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<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union project called &quot;The Chemical Industry in 2020 &ndash; A New Direction is Possible&quot; launched earlier this year was finalized with an international conference from 26-28 September in Santo Andre with 150 union leaders, government officials, and business and civil society representatives attending. 
 
The project&rsquo;s main goal is to promote sustainable growth in the Brazilian chemical industry through social dialogue and decent work. ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal Ozkan was keynote speaker and the conference fostered many discussions toward achieving 2020 targets by the UN, as well as producing and using chemicals not harmful to human health and to the environment. 
<img src="" width="223" height="161" alt="" />
The event was also an opportunity to prepare the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, together with social partners, for the UN&rsquo;s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) to be held in June 2012. 
 
With topics covering economic, social, and environmental dimensions, the conference deepened and expanded a series of discussions in three parts with participation of workers, entrepreneurs, public authorities, and others. Another highlight was presenting the ILO report called &quot;Restructuring the Brazilian Chemical Industry and its Impact on Employment and Social Dialogue.&quot; 
 
Paulo Lage, President of ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, opened the meeting by citing progress made since the first round of discussions in June 2011, especially a joint agenda between the union and the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (ABRIQUIM). &quot;Our industry has a terrible trade deficit which directly affects the jobs of workers, and only through debate and dialogue we will have a better world for everyone,&quot; said Lage. 
<img src="" width="170" height="161" alt="" />
Kemal Ozkan
At the conference&rsquo;s opening, Ozkan presented a detailed overview of the world&rsquo;s chemical industry, highlighting the prospects of growth in Asia, particularly China, which today is among the leaders in producing specialty chemicals industry. 
 
Yasuhiko Kamakura, senior ILO specialist for the chemical industry, addressed another important topic &ndash; Social Dialogue in the Chemical Industry. He gave worldwide data on restructuring and the effects of social dialogue, contents of which are contained in the ILO study. He also addressed the trend of mergers in the chemicals industry, saying some four million jobs were lost between between 2000 and 2006 due to corporate integration. 
 
The conference&rsquo;s closing was made by Artur Henrique, the president of Brazilian national labour center, Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and following, a proposed document was produced to strengthen the Brazilian chemical industry, which will be delivered by the unions and employers to the federal government.

Decent Work, Social Dialogue to Mark Brazilian Chemical Industry

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The 10th Congress of ICEM Turkish affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, the All Paper and Cellulose Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, was held on 15-16 October at the offices of Birleşik Metal-İş in Istanbul and it paid tribute to Kemal Yilmaz, the president of T&uuml;mka-İş who retired at the Congress after a sterling 50-year career in the Turkish labour movement. 
 
The Congress elected Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu to succeed the storied union leader, while İlhan &Ouml;zel was re-elected as the General Secretary. 
 
Comrade Yılmaz started work in the rubber industry in Turkey and was a member of another ICEM affiliate, Lastik-İş, the Rubber and Plastics Workers&rsquo; Union. While a regional officer for the union in the 1970s, he represented workers at factories defined in the paper industry. It was then that T&uuml;mka-İş was established and he became the first President of the pulp and paper union in the mid-1970s. He was also eleceted to the Executive Committee of Confederation of the Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), and during the military coup d&rsquo;etat of the 1980s, he was imprisoned for his trade union activity from 1980 to 1984. 
<img src="" width="163" height="161" alt="" />
Kemal Yilmaz
After DISK re-started activities in 1991, he again took the lead in organizing paper workers under the umbrella of T&uuml;mka-İş. He organised workers at several paper companies, including Procter &amp; Gamble, Kimberly Clark and Europackaging. At the Congress nine days ago, the T&uuml;mka-İş Executive Committee praised his achievements and committment to Turkish workers, and pledged that the banner and work of Kemal Yılmaz will never be scaled down. 
 
Delegates to the Congress discussed important legislative matters inside Turkey, as well as the country&rsquo;s paper industry in Turkey, particularly impacts from the financial crisis. According to official figures, employment in the industry dropped down from 34,075 in 2007 to 33,850 in 2008. By the end of 2008, however, Social Security Agency statistics showed an improvement and that has gradually improved to where in April 2011, employment was at 37,696 in 1,930 workplaces. 
<img src="" width="153" height="160" alt="" />
T&uuml;mka-İş Members Voting on 16 October
The Congress demonstrated its determination to organise in the post-crisis environment and precarious employment created through subcontracting was tagged as the main threat in union recruitment. 
 
