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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM), the dominant global trade union federation for the mining industry, endorses a letter by its Liberian union affiliate to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf protesting proposed rail passage through the West African nation by Brazilian-based Vale SA. 
 
Recently, Vale purchased a 51% stake from BSG Resources of iron ore blocks near Simandou in eastern Guinea. The mining house intends to create a rail and logistics corridor from Guinea through Liberia to the Atlantic Ocean coast. 
 
In the letter, dated 13 May, the Forestry, Logging, and Industry Workers of Liberia (FLIWUL) calls on President Johnson-Sirleaf to fully examine Vale&rsquo;s global social record before her government grants the rail concession. Among several irresponsible social acts, Vale has a forced a bitter strike &ndash; now in its eleventh month &ndash; on 3,500 nickel and copper miners in Canada. 
 
&ldquo;We are aware of many serious issues surrounding Vale and its mistreatment of workers and communities where it operates around the world,&rdquo; writes FLIWUL Secretary-General David D. Sackoh. 
 
&ldquo;Organizations in Mozambique, Brazil, Canada, Peru, Chile, Germany, Italy, and New Caledonia have declared that Vale &lsquo;infringes human rights, exploits both male and female workers, imposes precarious working conditions, destroys nature and disrespects traditional communities.&rsquo; It appears that every place where Vale operates, communities are displaced, the environment is harmed and workers&rsquo; rights are not respected. 

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&ldquo;We are disturbed at the treatment that Vale has given to its workforce in Canada. The company provoked a strike through its demands for deep concessions from its workers despite the fact that the company has made billions of dollars in profit in recent years. 
 
&ldquo;Madame President, following many years of civil war and turmoil the Liberian people finally enjoy peace and has a promising future under your leadership. This behemoth Vale with its suspect actions could potentially destroy our fragile economy for the benefit of a greedy few. As key stakeholder in the infrastructural and economic development of Liberia, FLIWUL wishes to urge the government to carefully study the situation and ensure that transitional companies investing in Liberia do so responsibly.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda soundly endorsed the letter, and said the Geneva-based federation will also raise Vale&rsquo;s investment in Guinea with trade unions there, and with the government of Guinea. &ldquo;We cannot accede to Vale&rsquo;s investment agenda anywhere while the company brings pain and suffering on workers,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;The atrocities that Vale is inflicting on people and their communities in Ontario and Labrador in Canada must stop and we give sound warning that we will follow this mining company everywhere and repeat FLIWUL&rsquo;s message.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is a global union federation consisting of 467 trade unions in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers worldwide. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile) +41 22 304 1842 (direct line).

ICEM Commends Liberian Affiliate for Opposing Vale Investment

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we continue the G8 campaign for universal access and inform about critical issues concerning prevention of mother-to-child transmission. We also cover a novel Grandmothers to Grandmothers summit between African and Canadian relatives of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic, an undertaking by the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 
 
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. 
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Support for G8 Campaign for Universal Access 
 
Initiated by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), click <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3703-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-55-April-2010">here</a> for details from last e-bulletin, support for lobbying the G8 Summit has extended beyond Africa. Unions all over the world have now sent petitions. 
 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, has written to the Canadian Mission in Geneva urging the G8 to put forward an action plan to achieve Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support. The ICEM has also called on its affiliates to join the petition and letter writing campaign from their own countries. 
 
Show your support for Universal Access: 
Follow the links below to sign a petition that will be delivered to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and world leaders attending the G8 meetings in June. 
English: <a href="http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids">http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids</a>&nbsp; 
Fran&ccedil;ais: <a href="http://scfp.ca/action/sida">http://scfp.ca/action/sida</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
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New ICEM HIV/AIDS Leaflet 
 
The ICEM has produced a new leaflet, &ldquo;The ICEM responds to HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; The leaflet is available in English and French on the ICEM website <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2010-AIDSLeaflet.2.pdf">here</a>&nbsp;and <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM%20Leaflet%20FR.b.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp;Hardcopies can also be ordered from the ICEM Head Office, by writing <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>. 
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Shortage of Funding Threatens AIDS Prevention for Pregnant Women 
 
Reports from Kenya and Malawi suggest that new WHO guidelines, which recommend an earlier start of anti-retroviral treatment, cannot be met because of shortages in funding. 
 
