have still not been reinstated, and the campaign continues.