English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Svetlana Klochok was elected to lead the ICEM affiliate, Belarusian Chemical, Miners&rsquo;, and Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (Belchimprofsoyuz) early this month, despite heavy intrusion by the national labour centre Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FPB) and its president, Leonid Kozik. The election and Belchimprofsoyuz&rsquo;s Fifth Congress took place on 3 June in Minsk. 

During the final week of preparations for the Congress, strong pressure was exerted on the 197 delegates to place into leadership a colleague of Kozik&rsquo;s. The effort failed and Klochok won in a free and democratic vote of delegates, signaling a very strong slap to FPB for meddling in the internal affairs of an affiliated union. 

<img src="" width="240" height="244" alt="" />
Klochok had served as Vice President of the union. She succeeds Ludmila Grushetskaya who, after many years leading the union, decided not to run for re-election. 
 
The Congress took note of the global financial crisis, and despite it, the Belchimprofsoyuz secretariat reported the union did remarkably well in protecting working collectives, particularly in the oil and chemical industries. It achieved higher salary levels and maintained the number of jobs at levels near the number before the crisis. 
 
Some 90% of all workers in Belchimprofsoyuz&rsquo;s sectors are union members. The union&rsquo;s membership is 153,000, and it added 12,000 new members over the past four years. 
The Congress was attended by international trade union delegates from Russia and Italy, and the ICEM was represented by its Central Europe and Eastern Europe/Central Asia Coordinator Anatoly Surin. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the new President of Belchimprofsoyuz, Svetlana Klochok, and looks forward to continued good and fruitful relations with the Belarusian union.

Belarus Affiliate Wards Off National Centre Interference, Elects Democratic President

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
From 1-3 June, the second meeting of unions organizing in Spanish multinationals was held in Bogot&aacute;. It was attended by 25 trade unions from across Latin America. The meeting was organized by ISCOD, the Spanish Trade Union Development Institute that is connected to one of Spain&rsquo;s national labour centres, the UGT, as well as ICEM and Union Network International (UNI). 
 
The main objective of the meeting was to monitor the activities and to provide for measures to assure trade union rights are adhered to in Spanish multinationals. The activities must be geared to strengthening union organization, promoting unity processes, and reinforcing trade union alliances as well as campaigns for equality. 
 
Representatives were present from the private oil and gas workers&rsquo; federation of Argentina, CNQ Brazil, Sintraelecol of Colombia, and UGT delegates from Endesa, Gas Natural-Fenosa, and Repsol in Spain. 
 
One of the aims of holding the meeting in Colombia was to address the issue of murders of trade unionists. Sub-contracting in Colombia as it contributes to union busting is a further concern. The recent passing of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the European Union was one further topic of discussion. The meeting demanded assurances for respecting trade unions, citizens and consumers.
<img src="" width="120" height="131" alt="" />
ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Vice Presdient Sergio Novais&nbsp;
Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President for the Latin American/Caribbean Region, said, &ldquo;At this second meeting, we insist that multinationals have the same conduct in Latin America as they do at home. In the specific case of Colombia, there is no guarantee that trade union leaders can perform their duties with impunity. ICEM has seven affiliates in Colombia, and leaders of all of them have to carry out their activities with bodyguards. We have been denouncing this outrage for many years.&rdquo; 
 
The participants were concerned about the impacts of the crisis in Spain and the possible effects on Spanish multinationals and their employees in Latin America. A more profound exchange of experience was seen to be one way to avoid abuses. This project is on-going through the auspices of ISCOD and ICEM&rsquo;s Spanish affiliate, the FIA-UGT, who are thanked and congratulated for their support.

Murders, Union Rights Discussed at Observatory of Spanish Firms in Bogotá Meeting

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
On the heels of a gainful first contract victory against with Covanta on the US east coast, a branch of the ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) mounted another mobilisation in the US Midwest to stave off unneeded concessions, winning another excellent collective agreement. 

