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<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
At a kick-off rally on 21 February in New Plymouth, New Zealand, ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) launched its “FairShare ‘07” campaign, aimed at mobilising the union’s 50,000 members for 5% wage increases in this year’s round of collective bargaining. 
 
“We’re telling employers that this year, we expect pay rises of 5% and we’re prepared to do what’s necessary to get it,” EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little told 1,000 EPMU members at the rally. Little said that with increased business confidence and a strengthening economy, there is no excuse for working New Zealanders to miss out on the economic good times.
<img height="50" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealandFlag.gif" width="100"/>
  
The 2007 campaign is a repeat of the EPMU’s “FairShare ‘05” campaign, in which the union negotiated a total of 269 labour agreements – 85% of the total collective agreements negotiated then – with 5% wage gains. 
 
As part of this year’s 5% drive, the union will be making claims for employer contributions into a workers’ savings plan. “One of the major changes to the employment landscape this year is the introduction of KiwiSaver and we’ll be taking employer contributions into account during our negotiations,” said Little. 
 
KiwiSaver will become effective on 1 July, and the EPMU will bargain for a minimum 2% employer contribution to an individual worker’s account. The supplemental savings scheme allows workers to make either a 4% or 8% personal contribution of their gross taxable earnings, but currently there is no statutory requirement for employers to match a contribution. 
 
Little also said superannuation will also be a key issue in this year’s bargaining.
<img height="92" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Maps/NewZealand.png" width="200"/>
EPMU, New Zealand’s largest union, again has the full support of the country’s Council of Trade Unions (CTU) in this year’s drive. “We need to see wages increased every year if we are to address both our significant social deficit and also the structural problem in our economy of low wages,” stated CTU President Ross Wilson, adding that on average, New Zealand wages lag 30% behind those in Australia.

EPMU Renews ‘FairShare’ Wage Campaign for 2007 in New Zealand

The ICEM, the Global Union Federation for oil workers, is calling for “strong condemnation” of the two recent US and Iraqi military raids on union offices in Baghdad. The raids, during which one worker was arrested, and computers and fax machines at the central office of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) confiscated, occurred on 23 and 25 February. 
 
The ICEM, with affiliates in 125 countries, is calling on trade unions worldwide to directly protest this unprovoked attack on a trade union federation that stands for nation building and bettering the living conditions inside Iraq. 
 
ICEM is calling on trade unions and others to write to Iraqi embassies in their home countries, as well as to send messages of solidarity to GFIW leaders that their efforts to build strong trade unions in Iraq will succeed and with it, fair and just reconstruction for all Iraqi people. 
 
Trade unions are asked to register a protest with the Iraqi embassy or consulate in their country by visiting: <a href="http://www.mofa.gov.iq/index.aspx">http://www.mofa.gov.iq/index.aspx</a>. They are also being strongly urged to write GFIW leaders in Baghdad to tell them they protest these forceful and menacing acts.
Messages can be sent to these principal addresses: 
<a href="mailto:abdullahmuhsin@iraqitradeunions.org">abdullahmuhsin@iraqitradeunions.org</a> 
<a href="mailto:adnalsaffar@yahoo.com">adnalsaffar@yahoo.com</a> 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraq.png" width="250"/>
The ICEM notes that the pair of raids on the GFIW offices represents disturbing and counter-productive acts inside Iraq. On 19 February, a raid also occurred at the offices of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists, and American troops confiscated computers and membership records. 
 
“These attacks are a clear violation of fundamental human and trade union rights,” wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “They are also a cynical attempt to not only harass the trade union movement of your country, but to limit their ability to communicate with both their members and their international contacts. 
 
“This is appalling, particularly at the present time. Genuine and democratic trade unions are a cornerstone of democracy and at the same time are a force for reconciliation, peace and stability in a society,” said Warda. 
To read the ICEM letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister, <a href="/index.php?id=24&doc=2160&la=EN" type="internal">click here</a>.

