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ICEM-affiliated mineworkers&rsquo; unions know the difficulties in dealing with Rio Tinto, whether it is collective agreements or the charades the company plays to deny legitimate rights for train drivers in western Australia&rsquo;s rich iron ore region. Now an Australian union has set as goal organizing the unorganized plants of Rio Tinto Alcan, the mining giant&rsquo;s aluminum smelting subsidiary there. 
 
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is currently ramping up a recruiting drive at Alcan factories in Tasmania, Queensland, and the Northern Territory and without surprise, is meeting fierce resistance by Rio&rsquo;s managers. 
 
AWU kicked off its union campaign to deliver better wages and benefits to all workers at Alcan plants last month at its National Delegates Conference. The union intends to do that by recruiting wall-to-wall, or every worker at smelting facilities in Bell Bay, Tasmania, and Yarwun and Boyne Island, Queensland, that does not carry a union card. 
 
AWU began the drive in earnest last week by placing advertisements in Tasmanian newspapers alerting the public and workers at Alcan&rsquo;s Bell Bay smelter that Tassie staff are paid far less than at two union-represented smelters of Alcoa in Victoria. The ads, titled &ldquo;Tassie Workers Deserve Better: Fair Go &ndash; Rio Tinto,&rdquo; reveal that Alcoa operators earn up to A$20,000 more per year than operators at Bell Bay. 
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AWU Newspaper advert 
Photo: AWU 
It was at Bell Bay, in northern Tasmania, in late February where the AWU won a health and safety victory for the 550 workers there. Late in February, a state Justice Department of Justice secretary issued a definitive ruling that AWU representatives must be allowed access to break areas of the plant to consult with union members over safety and work issues. The company had appealed a Tasmania Supreme Court judgment giving the AWU right-of-entry. 
 
Alcan managers at Bell Bay have undertaken vigorous litigation to block access by attempting to restrict union consultation with workers to outside conference rooms, areas where such meetings are in full view of managers. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4195-Court-Tosses-Rio’s-Australian-Appeal-on-Safety-‘Right-of-Access’">ICEM InBrief report</a>.) Right-of-entry to lunch rooms is seen by Aussie unions as a pivotal point under Fair Work Australia in order to rid fear and intimidation as factors in workers choosing union membership. 
 
Alcan &ndash; and Rio Tinto &ndash; resistance to unionization was also seen recently at an Alcan facility called Gove Alumina in the Northern Territory. There, members of the Australia Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) have since 2008 rejected three times in enterprise bargaining a demand from Alcan to change roster scheduling at the 403-worker refinery. 
 
Despite enterprise bargaining talks still in effect, last week a leaked e-mail surfaced revealing that Alcan management had advised that the next set of talks not include the designated AMWU representatives. Such an attempt to circumvent the union is a serious breach of Australian federal labour law. 
 
The anti-union bias pattern that Rio&rsquo;s Alcan managers use is best summarized by a labour leader in central Queensland, where AWU is seeking worker power and workplace gains at Yarwun and Boyne Island, both sites that have low union membership. The Gladstone Branch president of the Queensland Council of Trade Unions, Craig Giddens, described the difference between construction of the Yarwun facility and commencement of production, a point when Alcan installed security cameras and heavy locked gates. &ldquo;Whenever we go&rdquo; to meet with workers, Giddens told newspaper reporters, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re locked in an office at the front (and) there&rsquo;s a security camera at the front so management can watch who comes down.&rdquo;

Australian Union Seeks ‘Wall-to-Wall’ Recruitment at Rio Tinto Alcan

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In April, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will begin searching for union members in the metals and engineering sector who retired between 1980 and 2001. The reason is that NUMSA last month won a long-running battle through arbitration with South Africa&rsquo;s Steel and Engineering Industry Federation. 
 
The arbitrated judgement is an award for R20 billion (&euro;209 million, US$290 million) in surplus pension funds that had been withheld by the employers&rsquo; federation for decades. 
 
NUMSA fought in court and through negotiation channels for the right to disburse the surplus entitlement funds. The money was accumulated in both the Engineering Industries Pension Fund and the Metal Industries Provident Fund since the 1950s. 
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The surplus was accumulated and held when worker contributions to the funds were never paid out to staff who had not reached the vesting scale of ten years employment, or when NUMSA members failed to claim pensions when they retired or resigned. ICEM-affiliated NUMSA began battling for disbursement in 2001, but the case was not resolved because employers imposed many legal entanglements to block any disbursement. 
 
