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28 April &ndash; International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers 
Workers throughout the world participated in activities to commemorate the millions of workers who died, were injured or became ill due to unsafe, unhealthy or unsustainable workplaces. Focus of the activities this year was the call of the international trade union movement for a total ban of asbestos and the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
In a massive campaign international and national union bodies called on G8 governments to establish a permanent high-level G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS at their forthcoming summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Such a working group will help G8 countries achieve commitments made at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, for universal access to treatment by 2010 and to the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. (<a href="/?id=72&amp;doc=1729&amp;la=EN">See also e-bulletin No. 7, April 2006</a>). 
 
Global Unions have updated their workbook, which reports on ICD activities. It can be accessed at <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/"></a><a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf</a>. 
 
The ILO, as the current chair of the Committee of Co-sponsoring Organisations of UNAIDS, put the spotlight on HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and produced a report, &ldquo;Decent Work &ndash; Safe Work &ndash; HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; 
 
Global Unions Advisory Committee 
 
The Advisory Committee of the Global Unions Programme on HIV/AIDS met in Geneva from 4 to 6 April. The committee, which brings together representatives of all Global Unions, funding organisations and the ILO and UNAIDS, developed a strategic work plan for 2006 and 2007 and a joint action plan for interventions at major events. The overall objectives of the GU Programme are: 
<ul>
 <li>Make HIV and AIDS a priority issue for trade unions </li>
 <li>Strengthen capacity of trade unions&nbsp; </li>
 <li>Develop partnerships to position trade unions within the AIDS response&nbsp; </li>
 <li>Mobilise resources, especially at country level. </li>
</ul>
Go to <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids">www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids</a>&nbsp;for more information on the programme. 
 
 
High Level Meeting on AIDS 
 
The United Nations General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in achieving the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), which adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The review will take place during a high-level meeting at the UN Head Office in New York City from 31 May to 2 June. 
 
The UN produced two reports, which can be accessed on the UNAIDS website www.unaids.org: a report on progress made until the end of 2005, entitled &ldquo;Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: Five Years Later&rdquo; and &ldquo;Towards Universal Access: Assessment by UNAIDS on Scaling Up HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support.&rdquo; 
In his foreword to the progress report, the UN Secretary General warned, &ldquo;Failure to urgently strengthen the AIDS response will mean that the world will achieve neither the 2010 targets of the Declaration of Commitment nor Millennium Goal 6.&rdquo; 
(Note: the wording &ldquo;universal access to treatment by 2010&rdquo; has mutated in some official documents to &ldquo;coming as close as possible to universal access to treatment by 2010.&rdquo;) 
 
Civil society organisations and trade unions will be represented at this important event. The South African government objected to the participation of the Treatment Action Campaign and two other NGOs and refused their accreditation. 
 
 
Bangladesh 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Bangladesh Chemical, Energy and Allied Workers&rsquo; Federation is getting involved in the fight against the pandemic. In a wide-ranging report to the ICEM, the Federation pinpoints the dangers which high-risk behaviours pose. 
Although the overall prevalence rate in Bangladesh is still very low, a large commercial sex industry, low levels of condom use and needle sharing among drug users contribute to a slow but steady increase in the infection rate. The Union is getting involved in awareness raising campaigns and the promotion of prevention. 
 
 
World Bank Suspends US$60 million AIDS project in Ukraine 
 
The World Bank has suspended a US$60 million project on combating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis because of the government&rsquo;s failure to implement the project. Only 2% of the funds earmarked in January 2004 have been spent. This is a major tragedy for the people who need treatment in this country, which has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Europe. 
(Comment: While a series of political crises&rsquo; may have contributed to this development, the World Bank may also have failed to include capacity building into such a large project). 
 
(Source: Kyiv Post, 12 April 2006) 
 
 
Life Expectancy in Zimbabwe &ndash; World Health Report 2006 
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the 2006 World Health Report in advance of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 22-26 May. 
 