Military Raids, Arrest at Iraqi Union Office Demands Action

8 March 2007 
 
Brother Mustafa Oztaskin 
President 
Petrol-Is Union 
Altunizade Mah. 
Kusbakisi Sok. No. 25 
81180 Altunizade Uskadar 
Turkey 
 
Via e-mail <a href="mailto:merkez@petrol-is.org.tr">merkez@petrol-is.org.tr</a> 
or Fax Number +90 216 4749870 
 
Dear Brother Oztaskin, 
We understand through our mutual affiliation with the ICEM that workers in the Antalya Free Trade Zone at Novamed GmbH, a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care, have been on strike since late September 2006. 
 
We also know from the ICEM that of 84 workers on strike, 82% of them are women. They are rightfully seeking dignity on the job, and their full trade union rights to collective bargaining. We applaud them in their very heroic efforts to defend these rights and their very basic fight for dignity. 
 
On this day, 8 March, International Women’s Day, our Union commends Petrol-Is for standing strong with these women workers. We also ask you to pass our Solidarity and Unity to them in this most important fight against Fresenius Medical Care. Please convey to them that our Union stands firmly with them. 
 
Fraternally,

Model letter for International Women’s Day on Turkey

Global Fund Calls for Round 7 Proposals 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its Seventh Call for Proposals. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. Proposals have to reach the Global Fund by 4 July 2007. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 4 July 2007 will be reviewed by the Global Fund’s Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will make its decisions at its November board meeting. 
 
 
How does the Global Fund work? 
 
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002 and up to December 2006, the Global Fund has approved 450 programmes in 136 countries with a total commitment of US$7 billion. 
 
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it and proves it – the Global Fund is performance based. 
 
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In reality, most CCMs are dominated by the public sector. 
 
 
How can unions get involved? 
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is recognised. No workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, the Global Union Federations, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the WHO and UNAIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is keen to build public/private partnerships and to implement co-investment projects. Without the involvement of the private sector, universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), is not possible or will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions as workers’ representatives. The ICEM has worked with the Global Fund to establish this principle in public/private co-investment projects. 
 
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. They have to attend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs. 
 
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM. 
 
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances – Creating Knowledge – Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. 
A lot of USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, the UK and the European Union may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme, ILOAIDS, has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices. 
 
Grants are allocated to a Principal Recipient in a country – in the majority of cases to a ministry. For a more efficient implementation sub-recipients may be nominated, and it is here where specific workplace programmes can receive funding. 
 
 
What are your next steps? 
 
• Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget. 
 
• Get to know the members of your country’s CCM and lobby those potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 6 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
 
• Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS and WHO offices. 
 
• Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility. 
 
• Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA. 
 
• Access the website <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> on which a guide to Round 7 applications is available. 
 
 
How can the ICEM help? 
 
The ICEM’s Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and inquiries to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. The ICEM has Global Framework Agreements with a dozen multinational companies which should be engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
 
Above all 
 
• Start today if you want to do something. 
 
• Remember that the private sector includes business and unions as the workers’ representatives. 
 
• Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance. 
 
• Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a> for further information and help.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Special Issue

A rank-and-file vote to merge two major British trade unions was approved on 8 March, and the UK will have its biggest union, totalling two million workers, on 1 May. In a mail ballot referendum, union members of Amicus and Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU) in the UK and Ireland voted to merge their unions. 
 
Eighty-six percent of all TGWU members that voted backed the merger, while 70% of Amicus members that voted also gave approval to create the new, yet-to-be named union. The union will now comprise 30% of the UK’s Trade Union Congress, and will be the country’s dominant trade union in a wide swath of services and industries, ranging from transport and manufacturing – including print, paper, rubber, chemicals and oil – to food and farming, as well as banking, public services, and the voluntary sector. 
<img height="62" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UKAmicus.jpg" width="120"/>           <img height="63" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UKTGWU.gif" width="113"/>
Both unions utilised a full and transparent process which took two years to complete. In the initial stages, the trade union GMB was included in three-way discussions, but that union dropped out due to regional structure differences. 
 