The Steel and Engineering Industry Federation insisted that South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act (LRA) apply in settling the issue. NUMSA and the Financial Services Board argued that surplus monies should come under the Pension Fund Act because the LRA had no provision for addressing pension issues. Finally, in 2008, the LRA was amended to address pensions and the two sides began negotiations. It was resolved in February through arbitration in the union&rsquo;s favour. 
 
Some 1.5 million former and current NUMSA members will now benefit. A total of R11 billion (&euro;115 million, US$160 million) will be paid out to former or retired members, while R9 billion (&euro;94 million, US$130 million) will go into existing funds to buoy those funds for the benefit of current NUMSA members. 
 
Said NUMSA National Benefits Coordinator Samuel Tsiane, &ldquo;Now it becomes our task to locate former members to deliver what belongs to them.&rdquo; Tsiane said a small part of the pay-out will go to the union to achieve this and in April, NUMSA will utilise 450 people to conduct an initial ten-day blitz to identify retired or former metal or engineering staff. The pay-outs are expected to start being made in September.

NUMSA Wins 20-Billion-Rand Surplus Pension Case

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A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation&rsquo;s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa. 
 
The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case. 
 
The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa&rsquo;s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (&euro;1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold&rsquo;s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995. 
 
The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi&rsquo;s claim of R2.6 million (&euro;271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa&rsquo;s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa. 
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NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 
But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court &ldquo;had erred in concluding&rdquo; the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent. 
 
&ldquo;If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi&rsquo;s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position &hellip; would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,&rdquo; Khampepe wrote, adding, &ldquo;Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country&rsquo;s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.&rdquo; 
 
Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, &ldquo;AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.&rdquo; 
 
Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children. 
 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court&rsquo;s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. &ldquo;For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,&rdquo; said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain &ldquo;at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.&rdquo;

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

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The Con-Dem coalition government in the United Kingdom is forging ahead on a raft of cuts to public spending which threatens to cause permanent damage throughout the welfare state. Under the argument of reducing the public financial deficit within four years, the right-wing Cameron government is using the cuts as a cover to fundamentally weaken the active state system of fairness and equality. 
 
Under serious threat are public services, the education system, pensions, and the National Health Service (NHS). 
 
Unions are fighting back. An alliance of unions and social groups will march to London&rsquo;s Hyde Park on 26 March, under the banner: &ldquo;March for the Alternative, Cuts are not the Cure&rdquo;. The March is organised by the British Trade Union Congress (TUC), and was announced by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber last October.
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Alternative measures to Cameron&rsquo;s cuts are a crackdown on tax avoidance, a Robin Hood tax on banks and finance, and policies and time to let economic growth and full employment raise the tax that will close the deficit. 
 
Debate continues within the movement on the best policy combination alternative to the damaging cuts, but what is undisputed is that the cuts must be stopped. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote in a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18.ICEM.March%20against%20Cuts.London.14March.pdf">letter to the TUC and ICEM&rsquo;s UK affiliates</a>, &ldquo;As the trade union movement of the UK manifests on 26 March against the cuts, we want your members and all British people to know that they have the support and solidarity of 20 million union members across the world, trade unionists that the ICEM is proud to represent&rdquo;. 
 
The movement against the cuts is gathering momentum. Thousands of workers, students and anti-cuts campaigners marched through Cardiff on Saturday 5 March as the Welsh voted to increase devolved power of the Welsh Assembly, responding to Westminster&rsquo;s imposition of cuts throughout the UK. 
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Tag line: 5 March Demonstration against Cuts, Cardiff
10,000 protestors descended on Sheffield last week for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. Party leader Nick Clegg has betrayed the electorate by changing policy on University tuition fees and is being targeted now to not allow the sale of the NHS, after Lib Dem members at the Conference voted to reject the government&rsquo;s reforms. 
 
Join the London March. Assembly at 11:00am, Victoria Embankment, and march to a rally in Hyde Park.

London Demonstration against Tory Attack on Welfare State

The second 24-hour strike at paperboard plants in Spain set for tomorrow, 3 March, was cancelled after ICEM&rsquo;s two affiliates and the employers&rsquo; association reached accord early today (2 March) in Madrid. 
 