The WHO recommended to raise the CD4 count (measure of immunity to ascertain when HIV positive persons should begin treatment) from 200 to 350 and called for HIV-positive mothers to begin treatment at 14 weeks of pregnancy, up from the previous 28 weeks. 
 
In Kenya, rejection of Global Fund Round 9 and 10 proposals means that the country will be seriously short of funds and that around 300,000 people in need of life-saving antiretroviral drugs and pregnant mothers are not sure of continued access to medication. The Global Fund denied approval because of the duplication of roles of the ministries of medical services and public health and because of the huge unjustified and unsustainable workforce in implementing agencies. 
 
In Malawi, services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) are gaining ground but the country continues to battle drug shortages. Pregnant women and mothers and their infants also often do not turn up for follow-up treatment. 
 
In 2005, only 3% of HIV-positive women in Malawi were using PMTCT services and mother-to-child transmission accounted for 30% of all new infections. Today, 45% of HIV-positive women are accessing PMTCT services. More than 95% of pregnant women opt for an HIV test. 
 
But last year&rsquo;s change from single-dose nevirapine to a combination therapy, which is more effective and less likely to lead to drug resistance, also means that more funds are required and that clinics, especially in rural areas, run out of drugs or can only administer a single-dose therapy. 
 
(Sources: IPS, Nairobi 1 April, and IRIN PlusNews, Lilongwe, 7 May) 
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AIDS Activists Ousted during World Economic Forum 
 
The Tanzanian government has deported several AIDS activists and banned a demonstration to protest decreasing funding for HIV and AIDS at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa meeting in Dar es Salaam. 
 
Shortly after a small number of activists from different African countries gave a memorandum to be presented to leaders attending the WEF to South African singer and AIDS activist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, they were arrested. The group had the support of Christoph Benn, director of external affairs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Among those detained was Michael O&rsquo;Connor also of the Global Fund. 
 
In a statement, the activists condemned the Tanzanian authorities&rsquo; &ldquo;complete disregard for the right of freedom of expression in respect of the conveyance of a message as critical as this.&rdquo; 
 
Activists from several African countries said that their government-run antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programmes were turning patients away because of cuts in both domestic and external funding. They declared that the groundwork for achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care has been laid and now is not the time to backtrack on funding commitments and undermine the gains which have been made. 
 
The past five years have witnessed a ten-fold increase in the number of people on life-saving ARVs; an estimated 3 million Africans were on ARVs at the end of 2008, according to the WHO. But some 3.7 million Africans who need ARVs have still no access to them. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 7 May, and Mail &amp; Guardian, Johannesburg, 6 May) 
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Ethiopia: In Search of made-to-measure HIV Prevention 
 
With more than half of all Ethiopian adults tested for HIV in the past five years and a campaign for behaviour change in place, specialists are now calling for a more targeted approach. 
 
Most-at-risk populations (MARPs) have to be targeted through better understanding of how the epidemic is affecting them and in turn, to develop a more specific response. &quot;The government has launched a vigorous campaign to fight HIV, but now it is important to ... target specific groups among whom the epidemic is raging,&quot; said Desmond Johns, UNAIDS country director for Ethiopia. &quot;High testing numbers mean little unless you are testing people at risk, such as commercial sex workers.&quot; 
 
High-risk groups in Ethiopia include sex workers, uniformed forces and migrant workers, street children, students and discordant couples. Men who have sex with men have, for the first time, been included in the national strategic plan for the next five years, which still is in draft form. 
 
A more focused response means that regional branches of HAPCO, the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, will need to draw up specific plans for prevention in their regions, where the risks and prevalence differ widely. 
 
According to HAPCO, the provisional national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 2.3%, but big cities such as Addis Ababa have an average HIV prevalence of about 7%, while rural areas &ndash; home to 85% of the population - have an average prevalence of 0.9%. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 3 May) 
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Ukraine: Outcomes of HIV Global Fund Grant 
 
As of 31 March 2008, a recently completed Round 1 Global Fund grant in Ukraine had provided prevention services to 214,103 people who inject drugs. By the end of September 2008, 6,070 people, including 911 children, had received antiretroviral therapy (ART). And, in 2008, 80% of pregnant women living with HIV had received treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission, up from 35% in 2003. The grant exceeded the majority of its targets. 
 
