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Thousands of trade unionists &mdash; including many members of ICEM Ukrainian affiliates &mdash; marched on the country&rsquo;s Rada, or Parliament, 20 October to protest neo-liberal policies contained in the government&rsquo;s 2006 draft budget. 
The picketing, led by Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FTUU) Chairman Alexander Yurkin, involved a wide range of other Ukrainian trade unions and depicts the mass concern by Ukrainians over a proposed budget that would strip away social safeguards, including decreased funding to the country&rsquo;s coal sector. 
Trade union leaders backed by workers demand that the minimum wage be made equal to Ukraine&rsquo;s subsistence level and then increased next year, and that social security spending be increased. Lawmakers voted by 306 to 77 to reject the draft budget on the day of the protest, and the Ukrainian parliament has instructed that an adjusted budget be submitted to the Rada on the first day of November.

Ukrainian Trade Unions Lead Fight to Protect Social Standards

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In ten days, the world will remember the tenth anniversary of the hanging of Nigerian human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by that country&rsquo;s then military dictatorship. 
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Ken Wiwa, son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and Anita Roddick, environmental campaigner and head of Bodyshop Company 
(photo: Sion Touhig)
On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa, a writer, environmentalist and leader of the Ogoni people of Nigeria&rsquo;s delta who sought to free his people from the bonds of Shell Oil, was sent to the gallows along with eight other activists. He stood for the reality&mdash;current today as it was then&mdash;that social and environmental justice and the rights of citizens residing in oil producing regions must be protected in a world dominated by oil politics. 
One of several memorials to Saro-Wiwa will be erected in the UK at Jubilee Gardens, which lies across the road from Shell&rsquo;s London headquarters.

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

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Five members of Colombian oil workers&rsquo; Union Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petroleo (USO) are now in their ninth day of a hunger strike over the planned privatisation of Ecopetrol&rsquo;s oil refinery in Cartagena. 
The Uribe government has broken a promise made in spring 2004 that, in part, ended a 38-day strike by USO at Ecopetrol over privatisation of the state-run company, by proceeding with a 51% ownership transfer of the Cartagena refinery, Colombia&rsquo;s second largest.

Hunger Strike in Colombia by USO Union Members

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ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products&mdash;Refineries and Chemical Industry in Greece is engaged in a dispute with Chevron over the company&rsquo;s restructuring measures. 
On 12-13 October, 78 clerical and technical staff of Chevron&rsquo;s Lubricants Division involved in transport and storage operations struck over the company&rsquo;s disregard of terms in the national Collective Agreement for petroleum products and liquid gases. 
Despite social dialogue and consultation that did not reach mutual accord, Chevron has unilaterally imposed job cuts in certain departments and has said there could be further retrenchments to meet company-set competitiveness goals. 
The ICEM has intervened in the dispute with US-based Chevron.

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

As the world commemorates International Human Rights Day tomorrow on the 57th Anniversary of signing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 20-million-member ICEM, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, cautions that the vision and promise of the Declaration is clouded in today's world of violence and social inequality. 
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&quot;We must stop to reflect on the language and the meaning of the 1948 Declaration,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We must strive to rid the world of sinister forces intent on domination and hear the voices of those not free from want, and of those facing insecurity brought by global strife.&quot; 
 
Higgs reminds ICEM affiliated trade unions, as well as the global community, that the UN proclaimed a World Program for Human Rights Education last year. &quot;Education, together with meaningful employment opportunities, is the key to remove poverty and intolerance that exists in many parts of the world today,&quot; said Higgs. 
 
On the 10 December observance of International Human Rights Day, the ICEM points to both rich and poor nations, many of which have repressive governmental regimes, for holding back the fulfilment of standards enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
Upholding human rights applies as well to trade union rights, which are violated by a large number of countries. The UN Universal Declaration includes, in Article 23, that &quot;everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests&quot;. 
 
The ICEM points to continued restrictions on political liberties and democratic rights in Nepal as one example. Early this year, King Gyanendra placed the Himalayan country in a state of emergency and suspended free speech and assembly in efforts to stamp our political dissent. 
 
The Global Union Federation also directs attention on the military leaders of Burma and to the multinational companies doing business with the country, where slave labour continues to be used at a large scale. Specifically, ICEM questions the recent and sudden shift by the military junta of administrative governmental services from Rangoon to a remote area in which thousands of civil servants were forced to relocate without adequate living and other conditions. 
 
The ICEM also calls for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. &quot;A solution must be found, giving the Palestinians a viable state and economic justice&quot; stated Higgs. 
 
&quot;The ICEM will continue to defend human rights across the world wherever we find abuses and injustices,&quot; added Higgs. 
 
On 10 December 1948, Member States of the UN proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights &quot;a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.&quot; The UN's charter itself set &quot;universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.&quot; Fifty-seven years later, we must ask ourselves how far we have come on that legacy.