Trade unions FSC-CCOO and FIA-UGT reached agreement with Aspapel on a three-year national labour agreement for the paperboard sector that wins a 3% retroactive increase for 17,500 workers to 1 January 2010. Retroactive to 1 January 2011 will be a one percent salary increase, plus the amount of Spain&rsquo;s consumer price increase (CPI). 
 
In 2012, another one percent was won atop the CPI. The Spanish unions also succeeded in keeping sweeping flexibility changes out of the national agreement. A special commission will be established to study that for possible future implementation on the local level. 
 
Without question, the success of a 23 February day-long work stoppage can be attributed to Aspapel and paper industry employers finally moving on a lapsed 2010 national contract. It is obvious by the terms of this agreement that employers did not want another such strike, scheduled for 3 March. 
 
Some 120 paperboard factories come under the new agreement. 
 
The ICEM congratulates paperworkers of both Spanish federations for their resolve in gaining a fair and current collective agreement, and we also thank the many pulp and paper unions worldwide who sent messages of Solidarity to Spanish paperworkers. 
 
An <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4269-Spain’s-Paperworkers-Shut-Industry;-Will-Strike-Again-3-March">ICEM news piece</a> from 28 February, naming the companies involved and citing details on the 23 February general strike, is available for viewing.

2nd Spanish Paper Strike Called Off; Settlement Reached

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In a powerful display of international solidarity, the &ldquo;Global Days of Action for Trade Union Rights in Mexico,&rdquo; 14-19 February, were marked by events in over 40 countries, on five continents, including 17 cities in the US and Canada. 
 
The International Textile, Garment, &amp; Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) called for fundamental rights in the Mexican garment sector, where &ldquo;protection contracts&rdquo; deny workers of their basic labour rights, as is the case throughout Mexico. 
 
In Mexico, the independent labour movement conducted over 27 actions throughout the country, including visits to embassies of 23 countries, a march and demonstration in Mexico City from the Angel of Independence to the offices of Grupo M&eacute;xico, seminars, and a protest rally at the Monument of the Revolution. Each day of action was marked inside Mexico. The leaders of Los Mineros and the SME signed a pact of national unity. 
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Mexico City
An agreement was reached with the US embassy in Mexico City to begin regular discussions on the complaints presented, in particular the cases of Los Mineros and SME.
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="150" />
Toronto, Canada
In Canada, high-level trade union delegations met with Mexican ambassadors and consuls in four cities, while pickets continued outside. The Vancouver action was marked by speeches from Los Mineros General Secretary Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez, SME General Secretary Martin Esparanza, and Jorge Castillo Maga&ntilde;a, Assistant General Secretary of the Telefonistas union. See video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/D3Steel#p/a/u/0/Bu_BPIrvlaA">Vancouver, Canada, action</a> here. 
<img src="" width="250" height="175" alt="" />
Washington DC, USA
In the US, rallies, meetings with ambassadors and consuls, and pickets, sent the clear message to the Mexican Calder&oacute;n government that pressure is building inside the country&rsquo;s largest trading partner that labour rights abuses must end. See video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usyexGRbDgI&amp;feature=player_embedded">Washington DC rally</a> in front of the Mexican Embassy here. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu83ni7mQHM&amp;feature=player_embedded">San Francisco</a>, <a href="http://www.fox11az.com/news/local/Mexican-consulate-picketed-by-angry-miners-116483178.html">Tucson Arizona</a>, <a href="http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/press-conference/player/?ram=1102181PCB&amp;id=98&amp;session=82 ">Austin Texas</a>. 
<img alt="" src="" width="336" height="185" />
Geneva, Switzerland
In Switzerland, the office of the Ambassador to the United Nations was targeted by a rally, while ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, IMF Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes, and UNI SCORE Director Adriana Rosenzvaig met with the ambassador to convey the demands of the action. Ambassadors around the world expressed some concern, but generally denied wrongdoing by the Mexican government. Many made promises to follow-up on the demands. The dialogue and pressure will continue. 
<img src="" width="220" height="148" alt="" />
100 unionists rallied on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra
See a video of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoImqEw00_M&amp;feature=player_embedded">Australia action</a> here, where a high-level, cross-sector delegation met with the Mexican Ambassador, and a large rally was organised in front of Parliament House in Canberra. 
 
