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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the UN General Assembly Declaration on HIV and AIDS, on a call by unions for more funding for HIV and AIDS, and more workplace activities and on efforts to find a vaccine or a cure to the disease. 
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UN Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS 
 
On 10 June, the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly adopted its outcome document, the new United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. 
 
The Declaration reaffirms the commitment of governments to fight the pandemic with time-bound targets laid down in the Millennium Development Goals, such as halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV by 2015. It commits governments to work toward the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015. Efforts must be accelerated to achieve the goal of universal access to antiretroviral treatment for those eligible based on WHO treatment guidelines by 2015. 
 
Governments also pledge to eliminate gender inequalities, gender-based abuse and violence, and increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect them from the risk of HIV infection. The Declaration calls on young people to help lead global HIV awareness. 
 
Of particular importance to unions and the world of work is Article 85 of the Declaration which says: &ldquo;Commit to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on workers, their families, their dependants, workplaces and economies, including by taking into account all relevant ILO conventions, as well as the guidance provided by the relevant ILO recommendations, including ILO Recommendation No 200, and call on employers, trade and labour unions, employees and volunteers to eliminate stigma and discrimination, protect human rights and facilitate access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.&rdquo; 
 
While the Declaration recognises that funding has increased in the period from 2001 to 2010 over eight-fold to US$16 billion, it expresses concern that the global financial and economic crises have a negative impact on the HIV and AIDS response. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS and ILO/AIDS press releases) 
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Unions Call for Closing Funding Gap; More Workplace Action 
 
Trade unions told a key meeting of UNAIDS, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS that, along with real commitments from governments to fill the US$8 billion funding gap, the potential impact of workplace-based activities in tackling the pandemic is still not being realised. 
 
Unions called on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, the organisation&rsquo;s governing body, to add its weight to the UN call (see article above) and ensure that work-related activities are a full part of the overall response to HIV and AIDS. 
 
The action plan by the ITUC and its Global Union partners stresses reduction of stigma and discrimination, increase in access to prevention services, scaling up of social protection services and access to treatment, care and support. 
 
(Source: ITUC press release, 24 June) 
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Toward an HIV Cure? 
 
On the 30th anniversary of the first medical reports of a new illness, articles appeared on new efforts to find a cure for the AIDS virus. 
 
The new head of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Bertrand Audoin, said that a cure is the only way to keep ahead of the HIV epidemic in the long term during tough financial times. He admitted, however, that it may take as long as 25 years to find a cure. 
 
IAS has convened a working group of international researchers to develop a strategy that might lead to a cure. The group is co-chaired by Professor Fran&ccedil;oise Barre-Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV together with Luc Montagnier. 
 
Barre-Sinoussi writes in the International Herald Tribune that there is now robust evidence that early and highly active antiretroviral therapy can have a major impact on HIV transmission, demonstrating the &ldquo;treatment as prevention&rdquo; concept. AIDS is no longer the death sentence it was, but there now remains extreme uncertainty concerning the long-term sustainability of treatment access, especially in resource-limited settings, she writes. 
 
The Economist devotes its 4 June cover to the epidemic: &ldquo;The end of AIDS? How 5 million lives have been saved, and a plague could be defeated.&rdquo; The lead article gives this stark statistic: since the discovery of AIDS, 25 million people have died and another 34 million are infected. But the death rate is dropping. In 2005 the disease killed 2.1 million; in 2009 the number was down to 1.8 million. Inside, an article gives a detailed account of the present state of research. If a few people&rsquo;s immune system controls the disease naturally, it suggests that a vaccine might be possible. And if antibodies have been discovered that neutralise the virus, that might form the basis of AIDS-clearing drugs. 
 
(Sources: BBC News, 1 June; International Herald Tribune, 4/5 June; and the Economist, 4 June.) 
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South Africa: New Policy Saves Thousands of Babies from HIV 
 
The South African government has slashed the HIV transmission rate from pregnant mothers to their babies to merely 3.5%, potentially sparing some 67 000 babies from HIV infection. The success is due mainly to the Health Department vastly improving its programme for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV infection (PMTCT) from April last year. 
 
&ldquo;It is possible to prevent all HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus on to their babies, but we now have to concentrate on the care of babies after birth,&rdquo; said Precious Robinson, deputy director of government&rsquo;s PMTCT programme, at the release of the new figures at the SA AIDS conference. 
 