This one was with DTE Energy, the electric and gas provider that formerly was known as Detroit Edison. Some 4,000 UWUA Local 223 are now voting on a three-year labour agreement that will give them 3% annual salary increases, plus a US$750 contract signing bonus.
<img src="" width="220" height="146" alt="" />
&nbsp;UWUA President Mike Langford, at 1 June Local 223 meeting. At left, Executive Vice President Steven VanSlotten and Local 223 President Rich Hawkins. At right, Local 223 President Jim Harrison
The proposed agreement, negotiated in contentious bargaining that went right up to the 6 June expiry of a prior three-year agreement, came primarily because of workers&rsquo; anger in being presented with concessionary proposals by a company posting rich (US$230 million) net profits in first quarter 2010, and then handsomely rewarding its top executives. 

DTE Energy had proposed huge increases to the portion of worker-paid health care coverage, elimination or cuts to retiree health care, and the stripping of job security provisions. On 1 June in a fiery, over-full mass union meeting that needed the police of Livonia, Michigan, for crowd control, Local 223 members voted 97% to give strike authorization to the bargaining committee. 

Workers were angry that they contributed US$100 million in continuous improvements at Edison and MichCon. At the mass meeting, UWUA President Mike Langford said, &ldquo;The national union will not allow this to happen. We won&rsquo;t let DTE line the pockets of executives while it empties the wallets of our workers.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="300" height="200" alt="" />
Local 223 members turned out in force on 1 June to resist DTE Energy&rsquo;s takeaways&nbsp; 

Bargaining resumed the next day and by the time weekend (4-6 June) talks concluded, the company had moved from its entire slate of concessions. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re proud that we were able to work together to achieve an outcome that values our employees, serves our customers and supports Michigan&rsquo;s economic recovery,&rdquo; appropriately stated the company in a joint news release. 

UWUA Local 223 represents electric line workers, skilled trades-persons, technical staff, power plant operators, electric and gas service and distribution workers, and customer service, office, and clerical staff. Local 223 members also serve as first responders in times of crisis and in times of life and death situations in Detroit and surrounding communities.

US Utility Workers Win Again, This Time with Detroit Electric Company

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
UK&rsquo;s Unite the Union held its first Policy Conference 31 May to 3 June at the Manchester Central Convention Complex with 700 delegates present. Entitled &ldquo;Working for Working People,&rdquo; the biannual event was the first jointly held conference since the 1 May 2007 merger between the Transport and General Workers Union and Amicus that created Unite. 

Central themes of the four-day conference included winning back the British Labour Party for working people, keeping a sturdy manufacturing base in the UK, stopping erosion of public services and public sector workers against Tory assaults, and addressing the bullying affront by British Airways against the union&rsquo;s cabin crew members. 

The conference also took up several intentional topics, including support for Canadian strikers of the United Steelworkers (USW) at mining company Vale, strong condemnation of Israel&rsquo;s aggressive policies against Palestinians, support to Latin American unions resisting capitalist demands, and, closer to home, a hearing over the lack of rights for Unite&rsquo;s Moroccan members working in Gibraltar.
<img alt="" src="" width="302" height="193" />
Tony Woodley, USW&rsquo;s Gerald Fernandez, Canadian Vale striker Bob Belowos, United Executive Council Chair Tony Woodhouse, and Derek Simpson&nbsp; 

Some 180 policy issues were tabled. 

The biggest debate occurred on 2 June over whether or not Britain ought to scrub its &pound;76 billion Trident nuclear weapon system when its service life ends in 2024. The debate centered on peace and disarmament versus jobs and workers&rsquo; livelihoods, with discussion on how cancelling the programme can liberate monies for public services, such as health, education, and social services. After a fierce debate, Unite&rsquo;s Executive Council recommendation for peace and disarmament won out. 

On 2 June, UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) Secretary General Brendan Barber spoke. He said that manufacturing must become the centerpiece of a new economy. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s high-speed trains or electric vehicles, whether it&rsquo;s wind turbines or more efficient airplane engines, we have the skills, the experience, and the expertise to build them here.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="120" />
Woodley and Simpson
Barber lashed out at the consequences hoisted on British society by financiers. &ldquo;It is just plain wrong that our schools, hospitals, and local councils should pay the price for a crisis inspired by the free-market dogma, created in the City of London, and caused by the richest minority of the richest minority.&rdquo; 

Unite&rsquo;s Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley had harsh words for the Labour Party. &ldquo;It is a scandal that at the end of 13 years of Labour government, the right to strike is hanging by a thread. (It is) at the mercy of employers who would rather sue than settle, and Tory judges who &hellip; think strikes are OK as long as they don&rsquo;t inconvenience the bosses. 