Some of the other events around the world during the Global Days of Action included: 
<img src="" width="281" height="183" alt="" />
Mexico Embassy, Tokyo: meeting with the Japan Councils of the four GUFs, along with JTUC-RENGO 
<img src="" width="220" height="147" alt="" />
Sweden: IF Metall met with the Mexican Ambassador in Stokholm
Letters and press releases in Turkey 
 
Meetings and letters in Spain with Mexican Ambassador, Spanish Government, European Parliament. 
<img src="" width="365" height="179" alt="" />
A joint rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Ministry of Labour, as well as letters to the Mexican Ambassador. 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="192" />
A picket was conducted in front of the Mexican Embassy in Moscow, in temperatures of -25&deg;C, demands were transferred to the Ambassador
<img alt="" src="" width="242" height="203" />
In Brussels, the Mexican embassy was picketed, with a union delegation meeting the Ambassador, a meeting was conducted with the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee
<img src="" width="280" height="186" alt="" />
The Mexican Embassy in Peru was picketed
<img alt="" src="" width="279" height="210" />
Picket of the Mexican Embassy in Indonesia
<img src="" width="261" height="169" alt="" />
Picket of the Mexican Embassy in New Zealand
Letters were sent from affiliated trade unions from Poland to Puerto Rico, from Norway and Germany to Bangladesh, and many others. 
 
Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=863">LabourStart campaign</a> here and join thousands of protestors in writing to Calder&oacute;n. 3,000 messages were sent via the campaign in the first week, and the numbers are growing every day. 
 
The actions took place around the fifth anniversary of the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion, where the continued failure to exhume and recover the bodies of 63 of the 65 miners who died there, or to take responsibility for the &ldquo;industrial homicide&rdquo; of those workers, and properly compensate their families continues to anger the international labour movement. 
 
The action in support of the democratic and independent trade unions in Mexico was initiated by unions from around the world affiliated to the ICEM, International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Mexico Days of Action Occur Worldwide in Over 40 Countries

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Low-wage contract workers employed by OCS Group mounted a lawful two-day strike at Tata Steel in Port Talbot, UK, 14-15 February in protest to the cleaning and catering multinational&rsquo;s miserly pay offer. Some 70 members of UK union Community, most taking their first industrial action, blocked two entrances to Tata&rsquo;s Corus Strip Products mill in Port Talbot because a living wage has not been paid them since June 2010. 
 
The strikers took brave strike action under the banner &ldquo;OCS: Have a Heart&rdquo; in honour of the strike falling on Valentine&rsquo;s Day. The contract cleaners and Community call on OCS to make a pay offer that exceeds UK&rsquo;s minimum wage. Many OCS workers at Tata are paid as little as &pound;5.75 an hour. 
 
OCS responded to the strike by bussing in managers and others at 5h00 on 14 February to perform mill-site services. Corus Strip Products in Port Talbot employs 2,900. Reports quickly surfaced that unionised steelworkers at Tata were supporting the strike actions on the inside by not cooperating with scab cleaners. OCS, or Office Cleaning Services, is a Surrey-based property support service company that operates in 40 countries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="127" height="84" />
Community Region Campaigns Manager Susan Lewis termed the company&rsquo;s response to the strike a &ldquo;low blow. While bringing in staff from outside Port Talbot might be legal, it is most certainly not morally right and will do nothing to resolve this dispute. 
 
&ldquo;OCS workers do some of the toughest and dirtiest jobs on the plant,&rdquo; added Lewis. 
 
The strike action at Tata could re-occur. It comes at a time when India-based Tata is increasing employment at Port Talbot and another Strip Products division mill in Llanwern. A &pound;185 million investment is now underway on a blast furnace at Port Talbot, and a nearby coal deposit is being studied for extraction. Tata is utilising hundreds of agency workers inside the Port Talbot and Marjam mill, and very recently brought 75 of them into direct employment. 
 
Tata bought Anglo-Dutch Corus Steel in early 2007 for &pound;5.75 million. The Indian company recently sold its Teeside Cast Products mill in North-east England to Sahaviriva Steel Industries of Thailand in a move in which British unions successfully saved 700 jobs. 
Community is a union created in a 2004 merger between the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation and the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear, and Apparel Trades.

Contract Workers Strike Tata Steel’s UK Plant in Wales

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A joint affiliate of the ICEM and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees&rsquo; Union (FTZ&amp;GSEU) of Sri Lanka, is in crucial need of international support, as workers at a branch of the union face severe intimidation by both management and police. 
 