This 10th Congress of T&uuml;mka-İş coincides with proposed mmodifications to Turkish trade union law to correct some of the deficiencies seen by the ILO. One specific modification relates to the paper sector in defining the exact number of sectors in which trade unions can operate. The proposed modification reduces the number of sectors from 28 to 18. 
 
If passed into law, the paper industry would be merged with the wood industry sector. This would require T&uuml;mka-İş to have to a Congress within a year of enactment to harmonizing its statutes with new provisions of the law. T&uuml;mka-İş and its national labour center, DİSK, find the proposal inadequate, and demand far more democratic measures in order to assure paperworkers the ability to enjoy freedom of association and other trade union rights.

Turkish Tümka-İş Pays Tribute to Retiring Leader, Kemal Yilmaz

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Broad strike activity accelerated a positive wage agreement in the Austrian metal sector. In the early morning hours of 18 October, Austrian trade unions PRO-GE and GPA djp, the Salaried Employees, Print, Journalism, Paper Union, emerged from bargaining on behalf on 170,000 metal and industrial workers with positive results. 
 
The 2011 pay awards will range from 4.2% to 4.4%, with the minimum wage in the sector increasing by &euro;80-per-month, or a sizeable 5.3%. The ICEM commends these wage gains as a sterling European example in creating consumer power to offset the dire financial climate of the Eurozone. PRO-GE and GPA djp are to be congratulated for negotiating &euro;300 million into the Austrian economy in this single set of talks. 
<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="120" />
This was made possible by strategic and early strikes on 13 and 14 October that moved third-round bargaining up from 20 October to 17 October, and forced the employers&rsquo; hand in raising their wage offers to above 4%. (See <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4719-Wage-Shame-Drives-Austrian-Metalworkers-into-Warning-Strikes ">ICEM report</a> on Austrian coordinated strikes last week here.) 
 
&ldquo;We have met our main demands of sustainable wage and salary increases, particularly for the lowest paid workers,&rdquo; said Rainer Wimmer, PRO-GE&rsquo;s chief negotiator. &ldquo;I thank the stewards, members, and supporters who made this deal possible. Without the 800 workplace actions and the pressure generated by the strikes, this would not have been possible.&rdquo; 
 
Those surprise strikes were to continue into the week of 17 October, but employers recognised the growing momentum among workers for fair wage gains and they reached settlement on union terms. That recognition came in hastily called exploratory talks held on Sunday, 16 October, that included &Ouml;GB national labour centre President Erich Foglar and the leader of the chief employers&rsquo; association, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WK&Ouml;). 
<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="160" />
Rainer Wimmer
The two sides then reached accord in the early morning hours of 18 October after a 14-hour bargaining session. 
The agreement grants a 1 November pay rise of 4.4% to bottom rung workers, 4.3 to mid-level, 4.2% to senior staff, and 4% to top level people. In addition, pay for apprentices increases by 4.3% and all benefit indemnifications increase by the same amount. 
 
Perhaps the crowning achievement was hiking the minimum wage by 5.3%, or up to &euro;1,584-per-month. The wage agreement positively affects the buying power for 25,000 autoworkers, 16,000 who work in basic steel and iron, 5,000 in non-ferrous metals, 5,000 in utility work, and tens of thousands more in machinery, metal goods, and other industrial production. 
 
Austria&rsquo;s metal sector agreement now sets the template for 450,000 retail sector workers, who began bargaining through their unions with retail employers on 19 October.

Surprise Strike Brings Austrian Metalworkers Sizeable Wage Gains

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	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the HIV/AIDS project in India, on Women&rsquo;s Day in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire and on the renewal of mining licences in South Africa being linked to HIV and TB workplace policies. We also address a call to the Canadian government to bring up the HIV/AIDS issue at next month&rsquo;s G8 Summit in the US.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;

	HIV/AIDS Workplace Project in India

	The final report of the HIV/AIDS workplace project in India reveals the enormous impact the project has had. Sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the project ran from August 2008 to the beginning of 2012.