Outstanding from the mass of data are the statistics for the life expectancy in Zimbabwe, which at an average of 36 years is lower than anywhere else in the world. The high mortality rate of people at a young age is largely due to death caused by AIDS. 
Ten years ago, life expectancy was still 56 years. Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where women have a lower life expectancy (34 years) than men (37 years). Behaviour change may have contributed to a falling HIV infection rate in the country in recent years but more tragically a lower rate at this stage of the pandemic is probably due to the high death rate. People who have died of AIDS are no longer included in the statistics of people living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
By the end of 2005, only 20,000 people in Zimbabwe were receiving antiretroviral treatment. The target was 145,000 people, around half of the total of 295,000 believed to require the drugs. 
 
 
Global Fund Phase 2 Renewals 
 
Only 23% of the 124 Global Fund grants that have reached the end of their second year have met or exceeded the performance targets that were set by the applicants when they submitted their original proposals. This constitutes an A rating. 
(Note: Global Fund grants are approved for five years but are reviewed and rated after two years. The Fund can then decide whether a grant receives funding for Phase 2, i.e. years 3 to 5).
The rest of the grants received a B1 or B2 rating with a conditional or revised go-ahead. Only two grants received a C rating, which means that no funding is approved for Phase 2 (Senegal and South Africa). 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 56 of 17 April 2006) 
 
Theoretically, the Fund has the right to terminate grants at any stage, not only after a Phase 1 review. The Global Fund Board meeting on 27-28 April applied this exceptional procedure to two HIV grants worth some US$81 million to Nigeria on the grounds of inadequate performance. One of the grants was supposed to have 14,000 people on ARV treatment by the end of the first year, but the actual number was zero. 
 
On continuation of services, the Board agreed that in cases where people have started treatment on ARVs or for TB, financial support for such treatment would not automatically stop when a grant is terminated. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 57 of 1 May 2006) 
 
Note: The Global Fund Observer is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the GFATM. To receive it, you can send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>. The subject line and text can be left blank. 
 
 
News from ILOAIDS 
 
The ILOAIDS website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>&nbsp;now features country profiles with information on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. They are also linked to new pages providing details of project activities. The 15 countries, which are so far included, can be found on the roll-down menu on the left side of the screen. 
 
ILOAIDS has made available, on its website, a tool kit for the workplace on Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) jointly published with Family Health International. The tool kit provides a step-by-step approach, emphasising prevention through education, gender awareness and practical support for behaviour change. 
 
 
Resource Pack on Gender and HIV/AIDS 
 
The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Gender and HIV/AIDS developed a resource pack. It aims to strengthen the impact of national HIV/AIDS programmes by tackling a key underlying factor that fuels the epidemic: gender inequality. 
The resources pack contains an Operational Guide on a rights-based approach, a Review Paper on Integrating Gender into HIV/AIDS Programmes and 17 Fact Sheets with concise information on gender-related aspects of HIV/AIDS. The resource pack can be accessed at <a href="http://www.unfpa.org">www.unfpa.org</a>. 
 
 
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1790">/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1790</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 8

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In Belgium on 1 May, trade unionist Paul Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain will unveil their new book, Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. The book depicts the aftermath of Belgium&rsquo;s worst mining tragedy in history, a fire that raged inside a coal mine near the Wallonian town of Marcinelle, killing 262 miners. 
 
The tragedy occurred on 8 August 1956 and the book marks the 50th anniversary of the devastating loss of so many lives. The book&rsquo;s title, Tutti Cadaveri, comes from an Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, &ldquo;All corpses.&rdquo; 
<img height="127" src="" width="120" alt="" />
The book is available from Aden Publishers for &euro;22 and can be ordered from Aden by contacting editionsaden@skynet.be, or calling +32 2534 46 61. The ICEM will bring further attention to the 50th Anniversary events as the August date draws closer.

