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Changes to Germany's industrial democracy laws took effect this Saturday. 
 
The new measures update the &quot;workplace constitution&quot;, a pillar of Germany's co-determination system (Mitbestimmung). The reforms will strengthen the country's works councils by bringing them more into line with present-day industrial realities. The changes, which had faced stiff opposition from employers at various stages, have been largely welcomed by the unions. 
 
The updated law is &quot;an important step towards more co-determination, even though not all of the unions' wishes were fulfilled,&quot; said Hubertus Schmoldt. He is the President of the German mining, chemical and energy union IG BCE. Co-determination has helped to ensure &quot;social peace and economic success&quot; in Germany, he pointed out. It has thus become &quot;a substantial advantage for the Federal Republic as an industrial location.&quot; 
 
Works councillors, who are elected by all employees of a workplace, are one of two complementary types of worker representative in Germany. The other is the union reps, who are elected by union members only. The trade unions conclude regional collective agreements for each industry and decide on any industrial action. The works councils have strong information and co-determination rights within each enterprise. This means that their agreement is needed for a range of important decisions. They are responsible for supervising the implementation of the unions' collective agreements in the workplace. This can cover various issues, such as the way in which worktime cuts are applied, or the payment of certain bonuses. Unions put up their own lists of candidates for the works councils. In practice, most works councillors have been, or are, union reps. Once elected, they remain in close touch with the union. 
 
The legislation on works councils dates back to 1972. In the meantime, German industry has seen a number of far-reaching changes. New technologies have altered working patterns, and the number of &quot;white-collar&quot; employees now exceeds the &quot;blue-collars&quot;. Mergers, hive-offs and outsourcing have drastically altered the structures of many big German firms. Globalisation and European integration have changed the context in which German industry operates. For all these reasons, workplace-level co-determination was being eroded and the legislation needed an overhaul. In fact, some of the legal changes reflect what was already happening in practice in the better workplaces. 
 
The main changes under the new law are: 
 
- More scope for negotiating the creation of works councils at the level where decisions are actually taken. According to circumstances, works councils can be company-wide, or based on a company subdisiary or product division. 
 
- Provisions to ensure that, when firms merge or demerge, the works councils based on the old company structure can continue to function, for a maximum of six months, until new ones are elected. 
 
- Removal of various bureaucratic hindrances to the creation of works councils. 
 
- Involvement of temporary or subcontracted workers in the election and running of works councils. 
 
- More works councillors. The number of works councillors entitled to paid full-time or part-time leave to carry out their duties depends on the number of employees in the firm. The new law lowers many of the thresholds. For instance, a firm with 500 employees was previously required to have 9 works councillors. Now, it will have 11. 
 
- Improved information and decision-making rights for the works councils on employment protection and skills formation. Works councils will have the right to propose employment promotion measures. 
 
- Tighter obligations on employers to place experts at the works councils' disposal for information purposes. 
 
- Stronger job security for works councillors. To dismiss a works councillor, an employer already needed the permission of the works council. Similar provisions now apply to the transfer of employees who are works councillors. 
 
- Environmental protection at the workplace level is now included in the list of tasks for works councils. This implies wide-ranging rights of information and consultation on a firm's environmental policies. 
 
- Greater sexual equality. From now on, whichever sex is in the minority in the workplace must legally have a proportion of works councillors at least equal to the percentage of workers of that gender within the workforce. This rule is expected to increase the number of women works councillors, and measures are being taken to reduce the out-of-hours work commitments required of works councillors. Works councils have now also been given the right to propose career promotion plans for women and to have these incorporated into companies' personnel policies. 
 
- More involvement of young workers and apprentices in works councils. From now on, works councils can apply for apprentices to be given full employment contracts. 
 
- Combating racism and xenophobia in the workplace is added to works councils' tasks. They receive the right to oppose the hiring or transfer of employees who incite race hatred, and to apply for the removal of employees who engage in such activities. 
 
&quot;Globalisation makes it all the more necessary to strengthen co-determination,&quot; IG BCE President Hubertus Schmoldt pointed out. He is also Vice-President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The globalisation process offers great opportunities,&quot; Schmoldt said. &quot;But structural disruption has to be cushioned and overcome in a socially acceptable way. For this, co-determination is a vital prerequisite.&quot;

German Works Councils Strengthened

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The ICEM Latin American and Caribbean Regional Committee met on 28 June in Recife in Northeastern Brazil. The meeting was preceded by a one-day meeting on contract and agency labour (CAL). It was likewise followed by the 6th Statutory Congress of CNQ/CUT, the CUT chemical union. 
 