	Sixty-one master trainers were trained, who in turn organised 28 programmes in which 709 peer educators received skills training. Particular attention was also given to women who received training in courses exclusively for women. Furthermore, sensitization programmes were organised for para-medical staff and teachers and students of company schools.

	In follow-up programmes at grass-root level, almost 20,000 people benefited from awareness and behaviour change messages.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Women&rsquo;s Day Activity in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire

	The HIV/AIDS Coordinator for Francophone West Africa, Charlotte Nguessan, organised a very successful symposium on Violence Against Women for women workers in the petroleum sector of C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire. More than 200 women attended the deliberations; the Human Resources Directors of the companies were also present at the meeting. Sexual violence is a factor in transmitting HIV infections. An appeal was made to stop all forms of violence against women and to introduce effective sanctions when such violations happen.

	In a statement on International Women&rsquo;s Day on 8 March, the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS called on world leaders to provide resources to stop HIV infection of women. Worldwide, women constitute around half of people living with HIV and AIDS. They represent 59% in sub-Saharan Africa and 53% in the Caribbean. In all regions, HIV prevalence in women has increased dramatically throughout the years.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	South Africa: No HIV and TB Workplace Policy, No Mining Licence

	Speaking to hundreds of mine workers and community members in the mining town of Carletonville, South Africa, on World TB Day, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, a former General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), urged the mining industry to improve TB services, upgrading health centres to allow for the treatment of drug-resistant TB and to extend health services to those from surrounding communities and mines that may have limited access to healthcare.

	At the same event, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu announced that mining companies which have HIV, TB and workplace safety policies audited by her ministry will have to submit their policies as a prerequisite for renewing their mining licenses.

	As part of the deputy president&#039;s call for all mine workers to be screened for TB and HIV in the next year, World TB Day celebrations were accompanied by HIV and TB screenings, during which at least 1,220 people were examined for TB and 260 people were tested for HIV.

	As in many countries in Southern and East Africa, South Africa&#039;s high TB incidence is fuelled by a high HIV prevalence. Although many people carry TB, only 10% will ever develop the active disease. But because of their compromised immune systems, people living with HIV are up to 37 times more likely to develop active TB.

	Miners are also at a higher risk of TB due to bad living conditions, often in the poorly ventilated, overcrowded single-sex hostels that have historically characterized mining in South Africa, and have facilitated TB transmission. Miners exposed to high levels of silica dust also often acquire a serious respiratory illness called <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/92240/SOUTH-AFRICA-Glimmer-of-justice-for-sick-gold-miners">silicosis</a>, which increases their risk of developing active TB.

	(Source: IRIN News, Carletonville, 26 March)

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	G8 AIDS Campaign

	Trade unions throughout Africa and Canada are calling on the Canadian government to champion a focus on HIV and AIDS at the next G8 Summit at Camp David, Maryland, in the US on 18-19 May 2012 with the theme &ldquo;An AIDS-free Generation by 2015.&rdquo;

	A lobbying campaign delivers messages directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper within Canada and through Canadian Embassies or Consulates throughout Africa. They are asking Canada to lead in calling on the G8 to implement the 2011 UN Political Declaration on HIV &amp; AIDS and to replenish new resources to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. They also want G8 countries to implement the ILO&rsquo;s Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, and strengthen the G8&rsquo;s Accountability Framework.

	Unions contend that the UN Political Declaration&rsquo;s targets on AIDS are a time-bound road map, which are a logical extension of the G8 commitment to reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Progress must be monitored through the G8 accountability mechanism. The same approach should be applied to the G8&rsquo;s numerous affirmations of support for a fully-funded Global Fund.

	(Source: CLC and ITUC emails)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Global Fund Finance Beyond Governments

	Of every US$1 contributed to the Global Fund, more than 95 cents comes from the governments of rich countries. The Global Fund has been trying for years to obtain more revenue from other sources. Despite sizeable donations from foundations like the Gates Foundation (US$750 million donated for the period 2011&ndash;2016) and private sector companies (Chevron pledged US$55 million for the period 2008&ndash;2013) &ndash; and despite product marketing campaigns such as (PRODUCT) REDTMwhich has generated US$180 million for the Global Fund to date &ndash; such contributions still account for only a very small proportion of revenues.