&ldquo;So I want to make one thing clear to all Labour leadership contenders. Our vote should only go to the candidate who pledges &ndash; unequivocally, no mealy-mouthed phrases, to do what Labor was set up to do &ndash; create a level playing field at work, and scrap the anti-union laws.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
&nbsp;Unite Delegates Voting on a Policy Measure 

Speaking on the conference&rsquo;s final day, 3 June, Joint General Secretary Derek Simpson &ndash; who will retire at year&rsquo;s end &ndash; addressed Unite&rsquo;s merger coordination with the United Steelworkers of North America, called Workers Uniting. He said it was the UK&rsquo;s failure to implement social partnership models, common throughout Europe, which has left the markets to rule in the UK &ndash; as well as in the US. 

&ldquo;If you need to fight the employer on a multi-national field,&rdquo; said Simpson, &ldquo;you need a multi-national union and the USW feels the same way.&rdquo; 

While Simpson will retire this year, Woodley will follow him to retirement in the next calendar year. Unite branches are conducting nominations and five candidates announced their intent to succeed Woodley, with elections to start in October of this year.

UK’s Unite Takes Policy Initiatives at First Tactical Conference

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A proposed agreement between social partners FNV Bondgenoten and employers&rsquo; federations, reached 4 June over reform of the basic retirement pension (AOW) in the Netherlands, will now go to a vote of union membership. 
 
The social plan under consideration calls for the Dutch retirement age to rise from age 65 to 66 in the year 2020, and possibly to 67 in 2025. That would occur only if a national evaluation of higher life expectancy after 2020 warrants it. Workers would still have the option to retire at 65, but they would face a 6.5% reduction in pension benefits. And the lowest-paid workers, and workers who do heavy physical jobs, would be exempt from the rise in the pension age. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten is organizing what is expected to be hotly-debated membership meetings across the country from 21-23 June to discuss the pension reform plan. Union members will vote on the plan between then and 30 June. In early July, the 480,000-member general union will consult leaders of the Dutch national labour center, FNV, if the proposal is accepted. 
 
Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk admitted the proposed AOW is a step backwards, but argued it could be a workable solution considering shortfalls in both public and private pension funds and proposals put forward by political parties.
<img src="" width="166" height="130" alt="" />
Henk van der Kolk
The agreement came days ahead of the 9 June general elections in the Netherlands, elections in which three of the four political parties campaigned on pension reform that had worse terms than the proposed social agreement between Bondgenoten and employers. In that vote, parliamentary gains by the center-right Liberal Party (VDD) &ndash; considered the winner in the vote &ndash; and the racist Freedom Party (PVV) will make a Dutch coalition government difficult to put together. 
 
The VDD&rsquo;s platform consists of an increase in the pension age of two months each year, dating back to 2007, with retirement at 67 proposed for the year 2023. The pre-election agreement cobbled together by the labour-business social partners, which likely will carry much weight with any future coalition government, if accepted, also means Holland has ten years to straighten out financial matters. The proposed reform plan, if moved ahead, would cover both state and private pensions.

FNV Bondgenoten Members to Vote on Pension Reform Plan

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
In this issue of the HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on ICEM&rsquo;s Southern African Women&rsquo;s Workshop, which took place at the Midrand Conference Centre near Johnnesburg, South Africa, and we inform about the Global Fund&rsquo;s call for proposals, and we deal with funding gaps, which may soon lead to loss of lives. 
 
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" />
ICEM Southern African HIV/AIDS Women&rsquo;s Workshop 
 
Participants at the Women&rsquo;s Workshop were proudly wearing their scarves with the slogan, &ldquo;Safe Sex Demands Equal Rights.&rdquo; This was the theme of the workshop, which was held in Johannesburg from 18-20 May with 26 participants from Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 
 
The decision to hold a women-only workshop was based on the need to identify specific challenges facing women, especially the empowerment of their sexual relations through the use of female condoms (femidoms). An HIV-positive woman from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) of South Africa stressed the importance of female condoms and demonstrated their use. Her example also stood out as she gave birth to an HIV-negative baby following the necessary treatment. 