Industrial relations at a women&rsquo;s underwear factory owned by Canadian-based Bratex Pvt. Ltd. has been bad since managers failed to make scheduled bonus payments due in January 2010. The date coincides with a new human resources director, Dusmantha Kumarasire, coming into the plant. 
 
Following that, there was a long period of FTZ&amp;GSEU asking for dialogue with the company, but with no result. Kumarasire and Bratex continued to avoid negotiations even after the Sri Lanka Board of Investment called for talks. 
 
The salary increment had been agreed to under a Memorandum of Settlement between Bratex and the union before Sri Lanka&rsquo;s Assistant Commission of Labour on 21 December 2009. But on 16 February 2010, a government official arrived at the plant with armed personnel. Siripala Amarasingha, an assistant to Sri Lanka&rsquo;s President for labour matters, boasted to textile workers of his record in suppressing 23 labour disputes, and warned workers against involvement in the union. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
Amarasingha also instructed management not to avoid the union on salary talks and when this became known, workers took strike action on 18 February 2010. The strike ended when promises &ndash; now broken &ndash; were made to FTZ&amp;GSEU Joint Secretary Anton Marcus. 
 
Of further abuse to workers, who number 1,000 with 85% of them women, were the floods in May 2010. Many workers found it impossible to travel to work, and Bratex forced to them to work for no compensation for three days, or risk losing salaries and an attendance bonus. 
 
Company-police collusion increased in early January 2011 when officers showed up at a party to identify union activists. Bratex has provided two automobiles to local police, who use them patrol workers&rsquo; neighbourhoods and go house to house in pursuit of union activists. 
 
On 11 February, workers went on strike again. Two workers, Amal Santha and U.W. Gayan Predeep Kumara, were detained on 14 February. The arrests prompted a protest by Bratex outside the police station demanding their release. Protesting workers were then attacked by police and three more workers were arrested. 
 
Last week, 20 union activists were sacked inside the plant. The ICEM and ITGLWF are grateful to the Clean Clothes Campaign for assisting Bratex workers in this blatant abuse of trade union rights. 
 
Click here for <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1102.sri%20lanka%20textiles%20women%20contact.doc">contact information to send your protest</a> to the Sri Lankan government, police, and Bratex management. Demand an immediate end to harassment of workers by both police and mangers, reinstatement of the dismissed workers, and an immediate start to dialogue to make workers whole for their lost salaries.

Union Busting of Textile Workers in Sri Lanka Follows 2010 Strike

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Project in 2010, on why the Global Fund is in the headlines for the wrong reasons, and on the five countries to watch in 2011 on the development of the pandemic. 
 
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" />
The ICEM HIV/AIDS Project in 2010: Another Successful Year 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Project implemented a full programme in 2010, the first year of a new cycle with sponsorship from solidarity support organisations SASK of Finland and FNV Mondiaal of the Netherlands. 
 
At sub-regional level, the feminisation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been addressed in a women&rsquo;s workshop that was an overwhelming success. In some countries, activities only for women were organised taking the experience of women who had attended the workshop to the national level. 
 
Two sub-regional workshops for English and French speaking West Africa and for Southern Africa focussed on HIV/AIDS workplace policies and programmes. They also made participants familiar with the new ILO Recommendation No. 200, concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. The concept of a worker&rsquo;s passport, which gives basic information on HIV and AIDS, as well as information on sites and clinics where support and care are available, was discussed and endorsed by participants. 
 
At national level, programmes were implemented in 11 sub-Saharan African countries. The space in this newsletter is not sufficient to give a full account of activities in all 11 countries, which include C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, the DR Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 
 
In Zimbabwe, training courses were again organised after an interruption of many years. Good examples in some countries, especially Nigeria and Tanzania, prompted the national coordinator in Ghana to organise the first VCT campaign under the auspices of the HIV/AIDS project in the country. In Mauritius, the national coordinator overcame the difficulty to access workers at their workplace by producing a DVD on HIV/AIDS and distributing it to shop stewards. Excellent results can also be reported from C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire where companies have been cooperating with trade unions on HIV/AIDS. Guinea is a relatively new target country. New foreign investment in the mining sector gives additional significance to the HIV/AIDS project in Guinea. 
 
Gratefully, additional funding from the Humanity Fund of the ICEM affiliate, the Communication, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada enabled us to run additional HIV/AIDS activities in Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
In the first six months of 2010, programmes also continued in India with the support from the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, which has agreed to continue its support in 2011. 
 