"The new union will be a progressive, organising, fighting-back industrial giant,” said TGWU Gen. Sec. Tony Woodley, that is “focused above all on winning for our members in the workplace, and taking trade unionism to the millions who need it." 
 
"The new union will be the greatest campaigning force on behalf of ordinary people that has ever existed,” stated Amicus Gen. Sec. Derek Simpson. “It is a precursor to the creation of a single global trade union movement capable of challenging the might of multinationals who seek to play workforces and governments off against each other to reduce jobs and hard won pay and conditions." 
<img height="232" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703Amicustgwumerger1.jpg" width="350"/>
Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson shaking hands
Woodley and Simpson will serve as Joint General Secretaries of the new union. A sole general secretary will be elected in a membership ballot in 2010. Both expressed a strong commitment to organising, stating that within three years, 10% of the combined union’s budget will be aimed at recruitment. 
 
A short list of possible names for the new union has been developed, and those names will be put before the membership in a democratic vote in the near future. 
 
TGWU was formed in 1922 when 14 unions, representing factory workers, dockers, stevedores, lightermen, transport staff, and clerks, merged into one union. Amicus was a more recent merger of trade unions. In 2002, the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) and Manufacturing, Science, Finance (MSF) merged to create it. In 2004, The Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) merged into Amicus and the same year, the financial services union UNIFI did the same.

Britain’s Biggest Union Formed with Amicus, TGWU Merger

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At a merger Congress in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last week, ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers in Electricity and Gas (SYNASEG), and the National Union of Workers in the Water Sector (SYNATRASE) formally came together to form FESENE, the Trade Union Federation of Energy and Water Workers. 
 
SYNASEG Gen. Sec. François Yao will hold the same position inside FESENE. He said the birth of the union is based on two principles, the right to association and the common fact that there is strength in unity. “Wherever there is an economic power, there needs to be a trade union counterpart,” said Yao at a press conference introducing the new union. 
 
The merger of the two unions occurs at a time when SYNASEG remains in dispute with CIE, the country’s electricity operator and a subsidiary of the Bouygues Group. The ICEM affiliate suspended a strike, scheduled to start last week, after national ministers for Public Works and Energy and Mines agreed to mediate social dialogue. 
<img height="143" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FrancoisYao.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
General Secretary François Yao
CIE has engaged in systematic attacks on SYNASEG since 2005. Then, the union backed the government’s reform of the national electric sector, which called for re-nationalising and not renewing Bouygues’ 15-year contract. But the government changed its policy and did award another 15-year contract to the French company. CIE retaliated over the following year by refusing to engage in social dialogue, and obstructing basic trade union rights. 
 
The current dispute centers on salary increases and the company’s handling of a Mutual Investment Fund, established for training, placement, and other worker needs. SYNASEG members contribute to the fund, but CIE uses the money for purposes other than what it is intended for. 
 
Yao said the union will assess this week’s mediation efforts by the two national ministers on 15 March, and take whatever action is necessary following that date.

ICEM’s Ivory Coast Affiliate, SYNASEG, Announces Merger with Water Workers’ Union

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Power Workers’ Union of Canada (PWU) has called the government’s plan to close all coal-fired electric generation plants by 2014 “unrealistic and risky.” The ICEM affiliate reiterated this stand in a statement welcoming the federal government’s ecoTrust plan, an investment vehicle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
 
PWU states that energy needs are growing rapidly across Canada. Advocating electric supply in the province of Ontario from many sources, the union is urging the province to use its share of ecoTrust monies to clean up carbon emissions by investing in better and cleaner technologies. 
<img height="30" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CanadaPWU.jpg" width="250" alt=""/>
“Ontario needs affordable electricity for its growing needs and the existing coal-fuelled plants are a necessary part of the mix,” said PWU President Don MacKinnon. “The technology to dramatically reduce air pollution from these plants is readily available, and the PWU believes it should be installed.” 
 
