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11 August, 2006
An alliance between two Global Union Federations (GUFs) covering oil and gas workers became stronger this week when delegates to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Congress in Durban, South Africa, gave rousing support to the ICEM/ITF Global Oil and Gas Industry Trade Union Alliance. The ITF and the International Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) have been jointly operating workers’ rights efforts in various parts of the world over the past two years.
The ITF represents 4.5 million transport and logistics workers from 624 affiliated trade unions in 142 countries. The ICEM represents 20 million trade unionists from 379 affiliates in 123 countries. The ITF is based in London, while the ICEM is headquartered in Brussels.
The two-year cooperative arrangement between the GUFs has mostly centered on the offshore portion of the industries. The official launch of the ICEM/ITF Global Oil and Gas Industry Trade Union Alliance now means that onshore work, from extraction and refining to distribution will get equal attention.
“The success that we’ve had over the past two years demonstrates the strong synergies that exist between the two organisations,” stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “Today’s energy market and its inter-connecting infrastructure make this alliance a natural for workers’ and their trade unions to have far more power and influence at the very highest international levels of the major companies controlling these crucial markets.”
The union federations will organise on issues from the “wellhead to the wheel,” the motto adopted during the two-year-old project. It means forging a common bond of all workers engaged in work in the oil and gas sectors, from exploration, refining, to manufacture – ICEM’s traditional sectors – through to distribution, including sea, road, rail, and pipeline, ITF’s areas.
The two GUFs have put in place a joint structure that includes affiliated trade unions of both organisations. Besides cooperating effectively on strategic issues that have arisen in such places as the Timor Sea, the Caspian Region, and Nigeria and West Africa, the alliance has mapped trade unions that exist across several oil companies and their major service contractors. The alliance will utilise ICEM’s existing Global Framework Agreements to include transport services, and it will place a special emphasis on extending job protections to the massive number of contract workers employed throughout the oil and gas sectors.
Contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer
+32 2 626 2026
+32 4 74 88 00 54 (mobile)