With a financial contribution from the ICEM affiliated Industri Energi (IE) of Norway, the ICEM broke ground with a first HIV/AIDS workshop in a Middle Eastern country, Jordan. 
 
The second phase of the VCT campaign, sponsored by the Women&rsquo;s Department of the German ICEM affiliate IG BCE, was successfully implemented in Mwasa, Tanzania. 
 
The Danish solidarity support organisation LO/FTF continued support for the HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia in cooperation with ICEM affiliate, the National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical, and Mine Trade Unions (NIFECM). 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
HIV/AIDS &ndash; Five Countries to Watch in 2011 
 
Things are generally more positive on the global HIV front: the number of new infections is down, treatment figures are up, and headway is being made in the fight to end discrimination against people living with HIV. However, there is still work to be done and progress in the fight against the pandemic has been uneven. IRIN/PlusNews lists five countries that could determine the future of the pandemic this year: 
 
South Africa - The sheer size of the epidemic in South Africa means it cannot be ignored: more than one million people are on treatment &ndash; the biggest antiretroviral programme in the world - and more than five million people are living with HIV. 
 
The country also offers the best-case scenario in terms of HIV/AIDS funding since the government is largely responsible for financing the country's AIDS efforts. South Africa does not rely heavily on external resources as other countries do. After years of dragging its feet, the government has introduced policies and initiatives aimed at strengthening the HIV/AIDS response, including a national HIV counselling and testing campaign, and the decentralization of ARV treatment, from doctors prescribing at hospitals, to nurses providing the drugs at health facilities. This year will provide an idea of how these measures pan out. 
 
Russia - With 37% of the country's estimated 1.8 million intravenous drug users (IDUs) believed to be living with HIV, Russia is dealing with one of Eastern Europe's largest HIV epidemics. The country has been heavily criticized for its refusal to adopt evidence-based, harm-reduction techniques for treatment of drug users. Russia prefers instead to put IDUs in prison, where clean needles are harder to find, thereby raising the HIV threat. Experts say unless the drug policy changes, HIV prevalence is likely to continue increasing. 
 
Uganda - Once hailed as a beacon in the fight against HIV, Uganda&rsquo;s prevalence rate fell from 18% in 1992 to about 6.1% in 2004. The government's aggressive prevention campaigns focused on abstinence, sexual fidelity, and condom use, becoming the foundation of national HIV prevention programmes across sub-Saharan Africa. Today, however, UNAIDS reports that the country's HIV prevalence is between 6.5 to seven percent. 
 
There is also evidence of apparent reversals in preventive sexual behaviour in the general population, reports the Uganda AIDS Commission. The proportion of adults who say they had sex with a person who was not a permanent partner has grown since 1995, from 12% to 16% for women and from 29% to 36% for men. 
 
Haiti - The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country a year ago damaged its health infrastructure extensively. While most patients who were on life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs before the quake were traced and put back on treatment, the country's HIV programmes remain unstable. 
 
Reports of sexual abuse and transactional sex in Port-au-Prince's tent cities raise the possibility of increased infections, while the threat of tuberculosis in the overcrowded camps is also high. As the country continues to rebuild basic services this year, it will be important for the government, faced with multiple competing interests, to ensure that HIV/AIDS receives the attention it needs. 
 
India - More than 80% of all donor-funded antiretroviral drugs used in developing countries are Indian-manufactured generics. However, an imminent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union could potentially see the country lose its ability to produce the cheap generic medicines so vital to healthcare in poor nations. 
 
The EU is pushing for data exclusivity, which means Indian generic manufacturers would no longer be able to use existing drug trials to make identical generic drugs. Instead, they would be required to conduct their own clinical trials, delaying access to poor countries for these drugs for several years. EU officials say data exclusivity clauses in the FTA will take into consideration the role India plays in producing generic medicines for the developing world. 
 
With increasing pressure on India and other developing nations to adhere to tighter intellectual property laws, 2011 could be critical to the future of HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. 
 
(Source: PlusNews, Nairobi, 28 January) 
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Global Fund in the Headlines 
 
On 23 January, the Associated Press (AP) ran a long story about the Global Fund entitled, &quot;Fraud Plagues Global Health Fund.&quot; The story was picked up by nearly 200 media outlets in the U.S. and 50 in other parts of the world. 
 
