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12 August, 2005ICEM news release No. 25/2003
M eeting at the Third ICEM World Congress in Stavanger, Norway, the International Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) announced formation of a Global Network of ExxonMobil Workers. Such a network will serve as a communication and information network apparatus to link unionized ExxonMobil workers across the globe.
Unions representing ExxonMobil workers from 11 nations consented to forming the network on 29 August, the second day of the ICEM's quadrennial Congress. ICEM US affiliate Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy (PACE) Workers Union requested the formalized network with support from the Canadian Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada.
PACE has been locked in dispute with the world's largest energy company at two refineries in Louisiana and Texas where workers represented by independent or stand-alone unions chose to affiliate with the US union. ICEM affiliate CEP also is in dispute with ExxonMobil. CEP successfully organized 420 offshore oil platform workers in 2001 at an enterprise called Hibernia, in which ExxonMobil is the lead company. Despite the Newfoundland Labour Board certifying CEP as bargaining representative, the US multinational has tied the matter up in Canadian courts.
The 11 countries in which unions at the ICEM Congress agreed to become part of the Global Network include Belgium, Canada, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom and the US.
Other formalized ICEM networks of workers' include Bridgestone/Firestone, a Japanese tire manufacturer; Goodyear, a US rubber producer; Rio Tinto, and Australian and UK mining concern; Novartis, a Swiss-based pharmaceutical firm; and International Paper, a US-based pulp and paper company. The ICEM represents 20 million members in 121 countries in energy, mining, chemicals and biosciences, as well as pulp, paper, rubber and other industrial processing sectors.
Unions representing ExxonMobil workers from 11 nations consented to forming the network on 29 August, the second day of the ICEM's quadrennial Congress. ICEM US affiliate Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy (PACE) Workers Union requested the formalized network with support from the Canadian Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada.
PACE has been locked in dispute with the world's largest energy company at two refineries in Louisiana and Texas where workers represented by independent or stand-alone unions chose to affiliate with the US union. ICEM affiliate CEP also is in dispute with ExxonMobil. CEP successfully organized 420 offshore oil platform workers in 2001 at an enterprise called Hibernia, in which ExxonMobil is the lead company. Despite the Newfoundland Labour Board certifying CEP as bargaining representative, the US multinational has tied the matter up in Canadian courts.
The 11 countries in which unions at the ICEM Congress agreed to become part of the Global Network include Belgium, Canada, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom and the US.
Other formalized ICEM networks of workers' include Bridgestone/Firestone, a Japanese tire manufacturer; Goodyear, a US rubber producer; Rio Tinto, and Australian and UK mining concern; Novartis, a Swiss-based pharmaceutical firm; and International Paper, a US-based pulp and paper company. The ICEM represents 20 million members in 121 countries in energy, mining, chemicals and biosciences, as well as pulp, paper, rubber and other industrial processing sectors.