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6 November, 2008
Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, today, the Presidium of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) gave its full support to a week-old boycott of Petro-Canada products in the North American country. The action by the governing board of the 20-million-member Global Union Federation is in support of 260 oil-refinery workers, members of Local 175 of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union, who have been locked-out at a Petro-Canada refinery in Montréal, Québec, since 17 November 2007.
In Montréal on 28 October, the CEP, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec, the major labour union federation in that province, announced a national boycott of all petroleum products produced by Petro-Canada.
“We want people throughout the world to know that this once patriotic and state-owned oil company has turned on workers in its own country,” stated ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana, also the President of the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa. “ICEM leaders will now return to their respective countries and tell workforces about this unjust lockout. We will also inform those travelling to Canada on the boycott, and urge them to refrain from purchasing anything with the name Petro-Canada.”
The energy company, which was fully privatised in 2004 by the government of Canada, locked out union members at the 130,000 barrels-per-day Montréal refinery when they refused to accept work terms and conditions significantly inferior to those contained in the CEP’s National Energy and Chemical Bargaining Pattern Agreement. Ironically, that collective bargaining pattern was set by Petro-Canada and CEP at an oil refinery in Edmonton, Alberta, earlier in 2007.
The ICEM resolution endorsing the boycott states that the company has jeopardized the safety and community well-being of residents of Point-aux-Trembles, an east-end Montréal residential area, by attempting to operate the refinery at reduced output using managers and outside replacement workers. Petro-Canada has been cited by a provincial labour court for violated Québec’s laws by using such workers.
ICEM Presidium members were vocal in their condemnation of Petro-Canada, as well as their support for the workers.
“Our union members have been aware of this lockout since November 2007,” said Phil McNulty, National Officer for the Energy Sector of Unite the Union. “Now we learn of the national boycott in Canada. Unite the Union will assure that all our members in the United Kingdom and Ireland are aware of this boycott, and we will encourage them to spread the message to honour it.”
Said ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais, a trade union leader in Brazil’s National Federation of Chemical Workers (CNQ-CUT), added, “The message we will deliver at home is that CEP members in Montréal are standing strong and united after one year’s time. We will communicate to our chemical workers across the country – and to Petrobras workers – that all of Canada is behind a boycott of Petro-Canada. We support that and encourage all Canadians to respect this call.”
The Geneva-based ICEM consists of 467 trade unions in 132 countries, and is the voice of oil, gas, and energy workers in both the upstream and downstream sectors.