May Day Launch of Book on Marcinelle Coal Mine Tragedy

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Amicus Union in the UK has launched a massive fundraising effort among members to raise money for sanitary products for women in Zimbabwe. The campaign, announced on 26 April, came after Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions&rsquo; (ZCTU) Women&rsquo;s Committee Chairperson Thabitha Khumalo gave moving accounts at an Amicus conference and regional events on how women are forced to bear the brunt of the economic crisis gripping Zimbabwe. 
<img height="62" alt="" src="" width="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Sanitary pads cost about a third of a woman&rsquo;s monthly wage, and most women have resorted to newspapers and rags, causing infections. Recently, Amicus was a party to bringing one million sanitary pads into Zimbabwe from South Africa. 
Fundraising efforts will now develop into a monthly project in which sanitary products will be distributed free of charge through the ZCTU. The products will be sourced in Zimbabwe, which will prevent the government of Robert Mugabe from blocking shipments as it has attempted to do in the past.

UK’s Amicus Union Launches Campaign to Aid Zimbabwean Women

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A coal mine blast in China that killed four women on 6 April has drawn angry responses from women&rsquo;s groups. Nine miners died when the explosion occurred at Dongtang Coal Mine in central Hunan Province. Production at the mine had been suspended earlier this year when owners had failed to apply for a work safety certificate. Since 1993, Chinese mine safety law forbids women from working in underground mines. 
 
The gas blast, in which five miners&mdash;including two women&mdash;managed to escape, caused local police to detain owners and investors of the enterprise. But the production manager of the Dongtang Mine and his wife fled the area as soon as word of the blast occurred. 
 
In a another mine catastrophe, seven miners died and four were injured on 11 April when a shaft collapsed at the Tanhan Coal Mine in Shanxi Province.

Chinese Coal Mine Blast Kills Four Women

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With the supply of European energy sources becoming increasingly political, German affiliate IGBCE has called on the EU to update its coal regulatory policies in order to become less reliant on imported resources. In a letter to the European Commission calling on consultation to begin on re-working a 2002 regulation on coal mining, IGBCE said it is strategically important for the EU to have access to domestic raw materials. 
 
&ldquo;The development of world energy markets with dramatic price increases and increasing energy use,&rdquo; said IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt, &ldquo;makes it clear that Germany and Europe cannot let go of its own energy sources.&rdquo; The union continues to advocate for a balanced energy mix, but says the Commission&rsquo;s regulation must include promotion of domestic hard coal beyond the year 2010.

IGBCE Calls on EU to Develop Domestic Energy Sources

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Contract workers for Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber in Bangkok, Thailand, won another victory for fairness and justice recently. Goodyear was ordered by the country&rsquo;s Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to reinstate 18 contract workers&mdash;some working up to 10 years under single-year term agreements&mdash;who were sacked last year for attempting to exert collective bargaining rights. The contract workers are members of the Tyre Makers Union, which is affiliated to ICEM member Chemical Federation of Thailand (PCFT). 
<img height="100" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The workers, employed in rubber stock and warehouse operations of Goodyear&rsquo;s 40-year-old factory in Bangkok, now will press again for collective bargaining rights. A hearing on that matter was held in a separate court on 26 April, but an outcome was delayed by a new judge who was just assigned to the case. 
 
Goodyear found itself under considerable pressure last October when it discharged the contract workers, in spite of deducting union dues from them through a check-off system for as long as four years. In an effort to correct its mistake, the American-based company halted direct employment of contract workers, and brought in a labour agency to handle employment. 
 
Eighteen of 25 contract workers refused employment with the agency, preferring instead full-time employment with Goodyear. The IRC ruling in early April calls for Goodyear to reinstate the workers. Two of the 18 contract workers cited in the victory have passed away in the meantime, one due to heart disease in 2005, the other of cancer the day before the IRC issued its ruling.