Under the old treatment programme, mothers and their newborns were given one dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine. At best, this reduced the HIV transmission rate to 8.8%, according to small local surveys. But in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal, one in five HIV-positive mothers were still infecting their babies despite getting nevirapine. 
 
In order to save babies, the PMTCT treatment programme was prioritised. From last April, the Health Department advised that all pregnant women with HIV are given the ARV called AZT from 14 weeks of pregnancy and three ARVs during labour (nevirapine, tenofovir, and 3TC). If a pregnant woman has a CD4 count of less than 350, she should be put onto triple therapy (three ARVs) within two weeks of getting her CD4 test results. Newborn babies are now given nevirapine syrup for as long as their mothers are breastfeeding them, or for six weeks if not they are not breast-fed. 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.health-e.org.za">www.health-e.org.za</a>, 9 June) 
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&lsquo;Red Card&rsquo; to Keep Children Free from HIV 
 
Captains of national football teams competing in the FIFA Women&rsquo;s World Cup 2011 soccer championship in Germany are signing up to the Give AIDS the Red Card appeal in support of a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. The Give AIDS the Red Card appeal, which was launched by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) one year ago at the FIFA 2010 Men&rsquo;s World Cup in South Africa, uses the power and outreach of football to unite the world around stopping new HIV infections in children. 
 
Every day more than 1,000 babies are born with HIV. However, with access to HIV counselling and testing for pregnant women and their partners, and treatment when needed, the risk of transmission can be brought down to less than 5%. 
 
On signing the pledge, team captains appeal to football players and fans across the world to &ldquo;celebrate life and support the global campaign to prevent mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV.&rdquo; 
 
(Source: UNAIDS press release, Geneva, 24 June) 
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Websites of Global Fund County Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) 
 
According to research conducted by Aidspan, at least 20 CCMs have established their own websites. Countries with CCM websites where the ICEM cooperates on HIV/AIDS include: 
<a href="http://www.india-ccm.org ">India</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://ccm-mauritius.org ">Mauritius</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://ccmnigeria.org ">Nigeria</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://www.gf.or.tz ">Tanzania</a> (Language: English) 
 
The information available varies considerably from one website to another, with the India site being by far the most comprehensive. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 149 of 8 June. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; 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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News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) published the fifth issue of Agenda, its yearly magazine dedicated to HIV and AIDS. Agenda features, among other articles, case studies from ITF affiliates, strategies to fight HIV and AIDS at the workplace, and a new study on the civil aviation sector which reveals workers&rsquo; exposure to HIV infection, as well as stigma and discrimination. 
 
In the ITF HIV/AIDS updates 108 and 109 of 1 June and 15 June, respectively, articles can be found on peer education for civil aviation workers in Ecuador, a life skill education programme on HIV and AIDS in Indonesia organised by the Indonesia Seafarers&rsquo; Union, and the critical role the Transport and Dock Workers&rsquo; Union at Mumbai Port is playing in the implementation of a workplace policy on HIV and AIDS. 
 
The June 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 range of peer educators and other HIV and AIDS programmes in East and Southern Africa. SWHAP focuses on the response to HIV and AIDS at Swedish related workplaces. 
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Five Years Ago: From the July 2006 Issue (No. 10) 
 
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 July 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the first seminar on HIV and AIDS and the workplace organised by ICEM affiliates in Colombia in cooperation with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Social Protection. 
 
We also reported on the concern the ICEM affiliate in Mongolia expressed about the increase in HIV infections. In a report to the ICEM Asia and Pacific Regional Committee, the Mongolia Mining and Energy Union gave an account of the recent increase in HIV prevalence in the country. Despite the still very low prevalence rate, the potential for a further increase due to unsafe sex, high infection rates among migrant workers and mobile traders, and lack of education among young people is high. It will be recalled that, with the help of the Japanese affiliates, the ICEM later initiated an HIV/AIDS programme in Mongolia. 
 