The workshop was attended by ICEM affiliates from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay. They spoke about how CAL is being used to undermine trade unions, for example in Sintracarb&oacute;n in Colombia where trade union activists are being transferred from permanent positions into what are known as &lsquo;rubbish contracts&rsquo;. Affiliates also spoke about the problems of triangular employment relationships, with CAL workers not being clear on who is ultimately responsible for their working conditions. 
 
Participants exchanged information on the increasing efforts being made to halt the outsourcing of employment and abusive use of short-term contracts. The ICEM is working to create networks to facilitate ongoing exchange of experience and information between affiliates. Affiliates shared how their unions are integrating CAL issues in their policy development, and how they are exploring new ways of organising CAL workers. The Brazilian Petrobras union reported how two-thirds of the company&rsquo;s workforce is employed on short-term contracts or through employment agencies, but how the union had succeeded in getting the company to establish a fund to protect these workers against unemployment. 
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Manfred Warda and the project coordinators from left to right: Sergio Novais, ICEM Regional Vice-President, Ashling Seely, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, Marilane Oliveira Teixeira, Patricio Sambonino, Rosane Sasse, Elias Soares 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda closed the meeting, saying that Governments must be made aware that ILO Conventions apply equally to contract and agency workers, and that where there are obstacles to full rights for CAL workers these should be tackled with legal actions. Warda also spoke about the need to work against the practices of the World Bank and the IFC, organisations which are still advising governments that they need to create what they call more &lsquo;flexible&rsquo; labour markets. Warda concluded by calling on participants to inform the ICEM when there are CAL-related problems with companies. 
 
The regional committee meeting evaluated the activities carried out in the region since 2008 on the basis of the strategic plan drawn up in Uruguay. Three new unions were also ratified as new affiliates. The ICEM General Secretary spoke to the meeting about the ongoing effects of the global financial crisis, especially in Europe. He also updated the group on the talks with other GUF&rsquo;s on cooperation and building new international structures.

ICEM Regional Committee, CAL Workshop Meet in Recife, Brazil

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The ICEM Colombian affiliate, USO (Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera) has again been targeted with an assassination of one of their activists. Nelson Camacho Gonz&aacute;lez was shot repeatedly by hired killers on motorbikes, 16 June, as he waited at a bus stop for his bus to work. 
 
This murder is the latest in the ongoing violent persecution of the oil workers union, as USO activists are involved in collective struggles with the multinational British Petroleum in Casanare, with Ecopetrol and with TGI (Transportadora de Gas del Interior). 
 
The murder occurred three days after another trade union activist was assassinated, Ibio Efr&eacute;n Caicedo, on 19 June. The trade unionist from the Antioquia Teachers&rsquo; Association (ADIDA) was the seventh unionised teacher to be murdered in 2010 in the Antioquia region, northern Colombia. He was killed the day before the presidential elections in the country. 
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The total number of trade unionists assassinated in Colombia in 2010 is 32. As was recently reported by ICEM, in 2009 there were 101 trade unionists murdered around the world, 48 of them in Colombia. Nearly 3,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia in the last 24 years. When Uribe hands power to President-elect Juan Maunel Santos, his legacy will be 529 union leaders killed while conducting collective bargaining, with the hired killers from paramilitary groups acting with impunity. 
 
The ICEM joins USO in calling for a full investigation into this latest crime, to be lead by Colombia&rsquo;s Attorney General. 
 
These killings occurred four weeks after the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on the Application of Standards removed Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses. The surprising decision to remove the most dangerous country for trade unionists from the list was passed on the condition that a high level tripartite ILO delegation to Colombia would take place. The mission was in Bogot&aacute; 6-9 July, conducting a series of meetings with government, employers, and workers. 
 
The delegation took part in numerous meetings with workers rallying outside. Last Wednesday, 7 July, as the delegation met with the Colombian Ministry of Social Protection, hundreds of workers outside chanted slogans such as &ldquo;down with the repressive policies of the Uribe government and the Ministry of Social Protection!&rdquo;. The rally was, as is the norm, under constant intimidation by the notorious ESMAD riot police. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda expressed anger and grief, on behalf of all ICEM affiliates, in a letter to USO President Germ&aacute;n Osman this week.