This information was contained in a report released in September 2009 by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. The grant, which cost US$98 million over five years, supported programmes that involved the rapid scale-up of ART, a comprehensive package of care, support and prevention services for most-at-risk populations, and the roll-out of substitution maintenance therapy. 
 
The Global Fund grant formed the major part of the national response to HIV and AIDS in the Ukraine. During the period of the grant, the number of new HIV cases per 100,000 tests decreased from 632.8 in 2006 to 590.2 in 2008; and the AIDS mortality growth rate dropped from 38% to 8% (between 2004 and 2008). 
 
The report, &ldquo;Civil Society Leads National Response &ndash; Final Report: Overcoming the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Ukraine, Funded by the Global Fund (2004-2009),&rdquo; also describes the experiences of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance as principal recipient (PR) of the grant, and outlines the lessons learned from the experience. According to the report, one of the Alliance&rsquo;s major contributions to the grant was to strengthen civil society. 
 
The report is available on the website of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance at <a href="http://www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx">www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 April. 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="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 

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Opportunity to Re-programme Grants to Improve PMTCT Treatment 
 
The Global Fund Secretariat is working with 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assess the possibility of re-programming existing Global Fund grants to allow for a switch from the use of single dose nevirapine to more effective dual or triple ARV therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). 
 
The countries are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, C&ocirc;te d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. (Other countries may be added later; a similar initiative is already underway in India.) 
 
There are several factors that have to be considered to determine whether re-programming is feasible. These include the ability to free up some money in other parts of the grant budgets (e.g., if a particular area is under spent), and whether there already is a PMTCT-related service delivery area in the existing programmes. 
 
The Global Fund projects that the call for the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission by 2015 is within reach. This is contained in the <a href="http://data.unaids.org/pub/ExternalDocument/2010/20100308_gf_progressreport_en.pdf">Global Fund 2010 Results Report</a> which was released recently. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 April. 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="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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Grandmothers Gather for AIDS Summit 
 
This is a remarkable initiative. Grandmothers from all over Africa have joined hands with grandmothers in Canada to call for greater support and recognition of their role in caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. 
 
&quot;We are the backbone of our communities; with our love and commitment we protect and nurture our orphaned children. Africa cannot survive without us,&quot; declared a manifesto released to coincide with the first African Grandmothers' Gathering held in Swaziland. 
 
Eunice Simelane, who has supported and cared for five grandchildren since her son and daughter-in-law succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses, read the manifesto at the meeting attended by 200 grandmothers from Swaziland, 232 from African nations, and 42 Canadian grandmothers, representing 7,000 others who have formed groups in Canada to raise funds and awareness to help elderly African women struggling to raise AIDS orphans. 
 
The first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, and was the brainchild of former United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, whose foundation has been channelling funds to community-led AIDS organizations that support grandmothers in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. 
 
Swaziland's AIDS epidemic is among the worst in the world - around 160,000 children are classified as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in a population of less than one million - and was a natural choice to host the first Grandmothers' Gathering held in Africa. 
 
The delegates compiled a list of demands to their governments, including financial assistance and sustainable projects, created with their involvement. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Manzinin, 11 May) 

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News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) 
 
SWHAP reports that during 2009 companies that have reached the end of their three years of co-funding continued to implement and invest in their HIV/AIDS programmes. This shows the viability of HIV and AIDS workplace programmes. It also indicates the effectiveness of the strategy &ndash; SWHAP supported programmes achieve results and create sustainability. This achievement is even better considering the adverse economic situation in 2009. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter April 2010, <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>) 

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News from Global Unions 
 
The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) reports that BWI affiliates in East Africa are increasingly mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues in their activities. HIV issues are integrated in study circles, child labour training, para-legal courses, and industrial relations programmes. A sub-regional HIV/AIDS seminar at the end of March also called on the East African Community to include rights for people living with HIV and AIDS in the East African protocols. 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update on a new navigation tool for truck drivers to help them find healthcare centres along major transport corridors in Africa. Most of these centres also provide HIV/AIDS testing. 

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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="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 56, May 2010

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ICEM&rsquo;s global level company networks now include a new one: Akzo Nobel. Over 20 trade unionists from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil decided to form a global network among the unions organising the Dutch-based chemicals company. 
 
