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ICEM oil union affiliates in Nigeria will again oppose any domestic price increase in the cost of petrol. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said earlier this month it would try to enforce price increases even over the objections of stakeholders involved in the public entities, including trade unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG.PENGASSAN said it would mount strong opposition until measures are in place to cushion effects of high fuel prices across all of Nigerian society. NUPENG has called on all Nigerian workers in the country to oppose the hike unless it comes with commensurate increases in social benefit packages for all workers in both the private and public sectors. NNPC and PPPRA assert that increases are necessary due to rising prices of imported refined products. But the unions contend Nigeria's only solution to high global prices of petroleum are major upgrades to local refining and capacity.

Nigerian Unions Will Agian resist Petrol Price Hikes

Another sad episode in the seemingly never-ending story of mining disasters in China took place in the country’s Guangdong Province, where over 120 workers most probably drowned in an illegally-operated coal mine on August 7. The mine, partly owned by local officials in Xingning, Guangdong, was reportedly seriously mismanaged, with health and safety issues being widely ignored. According to Li Yizhong, director of the National Bureau of Production Safety Supervision and Administration, "the tragedy was caused by mine-owners' greed for economic profits and malignant violation of safety rules". He also said that the mine did not have a production license, and that it had ignored a government order to suspend production following a flooding incident at a nearby mine on July 14. The provincial authorities in Guangdong and the Chinese Central Government have started an inquiry into the tragedy and ordered 69 officials to make themselves available to investigators.Two mayors have already been suspended.

Flooding Kills 120 at Illegal Guangdong Province Mine

The ICEM's Asia-Pacific Union Network of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. met in Manila, Philippines, 8-9 August, and attention focused on the American rubber company's fierce resistance to unionisation drives of contract workers in Thailand and Malaysia. Goodyear plant union leaders also discussed the company's retreat from ownership of natural rubber plantations at a time when natural rubber demand coupled with shortages is increasing. Some 21 leaders from Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand took part.

Goodyear AP Meeting Studies Contract Labour Issue

ICEM affiliate Mineworkers of Namibia conducted its 9th National Congress over the weekend in Windhoek, and pledged to expose all forms of corruption in the mining and energy sectors of the country. The Congress also drafted statements on black economic empowerment in Namibia, reviewed a four-year activities report, and gave special tribute to founding members who have built and bettered membership of the union through early and tedious work. The theme of the Congress was “Building a Stronger Union Through Education, Solidarity, Networks and Economic Empowerment.”

Mineworkers in Namibia Aim to Eradicate Corruption

The unaffiliated Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEMU) rallied last week and commenced industrial actions against government-run Bahamas Electricity Corporation. Industrial actions officially began on 1 September. About 150 of the union’s 900 members rallied on that day outside the utility’s headquarters in Nassau. The company has failed to reach compromise on five key issues separating the two sides: safety, a pension scheme, salary disparities, management of work hours, and contract breaches. The union, part of the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) of The Bahamas, is now conducting sit-down actions, go-slow procedures, and action might escalate to power cuts if management remains unwilling to address the concerns of electrical workers

Electric Workers in The Bahamas Start Job Actions

The ICEM today, 12 September, signed its first Global Framework Agreement in the Materials Sector—a social responsibility code of behaviour with French-based Lafarge, a building materials manufacturer. The agreement was signed in Paris jointly with the global union federation International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW), and the World Federation of Building and Woodworkers Unions (WFBWU), a Christian labour federation. 
 
The Global Agreement marks ICEM’s twelfth such international code of standards contract with a multinational enterprise, and the second that has been jointly signed with another global union federation. 
 
“We welcome Lafarge’s commitment to uphold high principles of social responsibility in all global operations, whether it’s on workers’ rights, union recognition, environment, health and safety, or other recognised international work standards,” stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
IFBWW General Secretary Anita Normark also welcomed the commitment of Lafarge to apply international labour standards at all worksites worldwide. “The value added of the agreement with Lafarge must be seen, that the three federations have a global network of trade unions which are able to monitor the agreement,” said Normark. 
 
“Lafarge is convinced that there can be no sustainable economic success without progress in the fields of social responsibility and environmental protection,” said Christian Herrault, the company’s Executive Vice President for Human Resources and Organisation. “Consequently, this broader vision which goes beyond economic factors to embrace human, labour and environmental aspects has been built into our programmes underpinning performance and managerial processes.” 
 
Herrault added that Lafarge “has consistently valued the central role played by its workforce within the company and signature of this agreement represents a further step forward in our ongoing dialogue with staff.” 
 
The agreement cites the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
The agreement states in its preamble: “Lafarge considers respect for workers’ rights to be a crucial element in sustainable development” and the 172-year-old company “will seek to use the services of those trading partners, subcontractors and suppliers, which recognise and implement principles” contained in the Global Agreement. 
 
Those principals include: 
• No forced labour; 
• No discrimination in employment; 
• No use of child labour; 
• Freedom of association and right of workers to collective bargaining; 
• Living wages paid at least at the level of national legislation or collective agreements, as applied in the industry/sector concerned; 
• Working hours comply with relevant national legislation, national agreements and industry/sector standards; 
• Safe and healthy work environment in accordance with ILO Convention 156 and ILO Guidelines for Occupational Health Management Systems; and 
• Development of Skills Training for all workers in cooperation with trade unions. 
 