The article devoted to the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS stated that unlike the 2001 UN General Assembly Session on HIV/AIDS, relatively few world leaders attended this meeting which took place in New York from 29 May to 2 June, 2006. Civil society organisations criticised the final declaration. Difference over prevention strategies, such as abstinence and condom use, intellectual property rights and the naming of vulnerable groups have resulted in a weaker declaration and in serious omissions. In deference to Muslim and conservative Latin and Vatican opposition, the Declaration refers only to &ldquo;vulnerable groups&rdquo; at risk for infection without naming sex workers, homosexuals, or intravenous drug users as in need of particular attention. Civil society also noted an insufficient commitment to women&rsquo;s rights. Most of these deficiencies seem to have been removed from the new Political Declaration (see first article in this issue). 
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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. 70, July 2011

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The ICEM has joined trade unions of Australia, New Zealand, and the UK in protesting flagrant trade union abuses by the military dictatorship in Fiji. On Saturday, 13 August, just two days after dictator Josaia Voreque Bainimarama tried to assure a high-level ILO delegation, including Deputy General Director Guy Ryder, that trade union rights in Fiji were being upheld, police showed up at the opening of Fiji Trades Union Congress&rsquo;s (FTUC) national council meeting and revoked the national centre&rsquo;s meeting permit. 
 
That came ten days after Daniel Urai, formerly of the ICEM-affiliated Fiji Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union, who is President of the FTUC, and union activist Dinesh Gounder were arrested under Fiji&rsquo;s new Public Emergency Regulation for meeting with trade unionists without a permit. They were charged with unlawful assembly in meeting with hotel workers over a pending collective agreement. 
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Daniel Urai, Dinesh Gounder</div>
 
Both were released on bail on 4 August and are due to appear in the Nadi Magistrates Court on 2 September on those charges. (See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/98.ICEM.Fiji%20Prime%20Minister.10August.pdf">ICEM protest letter</a> here.) 
 
The arrests, along with broader trade union repression, specifically against FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony, are seen as recrimination against Fiji union leaders visiting Australia and New Zealand to speak out against the military dictatorship of Commodore Bainimarama. 
 
Australian unions, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), have begun a number of direct actions against Fiji, which have raised the stakes against Bainimarama&rsquo;s strong-armed tactics. For example, the Australian Transport Workers&rsquo; Union (TWU) has threatened to not load or refuel Qantas air flights headed to Fiji, which would severely impact the Pacific country&rsquo;s tourism trade. The blockade would also include Air Pacific, a Qantas partner and Fiji&rsquo;s flag carrier. 
 
On 2 September &ndash; the date that Urai and Gounder will be in a Fiji courtroom &ndash; the ACTU will organise two manifestations in front of Fiji consular offices in North Sydney and in Deakin near Canberra. 
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<div>Dictator Bainimarama with ILO Representatives Last Week</div>
 
On 8 August, UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress and ICEM affiliate GMB called on British sugar multinational Tate &amp; Lyle to challenge the Bainimarama regime&rsquo;s abusive tactics. Tate &amp; Lyle purchases 100% of Fiji&rsquo;s sugar exports and the illegitimate Fijian ruler has a controlling stake in sugar production. 
 
On the same day that Urai and Gounder were arrested, 3 August, a dictum was issued by Bainimarama &ndash; Fiji&rsquo;s self-appointed Prime Minister following a 2006 coup &ndash; called the Essential National Industries Employment Decree. It bans all industrial actions, will ban workers from being covered by collective agreements in 60 days time, and restricts wage and benefit growth. 
 
Despite this, Bainimarama told the ILO delegation last week he was not trying to ban unions or take away workers&rsquo; rights. Not many in the international community believe this, least of all the government of Australia, which has recalled its envoy from Fiji. 
 
On 4 August, the day Urai and Gounder were released, Australian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Martin Ferguson, issued a statement saying: &ldquo;Since 2006 the Bainimarama regime has abrogated the constitution; detained political leaders; sacked the independent judiciary; censored the media; and restricted meetings of civil society, including church groups. 
 
&ldquo;Despite commitments to hold elections in 2014, it is not clear the regime intends to make good on its promise. 
 
&ldquo;The restriction of labour rights is part of a concerted campaign to curtail the human rights of the people of Fiji. The rights of workers in Fiji have been targeted through a series of decrees restricting labour rights, the most recent of which was aimed at essential industries.&rdquo;</div>