Contract Workers Triumph at Goodyear in Thailand

<img height="45" alt="" src="" width="80" />
In Finland on 1 May, a new policy takes effect that will no longer restrict the free movement of labour from the new EU Member States. Over the past two years, since the addition of ten new countries into the EU, Finnish control mechanisms have been put in place through a subscriber liability law. The legislation now makes it harder to abuse foreign workers, and also puts meaningful stops to the grey economy. 
 
Companies are now obligated to investigate the handling of taxation, social security payments and work practices of their subcontractors. The Finnish government will also seek to tighten control over foreign agency labour through a new policy that requires foreign workers from EU states to register at an employment bureau within two weeks of arrival. Finnish trade unions have fully endorsed the policy changes. 
<img height="42" alt="" src="" width="80" />
In the United States on May Day, a day that bosses in the late 19th century stripped of significance so that American workers would not have the same Labour Day, immigrant workers will wage a general strike as well as a consumer strike. The strikes are further protests against restrictive measures against immigrants that have surfaced in the US Congress. 
The day will vividly illustrate not only the jobs that immigrants fill in America, but also the purchasing power they have in the marketplace. Leading up to the twin strikes, businesses and companies in several large US cities have fired thousands of migrant workers who participated in marches in March and April. 
<img height="52" alt="" src="" width="80" />
In Belgium on 1 May, trade unionist Paul Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain will unveil their new book, Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. The book depicts the aftermath of Belgium&rsquo;s worst mining tragedy in history, a fire that raged inside a coal mine near the Wallonian town of Marcinelle, killing 262 miners. 
<img height="134" alt="" src="" width="120" />
The tragedy occurred on 8 August 1956 and the book marks the 50th anniversary of the devastating loss of so many lives. The book&rsquo;s title, Tutti Cadaveri, comes from an Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, &ldquo;All corpses.&rdquo; 
The book is available from Aden Publishers for &euro;22 and can be ordered from Aden by contacting editionsaden@skynet.be, or calling +32 2534 46 61. The ICEM will bring further attention to the 50th Anniversary events as the August date draws closer. 
<img height="49" alt="" src="" width="80" />
On Monday, 1 May, German IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt will deliver a major speech in Osnabr&uuml;ck on some fundamental issues affecting Germany and its trade unions, including joblessness, health reform and an energy policy. 
<img height="136" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The trade union leader will warn against the notion that the German economy can be strengthened by lowering wages, or through increasing the number of hours in the work week. IGBCE also calls for minimum standards, including wage levels, to be maintained for all sectors of the economy. 
<img height="53" alt="" src="" width="80" />
From Argentina on May Day comes a greeting from ICEM affiliate SUTNA. The union reminds us of the origins of International Workers&rsquo; Day&mdash;the fight for an eight-hour workday in the US city of Chicago, which produced a mass general strike that was met by brutal repression and then execution of those leading the strike by the state. &ldquo;SUTNA salutes, on the occasion of this International Workers&rsquo; Day, all workers who continue the excellent work that was started by the martyrs of Chicago.&rdquo; 
<img height="53" alt="" src="" width="80" />
The All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, which has organised huge May Day rallies for Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Quetta, sends this message: &ldquo;The growing economic might of multinationals and transnational corporations, and the imposition of policies of globalisation, have led to an unprecedented large-scale offensive against the democratic and social achievements of working people, and against the trade union movement.&rdquo; 
<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="80" />
And from Azerbaijan, Jahangir Aliyev, chairman of the Oil and Gas Industry Workers Trade Union (OGWU), expresses &ldquo;health, happiness and great progress for the welfare of all labour people.&rdquo;

May Day Actions, Greetings from Around the World

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Leading into May Day, International Workers&rsquo; Day, news from Nepal is that King Gyanendra has met his fate, as defying protestors stood their ground on the streets during curfews and martial law. 
 