<img alt="" src="" width="315" height="186" />
The workshop also discussed increasing access for women to prevention, treatment, and care and how to address violence arising from HIV and AIDS status. According to a facilitator from the Twaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, only 5% of perpetrators are brought to book. Women are discouraged by untrained police officers handling violence cases and by lengthy legal procedures. 
 
Intensive role play and group work completed the workshop programme. Participants called for a campaign to promote female condoms. They recommended that unions take a stand against violence; that the quality of counselling and testing be improved; and that police be trained to deal adequately with cases of violence. 
 
Another first of the workshop was that it was an almost paperless meeting. Participants were encouraged to save all workshop documents and presentations on memory sticks given to them as part of the workshop materials. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Global Fund Launches New Funding Round 
 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria launched its tenth call for proposals on 20 May. The deadline for submissions of proposals was fixed as 20 August. Thus, applicants will have three months to prepare their proposals, one month less than in recent rounds. 
 
There is considerable uncertainty whether sufficient funds will be available to pay for all of the Round 10 proposals that are recommended for funding by the Technical Review Panel (TRP). The Global Fund says that, currently, based on confirmed pledges, no money is available for Round 10. However, the Global Fund is in the middle of &quot;replenishment,&quot; with donors due to specify in October how much they expect to give to the Fund over the next three years. Thus, the amount of money available for Round 10 will certainly increase by the time the Global Fund Board approves Round 10 proposals at its meeting in December 2010. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date will be reviewed by the Global Fund Secretariat to ensure that they meet the Fund's eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the TRP for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will make its decisions at its meeting scheduled for 13-15 December 2010. (In the past, all proposals recommended by the TRP for approval have indeed been approved by the Board, though sometimes they have been waitlisted pending funding availability.) 
 
The Round 10 proposal form and various support documents are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/applynow">www.theglobalfund.org/en/applynow</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund press release; and Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 124 of 21 May. 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>. 
 
The Global Fund Observer has also published a Guide to Round 10 applications which is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian on the above website. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Malawi Moves to Adopt WHO Guidelines 
 
Developing countries like Malawi are calculating the cost of adhering to new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that recommend starting HIV-positive people on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) sooner. 
 
Malawi is one of three African countries that have conducted WHO-supported feasibility studies to assess what adopting the new guidelines would mean, and has announced plans to roll out the new WHO guidelines by mid-2011. According to the feasibility study, the number of people on treatment would rise by about 50%, which could double the cost of the National ARV Programme in terms of additional drugs, personnel, and equipment, and would probably also mean waiting lists at many clinics. Malawi has a HIV prevalence rate of about 12%. 
 
Implementing the WHO guidelines would mean major changes to national treatment protocols: HIV-positive people would start taking ARVs at a much higher CD4 count of 350 (a measure of the viral load to ascertain when HIV-positive people should begin treatment). Like other countries in the region, it has begun treating HIV-positive pregnant women at the WHO-recommended CD4 count of 350, but the standard CD4 count threshold for initiating ARV treatment remains 250. 
 
Finance is among the major hurdles to adopting the guidelines, as well as infrastructure, supply-chain management, and health worker shortages. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 27 May) 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Eliminate Bottlenecks to End Mother-to-Child-Transmission 
 
Making services for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) available without addressing the factors that keep mothers from accessing these services was an exercise in futility, experts told a press briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 
 
&quot;There are barriers that stop mothers from accessing prevention of mother-to-child transmission and treatment services, some of which include inadequate involvement of men and communities, and lack of information,&quot; said Chewe Luo, senior advisor on HIV/AIDS to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF. 
 
Women might not be able to afford medical care or transport to a clinic; cultural taboos might discourage them from giving birth in medical facilities. &quot;We have to expand the scope of what we do to ensure that the burden of prevention does not fall on women's shoulders alone,&quot; Luo said. 
 
Virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission in Africa - where 20 countries share over 85% of the global burden of mother-to-child HIV transmission - would be possible but only if HIV counselling and testing services were expanded so that all mothers had access to effective antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis and treatment. 
 
