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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 49/1998
First prize in a competition run by leading design magazine Creative Review has gone to a mining safety poster.
Issued by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the winning poster was created by Fiona Macintosh of London-based design firm Artloud.
It shows miners and their families in a protective group. Surrounding them is the slogan THE STRONGER THE UNION, THE SAFER THE MINE.
Creative Review's judges selected the design from several hundred entries on a wide range of social campaigning themes. The competition brief was to show that graphics can "do some good".
The poster is "bright, bold and totally unpretentious," commented one of the judges, advertising copywriter Chas Bayfield. "I love the simplicity and it also conveys a real sense of community - I want to be in that huddle. In fact, I want a union, why can't I have a union?!"
The 20-million-strong ICEM is using the design in its campaign to get all governments to ratify and implement Convention 176 of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). Adopted in 1995 by union, employer and government representatives within the ILO, Convention 176 and the accompanying Recommendation 182 set important international standards for mining health and safety. The Convention is the result of hard campaigning by ICEM predecessor the Miners' International Federation.