The formation meeting which was held on 31 May-1 June 2010 in Amsterdam, upon invitation of ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch affiliate FNV-Bondgenoten. The host union considers international networking within multinational companies as a priority, and as a result, the union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries. 
The meeting was opened by Henk Van der Kolk, President of FNV-Bondgenoten. 
 
&ldquo;Organizing labour across borders is difficult and therefore much slower than transferring capital all over the world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We all know that. And I wish you fruitful discussions about how we can cooperate in organizing and empowering workers at Akzo Nobel plants all over the world to strengthen our unions.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="166" height="130" />
President of FNV-Bondgenoten, Henk Van der Kolk
After the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, on the global chemicals industry and Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s global picture, trade unionists gave country-based reports on labour relations in their respective countries. 
Ron Vos, FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s National Officer for Akzo Nobel, explained the situation in the company&rsquo;s homeland, the Netherlands, and he defined employment, pensions, wages, a flexible workforce and use of temporary workers, the health of an aging workforce, and sharing results with the company on a major trade union agenda. 
 
Sergio Carasso from Brazil reported national and regional level networking activities within Akzo Nobel and the former British company, ICI, now absorbed by the Dutch company. According to his report, the first network of Akzo Nobel workers in Brazil was formed in 2002, and yearly meetings began at national level. 
 
The range of this national network was later extended to Argentina and Mexico. The network conducted a research for making a comparison between different workplaces on various items. A strategy on communications was also developed through bulletins and a web- blog. 
 
Helmizan Sakrani from Indonesia reported on union activities at an Akzo Nobel plant located Cimanggis-Depok. He reported that his plant has 280 permanent employees and 167 of them are union members. Founded in 1983, the union has good relations with the company through plant level social dialogue with some positive result. 

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Erhan Kaplan and Hokan Ko&ccedil;ak from Petrol-Iş of Turkey reported their union&rsquo;s organizing activities in general and at unorganized Akzo Nobel plants. They reported a constructive cooperation and solidarity with the Dutch union on doing so. 
 
The situation and activities of the company&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC) were also discussed by Belgian, Dutch, and German participants. It was agreed to handle the problems and challenges in this context. The meeting also communicated with union representatives from Akzo Nobel in the US, from ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) via teleconference. 
 
Following the presentation by Kemal &Ouml;zkan on ICEM&rsquo;s activities of networking, it was unanimously decided to form a global network of Akzo Nobel unions. In this, FNV Bondgenoten takes the lead for coordination of the network. It was also decided to develop an effective communications system among the participating unions, with an aim to enlarge it to non-participating organizations. 
 
&ldquo;After the successful organizing of this network, our intention is to develop a dialogue and an interaction with the company, hopefully with the goal to ultimately reach a Global Framework Agreement with Akzo Nobel, &ldquo;said &Ouml;zkan, who used the company&rsquo;s motto regarding this: &ldquo;Today, we find answers of tomorrow.&rdquo;

ICEM Affiliates Move to Form an Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network

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A first-ever, tri-nation forum to unite trade unions struggling for democratic autonomy in Mexico with US and Canadian unions was held in Toronto, Canada, on 20 June. Some 120 trade unionists, NGO representatives, and Canadian civil society activists gathered for the one-day &ldquo;Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico&rdquo; conference. 
 
As Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada said, the meeting brought together trade union leaders from Mexico who never would be allowed to similarly gather inside Mexico. Those leaders included Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the exiled President of the National Union of Mine, Metalworkers&rsquo;, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM), Mart&iacute;n Esparza Flores of the Mexican Union of Electrical Workers (SME), Francisco Hern&aacute;ndez Ju&aacute;rez of the Mexican Telephone Workers&rsquo; Union (Telefonistas), and others mentioned below. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="200" />
Los Mineros General Secretary, Napole&oacute;n Gomez
The conference consisted of presentations by two Mexican-based labour attorneys, who told of the legal and political institutional obstacles to a free and democratic trade union movement in Mexico, and it also detailed the dreaded but common protection contracts, which inhibit true trade union rights. 
 
