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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM’s affiliate in Pakistan, the Pakistan Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers (PCEM), is fighting against severe breaches of workers’ rights to organise and bargain collectively at the Swiss-based agri-chemicals multinational, Syngenta. 
 
On 23 December, members of the Syngenta Employees Union Pakistan, belonging to PCEM, arrived at work to find announcement in the company newspaper that their union’s General Secretary had his employment terminated as of 22 December, with no justified reason given. Brother Imran Ali, who is also the President of the national union PCEM, had no warning prior to learning the news in the “Daily Jang” newspaper. 
 
In a letter to the Chairman and CEO of the global pesticide producer Syngenta, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda condemned the flagrant breach of conduct of local management as a clear attempt to dismantle the union. Warda highlighted the commitments of Sygenta in the company’s Code of Conduct, and also in their signatory status to the Global Compact. See the full letter <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/158%20Letter%20to%20Syngenta%20management.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Manfred Warda PREFERRED.jpg" width="190" height="188"/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Prior to Mr. Imran’s sacking, he was summoned to the human resources department, where he was told by Mushir Ahmed Jaffery, personnel manager, Syed Saad Khalil, manager for Information Services, Col. Jalal, head of Security, and Rizwana Mujeeb, head of human resources, to sign a blank paper. When İmran refused, he was threatened with bad consequences if he refused to withdraw from his trade union activities. 
 
Imran, as labor union president, was about to submit a draft collective agreement which would have been effective as of 1 January 2011. 
 
Later in the same day that he was sacked, 23 December, the head of Syngenta’s security in Pakistan, Jalal, a retired military officer in Pakistan, met with 50 union members who had worked at the company on temporary contracts and filed cases at the Labour Court for permanent employee status. Jalal threatened and intimidated the workers to withdraw their legal petitions and resign from Syngenta. One of those workers, Muhammad Nadeem, a diabetic and heart patient, suddenly died of a heart attack on 24 December, as a direct result of this pressure from management. 
 
Those workers had received the support of the Labour Court on 18 December, which declared in favour of their grievance petitions, entitling them to permanent employment immediately. Syngenta Pakistan management refused to acknowledge the judgement of the Labour Court. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="120" height="54"/>
The company management’s refusal to consider the collective bargaining agreement, continued on 28 December as Jalal called in paramilitary forces to the Syngenta plant and threatened workers not to support the agreement or the union. Instead, he told them to join a yellow union, otherwise management would outsource the production unit and sack all current employees. The workers refused. 
 
The company responded to ICEM allegations saying that they had acted within the law and without regret. Brother Imran Ali is still awaiting reinstatement in his job, but with no indication from management that this will happen. 
 
The ICEM demands the full reinstatement of Imran, with full back pay and benefits, as well as the lawful recognition of the 50 workers who won their case in the Labour Court for rights to permanent employment at Syngenta.

ICEM Fights for Reinstatement of Union Leader in Pakistan 

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Cements workers and others of Jindal Cement and its parent, Indian steel conglomerate Jindal Group or JSW, had a demonstration busted up by riot police firing gunshots over their heads in Gadivemula, India. The 4,000 demonstrators were protesting on 23 January over the misery sum Jindal offered to pay the family of a construction worker who fell and died at the cement plant. 
 
Managers called area Kurnool police used near-deadly force to disperse the workers, who then hurled rocks and other objects at police, damaging a police vehicle. Some workers were injured when they jostled with police while trying to gain entry to the cement plant. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/India.png" width="180" height="83" alt=""/>
Workers claim it was Jindal’s negligence that led to the death of the 43-year-old worker, Bikakalagudur, who fell from a high beam while employed on construction of the company’s Gadivemula cement works. 
 
Jindal Cement at first offered to pay only one-half the standard ex-gratia to the dead worker’s family. 
 
Mumbai-based JSW Group, a US$8 billion concern, is busy constructing cement plants adjacent to many of the company’s steel mills in order to take advantage of slag and flyash for use in cement manufacture.