The PWU also believes the best way to lessen the risk over electric supply – besides clean-coal methods – is new and refurbished nuclear plant capacity. “This is an affordable way to immediately reduce pollution, while the province makes investments in conservation and demand management, viable new energy sources, and new transmissions lines,” said the PWU statement. 
 
PWU, an affiliate of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), is the largest electric workers’ union in Ontario, representing employees in generation, transmission, distribution, regulations, and research and development.

PWU in Canada Calls for Cleaner Coal-Fuel Technologies

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The ICEM’s Goodyear Global Union Network convened in Akron, Ohio, on 19-20 March, and 50 trade union leaders from 12 countries attended. The Network expanded its steering committee, and pledged greater communication and exchange of data between workers at all of Goodyear’s global operations. 
 
The Goodyear Network is coordinated by the United Steelworkers (USW), based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
<img height="146" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703GoodyearAkron1.jpg" width="360"/>
Trade Unionists at Goodyear
The union Network meetings, held in the US city of Goodyear’s global headquarters, produced a statement, which included a call for management to begin discussions on a global agreement, starting with talks on occupational health, safety, and environmental issues.” 
 
The statement also said: “Given Goodyear’s increasing size and global scope, it is important that unions participating in the Goodyear Global Union Network recommit their efforts to secure and promote the rights for all workers worldwide at Goodyear. As part of those efforts, we pledge to increase the effective functioning of the Network steering committee and to expand and improve Network communications.” 
 
Reports on the recent 86-day strike in North America were heard, and labour situations in which Goodyear has displayed disagreeable human conduct were also reported. Updates were presented on bargaining scheduled to begin in South Africa and Turkey.
<img height="112" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703GoodYear2.jpg" width="160"/>
 Anan Pol-ung and ICEM Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath of Thailand
Trade unionists also heard longstanding problems that exist in Goodyear’s Bangkok tyre factory. They heard of Thai management’s continuing waste of resources to fight the legitimate rights of contract workers inside Thai courts, and unionists met and heard from Anan Pol-ung, former president of the factory-level union in Bangkok, who was fired last year. 
 
The Network voiced strong support for him, and called on the company to properly restore him to his job at Goodyear in Thailand. Anan first drew the ire of Goodyear’s Thai management over two years ago when he made a stand with over 20 contract workers, many of whom had been working in the warehouse and rubber stock department of Goodyear’s Bangkok factory for up to 10 years under single-year individual contracts. 
 
Goodyear sacked the contract workers when they sought freedom of association rights. They were seeking to join with full-time employees at the 500-worker factory in organising with ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation of Thailand. 
 
The expanded Goodyear Network elected Tom Conway, USW Vice President, as chairman. Other trade union leaders elected to join the steering committee include Carlos Antonio de Silva of Brazil and Werner Staniewski of Germany. Besides representatives from unions in Brazil, Germany, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and US attending, delegates also came from Canada, Chile, France, Peru, Poland, and UK.

Goodyear Global Rubber Unions Meet in Akron, US

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The French joint trade union front against the privatisation of Gaz de France (GDF), consisting of CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, and CFTC, called for a second national manifestation day tomorrow, 3 October, in Paris and in other French cities. This new call for demonstrations follows the union’s first day of action on 12 September. 
 
Tomorrow is the day when the National Assembly in France is set to vote on proposed legislation that, if adopted, would clear the way for the government-planned merger between GDF and the Franco-Belgian utility, Suez Group. 
 
Another demonstration day is scheduled to occur 14 October. According to a report published by the unions, who quote banking sources – specifically banking giant ING – some 20,000 jobs could be lost over the next three years if the merger deal goes through. The unions have also written to President Jacques Chirac, asking him to stop the privatisation of GDF. 
<img height="67" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Opposition to the merger deal, which was brokered by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to fend off a hostile bid of Suez by Italian energy company Enel, appears to be growing, with not only opposition parties and trade unions fighting it, but also with some members of the ruling UMP Party resisting. 
 