The Lafarge Global Agreement establishes a review process group composed of representatives from company management and the signatory trade union federations that will meet at least annually for review and implementation of the principles in all Lafarge worksites. 
 
Lafarge employs 77,000 workers in 75 countries. The company is the worldwide leader in building materials; number two producer of aggregates and concrete; and the world’s number three producer of gypsum. 
 
The ICEM has 420 affiliated trade unions in 125 countries, encompassing 20 million workers. The IFWBB has 10.5 million members in 281 trade unions, also in 125 countries. The WFBWU represents 1.5 million workers affiliated to 55 Christian unions in 41 countries.

ICEM Signs Global Agreement with French-based Lafarge

With a Trade Union and Human Rights Conference scheduled for Kathmandu this weekend, 10-12 September, the 20-million-member ICEM has again protested loudly to the King of Nepal over actions taken by royal police to suppress free assembly and free speech in the Himalayan kingdom. 
 
In a letter today to King Gyanendra, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs specifically referred to harsh actions by police yesterday and Sunday. Police used tear gas and brute force in the country’s capital to break up a march of political and Trade Union leaders, who were calling for full restoration of fundamental political liberties in Nepal. Some 400 leaders of Nepal’s seven political parties as well as leaders of Trade Unions, including ICEM affiliates, were arrested over the two days. In addition, 65 protesters on Monday were hospitalized due to unnecessary force by the royal administration on 5 September. 
 
“It has become obvious to the ICEM that King Guyanendra of Nepal is using an anti-corruption task force to repress political liberties and restrict universally accepted principles of free speech and free assembly,” said Higgs. “It also is obvious that this device is being used to restrict Trade Union activity.” 
 
In his letter, Higgs cited a statement by the king on April 30, 2005, lifting the state of emergency and authoritarian rule that Guyanendra had imposed on 1 February. “But you left in place a powerful anti-corruption panel and continued to ban free speech, assembly—most notably Trade Union meetings—and protests. It has become apparent to the ICEM and to the world that your lifting of authoritarian rule was not genuine, but rather a ruse to the outside world while still retaining a ban on free and democratic participation, particularly by trade unions.” 
 
Higgs pointed out that the ICEM, representing 420 chemical, energy, mining and other unions in 125 countries, will participate fully in the 10-12 September conference in Kathmandu aimed at producing an agenda toward restoration of full democracy. The conference, sponsored by national trade union centers and others in Nepal, is backed by global trade union confederations and will draw 1,500 participants. 
 
At last May’s Annual Executive Council meeting of the ICEM, global trade union leaders condemned King Gyanendra’s “irrational and unacceptable acts of denial to democratic rights and liberties.” The Global Union Federation’s Exectutive produced a resolution calling for five specific actions in Nepal: 
 
• Immediate restoration of democratic governing principals and acceptance of a representative, parliamentary system, and release of all detainees; 
 
• Withdrawal of censorship on media and guarantee of freedom of association and information; 
 
• For the G-7 governments, the EU, India, and the rest of the International Community, to focus on the problem of liberty and democracy in Nepal and to use political and economic influence to bring about peace and a return to full democracy; 
 
• For all civil societies of the World to mobilize and engage every possible means to wage campaigns and protests against the oppression of basic human rights in Nepal; 
 
• For strenuous work, together with Global Union Federations and other Trade Unions of the World to support Trade Unions in Nepal through assistance in union building and other measures until full democracy and complete compliance with international labour standards, particularly freedom of association, are rediscovered in Nepal.

ICEM Again Calls for End to Nepalese Repression

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In Poland, workers of nine trade unions at KGHM Polska Miedz S.A., a publicly-traded copper and silver mining company in which the state holds 45% stake, won an extra month’s salary in collective negotiations due to the high copper prices. 
The unions demanded the increases for 17,000 workers after the company stated its 2005 profit projections would be doubled. After first offering a half-month’s extra pay, KGHM’s board met the demands of the unions, and the extra paycheck will be awarded prior to 4 November.

Polish Copper Workers Score Pay Gains

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The first issue of ICEM’s e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS was published in early October and can be found on the GUF’s website, <a href="http://www.icem.org" type="internal">www.icem.org</a>. 
The e-bulletin will be a regular monthly feature to ICEM’s information strategy on the pandemic, and gives useful links to materials and websites for union activists who desire to deepen their knowledge on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ICEM's HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

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Union members at the Esso Union of Petroleum and Chemical Workers Federation of Thailand (PCFT) are in a pay dispute with Esso Thailand Co. Ltd. The 354 union members at a refinery in Sti-racha, Chonburi province, have staged protests at ExxonMobil’s Thai offices since 10 October over Esso’s refusal to meet adequate pay demands. 
Despite record profits and high petroleum prices, the company has stonewalled union demands to match pay increases equal to Thailand’s inflation rate. PCFT has reduced its pay demands in two government-conducted conciliation sessions and arbitration on the pay matter is scheduled for 4 November. 
Under Thai labour law, the Esso Union of ICEM affiliate PCFT is prohibited from striking because of its strategic importance in the energy industry.

Thai Affiliate in Pay Dispute with ExxonMobil

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