	Governments and activists have been searching for innovative ways to generate additional revenues &ndash; not just for the Global Fund itself, but also for the fight against specific diseases and for health and development more generally. Two of the ideas that have been explored are a tax on airline tickets and a tax on financial transactions.

	The tax on airline tickets is already a reality. Between 2006 and April 2011, the tax raised US$2 billion for UNITAID, an international facility for purchasing drugs for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The size and scope of the tax vary by country. This is still a sizable amount considering the fact that only nine countries implement the tax of which Chile, France and the Republic of Korea are the most important. The airline tax constitutes 70% of UNITAID&rsquo;s revenues.

	In September 2011, UNITAID commissioned a study on how to implement a financial transactions tax (FTT) on a national basis. Authors of the study estimated that a very small tax on a variety of financial transactions could generate &euro;265 billion annually in the G20 countries. The idea of using an FTT to fund international development has been around for at least a decade but it is unlikely to be implemented universally.

	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 178 of 13 March. 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>)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	African Sex Workers Top HIV Infection List

	Prostitutes in sub-Saharan Africa have one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world, an international study has established. The research findings also recommend that prostitution should be legalised to make working conditions for sex workers more tolerable and reduce their rate of HIV infections.

	The study, which was released last Thursday, was funded by the World Bank and the UN and carried out by the US-based John Hopkins School of Public Health. It was published by The Lancet, a medical journal.

	It recommends an urgent scale up of HIV programmes. The researchers sampled about 100,000 prostitutes from 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Middle East. They found that of all the prostitutes in the 50 countries, those in sub-Saharan Africa had the highest HIV prevalence. The survey, undertaken between the years 2007 to 2011, ranked prostitutes in Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe as having the highest rates of HIV infections.

	(Source: Africa Review, Nairobi, 19 March)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	ILO at UN Human Rights Council

	At its 19th Session on 20 March 2012, the UN Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on giving a voice to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The importance of workplace action was mentioned by the ILO, government of Brazil and government of France.

	Alice Ou&eacute;draogo, Director, ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the world of work (ILO/AIDS), underlined that protection of human rights at work is essential and that 2010 ILO Recommendation on HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, the first human rights standard focusing on HIV/AIDS, should be widely used for improving legal protection of against discrimination. The importance of the workplace in protecting the rights of people living with of affected by HIV/AIDS was highlighted by Brazil and France.

	Moyses Toniolo, National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Brazil, said there were many forms of discrimination that people living with HIV/AIDS experience in the workplace. It was important to demystify HIV/AIDS, to stress that it could not be disseminated in the workplace through social interactions and to change people&rsquo;s perceptions of people who were infected so that those who lived with HIV/AIDS were no longer stigmatized.

	(Source: ILO/AIDS website)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	News from Global Unions 

	The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/">www.itfglobal.org</a>), in its latest HIV/AIDS update 120 of March reports on the establishment of the first network of HIV positive transport workers. USAFERI received its registration as a community based organisation from the Kenyan government.

	The April 2012 Newsletter of the Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme (SWHAP), jointly run by the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (IF Metall), reports on a meeting of its Peer Educator Network. Peer educators are at the heart of most HIV/AIDS programmes. Their work is demanding and stressful and it is thus important for them to meet for debriefing and sharing of experience and strategies to help them cope with their roles.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />

	Five Years Ago: From the April 2007 Issue (No. 19)

	The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 

	In the April 2007 HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported, among other items, on the G8 campaign and on C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire being on the right track; two topics which also appear in this April 2012 issue.

	The G8 campaign in 2007 was lead by the Global Union AIDS Programme, which regrettably has ceased to exist. We made model letters available which were to be sent to German embassies, as the G8 in that year took place in Heiligendamm, Germany. As Germany also held the EU Presidency in the first six months of 2007, it organised an EU Presidency Conference in Bremen in March choosing HIV/AIDS as the main health policy topic. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, gave the keynote speech.

	Important (and understandable because of the German double presidency) was her repeated reference to the G8 Summit. Germany had put HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the Summit and she promised that progress would be made.