USO Activist Murdered, ILO Delegation Arrives in Colombia

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Labour, management, and the Liberian government celebrated the signing on 28 June of the second collective agreement between ICEM-affiliated Firestone Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Union (FAWUL) and Firestone Rubber Plantation. Some 4,500 workers and their families will again benefit when the two-year contract takes effect in December 2010. 
 
The ever-evolving labour-management relationship between FAWUL and Firestone is fast becoming a showcase in modern industrial relations for the administration of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 
<img alt="" src="" width="350" height="262" />
Labour Minister Taiworn Gongloe stated at the celebration that the social relationship &ldquo;has broken from the past,&rdquo; and thanks to enlightened leadership coming from the President, the rights of workers and the interests of the company both are now guaranteed. Added Firestone Managing Director Charles Stuart, &ldquo;What we're celebrating here is the result of management and employees working in a peaceful and respectful manner. Without you we are nothing and together, anything can happen.&rdquo; 
 
It was only a short three years ago that FAWUL was fighting the last vestiges of an illegitimate yellow union that had been propped up by Firestone management for decades. Following free and open elections, and an ambitious years-long union-building project by the US-based United Steelworkers (USW), FAWUL won union certification in 2007. (See ICEM reports <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2511-ICEM-Calls-on-Liberia-to-Recognise-Correct-Trade-Union-at-Firestone-Rubber-Plantation ">here</a> and <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2526-ICEM-Welcomes-Liberia's-Certification-of-Legitimate-Firestone-Union ">here</a>.) 
 
A year later, on 27 July, FAWUL won its first collective agreement, giving workers a 24% pay increase backdated 19 months, reducing a quota system on tapping natural rubber from trees, and granting new schools and free tuition for the sons and daughters of workers. 
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This second contract goes further: a 3.5% wage increase, the construction of more schools and school transportation, and perhaps the most important gain, a mechanized transport system to haul the rubber latex to weigh stations. For decades, workers had to haul 150-pound buckets of rubber sometimes miles on their shoulders to the stations. 
 
FAWUL Secretary-General Edwin Cisco said the months long bargaining was hard and arduous, but that a &ldquo;new day of social dialogue between management and workers has begun and the days of confrontation and agitation are over.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;This is a major success story in so many ways,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, &ldquo;and we should never lose sight of the fact that the Steelworkers Union of America did the hard and difficult work up front to make it happen. We commend the workers, FAWUL leadership, and Firestone Rubber management, and see a long, productive, and precedent-setting relationship unfolding inside Liberia.&rdquo;

FAWUL, Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia Sign Second Two-Year Pact

On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion on the drilling rig &quot;Deepwater Horizon&quot;. 
 
Eleven oil workers were killed. Two days later the rig sank in an ocean of fire. Oil is flowing completely uncontrolled and is still doing so after almost two months. 
 
We do not know what caused the blow out. The ICEM-IMF-ITGLWF Sustainability conference will however declare that: 
 
1) an independent and open inquiry must be held, and trade unions should be granted full insight in the process; 
 
2) at all times the responsibility rest solely on the operator; 
 
3) blow out prevention (BOP) systems should have remote control capabilities, for instance acoustic signal actuators, in addition to traditional BOP controls; 
 
4) when working in new areas, deep water, and other special conditions, it must be demanded that more than one rig be present in the area to ensure safer evacuation in case of an emergency and to be able to start drilling a relief well in case of a blowout. Two months after the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a catastrophic disaster that the drilling of a relief well had not been started; 
 
5) sufficient and effective oil booms and/or other means to collect oil spillage must be available or in place in all areas where offshore drilling takes place; 
 
6) the demands of deregulation must be reversed. More regulations are needed and the &quot;best available technology&quot; must be demanded, at least in all new and challenging areas.

Global Governance Includes Better Governance of Oil Companies

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Today, International Women&rsquo;s Day, was marked in Geneva with a large demonstration at plaine de Plainpalais, between 12pm and 2pm. The ICEM, along with other Geneva-based Global Union Federations turned out in support. 
 
The manifestation, organized by ICEM&rsquo;s Swiss affiliate UNIA, protested the issues of raising the retirement age of women, fighting for gender equality on wages, the effective application of equality legislation, protesting against the proposed lengthening, in Switzerland, of opening hours of shops, this sector employs more women than men. 

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Today&rsquo;s action will be followed by a national Women&rsquo;s March in Bern on Saturday 13 March. Saturday&rsquo;s march is again organized by UNIA, pick up from Geneva will be 10am from Place des 22 cantons. Call the UNIA Secretariat at +41 22 949 1200 to sign up to Saturday&rsquo;s action. 
 