In spite of this growing resistance, the first legal step to the merger process was taken last week when deputies in the National Assembly voted in favour of one key article of the proposed law, a measure to reduce France's stake in GDF from over 70% to 34%. However, as far as the unions are concerned, this “file has not been closed yet.” The proposed merger has yet to be voted on in its entirety, nor is it yet a done deal. 
 
The CGT, the union with the largest membership inside GDF, as well as Electricité de France (EDF), said in a statement: considering “the growing opposition by French citizens to the privatisation of GDF, it is no longer tolerable in this country for fundamental dossiers, such as the privatisation of the energy sector, to be dealt with only in the interest of one political party.” The union found it surprising that “with 80% of the French being against the privatisation, the Prime Minister announces this as a victory.” 
 
On 20 September, GDF and Suez announced a proposal of five measures, including asset transfers, in reply to the EU Commission’s anti-trust demands. FCE-CFDT seriously questions these proposed remedies forwarded by the two companies, saying wide ramifications would occur that have not been properly thought through. 
 
Problematic issues include, for example, the fact that competing companies would get easy access to a public resource without guarantees on pricing. The FCE-CFDT reiterated its demand to examine the alternative solution of developing partnerships between Suez and GDF, which would keep GDF in the public sector.

French Unions Continue Resistance to GDF-Suez Merger

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
A spate of disasters in Chinese mines occurred over the past month, including two on 29 and 30 September that claimed the lives of 17 miners. In all, at least 52 deaths occurred over the past 31 days, as reported by either the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety or the official news agency Xinhua. 
 
Four miners were overcome by carbon dioxide and suffocated on 29 September at the Changsheng coal mine in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region of northwest China. A day later, 13 miners were killed after a gas explosion at the Tianlong coal mine in the town of Hada, Heilongjiang province. Eight miners were rescued in that tragedy. 
 
On 22 September, two catastrophes occurred in Yunnan and Hebei provinces. At the Songzhu coal mine in Hauping County, Yunnan, a gas combustion explosion claimed the lives of two miners, while 27 others were injured. At an iron ore mine owned by Laiyuon Iron and Steel, a landslide also killed two miners, while injuring two others. The mine is a former state-owned enterprise that was operating without a work safety permit. 
 
Two separate accidents also happened on 13 September, claiming the lives of eight miners. At the privately-owned Xiren coal mine in Jilin province, work safety officials determined that miners inadvertently opened an adjacent mine tunnel, causing mass flooding. Seven died, while another 12 either escaped or were rescued. A gas leak at the Danangou coal mine, Datong city, Shanxi province, claimed one miner, while 45 were rescued. Both of these coal operations were licensed and qualified to operate. 
<img height="95" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="100"/>
In the central Chinese province of Hubei on 3 September, a mine shaft was flooded and six miners perished. That occurred at the Zhenxing coal mine in Daye city. A day earlier, eight miners died and four were seriously injured following a methane gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in southwest province.
On 31 August, nine workers died due to a gas blast inside the Lianyi coal mine in Lianyi city, Hunan province. They were killed after the mine owner hired them to repair tunnels. The owner had failed to measure the gas density inside shafts, and the workers’ electrical tools ignited, causing the explosion. 
 
Official statistics of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) state that for the first eight months of 2006, through August, mine accidents have claimed 2,900 lives. SAWS claims that this is a 25% decline over the same period in 2005. All told, China has witnessed 1,824 colliery accidents during the first eight months of 2006. 
 
Separately, the Coal Mine Safety bureau said it will close a total of 4,861 small coal operations this year and in 2007. Coal production by small mines, considered less than 30,000 tonnes annually, accounts for one-third of the country’s total production. The agency says that such mines bring two-thirds of the total deaths from Chinese mining operations.

Deaths in China’s Mines Rise in September

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