	The outcome document of the Conference in Bremen, the Bremen Declaration, made reference to trade unions: &ldquo;We invite the employers and trade unions to ensure non-discriminatory policies for people living with HIV/AIDS and vulnerable groups in the workplace and to reduce fears of infection, stigma and discrimination among staff by providing objective, evidence-based information, and access to prevention, testing, treatment and care according to the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work.&rdquo;

	On the other topic dealt with in the April 2007 issue, it is regrettable that the civil war in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire brought to nought many achievements and disrupted HIV and AIDS services. However, to the extent possible work in the ICEM-sponsored project continued and companies have become more cooperative.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 79, April 2012

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	From the IMF website

	On April 3, 2012, Dorje Khatri, central committee member of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) will leave Kathmandu on a journey to put the flag of IndustriALL Global Union on Mount Everest.

	The flag of the new Global Union, IndustriALL will be put at the top of Mt. Everest by Dorje Khatri. &quot;I will leave Kathmandu on April 3, in a bid to conquer Mt Everest once again,&quot; said Khatri. &quot;I will scale the top of the world, from May 15 to May 25, 2012; through South Col bordering to China. I will be back by June 5 in Kathmandu.&quot;

	In a brief ceremony organized at Kathmandu, GEFONT President Bishnu Rimal handed the IndustriALL flag to Dorje Khatri. Khatri is the central committee member of GEFONT which is an affiliate of the Union of Trekking Travels Rafting and Airline Workers Nepal (UNITRAV), this expedition to Mt Everest will be his eighth attempt. The flag was rolled up in order to keep it secret, as the logo of the new organization will only be launched at the founding Congress in Copenhagen this coming June.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 220px;height: 154px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Cde Khatri has successfully completed seven previous attempts. Last year he had hoisted the International Trade Union Confederation&#039;s (ITUC&#039;s) flag under GEFONT coordinated campaign &quot;Save Climate, Save Himalayas&quot;.

	GEFONT President Rimal expressed his best wishes on behalf of GEFONT NEC and the entire Nepali working class. Khatri will climb Everest with a team from the UK called UK Adventure Peak , the same group that accompanied him last year. He has successfully taken the flags of the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation, GEFONT and the Building and Wood Workers&#039; International (BWI) in past years.

IndustriALL flag on its way to the top of the world

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	From the IMF website

	Etehad town, Baldia Karachi is the hub of power looms and towel manufacturing units established by the big textile exporters like Al Karam. Thousands of small and medium size factories have been operating without being registered under the Factories Act. As a result, hundreds and thousands of workers working in theses factories are denied legal protections. They are working under miserable conditions without appointment letters, social security, weakly off and work for long hours with low wages.&nbsp; Workers of power looms and towel industries formed a union Al Etehad Mazdoor Union, which is registered with labour department in Sindh Province and affiliated to National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF).&nbsp; 
	&nbsp; 
	For the past two months the union has started peaceful campaign to register the factories under the Factories Act, increase wages along with other demands to improve working conditions. In response, employers engaged in anti-workers acts and retrenched hundreds of workers and declared unlawful lock-outs.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 213px;height: 160px" width="390">

	The union launched complaints against the illegal closure of the factories and retrenchments in the labour department. On March 21, 2012 the labour department officials called on the factory owners to a meeting to discuss and resolve the issue. However, employers disregarded the call and started harassing workers through the police. 
	&nbsp; 
	In this backdrop, the police and the Ranger Force came in dozens of vehicles and raided the houses of union activists on March 21 and arrested 6 workers on the charges of terrorist act. All arrested workers were severely tortured and later produced in the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) No.2 at Karachi on March 24. The judge warned the police against the torture of the workers and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to provide proper medical treatment to the tortured workers. The court also ordered the police to produce workers in the ATC on March 29. 
	&nbsp; 
	The police filed first information report (FIR) against a total of 12 workers including office bearers of Al Etehad Power Looms Mazdoor Union out of which, six are under arrest. Union activists allege that the police&nbsp;severely tortured workers in Machko police station and forced them to accept before the media of their involvement in extortion (Bhatta) activities in the industrial area. However, workers stood firm and did not give-in to the pressures of the police. 
	&nbsp; 
	Union representatives met Sindh Labour Minister, informed Labour Department and appealed to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Sindh High Court for their immediate intervention to protect workers&rsquo; rights. On March 23, NTUF workers held a protest demonstration at Karachi Press Club, demanding the immediate release of arrested workers. Nasir Mansoor, Deputy General Secretary of NTUF says that &ldquo;it is an attempt to crush workers&rsquo; struggle for their rights&rdquo;, and called up on the international workers to extend solidarity and exert pressure on the Government of Pakistan to respect workers&rsquo; rights.