The story stated that in Mali, the Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that US$4 million in funding was misappropriated. Half of Mali's TB and malaria grant money went to supposed &quot;training events,&quot; for which signatures were forged on receipts for per diem payments and travel expense claims. Mali has arrested 15 people suspected of committing fraud, and its health minister resigned without explanation two days before the audit was made public. 
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The AP story added that in Mauritania, the OIG found &quot;pervasive fraud,&quot; with US$4.1 million &ndash; 67% of an HIV grant &ndash; lost to faked documents and other fraud. And in Djibouti, the OIG found that about 30% of grant funding they examined was lost, unaccounted for, or misused. Much of this money went to buy motor vehicles. Almost US$750,000 was transferred out of one account with no explanation. 
 
In a commentary, GFO Editor Bernard Rivers wrote, &ldquo;When any entity gives multi-million dollar grants, there will always be corruption. The key issue is what is being done to unearth the corruption and minimise losses. The Global Fund is far better at investigating allegations of corruption and at recovering stolen monies than most or all other major aid donors.&rdquo; 
 
Another thing that distinguishes the Global Fund from other donors is its willingness to publish the details of the corruption that it has unearthed. In that sense, the Global Fund has become the victim of its own toughness and transparency. The Global Fund says that it has a &ldquo;zero tolerance&rdquo; policy with respect to corruption. That's the right approach! Every stolen Global Fund dollar is a dollar that can't be spent on saving lives. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 139 of 27 January. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>)
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Ethiopia: Transport Sector Launches HIV Policy 
 
The Ethiopian government has unveiled an HIV policy for its transport sector, which has grown significantly in recent years alongside the rapidly expanding road network. Various national studies have shown that those working across the transport sector - especially drivers and their assistants - are vulnerable to HIV infection as they spend considerable time away from their families. 
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The country's Federal Transport Authority (FTA) and commercial transporters jointly issued the policy in December (Comment from the editor: no mention of the union having been consulted or involved). It sets up a national taskforce to raise funds from state and non-state actors to finance projects, including condom distribution, and helping transport staff and family members living with the virus. 
 
Transport workers often have sex with local sex workers when on the road for days at a time. According to the latest UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS country progress report on Ethiopia, a 2009 study found that truckers and intercity bus drivers formed 22% of the client base of sex workers. 
 
A 2009 government survey from mobile counselling and testing clinics in 40 towns located on the major transportation corridors that link Addis Ababa to Ethiopia's borders, found that 25.3% of the sex workers were HIV-positive. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 17 January 2011) 
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South Africa: Fighting Back 
 
With only 0.7% of the world&rsquo;s population, South Africa has 17% of its HIV/AIDS sufferers &ndash; some six million in a population of almost 50 million. After a decade of denial by the government, authorities are fighting back. 
 
South Africa has the world&rsquo;s biggest antiretroviral treatment programme, providing ARVs to around one million patients. This means that two-thirds of those in need of ARVs are now getting them. But the target of 80% by the end of 2011 is unlikely to be hit, mainly because of the lack of medical staff. 
 
South Africa has also launched the world&rsquo;s biggest testing campaign aimed at checking 15 million people within 15 months. But although new infections fell by a third between 2002 and 2008, they are still running at more than 400,000 a year. According to research in South Africa, barely four out of ten sexually active men use condoms. Another reason for the continued spread is the exceptionally high rape rate. 
 
(Source: The Economist, 4 December 2010) 
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News from Global Unions 
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The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 98 of 15 December and 1 January, reports on a seminar organised by the Communication and Transport Workers Union of Tanzania (COTWU-T) on HIV/AIDS workplace policies and collective bargaining. COTWU-T believes that serious and continued HIV/AIDS workplace interventions can minimize or control the transmission of HIV to workers. It is therefore the union&rsquo;s strategy to ensure that there are guidelines for implementation so as to combat the epidemic from the grassroots. As long as the Collective Bargaining Agreement is a tool for improving working conditions, a clause specifically mentioning the fight against HIV/AIDS and its impacts should be openly elaborated. This is why COTWU-T looks for every opportunity to establish and conclude a CBA with a clause on HIV/AIDS. 
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Five Years Ago: From the February 2006 Issue 
 
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 February 2006 issue of the e-bulletin, we reported on the preparations for the 16th International AIDS Conference (IAC), which was to be organised in Toronto in August. In cooperation with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), a Global Labour Forum was planned to be organised during the IAC to underline the impact and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS policies and actions at the workplace to fight the pandemic. Labour has since made sure that its voice be heard at subsequent International AIDS Conferences. 
 
