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The modus operandi by US multinational Ross International on human rights reads like the script of &lsquo;how to behave badly in a globalised world.&rsquo; The company, which manufactures moulds for the glass container industry, appears to follow a handbook on how to subcontract and outsource work, while eliminating trade unions at the same time. 
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In a letter to the company last week, ICEM took on the company&rsquo;s anti-union techniques in Colombia. ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintravidricol is running a campaign in that country to get the company to deal responsibly with its workforce. 
 
Ross International owns one facility in Colombia where a collective bargaining agreement exists, called Moldes Medellin Ltda. Reportedly, this modern facility operates at only 50% capacity and is constantly reducing its number of workers, with a prohibition in place on hiring new ones. The company also owns four other factories in Colombia, which all are enlarging their capacity. 
 
New jobs at these facilities come with far less job security and at lower salaries, with most workers being hired through temporary work agencies. On top of that, Ross International ignores union requests in the one plant with an agreement. It also refuses to comply with earlier agreements in that plant. 
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In the US, where the company is headquartered in the state of Pennsylvania, ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) faces very similar problems. There as well, union members are the victims of Ross efforts to downsize mould shops, and outsource work that has, for years, been performed by USW members. The serious reductions in staff at Ross International&rsquo;s US operations affect three of the four company plants in the US: Penn Mould, Ross Mould, and Brockway Mould. 
 
Another sign that the company is not taking its obligations towards its workers seriously is that representatives of the USW have had seriously difficulties to even get a meeting with the management of the company to discuss the issues of downsizing, layoffs and possible solutions. 
 
As a mould manufacturer, Ross International serves both Owens-Illinois and Saint Gobain Container, Inc.

Ross International: Labour Problems in Colombia and US

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Manfred Warda was appointed to fulfil the final year, 2007, of Fred Higgs' term as General Secretary of the ICEM. The decision was made by the ICEM's Presidium at its 5 October meeting in Brussels. 
 
Higgs has been diagnosed, along with other health-related issues, with pleural plaques of the lungs, a condition brought about by industrial exposure to asbestos while working, near London, at Chloride Battery, where he got his start in the trade union movement as a shop steward in the 1960s. 
<img height="182" alt="" src="" width="300" />
From left to right: Manfred Warda, ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Fred Higgs
Higgs, who will turn 60 in December, will remain ICEM General Secretary until the end of the year. 
 
Warda, 59, is currently Head of the International Department of the German trade union IGBCE. A 43-year member of the IGBCE and before that, Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), the German Mineworkers' Union, Warda began working in the industrial sector in 1963, in his home city of Bochum, North Rhine Westphalia. 
 
He began his career inside IGBE in 1971, and after serving as an assistant and then Head of the President's Office, he became Head of IGBE's International Department from 1990 to 1997. Following the 1997 merger that created IGBCE, he continued as Head of the IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department.

Manfred Warda to Replace Fred Higgs as ICEM GS in 2007

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ICEM Workshop on Peer Education 
 
Peer Education was the central topic of the 3rd Regional Workshop for national coordinators, which was held in Johannesburg from 6 to 8 September 2006. Participants from ten sub-Saharan African countries acquired the necessary skills as peer educators and, in turn, train peer educators from ICEM affiliates in their own countries. 
National coordinators identified key functions for peer educators, the core contents of a peer educators&rsquo; programme, the qualities and skills required by peer educators, the sustainability of programmes and the role of unions in peer education. 
 
The ILO draft toolkit on behaviour change communication was an important tool in the workshop. Participants received the CD-Rom of this seven-part toolkit which provides essential resources on developing programmes. 
 
National coordinators also reviewed progress on activities since the 2nd Regional Workshop, in November 2005, and agreed to forward information on workplace policies and collective agreements with HIV/AIDS clauses to the Regional Coordinator in order to compile a best practice guide. 
 
For the remainder of the year, national programmes are planned in the participating countries. The 4th and final regional workshop in the present project cycle will be held in Johannesburg from 4 to 7 December, focussing on accessing external funding sources at national level and the writing of project proposals. 
 