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has recently published a report &ldquo;An examination of the factors influencing women&rsquo;s decisions for work&rdquo;, view that document <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-report-decisions-for-work.html ">here</a>. 
 
Visit the official website of International Women&rsquo;s Day <a href="http://www.internationalwomensday.com/default.asp ">here</a>, to see what actions are being organized in your home country.

Geneva Marks International Women’s Day

ICEM International Women’s Day Bulletin: 8 March 2010 / Boletín de la ICEM

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The 30,000 technical and professional employees of PEMEX, Mexico&rsquo;s large state-owned petroleum company, finally won the right to unionize upon their third attempt. The new union, &ldquo;Uni&oacute;n Nacional de T&eacute;cnicos y Profesionistas Petroleros&rdquo; (UNTyPP), received its registration on 16 December, and its leadership was officially recognized for the period beginning 18 March, 2008 through 17 March, 2012. The first two attempts at unionization (ONTCIP and UNTCIP) were denied registration by the government and the leaders fired. 
 
Following the successful court battle, culminating in registration from the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare&rsquo;s office for the Registration of Associations (STPS), members of the new union were informed by company management that in order to retain their jobs they were required to sign two documents, one calling for the cancellation of the registration and the other a resignation from the union. 
 
Those who refused, along with organisers of the UNTyPP, were fired and violently removed from their workstations by paramilitaries, including the entire National Executive Committee of the union1. These workers must be immediately reinstated, and their rights respected under both Mexican and International law. PEMEX is also being urged by the international labour movement to accept union calls to come to the bargaining table and establish a working relationship with them. 
 
UNTyPP organisers have faced continued intimidation and threats throughout their campaign for registration. 
 
PEMEX is the 10th largest oil company in the world, and is the sole supplier of all commercial petrol and diesel stations in Mexico. Annual company revenue is US$78 billion. 
 
Visit the Labourstart site to write to President Calder&oacute;n and the PEMEX management, condemn the violations of labour and human rights of members and officers of the new UNTyPP trade union.

Mexican PEMEX Workers Win Registration for New Union, Face Continued Repression

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the results of the questionnaires on strength and weaknesses of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project; on treatment in earthquake devastated Haiti; and the call for union participation in the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, in July 2010. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are 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. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Annual Questionnaires Reveal Strength of ICEM HIV/AIDS Project 
 
Last year, the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project introduced year-end questionnaires in addition to the reporting of activities. The objective was to better assess the results compared to the objectives and to find out more about success stories and difficulties encountered in project implementation. 
 
The questionnaires show an increased focus not only on training of peer educators and counsellors but also their deployment in follow-up activities which reach more and more workers, their families, and the community. They also reveal more cooperation with employers, NGOs, and service providers. VCT campaigns in some countries were an overwhelming success, revealing how much can be done by unions when government agencies fail to respond. 
 
The introduction of a small budget allocation for material production was well accepted with the result that ICEM affiliates in the majority of project countries now have their own leaflets for use in awareness and prevention work. 
 
Difficulties encountered included the lack of time off granted by employers for peer educators to perform their duties and for meetings during working time; the lack of incentives for peer educators; the lack of resources to produce more campaign material and inadequate resources to cover more workplaces, especially in countries with a poor infrastructure and failing transport systems. 
 
What is still lacking, with a few exceptions, is the negotiation of HIV/AIDS workplace policies or collective bargaining agreements with HIV/AIDS clauses. In almost all countries, there is at least one employer with good practices on dealing with HIV/AIDS. Unions must become more active to build on good practices in their own country or in countries of a region to convince employers, who are lagging behind, to do more in the field of HIV/AIDS. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Global Union AIDS Programme Calls for Union Participation at the International AIDS Conference 
 
The Global Union AIDS Programme (GUAP) has called on Global Union Federations (GUFs) to sponsor unionists to participate in the International AIDS Conference (IAC), Vienna, Austria, 19 &ndash;23 July 2010. 
 
The last IAC took place in Mexico City in August 2008, and several GUF representatives attended the Conference, as well as the two-day Labour Forum. As a result of their participation and the efforts of ILO/AIDS, GUAP made significant progress in securing recognition of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and ensuring that the world of work was on the agenda. 
 