Power loom workers arrested on charges of extortion in Karachi, Pakistan

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The Rubber Workers of Argentina, SUTNA re-elected General Secretary Pedro Wasijko in elections on 20-22 March. With a high turnout in a contested election, the victory for Wasiejko serves as a strong testament to the significant achievements of the union in recent years.

	Important benefits for workers have been achieved such as profit sharing at one major company, the establishment of a Health and Hygiene Committee obliged to meet once a month as stipulated in the new sector-wide collective agreement, a new general clause obliging companies to incorporate women into the production work, and importantly the adoption of the fight against precarious work and outsourcing at a time when almost nobody in the Argentinian unions were prioritising this issue.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 266px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	SUTNA has also made important gains in workers&rsquo; salaries in the sector, increasing the purchasing power of rubber workers. Wasiejko pledged to continue this work, continuing to oversee the democratisation of workplaces and to improve working conditions throughout the sector.

	Wasiejko applauded the democratic nature of the appointment, stating that SUTNA&rsquo;s politically rich, democratic culture stood them apart from many other Argentine unions who often present no choice to members in leadership elections.

Argentina’s SUTNA Re-elects General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	&ldquo;Local Actions, Global Impact&rdquo; was the motto of the annual Job Stewards&rsquo; Seminar of the ICEM Canadian affiliate, Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Local 378, which was held 9-11 March in Vancouver, British Columbia. COPE Local 378 represents 14,000 union members at public- and private-sector companies in the western Canadian province and affiliates to the ICEM through rank-and-file membership in the electricity and gas sectors.

	The seminar offered an opportunity to meet and work with both new and experienced shop stewards, as well as leading union officials with nine weekend-long workshops and courses that includes global solidarity and campaigns.

	The ICEM was represented by Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan and he delivered a presentation on global union solidarity, the ICEM, and the new Global Union Federation, IndustriALL.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 234px;height: 141px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Kemal Ozkan

	&ldquo;Global solidarity is one of the major items of this seminar,&rdquo; said COPE Local 378 President David Black. &ldquo;This course starts to make the links between the experience in our own working lives and communities and workers in other countries.&rdquo; The seminar noted that &ldquo;in an increasingly shrinking world, our struggles are often the same even though they may be half way around the globe.&rdquo;

	The participants discussed the economic circumstances they find themselves in and the ongoing globalization of the world&rsquo;s economy. The seminar designed a toolbox to provide activists with an opportunity to make links with workers in other countries and to demonstrate solidarity with them.

	The seminar also welcomed Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia and Juan Linares from the National Miners&#039; and Metalworkers&#039; Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Minerosof Mexico as guests. G&oacute;mez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, has been living in exile in Vancouver for over four years through the support of ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), while Juan Linares was imprisoned in Mexico from 2008 to 2011 after returning to his home country after attending the convention of British Columbia Federation of Labour.

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	Both G&oacute;mez and Linares have been persecuted and threatened by the Mexican government despite the fact that courts there have dismissed false charges against them over the handling of union funds. Linares, in an emotional speech, cordially thanked participants for the support and solidarity delivered by COPE Local 378.

	Following the close of the seminar, COPE Local 378&rsquo;s Gwenne Farrell wrote to the ICEM, stating, &ldquo;I can tell that we had approximately 165 participants in attendance and the feedback they have given me is that they now fully support the work we are doing with the ICEM.

	&ldquo;Moreover, the course that I facilitated on Global Solidarity trained some of our activists on what they can do to help with a number of global issues.&nbsp; Thank you for making a difference to our members and for doing such a great job promoting ICEM.&rdquo;

Canadian COPE Union Ties Local Actions into Global Impact

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	A merger of labour federations in Swaziland has set the stage for a struggle toward democracy and independent political parties in the country. On 10-13 March, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) convened its first Congress and priority number one is to establish a multi-party political system, or to boycott sham elections next year.