(Source: Report Regional Coordinator) 
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Gates Foundation Supports the Global Fund &ndash; Advocates Empowerment of Women 
 
Shortly before the International AIDS Conference took place in Toronto in August, the Gates Foundation announced that it would give USD 500 million to the Global Fund over the years 2006-2010, at a rate of USD 100 million per year. This is a significant increase from the USD 150 million that the foundation gave over the four years 2002-2005. 
 
At the opening night of the Toronto Conference, Bill Gates called the Global Fund &ldquo;a fantastic vehicle for scaling up treatment and prevention&rdquo;. He went on to say that 
&ldquo;Right now, one of the most widely practiced approaches to prevention is the ABC Program, or Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms. This approach has saved many lives and we should expand it. But for many at the highest risk of infection, ABC has its limits. Abstinence is not often an option for poor women and girls who have no choice but to marry at an early age. Being faithful will not protect the woman whose partner is not faithful. Using condoms is not a decision that a woman can make by herself. It depends on a man. We need to put the power to prevent HIV in the hands of women. 
 
So we need tools that will allow women to protect themselves. This is true whether the woman is the faithful, married mother of small children or a sex worker trying to scrape out a living in a slum. No matter where she lives, who she is or what she does, a woman should never need her partner&rsquo;s permission to save her own life. To be clear, as we discover and distribute preventative tools that women can use without a man&rsquo;s cooperation, we are not excusing men from their obligations to be responsible and to protect their partners. We&rsquo;re just reducing the consequences to women if they don&rsquo;t.&rdquo; 
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation received some USD 31 billion from Warren Buffet, which brings its total assets to around USD 60 billion. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 63, 19 September &ndash; GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>) 
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TAC Day of Action &ndash; Call for Minister of Health to Resign 
 
A Day of Action on 24 August, called for by South Africa&rsquo;s Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), was marked by protests in cities throughout the country, as well as at several South African embassies, calling for the resignation of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. 
The Global AIDS Alliance stated that &ldquo;For many years an effective response to the HIV/AIDS crisis was hampered by disastrous pseudo-scientific policies. South Africa has the knowledge, the skills and the resources to be in the forefront of the fight against the pandemic.&rdquo; 
 
With a prevalence rate of close to 20 percent, around 5.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS; more than 800 are dying every day. This is in the first place an avoidable human tragedy. But it is also affecting the investment climate in the country, with foreign companies increasingly being concerned about the impact of HIV/AIDS. 
 
(Source: TAC Press Release, 20 August and Press Release Global AIDS Alliance, 23 August) 
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Roche Transfers Know-How for Generic Production 
 
The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has granted a cost-free licence to three African generic producers &ndash; two in Kenya and one in South Africa &ndash; to produce a generic version of its AIDS drug Sequinavir. The drug is used in second-line treatment when resistance to first-line treatment has been developed. 
 
(Source Neue Z&uuml;rcher Zeitung, 23-24 September 2006)
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Namibia Up-scales ART 
 
The Namibian government expects to treat more than 30,000 HIV-positive people with antiretroviral drugs by the beginning of 2007. This will cover about 58 per cent of those requiring treatment. Under Namibia&rsquo;s treatment programme, which started in 2003, the number of deaths from AIDS-related illnesses has dropped from 3,627 in 2004 to 3,230 in 2005. 90 per cent of the people who have been receiving ARVs since the programme started in 2003 are still alive. 
The procurement of ARVs is mainly financed by PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. According to the WHO, Namibia is among the top countries to provide ARVs. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Website reprinted with permission from the Kaiser Family Foundation and GlobalHealthReporting.org) 
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Jamaica: Business Joins the Fight against HIV/AIDS 
 
19 private-sector companies committed to join the fight against HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination at the workplace, during the launch of the Jamaica Business Council on HIV/AIDS. The Council&rsquo;s mission also includes prevention and treatment strategies for the workplace. USAID and pharmaceutical company Merck provided USD 100,000 to set up the Council. No mention is made of the role of unions to fight HIV/AIDS at the workplace. 
 
About 25,000 Jamaicans are living with HIV/AIDS, equivalent to a prevalence rate of 1.5 per cent. 
 