Trade Union Repression in Fiji Mounting

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Following an opening meeting in October 2010, the Global Safety Panel of ICEM and French chemicals company Rhodia under the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) held its second meeting at a Rhodia operation called Sertow in Serpukhov, Russia, on 19-20 July.
The safety forum was included in an amendment to the GFA in February 2010. The safety panel has duties to monitor Rhodia&rsquo;s health and safety policies and practices, as well as to continue ongoing dialogue between the company and its workers and make recommendations on improvements.
The Sertow plant is part of the group&rsquo;s Acetow company and makes cigarette filters for the global tobacco industry. Operated by Rhodia since 1994, the plant uses cellulose acetate flakes as a key raw material. The plant does stress the importance to health and safety issues since a fatal accident happened on 12 September 2000. The plant since has gone for over ten years without a lost-time accident.
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The ICEM delegation was composed of Juarez Nogueira of Sindquim, Brazil; Scott Harrington of the United Steelworkers (USW), US; Maurice Tritsch of CFDT, France; Jie Dong from China; and Kemal &Ouml;zkan and Brian Kohler from the ICEM headquarters. The delegation first met with the elected representatives of the site concerning industrial relations and the health and safety situation.
Local level labour relations were set up using the example of the German Works Council system as it exists at Acetow&rsquo;s centre, located in Freiburg, Germany. There is close collaboration between the workforce leaders of both operations, and the Sertow Works Council is actively involved in labour-related matters such as collective agreements, personnel health improvement, support of sporting events, and involvement in renovation of the social room. The Works Council has regular meetings with management as part of social dialogue.
Following presentations about Rhodia, Acetow, and the Sertow plant with key figures presented on economic, social, and personnel-related matters, the meeting received a report on Rhodia Way, the company&rsquo;s integrated management system regarding sustainable development.
The participants also heard a report from Rhodia managers on the five-year plan of personal safety that covered records of 2011, as well as projections for the period of 2011-2015. The report put forward a plan to significantly reduce the number of irreversible and chemical accidents until 2015. The targets cover Rhodia&rsquo;s temporary and sub-contact employees and its own staff.
Having made comments on the report, the ICEM&rsquo;s Kohler presented his health and safety recommendations to plant-level and corporate management. A specific discussion was made on Rhodia&rsquo;s investigatory method named after the &ldquo;Casual Tree&quot; accident. The meeting also received a presentation from the Sertow management on practices and results regarding safety compliance. The participants later toured the facility.
The meeting was finalized with an assessment of the discussions and future activities. It was agreed to deepen co-operation for reflecting the work of the Global Safety Panel to workplace level in all of Rhodia&rsquo;s operations worldwide.

ICEM, Rhodia Global Safety Panel Hold Second Meeting in Russia

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<div>Three days before the annual two-week summer shutdown at a Clariant plant in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, management of the Swiss-based chemicals company fired two Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB union representatives. Kamel Bennaceur and Mohamed Loukili were sacked on 27 July for doing the trade union work they were elected to do by co-workers. 
 
Management of Clariant Benelux SA unilaterally installed two other workers to fill their duties. Managers cited &ldquo;breach of trust&rdquo; as the reason for dismissing the two delegates, who are of Moroccan origin. The ICEM last week in Switzerland registered a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/99.ICEM.Clariant.Belgium.10August.pdf">strong protest</a> with Clariant Chairman J&uuml;rg Witmer and CEO and Director Hariolf Kottman, and intends to press the breach of international labour standards on the global level unless the two are reinstated. 
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<div><img alt="" src="" width="129" height="161" /> 
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<div>Kemal Bennaceur, Mohamed Loukili 
</div>
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ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA also has written to the Belgian trade unionists expressing its support. 
 
The FGTB has prioritised the dismissals and will hold a day of action at the plant on Wednesday, 17 August. The action will start at 09h30. It will occur on day three after the re-start of work at Louvain-la-Neuve, a city in Belgium&rsquo;s Wallonia federal region some 40 kilometres southeast of Brussels. The plant is part of Clariant&rsquo;s Masterbatches division and produces colour additives for inks and textiles. 
 
FGTB says the real reason for the firings is the pair are just too conscientious in the performance of their duties. They conducted work inspections and were in constant communication with the 45 other blue-collar workers employed at Clariant regarding work rules and social legislation. The 45 solidly support the union stalwarts, Bennaceur and Loukili. 
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<div> 
FGTB Adjunct Regional Secretary Enzo Gramaglia Talks to Clariant Workers</div>
 
The union held two abbreviated meetings with plant managers &ndash; on 28 July and 10 August &ndash; but bosses refused to discuss the sackings or consider immediate reinstatement. FGTB said that recent and similar firings at <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4558-BRC-Belgium-Conflict-Settled-Sacked-Oil-Workers-Reinstated">Belgian Refining Corporation (BRC)</a> in which shop stewards were also dismissed, but subsequently reinstated, will provide the template for this breach of Belgian work law and international labour standards. 
 