	TUCOSWA, formulated last year, was officially launched at its Congress in Matsapha and its first order of business was to demand registration and participation of political parties in Africa&rsquo;s last absolute monarchy, run by despotic King Mswati III.

	The new labour federation amalgamates the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL), as well as the most powerful single trade union, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). The 50,000-member federation vowed that there will either be open and fair Parliamentary elections next year, or Mswati would face a boycott of next year&rsquo;s elections.

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	Political parties have been banned in Swaziland since 1973 and Mswati and his cronies have mismanaged the economy so severely that public sector salaries have gone unpaid. At this month&rsquo;s founding Congress, TUCOSWA announced it would embark on a nationwide education campaign, and as part of that, major protests likely to occur in April and May.

	Such manifestations will no doubt be met forcefully by Swazi police loyal to Mswati. In fact, at a meeting in Lubombo in January by leaders of TUCOSWA to discuss the monarch&rsquo;s introduction of a value added tax, police broke it up after the unionists refused a demand to call off the meeting.

	&ldquo;Workers are more prepared now to go to grassroots levels and into the communities to shed light on what the government should be doing,&rdquo; said TUCOSWA President Barnes Dlamini.

	TUCOSWA General-Secretary Vincent Ncongwane used his speech at the end of this initial Congress to rally civil society &ndash; including faith-based groups and cultural entities &ndash; to frustrate next year&rsquo;s scheduled electoral farce.

	In Swaziland, Mswati operates with what is called a tinkhundla regime, an undemocratic system whereby all power is vested in him with administrative matters put in the hands of tribal chiefs dependent on his patronage. The Swazi Parliament has few powers, with Mswati making appointments to many of the seats in the House of Assembly and Senate.

Merged Swaziland Labour Federation to Advance Cause of Democracy

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	In an astonishing development, the Bavet town governor in Cambodia has admitted to shooting three young women who were striking last month at a shoe factory in Svey Rieng province, but he was only questioned and then released.

	Chhouk Bandith appeared before a provincial prosecutor on 16 March and said he fired shots on 20 February into a crowd of thousands of mostly women strikers at the KaoWay Sports Ltd. footwear factory. But despite the confession, no arrest warrant was issued and he was allowed to go free. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4926-Cambodian-Public-Official-Accused-in-Shooting-of-Footwear-Strikers">ICEM report</a> on story.)

	When questioned by the Cambodian press in what has now become a serious stain on Cambodia&rsquo;s judicial system, the Svey Rieng prosecutor said it was his right not to order the arrest of Chhouk Bandith. He also called the incident unimportant.

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	Chhouk Bandith

	A majority of 6,000 workers at KaoWay, a supplier of shoes for the German company Puma, were in their second wave of strike action when Bandith exited the factory and fired a high-powered weapon equipped with a silencer at them. The shooting was caught on the factory&rsquo;s security cameras before he fled in a car accompanied by a bodyguard and a uniformed police officer.

	The three women, ages 23, 21 and 18, were seriously injured with one &ndash; Buot Chinda &ndash; near death. She has recovered and after filing a criminal complaint against Bandith, is now in hiding. Reportedly, the three were offered sums of money for their silence ranging from US$500 to US$1,000. None have accepted the bribes.

	Because of the shootings, Chhouk Bandith was terminated from his duties as town governor on 6 March by a special decree from Prime Minister Hun Sen.

	Led by the union representing the striking workers, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers&rsquo; Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), an affiliate of the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), some 27 civil society groups issued a joint statement urging &ldquo;this case become an example of rule of law, not another reflection of impunity.&rdquo;

	The statement continued: &ldquo;Recognizing that the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has identified the suspect of the shooting as being Bavet town governor, Chhouk Bandith, we strongly urge the Royal Government of Cambodia to make the suspect&rsquo;s arrest an utmost priority. We also urge a proper trial and judgement in accordance with the law.

	&ldquo;We remind the Royal Government of its obligation to ensure that human rights throughout Cambodia be respected. We also remind the Royal Government of its obligation to ensure that every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law, regardless of rank, title or association.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Cambodian Governor Confesses to Shooting Strikers, but No Arrest Made

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