(Source: The Jamaica Observer, 22 September) 
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Global Fund Considers Grant Requests 
 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced that its Technical Review Panel has recommended 85 requests for funding, worth a total of USD 949 million over the first two years of the grant period. This represent 43 per cent of all eligible proposals received by the Global Fund for the 6th Round, for which the deadline was 3 August. 
At present, only about USD 650 million is available for Round 6 grants. Proposals worth this amount will most likely be approved by the Board Meeting at the end of October, with the remaining USD 300 million worth of proposals being approved after adequate pledges are received in 2006 or 2007. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 64, 10 October &ndash; GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org)

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 13

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont 
General Sondhi Boonyaratglin 
 
Government House 
Pitsunalok Road 
Bangkok 10300 
Thailand&nbsp;
 
Brussels, 5 October 2006 
 
Dear General, 
Dear Prime Minister, 
 
Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, today, the ICEM Presidium, the policy setting body of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, demands the immediate and full restoration of civil rights and democratic freedoms in your country. 
 
The ICEM Presidium members see it as an important priority to lift the current martial law at once. In addition, elections need to be held as soon as possible. 
 
The restoration of fundamental human rights is a necessary and urgently needed first step so that your country can be put back on its route to democracy. As part of this, we call upon you to remove, without delay, the whole range of political restrictions that are currently in place, so that the situation for Thai citizens can be normalised. 
 
The ICEM is scheduled to hold its 4th World Congress in Bangkok next year, from 22 to 24 November 2007. 
 
Thanking you for your consideration. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary. 

Cc: Embassy of Thailand in Brussels

ICEM letter to Thailand interim government

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Trade union representatives from Sappi paper mills in Europe, South Africa, and the US gathered in La Roche, Belgium, 22-23 September, to discuss the South African-based company&rsquo;s European restructuring measures. This restructuring has already led to numerous &ndash; and sometimes massive &ndash; redundancies at several mills. 
 
The seminar, hosted jointly by the Belgian Unions ABVV/FGTB and ACV BI/CSC BI, was attended by representatives from both ICEM and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF). The two-day event primarily focused on Sappi&rsquo;s &ldquo;Project Everest,&rdquo; a restructuring programme announced in February 2006 for the company&rsquo;s European operations. Project Everest is aimed at improving the company&rsquo;s operating income by the end of 2007. 
 
Sappi workers&rsquo; representatives from Austria, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, and the UK, who currently face different stages of the restructuring, shared their experiences, while trade unionists from South Africa and the US added to the discussion by updating the participants on situations inside their mills. 
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Union participants in La Roche produced a joint letter from the Global Union Sappi Network to company Chairman Eugene van As, stating common concern over the company&rsquo;s cost-cutting measures. The letter says that the restructuring is potentially damaging not only to the company&rsquo;s workers, but also to the company itself. 
 
The letter requested clarification of management&rsquo;s development strategy for Sappi. The letter also asked van As to direct his reply to Pasco Dyani of ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa, who serves as Chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Sappi Union Network.

Sappi Trade Unionists Meet to Discuss Company’s European Restructuring

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An eleventh hour agreement was reached late on Saturday, 30 September, just hours before 800 Canadian members of United Steelworkers (USW) were set to strike the Highland Valley copper mine and operations near Kamloops, British Colombia. 
 
USW Local 7619 and the mine&rsquo;s owner, Teck Cominco, reached a tentative five-year labour agreement that will now be voted on by union members over the next week. The USW local issued a 72-hour strike notice on 26 September, and the Vancouver-based global mining house began shutting down operations in anticipation of a strike at the expiration of a prior agreement on 1 October. The tentative agreement came with the help of a provincial mediator. 
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The Highland Valley operation is Canada&rsquo;s largest copper producer and generates 1.2% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply, with roughly 80% headed to Asian manufacturers. 
 
In Eastern Canada, a strike by USW members at Inco&rsquo;s Voisey Bay nickel operations ended 23 September, after 120 workers ratified a new labour contract. The strike started on 28 July 2006. 
 
The accord gives Voisey Bay steelworkers a 15.5% raise over the three-year contract, as well as a retention bonus of C$6,000. It also allows the nickel miners to gain parity with unionised Inco miners in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.

