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In the UK, GMB union members who are engineers and technicians at British Gas tentatively resolved their pension dispute after conducting one of five scheduled industrial actions. The 6,000 GMB members came to terms pending a vote with the Centrica-owned utility on 19 December. 
The compromise agreement will allow 1,700 workers hired after 1 January 2003, to become part of the existing final salary pension scheme. The union resisted a money-purchase pension scheme for new hires, and opted instead for a career-average salary scheme for all new recruits hired after 31 March 2006. Contract information sessions with membership began last week, and voting results are expected on 23 January.

GMB Members Halt Industrial Actions at British Gas

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In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, members of ICEM affiliate International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) voted 2 January to continue their five-month strike against US-based National Gypsum. Some 90 IUOE Local 721B members are striking the company at a quarry in Milford and at a loading dock in Burnside, over proposed changes to their pension plan, contracting out demands, and weakening of seniority rights. 
A proposal put forward by a provincial mediator, late in 2005, produced no significant changes from the company&rsquo;s initial offer. The strike began 10 August 2005, some five months after a prior contract expired. The quarry produces rock used in building materials for the US housing market. National Gypsum has been attempting to operate the two workplaces with replacement workers.

Operating Engineers Remain on Strike in Canada

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Contract talks between a branch of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada and Stora Enso were extended until 11 January in efforts to avert a lockout at a 660-worker pulp and paper mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. 
The Swedish-Finnish paper company last week extended a nine-day holiday shutdown of the mill that began on 24 December 2005. On 30 December, Stora Enso&rsquo;s North American management issued a 48-hour lockout notice under provisions of the provincial labour code. Early in December, workers passed a strike vote by 98%. Last ditch bargaining efforts to find a resolve began on 3 January, ran through the week including Saturday, and will resume 11 January. 
The key issue in talks now is said to center on contracting out issues. Members of CEP Local 972 have been without a current contract at the magazine papers and newsprint mill since June 2004.

CEP, Stora Enso Still Engaged in Canadian Paper Talks

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The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has also promised industrial actions and strikes in order to gain early renewal collective agreements in the country&rsquo;s manufacturing sector. Some 700 enterprise agreements expire in March and April, and the union has set as a goal 5.5% wage increases, along with measures to improve productivity and training. 
AMWU has also promised industrial actions if Howard government reforms occur to existing labour law. Bargaining in the manufacturing sector is expected to be the first major test if reforms on enterprise bargaining are passed by Australia&rsquo;s Parliament early this year.

Australian Manufacturing Union Moves Toward Enterprise Agreement Renewals

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Contract maintenance workers at BP&rsquo;s Kwinana refinery, who are members of ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), won a five-week strike in mid-December 2005. The 86 workers, employed by United Group, won their full pay demands of nearly A$10 per hour over three years, which will give them parity with BP&rsquo;s maintenance workers. 
The strikers along with other United Group contract workers at both the Alcoa refinery in Wagerup and the Ravensthorp nickel project were targeted by the Howard government&rsquo;s watchdog Building and Construction Commission for conducting unprotected strike actions under the government&rsquo;s new and regressive Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act.

Maintenance Contractors End BP Australian Strike

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US oil supermajor ConocoPhillips has defied both Australian and East Timorese oil and maritime workers by employing a flag of convenience ship to transport liquid natural gas from Australia to Japan. The company, which owns 64% of the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea, was set to send it first shipment of LNG to Japanese utility customers last week from Darwin, in northern Australia. 
The company has hired no Timorese or Australian crew members to work on the vessel, said the Maritime Workers Union of East Timor. ConocoPhillips had earlier ignored East Timor government initiatives to build a gas processing facility on East Timor soil for the new field, choosing instead to build a 500-kilometre pipeline to Darwin. 
The Bayu-Undan field is in disputed East Timorese waters off the country&rsquo;s southern coast. The Maritime Union of Australia has pledged to get East Timorese workers involved in Bayu-Undan&rsquo;s new production, and both unions promise an international campaign against ConocoPhillips. This will become a topic of the newly-organised Joint ICEM-ITF Oil and Gas Trade Union Alliance.

ConocoPhillips Snubs Union Labour in Shipping

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Contract workers, employed by some 400 companies providing services to world leader copper producer Codelco in Chile, are striking for bonuses to gain a fair share of rising copper prices that have reached record highs on international markets. 
The 28,000 contract employees, working from food service to transport, struck all four divisions of state-owned Codelco&rsquo;s across Chile two weeks ago and are seeking bonuses totalling US$970. On 4 January, police used tear gas to disperse strikers from roads leading to the El Teniente mine, the world&rsquo;s largest underground copper mines and one of the four divisions. 
Contract workers earn less than half of what the 15,000 full-time, unionised workers of Codelco earn. Copper currently is selling at a record high of US$4,575 a tonne, and Chile through its Codelco earnings realized US$5.3 billion in profit through export of copper in 2005.