The ICEM vows to assist its Belgian affiliate in the entire legal process. 
</div>

FGTB Delegates Sacked at Clariant Chemicals Plant in Belgium

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Union members of Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida, a branch of Chile&rsquo;s Federation of Miners (FMC), returned to work Friday night, 5 August, at the world&rsquo;s largest copper mine, majority owned by BHP Billiton. Some 2,375 miners at the Escondida mine ended a 15-day strike with a 65.5% to 34.5% vote the night before after two days of negotiating with mine management. 
 
The memorandum of agreement provides a remedy to a dispute over a 2010 production bonus but just as important, addresses several grievances and breaches by Escondida management from a 2009 labour agreement. 
 
Sindicato No. 1 said of the memorandum, &ldquo;the company promises to solve a series of labour issues such as establishing a new attendance policy, regularising a certification system based on competency for promotions, and reformulating the criteria for calculating a production bonus.&rdquo; These were just some of the issues in dispute inside a four-year labour agreement that was signed in November 2009. 
 
In 2010, Escondida &ndash; 57.5% owned by operator BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, and 12.5% by Japanese holding companies &ndash; saw profits of US$4.3 billion, up 35% over that of 2009. Last week&rsquo;s amended bonus to each worker amounts to CHP 2.65 million (pesos), or US$5,800. Miners will receive that on 25 August.
<img alt="" src="" width="245" height="161" />
Sindicato No. 1 Files Papers in a Labour Court in late July
Escondida said the strike was illegal and indicated throughout the walkout that it would not negotiate with the union. But as the days wore on and the company was losing US$30 million per day, that changed. In a statement after signing the memorandum of agreement, the company said workers had ended their &ldquo;illegal work stoppage&rdquo; and &ldquo;this action is due to the success of talks between the parties. 
 
&ldquo;Minera Escondida reiterates that dialogue and respect are the foundation for maintaining a beneficial relationship with its workers.&rdquo; 
 
Besides the aforementioned labour issues, that respect includes a more transparent system for the production bonuses; restoration of a housing allocation that lifts restrictions on where miners may use the stipends; safer and higher quality buses for transportation to and from worksites, as well as compensation for tickets; no retaliation, redundancy, or punishment for union activity; and review of company-installed surveillance cameras. 
 
Miners will also be paid their salaries for the 15-day strike. Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida had filed labour court charges on several of the issues involved in the strike. 
 
For its part, the union said it hopes to maintain and deepen channels of communication with management, but also will remain vigilant that the issues agreed to in the memorandum will get resolved. 
 
Minera Escondida consists of two open-pit copper mines some 170 kilometres southeast of Antofagasta, in Chile&rsquo;s Region II. It also consists of two concentrator plants, Los Colorados and Laguna Seca, which have a combined capacity of 330,000 tonnes per day. The company operates two pipelines and a filter plant at the Port of Coloso. 
 
In 2010, Escondida&rsquo;s production totalled 1.087 million tonnes, consisting of 786,603 tonnes of copper concentrate and 300,098 tonnes of copper cathodes. It provides concentrates to smelters in Japan, China, Korea, India, and Chile, while the cathodes are sold to markets in France, the Netherlands, Italy, China, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. It provides a total of 7% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply.

Chile Copper Workers End Strike at Escondida with 65% Vote

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By the narrowest of margins on 2 August, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669 in Metropolis, Illinois, ratified a three-year labour agreement with Honeywell, Inc., officially ending a lockout that began on 28 June 2010. The ratification vote came a full 13 days following conclusion of a negotiating settlement (see <a href="/en/3-Energy-Oil-and-Gas/4564-USW-Union-at-Honeywell-Reaches-Tentative-Labour-Agreement">ICEM 22 July report</a>), primarily because Honeywell managers at the uranium converting facility were negligent in giving explicit back-to-work assignments to locked-out workers. 

The 228 steelworkers at Honeywell convert milled uranium, known as yellow-cake uranium, into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) which is used in nuclear fuel enrichment. The lock-out was marked by Honeywell&rsquo;s decision to resume full production nine weeks into the company&rsquo; s work stoppage and then re-start operations with inexperienced scab replacement workers. Twice in the months that followed, the plant saw near-miss tragedies due to mishandling of dangerous chemicals. 