In Vienna, GUAP needs to do even better. The year 2010 is a significant year for the global HIV/AIDS response and for the world of work in particular. This year is the target year for the G8 commitment to achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care made in 2005, and for achieving the second target of Millennium Development Goal 6, universal access to treatment. What is more, the new ILO instrument on HIV/AIDS in the world of work will be discussed and hopefully adopted at the International Labour Conference in June. The IAC will be an important forum to disseminate the instrument, explain its significance, and promote its use 
 
GUAP calls on GUFs to earmark funds to enable representatives to participate in the IAC so that labour&rsquo;s voice will be heard. 
 
(Source: GUAP Circular, 2 February) 
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Combating AIDS through Workplace Action in Uganda 
 
TUC Aid &ndash; the development arm of the British trade union movement &ndash; is working in partnership with the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) in Uganda in a two-year workplace initiative to combat AIDS. The activities planned for the second half of 2009, under the Workers' AIDS Project (WAP) launched in July 2009, with a view to reducing stigma and discrimination associated with workers living with HIV/AIDS and negotiating for treatment, care, and support for such workers through collective bargaining arrangements with employers were successfully completed. 
 
The Project, funded by the Bill Morris Testimonial Fund for HIV/AIDS in Africa through TUC Aid, has contributed to greater awareness of risks of infection and of the potential for effective action through workplace. 
 
(Source: TUC website <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk">www.tuc.org.uk</a>, with contribution from Robert E. Lovelace, GUAP HIV/AIDS Consultant, Washington, D.C.) 
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Global Fund Ensures AIDS Treatment in Haiti 
 
As Haiti begins the process to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake that hit on 12 January, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is focusing its effort to ensure that the thousands of people living with AIDS will be able to access the drugs they need to stay alive. 
 
Haiti has the highest HIV infection rate outside southern Africa, and 36,000 people are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment to stay healthy, 13,000 of these depend on programmes financed by the Global Fund. With many health centres destroyed and health workers killed, people moving away from their home areas and with transport difficult, there is an acute danger that many people will run out of the drugs they need. This would not only lead to many deaths, but the disruption of treatment would also lead to a high chance of drug resistance among those who stop and start their treatment. 
 
The Global Fund is making an emergency provision of US$800,000 for a supply of six months of stocks of antiretroviral medicines. The Global Fund is working closely with the U.S. President&rsquo;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and UNAIDS to ensure an uninterrupted flow of life-saving AIDS medicines to these patients. 
 
(Source: Global Fund website) 

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ILO Announces Strategy to Fight the Pandemic in Ghana 
 
Over a period of two years, the ILO/AIDS Workplace Programme will train about 195 senior officers from 20 trades associations on the removal of stigmatization and discrimination at the workplace, reaching out to more than 55,400 vulnerable people in the informal economy. In addition, 390 Peer Educators will be trained to assist some 100 companies with formulating and implementing HIV/AIDS workplace policies. The programme will also distribute two million condoms. 
 
Mrs. Akua Ofori-Asumadu, ILO/AIDS Workplace HIV National Programme Co-ordinator, announced this at the ILO/HIV and AIDS Programme Advisory Board meeting in Accra, which was attended by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Ghana AIDS Commission, Ghana Employers Association, Ghana Business Coalition against AIDS, and Ghana Trades Union Congress. 
 
She also said that the programme would develop kits and user guides necessary for workplace representatives to build comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programmes. 
 
(Source: Ghana News Agency, posted on <a href="http://www.peacefmonline.com">www.peacefmonline.com</a> on 13 January) 

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Lack of Resources Could Undermine HIV Response in Pakistan 
 
Pakistan&rsquo;s capacity to effectively respond to the HIV epidemic could be hindered due to the lack of resources to implement its National Strategic Framework. A priority is to address the increasing levels of HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs). 
 
Despite having an HIV prevalence rate of less than 0.1% among its general population, Pakistan&rsquo;s HIV epidemic has transitioned from low to a concentrated one, as the prevalence among IDUs has steadily increased from 10.8% in 2005 to nearly 21% in 2008. 
 
Following the model seen in other countries in Asia, also known as the Asian Epidemic Model, the epidemic in Pakistan is characterised by high prevalence among IDUs and potential spill-over into other risk populations such as commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men. 
 
Lack of financial resources and constraints in the health infrastructure could jeopardise an effective and timely response. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>, Feature Stories, posted 5 February) 

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Spotlight on the Middle East and North Africa 
 
The HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, while seldom highlighted, is steadily growing. In 2008, there were an estimated 310,000 people living with HIV, up from 200,000 in 2001. Approximately 35,000 people became newly infected. 
 