A central focus throughout the conference was the continuing harmful effects of the now 16-year-old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the US. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="106" />
Ben Davis, US Solidarity Center
Ben Davis of the US Solidarity Center did provide several inspiring examples on how SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, continues to organize workers despite overt suppression by the Mexican government. He also outlined work done at the US federal level to press the Obama administration to take a stronger stance against Mexican trade union repression. And on the global level, Davis told of work being done at the ILO over protection contracts, as well as institutional shareholder pressure against Grupo M&eacute;xico, the major corporate protagonist of Los Mineros. 
 
Jorge Robles of the Mexican Authentic Workers&rsquo; Front (FAT) addressed inherent deficiencies in current labour law reform inside Mexico, while Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General of the National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTGTM), spoke on the harmful effects of the free trade agreement. 

<img alt="" src="" width="199" height="182" />
Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General SNTGTM
Espinosa said NAFTA has been &ldquo;evil for Mexico&rdquo; since previous good wages and benefits have eroded. He said in both the tyre industry and auto-parts industry, &ldquo;year-to-year, employers are taking contractual rights away.&rdquo; 
 
Espinosa was fired in 2003 for impeding General Tire&rsquo;s agenda during collective negotiations, but remained a union activist for the three years he was off the job. In 2006, he was reinstated as a maintenance mechanic and in 2008, was elected Secretary-General of SNTGTM. 
 
At the conference conclusion, delegates shaped a strategic plan that includes insertion of strict worker protections in NAFTA, continuation of work on Mexican protection contracts, and solidarity and campaign work on specific Mexican labour struggles. 
 
The conference was sponsored by several North American trade unions, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and Union Network International (UNI).

Mexican Teach-in Charts North American Union Solidarity

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Some 5,400 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US gave approval to a four-year labour agreement on 24 June with Alcoa Inc., the world&rsquo;s second largest aluminum producer. The accumulated vote, by workers at 11 company facilities in eight US states, was 68% in favour, and comes three-and-a-half weeks after USW and Alcoa narrowly escaped a strike. 
 
The new labour accord was a compromise, with the USW fending off a complete overhaul to workers&rsquo; health care coverage that would have included a two-tier system, denying all new hires any future retiree health coverage whatsoever. In return, the union agreed to an increase in worker-paid health premiums and a slight decrease to medical coverage in the existing plan. 
 
The agreement also contains lump-sum payments in the first two years instead of percentage salary increases, with 2.5% increases won for 2012 and 2013. The final agreement also contains an increase in the pension benefit pay-out, and preserves longstanding seniority provisions. 
 
But most significantly, the USW&rsquo;s Alcoa Aluminum Negotiating Council &ndash; consisting of leaders from 11 branch unions in addition to four smaller unions &ndash; rejected Alcoa&rsquo;s &ldquo;Choices&rdquo; health care plan that would have dramatically reduced coverage while increasing workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs. 

<img src="" width="156" height="206" alt="" />
USW District 7 Director, Jim Robinson
&ldquo;The new contract does raise employee premiums, but they will still be much less than paid by Alcoa salaried and non-union employees,&rdquo; said USW District Seven Director and Alcoa Negotiating Chair Jim Robinson. 
 
&ldquo;Alcoa was not only insisting on implementing a plan that would have required our members to pay much higher costs for a lower level of coverage, but Alcoa also wanted the right to set future costs and coverage at whatever the company deemed appropriate,&rdquo; said Robinson. 
 
Alcoa US workers covered under the contract will receive a ratification bonus of US$1,250, with another bonus in 2010 amounting to US$1,000. In 2011, they will receive a lump-sum pay-out of US$1,750. 
 
The workers are employed at smelters and rolling-mill operations in Alcoa, Tennessee; two plants in Massena, New York; Badin, North Carolina; Warrick, Indiana; Lafayette, Indiana; Davenport, Iowa; Gum Springs, Arkansas; Point Comfort, Texas; Rockdale, Texas; and Wenatchee, Washington. The facilities comprise 40% of all US aluminum production. 
 
The USW and Alcoa negotiated for six weeks in April and May in Cincinnati, Ohio, to achieve a tentative accord. Late on 31 May, with USW branch unions poised to strike, the two sides extended bargaining for 11 hours into 1 June in a successful effort to avoid a strike. 
 
The contract will be backdated to 1 June and will run to 15 May 2014.