Strike Averted at Canada’s Largest Copper Mine

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The ICEM is alarmed at the number and scope of mining accidents that have occurred during the month of September. The Global Union Federation calls on mining houses to undertake more thorough precautionary measures regarding safety and health inside their enterprises. A look at September&rsquo;s most public tragedies reveals that companies have compromised safety for greater production, spurred by the current high commodity pricing of natural resources. 
 
Mining accidents in September brought death to hundreds of miners in India, Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The death toll rose also in China&rsquo;s mining sector in September. In Australia, a contractor was killed inside a nickel mine; in New Zealand, ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) mourned the death of a coal miner on the South Island. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
 
India 
The catastrophe that struck deep inside a coal mine in India&rsquo;s eastern state of Jharkhand on 6 September is characteristic of countless accidents occurring in the mineral rich Dhanbad area which usually kill small numbers of miners regularly. Only this time, at the Bhatdih mine of state-owned Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., 54 miners died. The tragic accident occurred when methane gas caused a tremendous explosion some 460 metres underground. Miners, associated to ICEM-affiliated Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF), had plumbed to that level to extricate coal from a pit known as the 17th Incline. 
 
Over 5,000 miners and family members gathered at the Bhatdih mine site, and were upset by management&rsquo;s failure to check gas levels or other safety hazards at regular intervals. INMF President Rajendra Prasad Singh, arrived at the site immediately, together with other trade union accidents. He demanded for a high-level commission to be established to investigate the causes and identify the persons responsible. 
 
Brother Singh stated that management must be held accountable. He also criticised management&rsquo;s practice of not going underground for testing and safety checks. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
 
Ukraine 
In the Ukraine, a series of coal-mining accidents across mid-September claimed 17 miners&rsquo; lives in the eastern Donetsk region. The worst was at the Zasyadko mine, where 13 workers either suffocated or died instantly due to a gas explosion 1,300 metres underground. That tragedy occurred 20 September when 400 miners were deep in Zasyadko&rsquo;s mine shafts. Sixty-one other miners were seriously injured. 
Ukraine's Independent Industrial Trade Union of Miners, an ICEM affiliate, had one of its members killed and another injured in the accident. The union's President Michael Volynets is part of the investigation team. 
 
The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) made a decision at its presidium to provide financial assistance to the families of the deceased in the Zasyadko tragedy. FPU has also called on member organisations to do the same. 
 
On the same day, at the Dobropilka coal mine in the same area, three workers died of gas poisoning. They were found 450 metres down, after they had been granted permission to stop work and return to the surface because of high gas levels. On 21 September, a Ukrainian miner was crushed in a rock fall in Kirovska. Gas inhalation caused seriously trauma and injury to three miners inside the Fominske mine also on the same day. 
 
Energy markets are partly to blame for the deadly coal-mining accidents in Ukraine, numbering 133 to date this year. The country suffers from rapidly escalating natural gas prices, and the government has ordered coal production to increase by one-third or 80 million tonnes, by 2007. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" /> 
 
Russia 
The mine tragedy in Russia&rsquo;s Chita region of Siberia on 7 September was different, but no less tragic. Twenty-five miners died inside a gold mine operated by London-based Highland Gold Mining, owner of several gold mines in Russia&rsquo;s Far East. The cause of the deaths inside the 105-year-old Darasun mine was a fire. Wooden supports are believed to have caught fire during welding. 
 
What marks this negligence was that the company had no evacuation plan in place, a ventilation system was old and decrepit, and the last notation in a safety logbook was dated May 2006, according to BBC. &ldquo;Many foreign companies, in order to increase their value &hellip; economise when it comes to observing industrial safety rules,&rdquo; stated a Russian official from the Natural Resources Inspectorate in another published report. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
 
Kazakhstan 
In Kazakhstan, a 20 September methane explosion killing 41 in a colliery owned by Arcelor Mittal Steel turned into a full-fledged labour dispute over the course of last week. The blast occurred at the Lenin mine in the Karaganda region of the central Asian country, as 374 were working inside. The preliminary cause of the blast, determined by the Kazakh Minister of Emergency Situations, was the result of negligence and breach of safety rules. 
 
&ldquo;The cause is a lack of organisation and coordination in the operations of (maintenance),&rdquo; stated Minister Shalbai Kulmakhanov. It has been determined that ventilation pipes were being repaired when the explosion rocked the mine 560 metres underground. 
 
