1 November, 2010
ICEM Chemical Industries Sector Chair Tomas Nieber opened the Chemicals Sector Conference in Istanbul last week by calling for more regulatory standards as a result of the global financial crisis. Nieber, the head of German affiliate IGBCE’s Economic Department who was re-elected chair of the sector that covers both chemicals and pharmaceutical, said with the sector showing a modest recovery in 2010, politicians and governments must not revert to past policies that caused the crisis.
A record 250 delegates from 40 countries attended the ICEM’s quadrennial chemicals conference in Istanbul on 27-28 October, a conference splendidly organised by Petrol-İş, the petroleum, chemicals, and rubber union of Turkey.
Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin
Nieber said 34 million jobs were lost worldwide due to the financial crisis, and he cited a number of challenges facing the sector, including the rising price of fuels and the need to maintain sustainable policies for the two industries. He also said since the sector has been marked by “internationalization” with increased cross-border investments and mergers, there must be more coordination regarding currency exchange rates.
“As trade unions, we must demand more regulations,” Nieber said.
Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin welcomed delegates to Turkey, but told global chemical and pharmaceutical trade union leaders that his country has implemented policies neutralizing unions. “International conventions related to trade union rights and freedoms are routinely violated,” he said, “and the national legislation which regulates trade union activity retains its repressive and prohibitive essence.”
27 delegates from Japan attended the conference
Öztaşkin said recent constitutional modifications that have been accepted by referendum actually are regressive in many ways toward trade union rights. He said Turkey ranks among the top ten worldwide in chemicals production, but he said privatization has decreased employment by 60-70% over the years, with non-union and precarious labour the norm. He also said it has become common for trade unions in Turkey to be the chief advocates for developing social responsibility standards, waste management, health and safety standards, and clean technologies.
The conference included no less than six panel discussions over the two days, including one on Industrial Relations, Social Dialogue, and Social Responsibility. That panel saw Lutz Mugl, General Secretary of the International Chemical Employers’ Labour Relations Committee, Rhodia Chemistry President Bernard Chambon, and Umicore Human Resources and Development Director Mark Dolfyn participate and review practices, as well as ICEM Chemicals Industry Kemal Özkan and Hubertus Schmoldt, former President of IGBCE and President of EMCEF.
The delegation from the Russian Chemical & Allied Workers’ Union was led by President Alexander Sitnov, right
(For a listing of the panels, click here to view a previous ICEM article on the conference.)
The conference concluded with development of an 11-point action plan for the next four-year period. Highlights include support and coordination for organising workers of multinational companies; development of decent work practices in collective agreements, as well as equal pay and same terms and conditions of work; use of social dialogue with employers’ organizations; health, safety, and sustainability practices through union participation; a emphasis on women and young workers in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries; and support for a new global trade union structure with two other Global Union Federations.
Hassan Juma Awad Sdawe of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (GFIW) was a panelist on Global Union Power Through Solidarity
The complete work plan can be accessed here.
The Chemicals Conference also endorsed a resolution supporting French, Romanian, and other European trade union federations engaged in strikes against austerity measures. That resolution was first adopted by the ICEM Presidium, which met on 26 October at the same venue in Istanbul. That resolution can be seen here.