Steelworkers Ratify Four-Year US Labour Agreement with Alcoa

The ICEM Executive Committee, meeting in Geneva on 26-27 May 2010, is deeply disturbed by the extraordinary high number of workplace deaths and injuries in recent months, particularly in mining and both upstream and downstream oil and gas industries. This deterioration in safety and health conditions is attributable, the Executive Committee believes, to the rush to maximize profits by corporations in the wake of the financial crisis, and a general disregard to follow best practices in safety and health by these same corporations and, in some cases, governments. 
 
The ICEM points to the 17 May mine explosion in Zonguldak province, Turkey, which killed 30 workers as just one example. The Karadon mine is state-owned, but private contractors without trade union representation and with limited experience on safety matters operate this mine. The ICEM also points to the tragic explosion in May of the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation. Ninety miners perished and although cause of the methane gas explosion remains unknown, the ICEM deplores the coal-mining pay structure in Russia in which monthly salaries are kept extremely low and workers are expected to supplement their pay by reaching high production quotas. 
 
As well, the ICEM condemns Massey Energy in the United States, a company that has viciously avoided union representation while challenging all US federal mine safety citations given the company. Such appeals serve to delay corrective measures needed in Massey&rsquo;s mine. The 5 April explosion inside Massey&rsquo;s Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia, killing 29 miners, was compounded and made worse by the callousness and arrogance of the company&rsquo;s CEO in the aftermath of the explosion. 
 
In South Africa, where overall, mine safety is improving due to the militancy of the National Union of Mineworkers, the ICEM notes three miners were needlessly killed at AngloGold Ashanti in late April, bringing to over 30 the official death toll thus far in the country&rsquo;s mining industry. The ICEM also cites a recent roof collapse inside the Barapukuria Coal Mine Company in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, which killed and maimed several workers. An improper support system was the cause. Major mining accidents dating back to 2009 have also occurred in Poland, the Ukraine, and India. Also, the ICEM takes notice of continued deaths inside China&rsquo;s vast coal-mining industry and the fact that the death rate increased by 14% in the first quarter of 2010 over the same period in 2009. ICEM strongly believes this increase is due to negligence in safety in pursuit of greater production. 
 
In the oil and gas industries, the same is true. While much is made of the environmental destruction along the United States Gulf coast brought about by the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which indeed merits attention and the wrath against BP, who is the overall responsible operator, and its contractors, Transocean and Halliburton. Little is made of the fact that 11 offshore workers died and 15 others were severely injured. 
 
In the downstream oil sector as well, a rash of fires and explosions recently in the USA and elsewhere proves that the industry is neglecting correct process safety principles and procedures. 
 
The ICEM calls on the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries to engage the legitimate trade union representatives in correcting systematic deficiencies in safety procedures and methods to minimize this industry&rsquo;s inherent risks. 
 
The ICEM specifically recalls at this time recent and horrific accidents such as the tragic refinery explosion of the Tesoro company at its Anacortes, state of Washington, refinery that killed seven dedicated union members in April 2010, as well as the death of a contract employee in the state of Texas, and very recent fires at ExxonMobil&rsquo;s refinery in the state of Louisiana and a Valero refinery in the state of Tennessee, both seriously injuring workers. The ICEM grieves the death of a Petrobras worker at an onshore oil field in the state of Bahia in May. 
 
The ICEM also recognizes that there have been further workplace deaths in other sectors, many brought on by the expanded utilization of contract workers by companies attempting to decrease direct employment. 
Therefore, the ICEM firstly endorses the hour-long strike actions planned by affiliate Genel Maden-Is of Turkey in the Zonguldak region in the aftermath of the Karadon explosion that will take place on 26 May in protest of the government&rsquo;s general disregard for adherence of global safety standards. 
 
The ICEM also reiterates its campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, and pledges to intensify efforts to directly engage governments of resource-rich nations that have not ratified this Convention into doing so. Further, as an integral component of Convention 176, the ICEM insists that trade unions be fully involved in all design, safety methodology, and implementation of safety equipment, as well as fully involved in investigatory work following accidents or malfunctions. 
 