In 2008, globally, 430,000 children became infected with HIV, 90% of whom lived in sub-Saharan Africa. In the absence of access to ARV treatment, most of them would die within one year of birth, according to UNAIDS. Fareed Abdullah, unit director for Africa at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, promised that &quot;The Global Fund will refocus funding to ensure that priority is given to PMTCT programmes in the recipient countries, and more so in the 20 countries that share the 85% of the global burden of mother to child transmission of HIV.&quot; 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 28 May) 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Lost Funding Means Lost Lives 
 
As donors retreat from funding HIV and AIDS programmes, years of progress in HIV treatment are under threat and the lives of HIV-positive people are increasingly on the line, according to a new report by the international medical charity, M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF). Improved access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has saved lives, reduced the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and new HIV infections, and strengthened health systems in many countries hard hit by HIV. But as funding diminishes, these gains are now in jeopardy, says the report, &ldquo;No Time to Quit: HIV/AIDS Treatment Gap Widening in Africa.&rdquo; 
 
Funding shortages in eight African countries have already led to drug stock-outs, treatment rationing, and the inability of most of the countries to adopt improved ARV regimens advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the report noted. &quot;About 75% of HIV funding in developing countries is international &ndash; you can't replace that in the short term,&quot; said Mit Philips, a health policy analyst at MSF and one of the report's authors. 
 
The recent decision by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to flat-line it&rsquo;s funding at 2009 levels and decrease annual budget allocations in coming years, has already led PEPFAR-supported clinics in South Africa to begin turning away patients. 
 
UNITAID, the international drug purchasing facility, is to phase out drug funding, leaving Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Malawi without funding for costly second-line ARV drugs by 2012. 
 
Dr Eric Goemaere, MSF Medical Coordinator in South Africa, called donor backtracking a &quot;moral betrayal. Years ago, countries in the southern Africa region were unsure that they could afford treatment, but they were told by the international community 'Set ambitious targets, we will follow with the money',&rdquo; he said. &quot;If this funding trend is confirmed, I would call it a moral betrayal for patients, who were told to be courageous and face testing because we would provide treatment; for the health staff, who managed to enroll more than four million people on treatment, and who are suddenly told not to enroll patients.&quot; 
 
The report predicted that if the downward trend in funding continued, ARVs would become increasingly inaccessible, which would lead to increased rates of mortality and hospitalisation among those living with HIV, and place a strain on already weak health systems. The report also warned that ARV patients may adopt risky strategies for coping with drug supply shortages, such as sharing pills, thereby increasing the likelihood of widespread drug resistance. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 27 May) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
HIV/AIDS Project in India Scores Again 
 
The ICEM HIV/AIDS project in India, sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has continued well into 2010 although funding ceased at the end of 2009. 
 
In the first five months of 2010, 24 courses and awareness meetings were held, under the auspices of the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) and coordinated by its General Secretary, BK Das. These activities did not only reach mineworkers but also school teachers and students in company schools, as well as paramedical staff in company clinics. 
 
The extension of the project was possible because companies had increasingly taken over some of the costs resulting in budgetary savings which could be deployed for organising additional activities. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Headaches for HIV-positive Travellers 
 
China recently became the latest country to lift travel restrictions on people living with HIV, following the footsteps of the US (see <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3492-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-50-November-2009">e-bulletin No. 50</a> of November 2009, and <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3582-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-52-January-2010">No. 52</a> of January 2010). 
 
&ldquo;Every individual should have equal access to freedom of movement regardless of his or her HIV status,&rdquo; UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib&eacute; commented on China&rsquo;s decision. 
 
According to UNAIDS, 51 countries and territories still impose restrictions on the entry, stay and residence of HIV-positive people. Among those countries requiring an HIV test, usually for a stay longer than 30 days, are: the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Singapore, Egypt, and Iraq. 
 
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, at its 122nd Assembly, called for an elimination of all restrictions. It called on parliamentarians to play a leading role in removing them and also encouraged parliamentarians to support legislation and law enforcement to protect people living with HIV from discrimination. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 6 May) 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
News from Global Unions 
 
The ICEM project in India is included in a documentation of good practices which was published by the ILO India Project, which is supported by the US Department of Labor. The publication is available on the website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/hivaidsindia">www.ilo.org/hivaidsindia</a>. 
 
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 No. 86 of 15 May on counselling and testing camps organised at Ethiopian international and domestic airports. The ITF also recently published the 4th issue of Agenda, an annual publication on HIV/AIDS and transport workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
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. 57, June 2010

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In 2009, according to the annual survey of the International Trade Union Confederation&rsquo;s (ITUC), 101 murders of trade unionists occurred worldwide. Colombia again was the leader among countries with 48. Despite the gruesome repeat, the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on the Application of Standards, on 5 June, excluded Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses. 
 