Contract Workers in Chilean Copper Mines Strike

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Industrianst&auml;llda I Norden, or Nordic IN, is the new name of a merged labour union federation covering five Nordic countries&mdash;Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Two federations&mdash;Nordic Metal and NIF, representing workers in chemicals, paper and textile industries&mdash;merged 1 January in a move bringing 22 national unions into a single Nordic industrial federation.
Nordic IN intends to safeguard the Nordic social model, characterized by modern and efficient social security systems, equality, democratic influence, and bargaining structures at both the local and national levels. Former ICEM Officer Jyrki Raina is the general secretary of the new federation.
&nbsp;

Five-Country Nordic Industrial Trade Union Federation Forms

World AIDS Day 2005 - Keep the Promise 
 
The global theme of World AIDS Day, 1 December 2005, was Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise. This refers in particular to the commitments made by Heads of State at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001. 
Global unions appealed to their affiliates and the millions of members organised by them to take &ldquo;3 Minutes of Their Time&rdquo; to make their promise. Governments and political leaders must be reminded of their forgotten promises and efforts must be reinvigorated to keep them.
At UNGASS, four years ago, 189 countries made the most significant AIDS promises and agreed, among other things, to stop mother-to-child transmission and to provide treatment to all those who need it. In most countries the targets will not be met. 
At Gleneagles, in July 2005, the G8 leaders pledged &ldquo;to develop and implement a package of HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010.&rdquo; This must not remain a rhetorical statement. Action must follow so that the promise is not broken. 
 
Organisations and individuals are urged to make their own promise at <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.net/community">www.worldaidscampaign.net/community</a>. Make your promise now! 
 
At the main ILO event in Geneva, which the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator attended and at which the ICEM leaflet was distributed, the ILO Director General, Juan Somavia, said that the workplace must play a strategic role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. &ldquo;It is a fight not only against the ravages of the disease but also against discrimination, intolerance, misconception and fear&rdquo;. 
 
 
C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire Workers and Management Fight the HIV/AIDS Epidemic 
 
Charlotte Nguessan, the President of the Shell C.I. HIV/AIDS committee and the ICEM National HIV/AIDS Coordinator, reports on initiatives within this company. Most of the people infected with HIV virus are between 15 and 49 &ndash; the economically active population. As a response Shell set up a joint committee with the union to fight HIV/AIDS by heightening awareness among workers, their families and the communities. 
 
This takes place at all levels of the company and reaches out into the community. Examples include campaigns for the families of Shell employees, campaigns for petrol attendants and Shell shops throughout the country, for other partners such as fuel and gas contractors, campaigns for religious communities and the establishment of the Yamoussoukro Shell Institute to promote awareness primarily among youth. Recognising the specific vulnerability of women, a conference for Shell&rsquo;s Women Workers was organised with the theme &ldquo;Women and HIV: we are more vulnerable&rdquo;. 
 
The campaign consistently targets its constituencies through posters, leaflets, and flyers in canteen trays. It utilises mail message and video screening. Condoms are distributed in pay-slips and public toilets. The message is reinforced through bags and tee shirts distributed at the annual party. 
 
 
Global Unions&rsquo; Action Against HIV/AIDS in 2006 
 
On World AIDS Day, the global trade union movement announced a series of initiatives for 2006 in the fight against HIV/AIDS, ranging from campaigns and mobilisation action to activities in workplaces and lobbying of governments to get them to implement pledges they have made. Trade unions will focus on a series of global gatherings in 2006, including the G8, WHO, UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the UN General Assembly. 
 
2006 will see the rollout of a series of workplace initiatives in countries, which are severely hit by the pandemic, following agreements with the International Employers&rsquo; Organisation and the WHO. A new leaflet &ldquo;HIV/AIDS is a Human Rights Issue, Human Rights are Trade Union Issues&rdquo; was launched on World AIDS Day and is available at <a href="http://www.global-unions.org">www.global-unions.org</a>. 
 
 
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Calls on Companies to Contribute 
 
In a statement issued on World AIDS Day, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, called on companies to contribute 0.7% of pre-tax profits annually to the Global Fund. He said that big multinational companies that have exacted such huge wealth from Africa&rsquo;s mineral, diamond, gold, oil and other resources over decades and the pharmaceutical industry, which resisted the lowering of drug prices for an unconscionable length of time, should be targeted first.
He also addressed his call to the more than 200 companies that are members of the Global Business Coalition. Many of these companies provide antiretroviral drugs and make in-kind contributions or investments in research and training centres but the true expression of corporate social responsibility would be a 0.7% contribution to the Global Fund. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 53, 11 December 2005 &ndash; <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/gfo">www.aidspan.org/gfo</a>) 
Stephen Lewis is also the author of the book Race Against Time. 
 