The ICEM pledges it will alert affiliates when there is incidence of mass deaths inside any work facility that is caused by negligence or faulty safety systems. It is the expectation that trade union affiliates will bring attention to these horrific acts to their own governments and inside their own enterprises in order that a new safety consciousness is raised. 
 
It is also the ICEM&rsquo;s expectation that the ILO take immediate action in regard to implementation of ILO Convention 176, focusing on stricter methane gas controls and ventilation systems. ICEM also expects that the ILO will investigate causes of recent negligence in mine safety accidents, namely pay systems that reward maximum productivity to the detriment of safety, and mining enterprises that rely on temporary or short-term contract workers. 
 
The ICEM also calls for ratification and strict adherence to ILO Convention 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention; Convention 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention; Convention 162, the Asbestos Convention; Convention 148, the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise, Ventilation); Convention 136, the Benzene Convention; Convention 170, the Chemicals Convention; Convention 115, the Radiation Protection Convention; Convention 139, the Occupational Cancer Convention; Convention 183, the Maternity Protection Convention; as well as attention to the ILO Guidelines on Health and Safety Management Systems. 
 
Finally, the ICEM calls on other Global Union Federations to join its campaign for better safety and health conditions throughout all industries.

Executive Committee Resolution on Safety in ICEM Sectors

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The ICEM affiliate in Peru, the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), have ended a 10 day strike at Chinese-owned iron ore miner Shougang Hierro Peru and accepted a deal proposed by Ica region's labour department (DRTI). Acting as arbitrator to the dispute, the DRTI proposed a 3.1 sol (US$1.10) per day raise for the 1,600 mineworkers and a 93 sol (US$35) per month increase for non-mineworkers, as well as a one-time bonus of 1,000 soles. 
 
The original proposal, made by the national Ministry of Labour, offered workers a one-time bonus of 900 soles, as well as a wage increase of 87 soles for non-mineworkers and 2.9 soles for miners. Rejecting this offer, workers began an indefinite strike on 28 June. Operations at the Marcona mine were also halted in March as a result of a three-day strike by workers, see ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3697-Peru’s-Doe-Run-Miners-Reach-Agreement-Ending-Strike">here</a>. 
 
Shougang is Peru's only iron ore producer, output in the first quarter of 2010 was 1.47 million tonnes, a 45.4% increase on last year. 
 
The strike, halting production, caused the company major losses and Shougang was forced to declare force majeure on iron ore shipments. 
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FNTMMSP General Secretary, Luis Castillo Carlos
Elsewhere in Peru&rsquo;s mining industry, US-owned Doe Run continues to refuse to restart operations at the polymetallic smelter in the town of La Oroya, as a 27 July deadline approaches. Before restarting operations, the company is asking for flexibility to pay taxes and fines, as well as modification of a 1997 privatization agreement that would protect the firm and its parent company from environmental lawsuits abroad. 
 
Doe Run Peru also requested the government to delay application of environmental standards at the La Oroya complex. The area is described as one of the most polluted areas in the world. 
 
While the company continues to dodge government demands, workers have been without work. One possible solution considered by Doe Run Peru is to relocate operations entirely, this would decimate the economy in La Oroya and neighbouring Junin region, and Doe Run Peru workers will not accept relocation plan. 
 
Doe Run Peru is an affiliate of the New York-based Renco Group.

Peru’s Shougang Mineworkers End Strike, Achieve Wage Gains

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ICEM Brazilian affiliate, Confedera&ccedil;&atilde;o Nacional do Ramo Qu&iacute;mico (CNQ/CUT), at its 6th congress, elected Antenor Eiiji Nakamura, of the Chemical Workers Union of S&atilde;o Paulo, known affectionately as &lsquo;Kazu&rsquo; to the position of National Coordinator. CNQ Congress was held from 28 June to 2 July in Recife. 
 
The unanimity of the vote was important for Kazu who praised the internal unity of the CNQ, even more significant as the 1 July Congress was the organisation&rsquo;s largest in terms of number of participants. 
 
Kazu, elected for the period 2010-2013, identified expansion of the organisation as a key challenge now. 
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CNQ/CUT National Coordinator, Antenor Eiiji Nakamura
Antenor Eiiji Nakamura, Kazu, began political participation in the Ministry of Youth in the East Zone of S&atilde;o Paulo. He participated in the student movement while studying Philosophy at University, and working in the chemical industry. Joining the union in 1988, he moved on to head the Department of Education and International Relations at CNQ-CUT. 
 
