12 July, 2010
ICEM Brazilian affiliate, Confederação Nacional do Ramo Químico (CNQ/CUT), at its 6th congress, elected Antenor Eiiji Nakamura, of the Chemical Workers Union of São Paulo, known affectionately as ‘Kazu’ to the position of National Coordinator. CNQ Congress was held from 28 June to 2 July in Recife.
The unanimity of the vote was important for Kazu who praised the internal unity of the CNQ, even more significant as the 1 July Congress was the organisation’s largest in terms of number of participants.
Kazu, elected for the period 2010-2013, identified expansion of the organisation as a key challenge now.
CNQ/CUT National Coordinator, Antenor Eiiji Nakamura
Antenor Eiiji Nakamura, Kazu, began political participation in the Ministry of Youth in the East Zone of São Paulo. He participated in the student movement while studying Philosophy at University, and working in the chemical industry. Joining the union in 1988, he moved on to head the Department of Education and International Relations at CNQ-CUT.
In total, the CNQ-CUT leadership is made up of 39 activists; this list was confirmed by Congress, also for the term of 2010-2013. ICEM Vice-President Sergio Novais was elected as treasurer.
Photos - Dino Santos
The congress debated a host of issues from international trends to the national situation which is marked by the elections scheduled for later in the year. CNQ sectors were analysed in detail together with the production chains. In addition there was an in-depth discussion of the paper, oil and pharmaceuticals industries, which are currently booming in Brazil. Other topics that were debated were trade union structures and organisation, contract and agency labour, reductions in working time, health and safety, profit sharing, corporate social responsibility, gender and race relations and youth. A special publication was presented on women which includes research on the profile of women workers in the chemical industry in five Brazilian states. The publication was sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
CNQ/CUT is the largest industrial trade union federation in Brazil, representing workers in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, glass, ceramics, and other process manufacturing sectors.
In the framework of these visits to Brazil, ICEM General Secretary made a stopover for talks with BASF management in order to get social dialogue with the workers’ regional network back on track.