Cement Workers in India Vehemently Protest Over Dead Colleague

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM’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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
The ICEM HIV/AIDS Project in 2010: Another Successful Year 
 
The ICEM’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’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’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 Côte d’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 Côte d’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’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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
HIV/AIDS – 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 – 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’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) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Global Fund in the Headlines 
 
On 23 January, the Associated Press (AP) ran a long story about the Global Fund entitled, "Fraud Plagues Global Health Fund." 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 "training events," 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. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Global%20Fund%20logo.gif" width="250" height="53"/>
The AP story added that in Mauritania, the OIG found "pervasive fraud," with US$4.1 million – 67% of an HIV grant – 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, “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.” 
 
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 “zero tolerance” 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>)
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
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. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ethiopia.png" width="200" height="92"/>
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) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
South Africa: Fighting Back 
 
With only 0.7% of the world’s population, South Africa has 17% of its HIV/AIDS sufferers – 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’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’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) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
News from Global Unions 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/ITF.jpg" width="70" height="70"/>
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <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’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. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
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’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’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. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – 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 “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line.

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

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Union members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 in the Canadian province of Labrador / Newfoundland last week voted by 80% to accept the recommendations of a government Industrial Inquiry Commission to end an 18-month strike and return to work. But the conciliatory move won’t get the 124 copper and nickel miners any closer to their jobs. 
 
Their employer, Brazilian-based Vale rejects the report’s recommendations out of hand, findings that were drawn up by a neutral commission the company actually embraced three months ago. 
 
The independent commission presented the two sides with its first report – recommendations to settle the dispute – at the end of 2010. The report’s findings caused Vale to initiate a call to Local 9508 for resumption of bargaining, which occurred in remote Goose Bay, Labrador, on 5-6 January. But the company walked away from talks on the second day after disagreeing with the term length of a renewal agreement. 
 
In talks last October, just days before former provincial Premier Danny Willams established the commission, Vale sought a three-year term, while the USW wanted five years from the August 2009 expiry of the last agreement. In its report, the Industrial Inquiry Commission recommended four years. But in this month’s Goose Bay talks, Vale changed its position, seeking a five-year term from the date of ratification, proposing a 31 January 2016 expiry. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.VoiseyBay.jpg" width="200" height="200"/>
The commission’s report on collective bargaining issues does stand as a workable compromise. While it is critical of both sides for prolonging the strike, it cites the Steelworkers with already making “significant” compromises to end the dispute. The report recommends wage adjustments, a bonus plan based on Vale’s Labrador operations, a back-to-work protocol, and sub-contracting rules. The commission does not have the power to impose a settlement, but it has urged both sides to accept the compromise or submit unresolved issues to binding arbitration. 
 
Most tellingly, however, the report states that Vale’s use of scab workers during the strike is reason for the company’s intransigence. “It is apparent to the Commission that the Employer has an approach that does not contemplate compromise on any basis that might be acceptable to the Union.” 
 
Vale “maintains that it has a desire to conclude a collective agreement, buts its actions and reactions send the opposite message.” The report also cites the company with circumventing “a union’s right to bargain on behalf of its membership.” 
 
Vale is operating its eastern Canadian operations now at full production with the use of replacement workers. But nearly all of those scabs are working in excess of 60 hours per week, creating the obvious safety risks. The Industrial Inquiry Commission’s second report will be issued in late February and it will address the integrity of Vale’s Labrador operations, the strike’s impact on rural communities, the reasons behind the strike, and Vale’s international strategies to re-shape Canadian work-life. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.usw.voiseys.bay.darren.cove.2.jpg" width="134" height="130"/>
USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove
The strike by USW Local 9508 began on 1 August 2009, and now has eclipsed by six months a parallel strike by 3,500 steelworkers in Ontario. That strike against Vale, in Sudbury and Port Colborne, went on for 50 weeks and ended on 7 July 2010. 
 
In total, Vale has forced 420 Local 9508 members into strike action in Voiseys Bay and other remote worksites of Labrador. Workers at three of Vale’s contractors, including First Nation electrical and pipefitting firm Ushitou Maintenance and security and catering companies, are on strike due to the mining giant’s recalcitrant positions. In addition, workers of a logistical transport company, Torngat, also represented by Local 9508, will see a collective agreement expire early in 2011. 
 
Local 9508 this week will call on new Labrador/Newfoundland Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Human Resources, Labour, and Employment Minister Darin King to intervene more assertively to resolve the strike. On Saturday, 15 January, the USW purchased a full-page advertisement in a province-wide newspaper the urgent need for further government action. 
 