The period between the 20 July 2011 tentative agreement and yesterday&rsquo;s ratification was just as contentious as was the entire lockout. Honeywell managers told Local 7-699 that it wanted experienced workers to return to the jobs they knew best, but then submitted a back-to-work roster which saw job postings many of the locked-out workers had never worked before. 

It took Local 7-669 leaders enormous time and effort in the 13-day interval to sort out the return-to-work roster. Meanwhile, Honeywell managers publicly denounced the union for not conducting the ratification vote. &ldquo;They were trying to force a vote before our people knew exactly which job they would return to,&rdquo; said local union spokesman John Smith.
<img alt="" src="" width="131" height="214" />
Local 7-669 members will begin returning to work on 15 August. Some 150 workers will return then to training and re-certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Forty workers will return two weeks later for the same, and the remainder two weeks after that. The unionised workforce will number about 220 workers when the experienced and qualified USW members are fully back to work. 

The negotiated settlement preserves most of the key union-protection provisions that Honeywell was trying to strip away at the start of the lockout, including seniority, job bidding, overtime, and retention of a defined benefit pension plan for existing workers, as well as retiree medical benefits that go along with that plan. 

On wages, the new three-year collective agreement calls for no increase in the first year, 1% effective 15 August 2012, and 2% on 15 August 2013. Local 7-669 proposed in bargaining over a year ago a freeze on wages and continuation of all terms and conditions of a prior three-year contract. But Honeywell seemed intent on taking away pension, the accompanying health care benefits, as well as union-protection provisions. 

Honeywell abandoned most of those contract concessions, perhaps realising that it needed experienced steelworkers to effectively operate the plant safety and productively. Production had plummeted to a reported 35% of pre-lockout levels and Honeywell was not meeting it order demand for UF6. 

USW Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie told the ICEM: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re highly appreciative of the tremendous support we have received from trade unions, those in the community and others throughout this long lockout. The donations, the international support, and the recognition by many here and abroad on what we were up against will never be forgotten.&rdquo;

Troubled to End, USW Union Ratifies US Honeywell Contract

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Mediated negotiations this week between ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Chamber of Mines in South Africa will prove pivotal in determining if gold and coal strikes occur in the coming weeks. The NUM has also declared disputes in the nation&rsquo;s important platinum mining sector, with talks between the union and Anglo Platinum, Impala, and Northam Platinum at a stalemate. 
 
On 7 July, the NUM filed a declaration of dispute with South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) over unresolved issues &ndash; including pay awards &ndash; in the coal industry. Talks on 8 July with the Chamber went nowhere, with employers refusing to budge from an offer that is less than the inflation rate. The Chamber represents AngloCoal SA, Exxaro, Xstrata Coal, Delmas Coal, Optimum Coal, and Springlake. 
 
The two sides will meet again this Wednesday, 20 July, under the auspices of the CCMA. There are a combined 250,000 miners covered under the coal and gold talks with the NUM representing 80% of those workers. Gold companies represented by the Chamber include AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, and Goldfields. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="90" />
If no solution is found this week, the CCMA is likely to issue a certification of non-resolution, which means the union need only give employers a 48-hour notice before striking. In coal, the NUM is seeking a 14% pay hike, while the Chamber of Mines has been steadfast on granting only a 4.5% increase for the lowest mine classifications and 4.2% for others. 
 
A coal strike will severely cripple state-run electricity producer Eskom, which generates 95% of South Africa&rsquo;s power needs and 45% across the whole of Africa. 
 
In gold mining, talks failed on 6 July and again on 13 July, after which the NUM filed for dispute resolution with the CCMA. The union is also seeking 14% from the Chamber in the gold talks, while employers have increased their offer from 4.2% to between 5% and 5.5% in the most recent set of talks. 
 
&ldquo;We have already begun the mobilisation for massive strike action by over 250,000&rdquo; miners, said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;A real war has just started, a war over a living wage and this is not reversible.&rdquo; 
 
That war likely will be extended to South Africa&rsquo;s rich platinum mines, as well, where the nation is the world&rsquo;s leading producer. On 12 July, NUM declared a dispute with Northam Platinum at the company&rsquo;s 6,800-worker Zondereinde Division in Limpopo Province, and at two other Northam mines. A day later, a formal dispute was lodged against Impala Platinum, where NUM is seeking 14% for the lower classifications and 13.5% for higher job grades. The union is also polling members at the world&rsquo;s number one producer, AngloPlatinum, where it is seeking a 20% increase. 
 