ICEM Calls for a Real Focus on Human Rights

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Two jewellery workers from China and two gem polishers from India will travel to Basel, Switzerland, late this month to raise awareness of the deadly side effects of their jobs, particularly silicosis. 
The workers will attend a jewellery fair from 30 March to 4 April, and hope to have talks with a large number of organisations, including the ILO, in order to bring more preventative measures to their line of work. Silicosis kills workers slowly, often over long and painful illnesses. In the case of Asian workers, compensation is unheard of and most do not have the means to pay for medical bills. 
 
According to official Chinese figures, 440,000 workers&mdash;many of them migrant workers&mdash;have silicosis. Other estimates put that figure as ten times higher. The ICEM released a statement on the occasion of the Basel visit, which can be found at <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1671">/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1671</a>.

Asian Jewellery Workers Visit Europe over Silicosis

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This Wednesday, 8 March, marks the 97th Anniversary of International Women&rsquo;s Day, a day of action in the continuing fight for equality and justice for all women. The ICFTU is in a fourth year of a &ldquo;Unions for Women, Women for Unions&rdquo; campaign in which the aim is to significantly increase unionisation rates of women workers in the informal economy, among migrant women workers, young women, and women in export processing zones. 
 
The ICEM on 8 March calls attention to the appalling conditions of women workers in the developing world, the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS that finds women making up over half of those infected, and the rise of militarisation throughout the world that adversely affects women is so many ways. The ICEM urges all trade union affiliates to put in practice policies and initiatives for equality, opportunity and fairness not only for working women, but for women in all walks of life.

International Women’s Day Action Urged for 8 March

A general strike last week by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a pro-labour panel of lawmakers working inside a plenary session of South Korea&rsquo;s National Assembly blocked three bills regarding non-regular workers from reaching final approval. 
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The strikes, in which 300,000 workers took part, occurred on Tuesday and Thursday, 28 February and 2 March. (1 March was an official Korean holiday.) The lawmakers, primarily from the progressive Democratic Labor Party, took over a parliamentary session on 2 March to temporarily derail passage. 
 
The bills were approved by the Assembly&rsquo;s Environment and Labor Committee on 27 February, but action in the streets and inside the plenary session prevented final approval prior to the Assembly closing its session on 2 March. The issue is certain to meet further review and more public protests when the Assembly reconvenes on 20 March in an extraordinary session. 
 
The proposed legislation would do little to improve conditions for temporary and agency workers, but instead would give employers&rsquo; the flexibility to use hundreds of thousands more non-permanent workers and laying them off prior to the end of a proposed two-year period after which they must be made permanent. 
 
The ICEM congratulated KCTU on its strike and mobilisation. In an ICEM letter to KCTU President Cho Jun Ho, General Secretary Fred Higgs said it is &ldquo;of immense importance that the main issue of your struggle is defending the basic rights of contract and agency workers. The substitution or limiting of permanent direct employment has clearly become a priority issue for countless workers and their trade unions, in every region of the world and every sector.&rdquo;

Korean Temp Worker Bills Blocked for Now

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A proposed European energy deal,&nbsp;conceived as a blocking move, received trade union attention and analysis last week in Brussels at EMCEF, the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation. Attended by Spanish trade unions FIA-UGT and FM-CC.OO, Italian union UILCEM and German union IGBCE, the meeting was held to formulate a common trade union position on the bidding outcome for Spanish energy company Endesa. 
 
German E.ON recently outbid Spain&rsquo;s Gas Natural for Endesa, and both E.ON and Gas Natural will have one further opportunity in a sealed-bid process under Spanish energy and market rules. EMCEF issued a statement following the 28 February meeting in Brussels calling for maintaining Endesa as it is today and avoiding the splitting of businesses, and not to contract out integrated parts of the company; no refinancing through sale of assets; and keeping on track investments for renewed production and for build up of new electrical capacities. 
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Regarding the social impact of any Endesa takeover, EMCEF and the unions insist on no redundancies or layoffs; continuation of all collective agreements; further investment and support for worker training; social dialogue with trade unions on all matters of industrial policy; and recognition of all existing national labour relations matters as part of the European social model.
The EMCEF statement also cites, as good practice, a model of mutual recognition and well-developed agreements on social issues between unions and companies, and said ICEM&rsquo;s Global Agreement with Endesa is &ldquo;one example of this good practice on the global level that needs to be incorporated also for other companies in the future.&rdquo;

EMCEF, European Unions Announce Priorities on Endesa

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Oil workers in southern Iraq conducted a one-day strike 21 February as grievance to the Oil Ministry&rsquo;s neglect for work conditions and the infrastructure of the company. The strike at the Oil Transport Company of Basra was brought by the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Basra. 
The strike took place due to the deliberate and targeted neglect of the transport company by the ministry and government; for improvements in workers&rsquo; living conditions; and as a demand to pay money promised to workers by the Oil Ministry but never paid.

Iraqi Oil Workers Strike Oil Ministry in Basra

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