 
Global Fund &ndash; Continuation of Services 
 
In its December meeting the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to develop a policy to ensure continued funding for treatment-based grants when they are denied Phase 2 funding or they are approaching the end of their term. (Global Fund grants are approved for five years but can be suspended on the basis of a review after two years). 
Concern had earlier been raised over the fate of the people on treatment when a grant is suspended. Comment: While this is an overdue commitment it has to be seen whether funds are available to implement such a policy. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 54, 18 December 2005 &ndash; <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/gfo">www.aidspan.org/gfo</a>) 
 
 
COSATU Joins TAC to Push for Treatment 
 
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joined activist group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to push for a new approach to AIDS in the country worst hit by the worldwide pandemic. In a joint statement with TAC and the South African Council of Churches COSATU said, &ldquo;We lament the continued refusal of our national government to declare the seriousness of the epidemic and to mobilise a response on the scale that is needed&rdquo;.
The new campaign, which was launched on World AIDS Day, is designed to more deeply involve unions, employers and churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organisations demand that by the end of 2006 at least 200,000 AIDS patients are enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment &ndash; currently the figure is just over 70,000 people who receive treatment at government health facilities. 
 
 
News from other Global Union Federations 
 
The Education International (EI) marked World AIDS Day with an information session for the staff at its Brussels Head Office. EI affiliates all over the world organised events on issues of education and HIV/AIDS. Demands included a greater commitment of governments to distribute antiretrovirals. 
(Source: EI AIDS Newsletter &ndash; <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/aids">www.ei-ie.org/aids</a>) 
 
The UNI Global Union graphical sector in southern and East Africa will use collective bargaining to tackle HIV/AIDS. Unions agreed to include a clause in future negotiations to establish a joint worker-employer response to improve education and prevention, to end discrimination and to upscale access to treatment. Access to treatment at work has also been negotiated by unions with employers in several other sectors in Burkina Faso, Guinea and C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire. 
(Source: UNI Global Union &ndash; <a href="http://www.uniglobalunion.org">www.uniglobalunion.org</a>&nbsp;- eBulletin December 2005) 
 
 
Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Stories &ndash; Faces of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic 
 
In collaboration with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Christian AID, the WHO has released on its HIV/AIDS website <a href="http://www.who.int/hiv">www.who.int/hiv</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;Voices of Hope&rdquo; - photo stories of communities affected by HIV/AIDS. The photo stories of people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America represent some of the real faces of the epidemic that, by the end of 2005, had infected an estimated 40.3 million people. 
 
 
Update from ILOAIDS 
 
There are two new titles (the last two) in the series of workplace action menus that the ILO has produced with UNAIDS and the World Economic Forum's Global Health Initiative. To complement Africa (in English and French) and Asia <a href="http://www.unaids.org/en/about+unaids/partnerships/partnership+menus.asp">http://www.unaids.org/en/about+unaids/ 
partnerships/partnership+menus.asp</a>), ILOAIDS now has Action against AIDS in the workplace for Latin America and the Caribbean (shortly also in Spanish), and a final global version with an overview of all regions, including North America and Europe. 
 
 
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>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;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=1578">/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1578</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 4

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The ICEM is fully supportive of French affiliates Filpac-CGT and FCE-CFDT, and the French paper workers, in their manifestation Saturday, 17 December, in Lille, France. The unions are protesting against the actions of several multinational paper companies, who are firing workers and closing mill and paper converters, or have plans to do so, in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais area of northern France. 
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According to Filpac-CGT, paper companies are creating &ldquo;a genuine social earthquake&rdquo; with job losses and closures in the region. 
Paper companies Stora Enso of Sweden and Finland, International Paper of the US, Cascades of Canada and Smurfit-Kappa of Ireland and The Netherlands have all announced harmful restructurings in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais area. Over 1,000 jobs might be lost in total. 
Companies are ignoring their social responsibilities and cite external causes, such as surplus capacity, the overall economic situation or global energy costs. 
 
According to the unions, however, the real reasons lie elsewhere. Stora Enso is pursuing its Profit 2007 initiative aimed at adding another &euro;300 million to its annual pre-tax profit in 2007. FCE-CFDT reminds us that Stora Enso, as part of this initiative,&nbsp;intends to&nbsp;get rid of 2,500 work places world-wide, with 500 of them in France,&nbsp;for the sole purpose of making more profit.&nbsp;
Cascades is equally seeking improved profitability of its boxboard unit, while pointing to capacity build-up in China and the pressures of Asian exports as the reason for the possible closure. 
International Paper (IP) first refused to sell its Maresquel mill to a potential buyer earlier in the year and then gave local managers just two months to find investors, demonstrating that it is more interested in closing this operation than having to live with a potential competitor. Lastly, the closure of a paper converter in Gravelines, along with another converting plant in Cevennes, was announced by a Smurfit subsidiary immediately after the merger between Smurfit and Kappa Packaging. 

The manifestation on 17 December begins at 9h00. For more information, visit Filpac-CGT&rsquo;s website at <a href="http://www.filpac.cgt.fr">http://www.filpac.cgt.fr</a>&nbsp;or FCE-CFDT's site: <a href="http://www.fce.cfdt.fr/n1/2005/12/bra%5Fpacart%5F97.doc">http://www.fce.cfdt.fr/n1/2005/12/bra%5Fpacart%5F97.doc</a>.

Paper Multinationals plan to eliminate jobs in France

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