The ICEM expresses disbelief over the omitting of Colombia, and itself sanctions employers&rsquo; representatives at the ILO for manipulating the exclusion. The ICEM also calls attention to the fact that President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe V&eacute;lez immediately used Colombia&rsquo;s elimination to promote free trade agreements with North American nations and the European Union. 
 
It was the first time in 20 years that Colombia, far and away the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists to carry out their activities, was left off the list. The ITUC reports that over the last decade, 63% of all trade union murders occurred in Colombia. It counts at least 10,887 acts of violence against unionists, and over the past 24 years, 2,832 murders occurred. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM is appalled at the political power play by employers&rsquo; representatives, both from Colombia and elsewhere, to exclude Colombia from the list of 25,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Not only do murders, telephone threats, physical assaults continue there on a regular basis, but despite government rhetoric, impunity for such crimes is nearly always certain.&rdquo; 
 
The exclusion, at the 99th Session of ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference in Geneva, came days before Colombia hosted the US Secretary of State in another effort to get America to implement its end of the 2006 United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Act. The US Congress has held up a vote over implementing it because of Colombia&rsquo;s horrid labour and human rights record. 
 
Uribe welcomed the US foreign minister to Colombia by stating the ILO&rsquo;s move was a &ldquo;harbinger of your visit&rdquo; to the Latin nation. 
 
Similar free trade agreements are also currently pending between Colombia and both Canada and the European Union. Resistance by constituencies, including labour unions, against such foreign trade deals also hinge on human and union rights abuses. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
Colombia&rsquo;s murder rate speaks for itself. In the first five months of 2010, 17 Colombian trade union activists were murdered. And on 5 June, the same day the ILO&rsquo;s tripartite committee excluded the country, Hern&aacute;n Abdiel Ordo&ntilde;ez Dorado, treasurer of the prison workers&rsquo; union ASEINPEC, was shot dead by unknown assailants on motorbikes in Cali. The number of assassinated trade unionists in Colombia in 2010 is 18. 
 
In 2009, 22 of Colombia&rsquo;s 48 killings were made against senior trade union leaders, with five of those being women. 
 
Overall, again according to the ITUC statistics, murders of trade unionists jumped 30% in 2009 over 2008, when 76 killings were recorded. But it is a known fact that many murders, and other abusive violations aimed at trade unionists, go unreported. 
 
Compared to Colombia&rsquo;s 48 trade union murders in 2009, 16 happened in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six each in Mexico and Bangladesh, four in Brazil, and three each in the Dominican Republic and the Philippines. 
 
The ITUC survey provides detailed documentation of harassment, intimidation, and other measures on anti-union persecution in 140 countries. The survey can be found <a href="http://survey.ituc-csi.org/+-Whole-World-+.html?lang=en">here</a>.

Home to Half of World’s Union Murders, Colombia Excluded from ILO’s Sanctions List

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Four days of difficult talks between United Steelworkers (USW) Locals 6500 and 6200 and Brazilian mining company Vale in Canada were adjourned on 7 June,&nbsp;because the schedule of mediator Kevin Burkett could not permit a continuance. A settlement in&nbsp;the now 11-month strike at nickel and copper mines, a smelter, and production facilities in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, rest in resumption of talks that will take place 19 June in Toronto. 
 
Burkett issued a statement following adjournment on 7 June stating &ldquo;progress was made&rdquo; and the USW and Vale &ldquo;have agreed to continue two party negotiations on certain issues&rdquo; until formal and mediated talks resume this Saturday. 
 
Burkett statement said the 4-7 June time frame &ldquo;set aside to complete the task of negotiating a renewal collective agreement was insufficient.&rdquo; A news blackout has been honoured by both sides regarding negotiations. The early June re-start of bargaining was the third time since late February that the USW and Vale had engaged in talks with Burkett in the middle.
<img alt="" src="" width="315" height="125" />
Meanwhile, in the Canadian province of Labrador/Newfoundland, where 250 steelworkers have been on strike against Vale since 1 August 2010, talks between the company and Local 9508 resumed in late May. Negotiations there also adjourned in order for respective bargaining committees to review issues. 
 