One mine strike has already commenced. That is at the chrome mine of Chemstof Pty. Ltd. in Boksfontein, North-West Province, where 200 workers downed tools on 11 July over wage differences, living-out allowances and transport stipends. And at diamond producer DeBeers, the two sides are still far apart over a 2011 wage package.

NUM in Formal Disputes with South African Gold, Platinum, Coal Mining Houses

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The two-week strike by 120,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers&rsquo; of South Africa (NUMSA) ended over the weekend when union members accepted a three-year contract from the Steel and Engineering Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA), the main metal employers&rsquo; federation in South Africa. 
 
NUMSA members will receive a first-year pay rise of 10% effective 1 July 2011. In the second and third years, metalworkers will receive no less than 8% in each year. If the consumer price index (CPI) is less than that percentage, the 8% increases will take hold; if it exceeds 8%, workers will receive 2% above the CPI. 
 
&ldquo;We ran a successful action,&rdquo; NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim said of the strike that began 4 July. &ldquo;We applied excellent pressure, workers were firm in their determination, and the timing for settling was good before the country&rsquo;s economy was bruised.&rdquo; 
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NUMSA Manifestation on 12 July
Jim said another fundamental issue resolved concerned labour brokers. Contract language was improved whereby labour brokers are allowed to deploy workers for only a four-month period. If a labour broker is retained for more than that period that broker&rsquo;s workers will win full-time, permanent positions with the primary employer inclusive of all social benefits. Workers will begin returning to jobs today and tomorrow, 19 July. 
 
Meanwhile, talks between the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) and several employers&rsquo; federations resume today. Some 70,000 CEPPWAWU members have been striking since 11 July against scores of employers in the petroleum, pharmaceutical, glass, plastics, industrial chemicals, fast-moving consumer goods, and pulp, paper, and wood products sectors. 
 
By far the biggest impact of those strikes has been in petroleum distribution businesses. The CEPPWAWU strike there has created panic buying and fuel shortages, with the seven members of the South African Petroleum Industry Association unable to move supplies to market from the country&rsquo;s 130 fuel depots. 
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CEPPWAWU Members March in Johannesburg, 11 July
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s strikes were joined last week across several sectors by 14,000 members of the South African Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (SACWU) and 10,000 members of the General Industrial Workers&rsquo; Union of South Africa (GIWUSA). 
 
The unions are seeking wage increases ranging from 11% to 13%, while respective industries are offering only 6.5% to 7%. ICEM-affiliated CEPPWAWU seeks a complete ban on labour brokers, a minimum month wage of R6,000 (&euro;615), six months paid maternity leave, and a 40-hour work-week. 
 
The strike, specifically in regard to fuel shortages and transport, is expected to be exacerbated starting today with the start of the third trimester of school in South Africa. Some of the companies affected are petrol giants BP Southern Africa, Chevron SA, Engen Petroleum, PetroSA, Shell SA, and Total SA; pharmaceutical companies Adcock Ingram, Aspen Pharmaceutical, and Pharmacare; consumer companies Revlon and Colgate; the industrial chemicals company Sasol, as well as Nampak Glass and paper companies Sappi and Mondi. 
 
South African strikes were amplified this winter by a PricewaterhouseCoopers&rsquo; report showing that executive pay trends of the 40 top-listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange saw median pay increases of 23.3%, while executive bonuses rose 56%.

Metal Strike Ends in South Africa with Exemplary 3-Year Contract

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The ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) in the US has mounted a voracious campaign against Germany&rsquo;s BMW Group to preserve 68 auto-parts warehousing jobs in Southern California. The campaign to stop the outsourcing of family-supporting parts distribution jobs from a BMW warehouse in Ontario, California, has stretched eastward across America and now has gotten very active support from Unite the Union in the UK and IG Metall in Germany. 
 
In early June, the 7,500-member IBT Local 495 of Covina, California, was told by North American BMW that it intended to terminate a collective agreement upon expiration on 31 August and outsource the jobs of Teamster members to an un-named logistics provider. Instead of rolling over and negotiating severance packages, the union and its members fought back. 
 
They began a pressure campaign that has seen trade unionists and supporters handbilling BMW auto dealerships across the US, and Local 495 has zeroed in specifically on the Jackson Lewis LLP law firm. Jackson Lewis is a union-busting legal firm that regrettably BMW North America retained for anti-worker services in industrial relations. 
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The IBT has gained support and mobilisation of other American unions at BMW&rsquo;s five parts distribution depots in the US, as well as from trade unionists at BMW workplaces in Europe. 
 