Six days after the disaster, coal miners struck for better working conditions and higher wages to compensate the dangerous work they do. By Friday, 29 September, they were joined by all 24,500 miners of the eight Kazakh collieries owned by Arcelor Mittal, the world&rsquo;s largest steelmaking concern. By week&rsquo;s end, 30 September, many steelworkers and iron ore miners of the India-based company &ndash; some 6,000 in total &ndash; joined the coal miners in a government-sanctioned rally at the headquarters of the company in the city of Termirtau. 
<img height="50" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
 
New Zealand 
In New Zealand on 8 September, 47-year-old Bernard Green, an EPMU member, was crushed to death when a shaft collapsed 800 metres underground near the town of Blackball on the South Island&rsquo;s west coast. He was employed by Roa Mines, a private NZ coal company. 
 
His death prompted the EPMU to reassert a longstanding call for a return of &ldquo;check inspectors&rdquo; in the country&rsquo;s mining industry. Check inspectors are rank-and-file workers who are trained in safety procedures and who go down with miners at each and every shift. 
 
&ldquo;Check inspectors are health and safety people who are elected by the workers,&rdquo; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. &ldquo;They make sure the worksite is safe, the guys have the right equipment, and the right procedures are being followed.&rdquo; 
 
Little added, &ldquo;Anything that minimises the danger must be pursued, and check inspectors are a good start. This is a very important issue for our guys, and we&rsquo;re going to make sure their voices are heard at the highest levels.&rdquo; The positions were eliminated with the reform of NZ&rsquo;s Health and Safety in Employment Act. 
<img height="50" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
 
Australia 
In West Australia on 22 September, a contract worker was crushed to death by falling rocks inside a nickel mine owned by Consolidated Minerals Ltd. This occurred at the Kimbalda Beta Hunt mine. The 43-year-old victim, an airleg operator, had been working there for two-and-a-half years.

September’s Global Mine Tragedies Bring Concern to All

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ICEM Argentinean affiliate Sindicato &Uacute;nico de Trabajadores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentino (SUTNA) signed a historic agreement recently with the employers&rsquo; association for the rubber sector in the country. 
 
In a SUTNA publication, General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko expressed his satisfaction as, for the first time in 31 years, the union managed to reach an agreement for the entire sector. In addition to detailed salary benchmarks, the agreement contains language on a large number of positive accomplishments, including the establishment of health and safety committees, anti-discrimination measures, a 25% retirement bonus, and, perhaps most importantly, the elimination of subcontracting in the production process. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Specific salary increases were agreed for several different companies, including Pirelli, Bridgestone&rsquo;s Firestone division, and FATE S.A.I.C.I., the Argentine tyre producer. The collective agreement not only states a percentage level for basic and average salary increases at different companies, but also sets minimum salaries for the entire rubber sector. The agreement is binding on any new company that might enter Argentina&rsquo;s rubber sector. 
 
Regrettably, despite achieving the excellent labour agreement, a major problem with a tyre manufacturer occurred almost immediately: F&aacute;brica Neum&aacute;ticos de Avanzada, a company in C&oacute;rdoba, Argentina, making competition tyres, began to dismiss workers for no other reason than that they had become SUTNA members. The conflict, a clear violation of the recently signed agreement, has seen 25 workers at the plant getting the sack thus far. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Argentinean rubber affiliate cited &ldquo;union discrimination&rdquo; as the reason behind the sackings, because management had been attempting to set up a company union in the plant. SUTNA has staged a strike at the plant, and organised a 200-worker march from the worksite to the provincial Ministry of Work in C&oacute;rdoba. 
 
SUTNA succinctly stated: &ldquo;The conflict in C&oacute;rdoba continues.