“It is now clear that Vale is the impediment to a fair settlement,” said USW District Six Representative Boyd Bussey. “It is also clear that, unless our government takes action to bring about a settlement, Vale will continue to use its scab workforce and prolong the hardship for our working families and communities.”

Vale’s Arrogance to Eastern Canadian Miners, Communities, Government Continues

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The attack by U.S. Steel against 900 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 and even more retirees – 9,000 in total – will receive a boost 29 January when thousands of Canadian trade unionists converge on Hamilton, Ontario, for a Day of Action. A lockout was derisively imposed by the American steelmaker there on 7 November after Local 1005 refused to vote on steep cuts proposed in a renewal contract. (See prior ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4101-Flawed-Investment-Canada-Act-Again-Seen-in-Steel-Lockout " type="internal">here</a>) 
 
The manifestation, organising by the Ontario Federation of Labour (CLC), will begin with speakers at 13h00 on Saturday, 29 January, at Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main Street West, and then a march will wind through the streets of the city centre. 
 
The lockout ten weeks ago became the latest affront by a multinational to the Investment Canada Act. When U.S. Steel received Canadian government approval to buy Ontario-based steelmaker Stelco three years ago, it pledged to maintain job and production levels. But within a year, it had levied layoffs on USW members at both of Stelco’s mills, in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, and began supplying Canadian customers with products made in its US mills. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.US Steel March.jpg" width="365" height="123"/>
The Canadian Attorney General in 2009 brought a lawsuit against the company for failing to comply with the Investment Canada Act. U.S. Steel’s obstruction and delay in addressing the suit was set back late last month when a federal appellate court judge upheld the right of the union and other parties to intervene in the breach of the Act. 
 
In bargaining last autumn, U.S. Steel pressured Local 1005’s bargaining committee to accept a two-tier pension scheme in which new hires would be closed off from a longstanding defined benefit plan. The company also proposed de-indexing the pension benefits for retirees, a losing proposition for 9,000 retirees against inflation. U.S. Steel sought as well cuts to active workers’ cost-of-living adjustments, and proposed cutting two weeks of vacation time. 
 
When the steel producer demanded the bargaining committee put the concessions to a vote of active members and union leadership refused, the lockout began. U.S. Steel immediately cut off all health and disability benefits. Under Ontario provincial labour law, a company has the right to mandate a one-time only vote on a final contract offer. But U.S. Steel has not exercised that option, knowing full well that Local 1005’s 2010 contract mobilisation campaign would produce a decisive “no” vote. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUSW.jpg" width="140" height="77"/>
In fact, at a union meeting on 8 December, when a motion was put forward to put the company’s proposals to a vote, a full 90% of Local 1005’s members defeated it. 
 
The union already has received overwhelming support from Canadian unions, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union. At a Hamilton picket line on 5 January, CUPE National President Paul Moist presented the locked-out local with C$10,000, and said, “Defending Steelworker pensions is a fight CUPE and the entire labour movement must be part of. If private sector pensions are eroded, the public sector will be next. 
 
CAW also has contributed to USW Local 1005 and President Rolf Gerstenberger addressed the CAW National Council of Delegates in early December. Gerstenberger called for a nation-wide campaign to resist the growing strength of international corporations in Canada and a political overhaul in order to revamp the loopholes in the Investment Canada Act. 
 
(See the mobilisation call for the 29 January Hamilton Day of Action <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/20110129USSteel.pdf">here</a>.)

Rally Slated 29 January in Canada to Support Locked-out Steelworkers

6 January 2011 
 
To All ICEM Affiliated Unions: 
 
 
 
Job Posting for ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer 
 
Firstly, I extend the Best Wishes from ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and myself to all of you in the New Year. 
 
I write to inform you that the ICEM is seeking applicants for the position of Mining/Diamond, Gems, Ornaments, and Jewelry Production Officer. Joe Drexler, who has served in that capacity, has decided to leave the ICEM and resume his duties with the United Steelworkers. 
 
I attach a job description in English for the post, which will be based in Geneva, Switzerland. I would be grateful if you could distribute details of this vacancy throughout your trade union organisation, and should a candidate wish to apply for the position, please have them send full details of their background in cover letter in English, along with their CV, to myself, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, manfred.warda@icem.org, and Finance and Administration Officer Marie-France Sarfati, mariefrance.sarfati@icem.org, or it can be faxed to Manfred Warda and Marie-France Sarfati at +41 22 304 1841. 
 