We also gave figures which had been jointly released by China&rsquo;s Ministry of Health, the WHO, and UNAIDS on 25 January 2006 and which estimated the number of people living with HIV at 630,000 in 2005, down from an estimate of 840,000 in 2003. This was not necessarily a success story in prevention but rather due to errors in estimates. 
 
The survey therefore cautioned against complacency, saying the figure was still rising and the virus was spreading from high-risk groups to the general population. Experts have warned that China&rsquo;s increasingly mobile population faces a broader risk as more infections occur through drug injection and sexual contact. 
 
It is interesting to note that now on the UNAIDS website, AIDSinfo, on which country fact sheets can be accessed, information is given in graphs with rather wide brackets. One has to look very closely to determine that about 750,000 people were living with HIV in China in 2009. The band width is an extraordinary 550,000 to one million. Only one fact can be determined with certainty: the number of infected people has gone up constantly. 
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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 65, February 2011

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A strike by 400 miners of ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia ended peacefully yesterday when management of Saknakhshiri, or Geo-Coal, gave recognition to the union and agreed to good-faith negotiations. 
 
Those negotiations will begin Monday, 7 February, and will commence over safety issues and pay for surface transportation workers, the lowest paid workers at Tkibuli-Mindeli, a set of two underground mines in the Imereti region of western Georgia. Saknakhshiri is wholly-owned by the Georgian Investment Group (GIG), a diverse conglomerate controlled by the Georgian political figure, Davit Bezhuashvili. 
 
The agreement yesterday, brokered between the company and the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemicals union and the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), gives parity to the union regarding social issues and gives the union full status on a commission to revamp safety and health conditions, a major contributing factor to the strike action this week. 
 
Tkibuli-Mindeli employs some 1,050 Georgian workers, including 650 miners, 200 transportation workers, and 250 administrative personnel.
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Following a methane gas explosion on 21 January that killed one and seriously injured four others &ndash; the third deadly gas blast in less than a year at Tkibuli-Mindeli &ndash; workers and their new union demanded modern mine safety equipment than the Soviet-era devices in place, and demanded improved work and pay conditions. 
 
The situation was exasperated last week when police arrested two lower-tier managers for safety negligence in the 21 January explosion. In support of the two and as protest to the overall work and safety conditions, miners staged a two-hour warning strike on 31 January and then embarked on an open-ended strike on 1 February. 
 
That strike brought broad public support and generated regional media coverage. Meanwhile, the ICEM affiliate and GTUC were actively engaged with Saknakhshiri in addressing issues. Yesterday&rsquo;s agreement produced a 13-point commitment by the Georgian mining company to address all issues in respectful social dialogue, including new labour agreements that replace non-regular employment, pay and overtime concerns, and a joint safety structure to replace outdated equipment and correct deficiencies. 
 
For the union, it signed a four-point commitment to protect social guarantees of workers, take full part in development, training, and implementation of new safety features, and &ldquo;will popularize and foster social dialogue, between the administration and employees, as a means of civilized resolution&rdquo; of conflicts. 
 
GTUC Vice President Gocha Alexandria said the critical aspect to yesterday&rsquo;s agreement is time deadlines. The union and company have strict time frames to reach accord on different issues. For instance, a joint study and policy directive on mine safety will be completed by 20 February; a wage increase for transportation workers will be readied by 7 February, with implementation on 1 March; and pay and other conditions for miners must be introduced by 10 March and implemented soon afterward. 
 
Talks on Monday will also firmly resolve the issuance of protective wearing apparel for workers, another grievance that led to the dispute. Yesterday&rsquo;s accord also establishes a time frame in which a first collective agreement for Tkibuli-Mindeli miners of the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union will be achieved. That date is set at 20 March 2011. 
 
Workers began joining the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia following a 27 August 2010 methane gas explosion that killed four and severely injured six other miners. On 3 March, another gas explosion killed four, this time severely burning one miner. 
 
The ICEM salutes the union, the capable leadership at GTUC, and the workers at Tkibuli-Mindeli for taking direct that led to this successful outcome. A report this week can be found here on <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4228-ICEM-Supports-Safety-Strike-at-Georgian-Coal-Mine">ICEM support</a> for the Georgian miners.

Strike Ends, Georgian Miners Recognized at Tkibuli-Mindeli Colliery

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