Since many of the same issues are common to both Ontario and the Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay workers in Labrador, it is thought that settlement will come first in Sudbury/Port Colborne. 
 
Pressure did come to bear on Vale when, on 1 June, 50 workers of Ushitou Maintenance in Voiseys Bay downed tools when their contract expired. The company is a contract provider for Vale and workers are members of another bargaining unit of Local 9508. Vale announced that the contractor will use replacements workers during the work stoppage. 
 
In Ontario, the road to a negotiated agreement was made somewhat easier in a 17 May decision rendered by the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The provincial labour board directed the two sides to return to bargaining, but ordered an issue over the reinstatement of nine fired strikers to be set aside in mediated talks. Vale has been steadfast in insisting that even with agreement, the nine &ndash; including two bargaining committee members are not welcome back &ndash; while the USW is insisting that reinstatement must be part of thee settlement. 
 
In Sudbury and Port Colborne, some 3,500 members of USW Locals 6500 and 6200 began strike actions on 13 July 2009 over Vale&rsquo;s efforts seeking a two-tier pension scheme, sharp reductions in a production bonus, and company prerogatives on outsourcing, which threaten job security.

Difficult USW, Vale Canadian Mine Talks to Continue This Week

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) will jointly hold the &ldquo;Triple Crisis of Sustainability&rdquo; Conference this week, 18-19 June, in Toronto, Canada, to give a full workers&rsquo; airing to the economic, environment, and social consequences brought on by global financial crisis. The Conference&rsquo;s aim is to prepare a worldwide workers&rsquo; and communities&rsquo; declaration for the G8 and G20 summits, also to be held in Toronto the following week. 
 
As of today, 14 June, 270 trade union and other leaders from over 50 countries are registered to attend. The conference runs from 9h00 to 17h30 on both 18 and 19 June at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="86" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="90" height="88" />
Both ICEM and IMF share the belief that the crises of failing economies, environmental inaction, and social disorder have occurred due to lack of financial and environmental regulations, as well as inept financial governance of markets. The conference will ensure that the voices of global workers are heard on these issues before the G8 and G20 summits convene, and then presented to financial and political leaders in a common declaration. 
 
Jobs, workers&rsquo; rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability &ndash; both on environmental stewardship and in providing decent work &ndash; is expected to serve as the core of the declaration. 
 
Keynote speakers will include United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, David Donnelly, a leading environmental attorney connected with Canada&rsquo;s Blue-Green Alliance, and John Evans, the General-Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD 
 
Specific panels will address the economic crisis, sustainable development and climate change, and corporate governance. The conference&rsquo;s programme has been built to allow for maximum comments from all those wishing to be heard on the effects of the social, environmental, and economic crises.

Toronto’s Sustainable Jobs, Environment Confab a Precursor for G8/G20 Meetings

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A historic event took place early this month in the northern Iraq region of Kurdistan: the region&rsquo;s two labour federations, traditional tied to Kurdistan&rsquo;s two political parties, merged, creating a single voice for workers in northern Iraq. 
 
The new federation is called the Kurdistan United Workers&rsquo; Union, and consolidates the Kurdistan Workers&rsquo; Union and the General Workers and Crafts Syndicate Union. The merger was first reported ten days ago on the website of UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Council (TUC). Hangam Abdullah Khan and Yassin Aziz Ali are to serve as co-Presidents. 
 
&ldquo;When we were two federations, we spoke with two voices,&rdquo; stated Hangam Abdullah Khan. &ldquo;Now it is working people who will benefit from us having one voice.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="274" height="206" />
Added Yassin Aziz Ali, &ldquo;With this new union, we have high hopes. We hope to have an increasing membership, women in leadership positions in the union, and more campaigning power, especially on our top priority &ndash; new progressive labour laws in the Kurdistan region and across federal Iraq, and on social security, too.&rdquo; 
 
The new trade union federation, according to the TUC site, is 95% merged and is in a one-year transitional state. Despite that, it already has a President for Women &ndash; Nazanin Tariq Ali. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the leaders of the former union federations for coming together in the best interests of not just Kurdish workers, but for setting an example throughout Iraq.

The Two Trade Union Federations in Iraqi Kurdistan Unite, Merge

Archive