Fluent written and spoken English is essential, and IT skills also are essential. There also is a requirement for some travel from Geneva. The deadline for application is February 15, 2011. 
 
Thank you for your kind attention in distributing this announcement throughout your organisation. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
 
 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary 
 
Enclosure: Job Description (EN)

Job Posting for ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Sintracarbón, the ICEM trade union affiliate organising workers at Carbones del Cerrejón, the world’s largest open-pit set of coal mines, is on the verge of a walkout following a 99.9% strike vote last week. The 4,000-member union and Cerrejón, which is owned by multinationals BHP Billiton, Xstrata, and AngloAmerican, have come up against difficult bargaining since December as they seek to renew the two-year collective bargaining agreement. 
 
Following frustrating talks Cerrejón management, the union conducted a vote of its members between strike and arbitration tribunal, in line with Colombian legislation. Members decisively backed strike action in ballots collected last Friday, 28 January. On Saturday, 29 January, an assembly of Sintracarbón delegates, was held in the city of Riohacha, and ratified the decision to strike with unanimity. 
 
Significantly, management has indicated that it will present a new offer to workers today, 31 January. If the offer is satisfactory to Sintracarbón, a new collective agreement might not be far off. If not, a strike likely will occur before 6 February. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="180" height="83"/>
Talks began between the union and management on 9 December, and expired with no agreement following the end of the 40 days of bargaining and an extension on 17 January. 
 
In a letter to the President of Carbones del Cerrejón, León Teicher, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda criticised the company’s tactic during negotiations, of contacting individual union members personally by phone. 
 
The main issues in talks are wage gains, status of subcontracted workers, pensions, and local community needs that have been displaced by the mine. 
 
The huge open-pit mining complex in the northern state of Guajira produces highly desirable low-sulphur thermal coal. The mine produces 32 million tonnes annually, with a majority of that shipped to Europe. But exports recently began also to China, a country sustaining industries that have a huge demand for coal. 
 
View the full ICEM letter to the company <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM%20Carta%20Cerrejon%2019%20enero%202011.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.  
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President of Sintrachaneme, Jairo Fernando Solano Cervantes
Also of concern to the ICEM at Cerrejón, trade union organising of mechanics at the Chaneme company is still being scrutinized, with workers harassed and intimidated by management. Sintracarbón changed its Statutes so that it could include outsourced workers at the mine complex, and played an important support role in the formation of the union Sintrachaneme a year ago. See previous ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3573-Union-Contract-Workers-Continue-Fight-for-Work-Rights-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia" type="internal">here</a>. President of Sintrachaneme, Jairo Fernando Solano Cervantes, is being targeted by sustained intimidation and harassment, stepped up since 14 December. 
 
This harassment has included a suspicious vehicle being parked outside his house that is conducting surveillance on Solano and his family. On one occasion, Solano was chased by unrecognized cars. In Colombia, the world’s most dangerous country for a trade unionist, Solano must be protected by his employers. The ICEM is angered by this illegal intimidation, which is an attempt to crush the organizing of contract employees at Cerrejón.

Strike Set as Cerrejón Miners Face Off with Managers in Fierce Colombia Bargaining 

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Tomorrow, 8 March, marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD). It is also 16 days before the ICEM’s largest Women’s Conference ever, when 160 participants from 40 countries convene in Sevilla, Spain. 
 
(There is still time to register and attend the ICEM Women’s Conference from 23-25 March. Please refer to the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/En%20Draft%20Agenda_Nove2010%201.pdf" type="internal">invitation</a>, <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EN%20Women%20Attendance%20Form-March%202011.doc" type="internal">registration form</a>, and <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/En%20Draft%20Agenda_Nove2010%201.pdf" type="internal">tentative agenda</a>. The cover art for this article is courtesy of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, which has as theme this year, “Lay Tomorrow’s Foundation Today.”) 
 