Stigma and discrimination remain key barriers to an effective regional response. In many countries, the criminalisation of higher risk behaviours pushes affected communities, such as men who have sex with men, underground thereby limiting access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care and support services. 
 
UNAIDS works closely with government and civil society partners in the region to advocate the removal of punitive laws and policies that block an effective response. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>, Feature Stories, posted 27 January) 

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Zimbabwe: HIV-positive People Want Constitutional Rights 
 
AIDS activists in Zimbabwe have launched a major drive to ensure that the rights of people living with HIV are enshrined in the new constitution. 
 
The Global Political Agreement, signed in September 2008 between Zimbabwe's political rivals, which gave rise to the coalition government in February 2009, includes writing the new constitution expected to be introduced in 2010. 
 
The Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (ZNPP+) and the Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS), a regional non-profit AIDS organisation, call for a meaningful involvement of HIV-positive people in the constitution-making process. They note that the current constitution did not have any explicit reference to the right to healthcare and was &quot;silent on HIV.&rdquo; 
 
SAFAIDS and ZNNP+ are calling for a bill of rights that would promote better access to health services. The estimated two million people who are living with HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe, one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, have never before been actively involved in such legislation. 
 
(Source: PlusNews, 4 February) 

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A Beginner&rsquo;s Guide to the Global Fund 
 
AIDSPAN recently published a beginner&rsquo;s guide to the Global Fund. The purpose of this guide is to provide a broad introduction to the Global Fund for people who have little or no prior experience of the Fund &ndash; ranging from new CCM members, to NGOs, to trade unions, to government officials, to new sub-recipients, to journalists who have to write about the Fund. This guide comes in three versions: the full guide (about 60 pages), an eight-page summary, and a two-page summary. 
 
All three versions of this guide are available at <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> in English, French, Spanish, and Russian. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 114 of 19 January. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (<a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>); to receive GFO send an email to 
<a href="http://receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">http://receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 

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News from Global Unions 
 
The latest Newsletter of Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa (PSUFASA) gives a full summary of the many HIV/AIDS activities organised by the project. The project office is based in Johannesburg and the project is now coordinated by Tsitsi Mariwo. The project is sponsored by the Department for International Development (DfID, UK) and the British affiliate of Public Services International, UNISON. The website of PSUFASA is <a href="void(0);/*1265880702106*/">www.psufasa.org</a>. 
 
(Source: PSUFASA Newsletter January 2010) 
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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="void(0);/*1265880720731*/">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 53, February 2010

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Workers, on strike at three Buenaventura gold and silver mines in Peru since 13 February, were forced to return to work on Saturday 20 February. Peruvian law requires mining companies to share 8% of profits with workers, and miners say Buenaventura has underreported its profits. Union leaders are demanding information regarding the company&rsquo;s finances for the period 2006-2009. 
 
Buenaventura is Peru&rsquo;s largest precious-metal mining house, and the struck mines included the ones at Orcopampa, Uchucchacua, and Antapite. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="120" />
FNTMMSP Gen. Sec. Luis Castillo Carlos
The ICEM affiliate, National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), the country&rsquo;s largest mining union federation, was forced to end the strike at the weekend to avoid workers&rsquo; losing their jobs, as the Ministry of Labour ruled the strike was illegal. FNTMMSP General Secretary Luis Castillo Carlos, however, said that the 4,380 mineworkers of Buenaventura will likely strike again starting 3 March. 
 
Castillo announced that the union will hold workers&rsquo; assemblies over the coming days to vote on renewed strike action. He said renewed strike approval is expected to be granted. Peru&rsquo;s tax agency Sunat is reviewing Buenaventura&rsquo;s tax law compliance. 
 
Orcopampa and Antapite are gold producing mines, while Uchucchacua is a silver mine. The strike halted production at Orcopampa and Uchicchacua, while production continued at Antapite but at a reduced rate. 
 
In the third quarter of 2009, Buenaventura sold a total of 106,000 ounces of gold, and 3.76 million ounces of silver. Antapite, the smallest of the three mines, produced some 965,227 fine grams of gold in 2009. Orcopampa produced 8,549,730 fine grams of gold in 2009, while Uchucchacua produced 286,039 fine kilograms of silver. 
 
Globally, Peru is the largest producer of silver and the sixth largest producer of gold.

Peruvian Gold, Silver Miners End Strike, Still Seek Fair Profit Earnings

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