During what is now known as Popular Movement II, a general strike in Nepal, which lasted for 23 days, forced the despotic king late on 24 April to restore the country&rsquo;s Parliament, a first and necessary step toward a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. &ldquo; 
<img height="125" src="" width="200" alt="" />
With the sacrifice of nearly 20 people&rsquo;s lives, some 5,000 who were seriously injured, and the arrests of 2,000, continuous struggle has meant we have achieved something,&rdquo; wrote Binda Pandey, ICEM Vice President and a leader inside Nepal&rsquo;s labour federation, GEFONT. &ldquo;Let us celebrate this together as an initial victory, but there still is a long way to go to sustainable peace, prosperity and a dignified Nepal.&rdquo; 
 
April&rsquo;s general strike brought hundreds of thousands of Nepalese citizens to spontaneous demonstrations across the Kathmandu Valley. Wives, children and relatives of police and army personnel stepped to the front of barricades as a way of getting security forces to defy clear orders to beat and shoot demonstrators at will, highlighting the fact that it was a unified public action that crossed all castes, classes and ethnic origins. 
<img height="96" src="" width="120" alt="" />
On 22 April, some 300,000 marched to the centre of Kathmandu, to within 500 meters of Gyanendra&rsquo;s palace where they were met by soldiers with heavy weaponry. ICEM&rsquo;s four affiliated trade unions all played crucial roles in the organised movement. (The general secretary of the Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers&rsquo; Union was badly beaten and hospitalised with a broken knee.) Scores of leaders and activists from the unions were either injured or arrested. 
 
The ICEM issues an alert that resources and organisational support from the global trade union movement will be needed once Nepal reaches a full people&rsquo;s democracy in order that unions and trade union rights can flourish in the Himalayan country.

Peoples Movement Defies King in Nepal

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On 25 April, ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT signed the wage accord for the country&rsquo;s chemical industry following consultations with the union&rsquo;s regional structures. FCE-CFDT says the agreement will mean improvements and real progress for chemical workers, as well as marking a new social dynamic in the industry&rsquo;s collective negotiations. 
<img height="53" alt="" src="" width="80" />
FCE-CFDT added that the agreement opens up the possibility for more &ldquo;forward-looking steps,&rdquo; which may help to make jobs inside France&rsquo;s chemical industry more attractive. &ldquo;With chemical companies being hit by restructurings and job losses, this agreement removes some of the social problems in the sector,&rdquo; said the FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s statement. 
 
The union is now hopeful the accord will pave a positive path for negotiations that will commence later this year. These talks will cover pay adjustments to the conventional salary scheme in the chemical sector.

French FCE-CFDT Approves Chemical Industry Agreement

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Twenty-two workplace leaders from BASF chemical plants in South America convened 21-24 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for ICEM&rsquo;s Latin American BASF Network. Trade union leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Chile, together with German Works Council members and IGBCE union officials, met amongst themselves from 21-23 April and then on the final day, entered into social dialogue with BASF management. 
 
Trade union priorities included giving aid and support to a Peruvian chemical workers&rsquo; union in its efforts to organise a BASF factory, and adopting ICEM&rsquo;s stand over contract and agency labour. 
 

<img height="60" src="" width="70" alt="" />
Works Council members from BASF&rsquo;s huge Ludwigshafen complex in Germany, presented the challenges facing that body there, and IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Vasiliadis gave a report on the changing chemical industry relating to globalisation and the necessity to press global companies on their social responsibilities. 
 
On 24 April, senior BASF managers reported on which priorities from last year&rsquo;s social dialogue talks had been fulfilled. In follow-up discussions, led by ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Chair Sergio Novais of CNQ-CUT in Brazil, BASF South American managers agreed to accommodate efforts to organise the Peruvian plant. 
 
The discussions were hailed on both sides as promoting an atmosphere of trust, and it was agreed to begin planning more formal rules for the annual process.

ICEM’s BASF Network in South America Meets

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