SUTNA Signs Argentinean Master Rubber Contract, But Problem Company Persists

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Following mass meetings by members of UK&rsquo;s Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (TGWU) and two other unions, Amicus and GMB, on 27 and 28 September, workers at Imerys&rsquo; English China Clay operations in South West England have given union leaders a mandate to ballot membership for industrial action in the coming months. 
The reasons cited include an extremely tight-fisted redundancy package, and the refusal by the Paris-based company to seriously address job retention and job creation opportunities in the face of Imerys&rsquo; July announcement to cut some 40% of 2,000 jobs in the UK. 
<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="62" alt="" src="" width="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="70" alt="" src="" width="70" />
TGWU and the company have held several statutory consultation meetings since the July announcement, during which the company&rsquo;s intransigence in producing a fair redundancy package became clear. Another consultation session is scheduled for today, 2 October. The 90-day consultation period ends on 5 October. Amicus and GMB, which represent smaller numbers of Imerys workers, have also been part of the discussions. 
At a session in mid-September, the company presented what it called its final offer. The offer of ₤13,500 for the average worker (age 46) barely exceeds the statutory requirement, which is considered exceedingly low by most standards. Imerys also insists on capping the redundancy package at 20 years of service. Many workers in the South West have upwards of 40 years of service. 
 
&ldquo;Imerys has failed to negotiate meaningfully with the unions on redundancies,&rdquo; said TGWU National Secretary Jennie Formby. &ldquo;It also has been extremely callous in its regard for the livelihoods of workers, as well as to the communities of the South West as a whole.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM is actively engaged in building a global trade union network of Imerys workers in preparation for possible industrial action. A meeting in Brussels on 25 September with union leaders from the UK and the F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Force Ouvri&egrave;re (FO) Mat&eacute;riaux, C&eacute;ramique, and Thermique, the major union in France inside Imerys, produced genuine vows of solidarity.

Imerys’ Attitude Could Bring Industrial Balloting in UK’s Cornwall Region

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on, among other items, the progress made in Nigeria on Canadian CEP&rsquo;s donor work, on the work of a new ILO instrument on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and on PEPFAR, the US President&rsquo;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Progress in Nigeria 
 
In the May issue of the e-bulletin, we gave a summary of programmes planned in 2009 in target countries. We will continue to inform you on the progress and report on implemented activities in selected countries. 
 
In Nigeria, ICEM oil and gas workers&rsquo; affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have continued their successful HIV/AIDS work, which started more than two years ago. The project has seen a tremendous boost in the uptake of voluntary and confidential counselling and testing in major worksites. The project is co-sponsored by the Humanity Fund of the ICEM&rsquo;s Canadian affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union, the Nigerian affiliates themselves, and the ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS project. Additional support was received from the Nigeria branch of the international NGO, SMARTWork of the US Academy for Educational Development. 

<img src="" width="220" height="147" alt="" />
More than 150 workers attended sensitisation meetings and advocacy for voluntary counselling and testing at Engine Lubricant Dealers in Lagos and at the KRPC Depot in Kaduna in April. The meetings were conducted by peer educators and counsellors trained in the ICEM project in Nigeria. 
 
A major new activity was practical training exercises for peer educators and counsellors, an activity first conducted in May at the NNPC/PPMC Satellite Petroleum Product Depot in Ejigbo, Lagos State. Professional counsellors assisted eight unionists in counselling services and close to 300 people went for testing. The activity was carried out in close cooperation with the Nigeria Business Coalition against AIDS. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
International Labour Conference Discusses New HIV/AIDS Instrument 
 
Discussions have commenced at the 98th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), the annual conference of the ILO, with a view to adopt a new instrument on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
According to Sophia Kisting, Director of ILO/AIDS, the new instrument should help to establish a basis for an institutional tripartite presence within national AIDS authorities; better coordinate ILO action on HIV/AIDS in the world of work and combat discrimination; improve monitoring and reporting and strengthen the contribution of the workplace to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. 
 
While the ILO Governing Body, in March 2007, put the item on the agenda of the ILC with a view to the adoption of an Autonomous Recommendation, workers&rsquo; delegates and some governments are strongly in favour of adopting a more binding instrument &ndash; a Convention. 
 
Discussions in the HIV/AIDS Committee of the ILC take place on the basis of a report reflecting the views of the constituents. Based on these discussions and further consultations, a draft text will be prepared for consideration and final adoption at the 99th session of the ILC in June 2010. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
PEPFAR Head Nominated 
 
US President Barrack Obama&rsquo;s choice of Eric Goosby as Global AIDS Coordinator for the President&rsquo;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was welcomed by a number of organisations. Goosby has more than 25 years of experience working on HIV/AIDS issues and served in leading positions during the Clinton administration. 
 