The union has established a lively website entitled <a href="http://www.bmwultimatemisery.com/ ">&ldquo;BMW: The Ultimate Misery&rdquo;</a> and produced a video from a spirited 26 July protest in front of the Jackson Lewis law offices in Los Angeles. (View the <a href="http://vimeo.com/26990405 ">video</a> here.) 
 
Earlier, on 21 July, a Day of Action was held in not only BMW&rsquo;s US warehouses, but also inside BMW facilities in the UK. Workers wore stickers supporting the California Teamsters and passed out leaflets demanding that BMW not destroy California jobs. Members of the International Longshoremen&rsquo;s Association (ILA) at an import distribution centre in the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey two years ago successfully fended off outsourcing, as did United Auto Workers (UAW) members at a BMW parts warehouse in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. 
Both unions now assist the California workers in resisting closure. IBT local unions in America&rsquo;s eastern states are handbilling BMW dealerships on a daily basis. The Ontario warehouse workers use weekends away from the job to draw attention to BMW&rsquo;s unfair decision by handbilling dealerships up and down the US West Coast, from Southern California to the state of Washington. 
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Teamsters handbilling in Seattle
In the UK, Unite Assistant General Secretary and head of Manufacturing, Tony Burke, is now spearheading a petition drive aimed at BMW&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC). Unite members are demanding that an extraordinary meeting of the EWC meeting slated for 10 September be moved up to August in order to place the scheduled Ontario closure squarely on the agenda. They want BMW to reverse the North America decision. 
 
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll continue to expand this campaign inside the US and internationally in the weeks to come,&rdquo; said Local 495 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Lennox. &ldquo;Working with other US unions and now with unions in Europe, we&rsquo;re convinced that we&rsquo;ll get a positive resolution for our members and that means retaining our jobs.&rdquo; 
 
The Ontario, California, warehouse handles 200,000 auto parts for just-in-time delivery to BMW car dealerships and other auto-supply outlets on the West Coast. The ICEM believes such work is best done by experienced and direct-employed BMW workers and urges the German company to retain loyal Teamster members for the good of its business and to preserve family-sustaining jobs.

US Teamsters Ardently Resist BMW’s Auto Parts Outsourcing

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The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a key ICEM global affiliate in the Materials Sector, held its quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas, US, from 25-28 July, and re-elected their top office-bearers with unanimous voice approval. The nine officers stood as the Proven Leadership Team. 
 
The convention marked the 32nd Convention of the US-Canadian union that has united boilermakers, cement workers, ship builders, forgers, and blacksmiths for the past 131 years in North America. 
 
Re-elected President was Newton B. Jones; Secretary-Treasurer, William Creeden; and Vice Presidents: Warren Fairley, US Southeast; James Pressley, Industrial Sector; Lawrence McManamon, US Great Lakes Region; Joseph Maloney, Western Canada; Edward Power, Eastern Canada; J. Tom Baca, Western US States; and David Haggerty, US Northeast. 
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Speaking on the closing day of the Convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda sincerely thanked Jones for accepting global responsibilities with the ICEM as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chairman of the ICEM Materials Sector. He also cited the importance of specific sector work, citing ICEM and European trade union influence in blocking Lafarge&rsquo;s attacks on retiree health insurance of IBB Local D-27 members in Sugar Creek, Missouri, in 2008 and 2009. 
 
&ldquo;I assure you the ICEM will always be prepared to mobilise global support and solidarity whenever you call and tell us of the need,&rdquo; said Warda. 
 
The ICEM leader also told of trade union repression by governments in Colombia, Iraq, and Mexico, and he reminded IBB delegates of the shameful deeds by US right-wing politicians in camouflaging deficit-reduction measures as direct attacks on trade unions. 
 
&ldquo;Wisconsin must be stopped before it becomes a virus spreading all around the world,&rdquo; said Warda to standing applause. 
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UMWA President Cecil Roberts
United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts spoke on the convention&rsquo;s opening day and praised the leadership of the IBB. &ldquo;These people are the blood of your blood, the flesh of your flesh, and the soul of your soul,&rdquo; Roberts told delegates. &ldquo;They have shown the way for all of us.&rdquo;

US Boilermakers Hold 32nd Convention

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