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13 July, 2009
As part of the cooperation and alliance between ICEM and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in the oil and gas industry, the two Global Union Federations (GUFs) cooperated in an ILO tripartite sector meeting called “Promoting Social Dialogue and Good Industrial Relations from Oil and Gas Exploration and Production to Oil and Gas Distribution.”
Lars Myhre, from Norway’s Industri-Energi (IE) Union and the ICEM Energy Industries Chairman, was elected chairperson of the Workers’ Group, while spokesperson Mick Dolman from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) was elected as Workers’ Group vice chairman. Dolman chaired one of the plenary sessions of the meeting.
ICEM Energy Officer Jim Catterson was elected secretary of the Workers’Group. Ingo Marowski of the ITF closely followed all the discussions and worker delegates from both GUFs participated in both the plenary sessions and the working party, which produced tripartite conclusions following extensive negotiations.
The Workers’ Group ensured that as well as a strong focus on trade union rights and the ILO Core Conventions, there was detailed discussion of health and safety issues, especially the adverse long-term health effects of diving on workers. Helicopter safety to and from offshore rigs, given a recent spate of accidents in the Brazil, Canada, and UK, also was a prominent agenda item.
A special solidarity message was sent by the Workers’ Group to the Offshore Divers’ Union in Norway, an organisation that includes many IE-organised divers. The organisation is presently engaged in compensation litigation. Other issues debated at length included the situation of contract and sub-contract workers, the respective responsibilities of operators and contract companies, and the specific problems of contract workers in the Mexican oil industry. The latter was a major issue for ITF, which had nominated both a worker delegate and an advisor from their Mexican affiliates.
The agreed conclusions and report of the meeting’s deliberations, as well as the detailed background report provided at the meeting are available from the ICEM Secretariat. However, it should be noted that the conclusions and report need to be approved at the next meeting of the ILO Governing Body before becoming official documents.
ICEM has begun discussions with the ILO regarding follow-up work from the meeting.