The US AIDS Healthcare Foundation has, however, chided Obama that he proposed only US$6.6 billion in 2010, while just last year &ndash; as a US Senator from Illinois &ndash; he had voted for US$9.6 billion in annual funding for PEPFAR. The President&rsquo;s Global Health Initiative foresees investments of US$63 billion cumulative over six years to 2014 of which 70 percent or US$44 billion are earmarked for PEPFAR. 
 
(Source: Lab Law Weekly, 15 May, South African Broadcasting Corporation - Reuters, 28 April and White House Press Release, 5 May) 

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India: Sexuality Minorities Organising 
 
Sexuality minorities in India are planning to mobilise themselves in a trade union to ask for fair wages for their work in HIV/AIDS awareness programmes that are funded by the government and various supporting agencies across the states. 
 
A public meeting organised by the Karnataka Sexuality Minority Forum in Bangalore discussed the need for fair wages and benefits for peer educators in accordance with the labour laws of the country. A representative of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) urged them to organise a trade union for their cause. There is a big gap in wages between those in the top rungs of the HIV/AIDS programmes and volunteers who earn as little as INR 1,500 (about US$30). 
 
(Source: The Hindu, 4 June) 
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Sex Workers in Pakistan on HIV Prevention 
 
Although the recorded HIV prevalence in Pakistan is relatively low, health officials are concerned that a concentrated epidemic of the virus among injection drug users could carry over to commercial sex workers and other high risk groups in the country. To address the issue, the National AIDS Control Program and the United Nations Population Fund recently held a meeting, called the National Consultation on HIV and Sex Work, in an effort to improve HIV prevention efforts targeted at sex workers by consulting with workers in the field. 
 
Sex workers at the meeting made various recommendations, including HIV testing, referrals, and increased efforts to decrease stigma. Pakistan&rsquo;s Ministry of Health reports that female sex workers were at a high risk of HIV. A survey of 4,639 female sex workers found that less than 25% reported condom use. A female sex worker at the meeting said, &quot;It is very hard for us to convince partners to put on a condom, but I feel that a female condom would put us in a position where we can protect ourselves against HIV and sexually transmitted infections.&quot; 
 
She added that female condoms are not widely available. Legalizing sex work would make it easier for sex workers to protect their rights, another female sex worker at the conference said. 
 
(Source: IRIN/PlusNews, 19 May, reprinted from <a href="http://www.kaisernetwork.org">www.kaisernetwork.org</a>) 

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Women at Risk in the Caribbean 
 
An increasing number of women living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean face stigma, discrimination, and gender-based violence that is linked to the spread of the disease. UNAIDS reports that women overall now account for half of the population living with HIV in the Caribbean, compared with 30% in 1999. Women, ages 15 to 24, account for 62% of the entire HIV-positive population in the Caribbean. 
 
The Dominican Republic and Haiti, which make up the island of Hispaniola, have some of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the region, according to UNAIDS. Women account for 51% of the 60,000 HIV-positive people in the Dominican Republic, while they account for 60% of the 120,000 HIV-positive people in Haiti. Myrna Flores Chian &ndash; head of the gender rights program of Profamilia, a nongovernmental organization involved in reproductive rights efforts in the Dominican Republic &ndash; stated, &quot;There are physiological factors that put women and girls at greater risk of infection in unprotected sexual relations.&quot; 
 
She added that &quot;the feminization of AIDS is due above all to social discrimination, gender inequality, and lack of empowerment for women.&quot; She went on to say that gender violence and women's inability to negotiate condom use with partners or other conditions are directly linked to the spread of HIV. 
 
(Source: Inter Press Service, 11 May) 

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News from the Global Union Federations 
 
The fortnightly HIV/AIDS update of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) of 15 April reports, among other items, on a new partnership project, designed to put HIV awareness on the seafaring agenda. The group &ndash; called the Global Partnership on HIV and Mobile Workers in the Maritime Sector &ndash; brings together representatives from eight organisations, including the United Nations, non-governmental organisations, unions, and employers (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>). 

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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 45 June 2009

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