In total, the CNQ-CUT leadership is made up of 39 activists; this list was confirmed by Congress, also for the term of 2010-2013. ICEM Vice-President Sergio Novais was elected as treasurer.
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Photos - Dino Santos 
 
The congress debated a host of issues from international trends to the national situation which is marked by the elections scheduled for later in the year. CNQ sectors were analysed in detail together with the production chains. In addition there was an in-depth discussion of the paper, oil and pharmaceuticals industries, which are currently booming in Brazil. Other topics that were debated were trade union structures and organisation, contract and agency labour, reductions in working time, health and safety, profit sharing, corporate social responsibility, gender and race relations and youth. A special publication was presented on women which includes research on the profile of women workers in the chemical industry in five Brazilian states. The publication was sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). 
CNQ/CUT is the largest industrial trade union federation in Brazil, representing workers in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, glass, ceramics, and other process manufacturing sectors. 
 
In the framework of these visits to Brazil, ICEM General Secretary made a stopover for talks with BASF management in order to get social dialogue with the workers&rsquo; regional network back on track.

Brazilian CNQ-CUT Elects New Leader

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The ICEM French trade union affiliate, the Federation of Chemical and Energy Workers (FCE-CFDT) Union, elected Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Renucci to the post of General Secretary, with the 48 year-old succeeding Patrick Pierron, who&nbsp;served seven years as General Secretary. 
 
Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Renucci was unanimously proposed by the union&rsquo;s Federal Executive and subsequently elected by the Federal Steering Committee. Renucci began in his new role on 1 June, as the federation&rsquo;s third general secretary. 
 
The FCE-CFDT has described their new General Secretary as a dedicated trade unionist, with the necessary determination and experience to lead the trade union action of the federation, during turbulent financial conditions, globalisation, and ever-changing social conditions. 
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Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Renucci
Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois has identified social dialogue as the key in the effort to improve conditions and rights of workers, individually and collectively. According to the new general secretary, collective bargaining is the only way to ensure fair treatment of employees in small, medium, and large sized companies. Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois has been involved in negotiating collective agreements in all sectors and at all levels, local, national and international, and he has consistently identified mutual respect, trust and confidence as key factors to success of collective bargaining. 
 
Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois has made communication and participatory debate a priority for effective decision making, and the internal democracy of the federation. He hopes that in changing the general secretary, the organisation will not change its line or direction, but will give a renewed impetus to continue to implement decisions agreed collectively. 
 
The ICEM salutes and thanks outgoing Patrick Pierron, and congratulates Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Renucci.

Jean-François Renucci Becomes FCE-CFDT General Secretary

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The negative impacts of the Thai government&rsquo;s unjust National Verification process continue to hit Burmese migrant workers in the country, as they are deported to Burma and suffer human rights abuses at the hands of Burmese ethnic militia, Thai officials and numerous brokers. 
 
The ICEM supports calls for an independent investigation into the claims, to be headed by the United Nations, especially in light of Thailand holding the Presidency of the UN Human Rights Council currently. The allegations are very grave indeed, with mentions of torture, forced labour and systematic corruption. 
 
Migrant workers from Burma in Thailand make up 5-10% of the Thai labour force. 
 
According to fresh reports, Burmese migrants who are arrested by Thai officials are transported to a checkpoint on the Thai-Burmese border, on the Moei River, known as &ldquo;Gate Zero&rdquo;. The checkpoint is controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a proxy militia of the Burmese regime. 
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In the weeks since the National Verification order was issued, thousands of migrant workers have been arrested throughout Thailand and sent by police bus to Mae Sot, where their personal details are recorded and they are deported by boat across the river to Gate Zero. 
 
Upon arrival at Gate Zero the DKBA demands 1,200 baht (US$37) for a deported person's release, and offers a return trip to Bangkok for 10,000 baht. 
 
Local labour activists believe the proceeds from these fines are shared between the DKBA, brokers and Thai officials. 
 
The fine is huge for migrant workers, and many are unable to pay. In these cases, the worker&rsquo;s family is informed of the need to pay the release money, with the worker detained and in some cases tortured.

Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Suffer Gross Human Rights Abuses at Border

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