Some ICEM affiliates have already held IWD events. In Thailand, ICEM-affiliated unions joined other civil society groups in a 6-7 March symposium at Thammasat University in Bangkok. A key point made was that hundreds of thousands of Thai women work longer than eight hours per day at low wages and without social benefits.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.women thai aranya.jpg" width="140" height="215"/>
ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath and GOPTU’s Araya Kaewpradap
Araya Kaewpradap of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation Labour Union (GOPTU) said at the symposium that the majority of Thai women are employed under short-term, fixed contracts, although in reality most have worked 20 or more years in such jobs. She said women are discriminated from entitlements, upward wage adjustments, social benefits, maternity protection, and they do not have access to the national social security scheme. 
 
The importance of Thailand ratifying ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection was also brought out at the symposium, which was televised throughout the country. Symposium participants and thousands of others will march tomorrow from Democracy Monument to the Government House in Bangkok to mark IWD.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.women thailand.jpg" width="320" height="141"/>
IWD Thai Symposium at Thammasat University 
In Spain, ICEM’s two affiliated trade union federations, UGT and CC.OO, which will jointly co-host the Sevilla Women’s Conference in two weeks time, issued a common IWD statement that is critical of Spain’s government for labour revisions, “which, far from creating employment, is contributing once again to the dismantling of too few labour guarantees.” 
 
The statement also said: “The elimination of the Ministry of Equality (now part of the Ministry of Health) means a step backwards on gender polices and a violation of the commitments of equality made at European and international levels that instruct governments to treat equality themes at high levels of responsibility.” 
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Across the world, a great number of “bridge walks” will occur tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week. The bridge walks, developed last year by programme directors for Women International in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), symbolise awareness toward women facing crises in war-torn countries. 
 
That is sadly reflected now in many countries of North Africa and the Middle East. And it was also on vivid display on Saturday, 5 March, when Israeli border police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian women, who were holding an IWD manifestation at the Qalandiya border crossing north of Jerusalem. 
 
IWD is meant to be a global day to celebrate the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future, regardless of national, ethnic, or social divisions. In 1910, Clara Zetkin of Germany’s Social Democratic Party tabled the idea at the Second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 
A year later, on 19 March, IWD was officially recognised by Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1913, IWD was moved to 8 March. Today, it is an official holiday in 25 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Laos, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia. 
 
In the US, March is Women’s History Month and it will take on special significance this month. It was in New York City, on 25 March 1911, when 146 mostly girls and young women, ages 14 to 23, perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. The seamstresses were unable to escape the burning building after owners had locked stairwells and exits. US trade unions will commemorate this horrible affront to working women in several different events across the month of March. 
 
ICEM affiliates are encouraged to report their IWD actions and activities to <a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">Carol Bruce</a>, ICEM’s Women’s Officer.

100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day!

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
An <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4103-Two-Dead-in-Dynamite-Blast-Near-Chile-s-San-José-Mine-Rescue-Site" type="internal">ICEM report</a> from November 2010 told how inexperienced miners with no training detonated explosives on their first day of work inside the Los Reyes copper mine in northern Chile, killing 2. The incident happened only three weeks after the fabled rescue of 33 copper miners and only 70 kilometres from the San José mine in Chile’s Region II. 
 
Now some rather startling facts have surfaced courtesy of an expose on Chile’s mine safety practices in the newspaper El Mercurio. As reported originally, the owner of the company, a Mexican national named Germán Zayas Bazán, fled Chile and within six hours of the 8 November explosion landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a flight from Chile. 
 
Germán Bazán was in Chile on a tourist visit. His whereabouts now are unknown and there has been no attempt to extradite him by Chile’s government, reportedly because the mine accident is still under investigation. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="120" height="120"/>
What is known is that on 15 September 2010, the Los Reyes mine was ordered by the National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) inactive. But Bazán somehow managed to get local authorities to reverse the order. At the same time, Bazán was openly advertising in Copiapó and elsewhere, seeking people to work long shifts for high pay, no qualifications required. 
 
The deadly incident happened on the first day of work for three workers, ages 37, 26, and 21, were inside the mine. None had license to handle dynamite, they were without hard hats and mining lights, and the mine was without a fixed telephone line. El Mercurio reported that after the blast, Bazán drove the 21-year-old worker – who lost an eye from an exploding stone – to a hospital and then fled to the Copiapó airport. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Chile.png" width="200" height="92"/>
In new light of safety ills that beset Chile’s mine industry, the SERNAGEOMIN inspector charged with overseeing the mine’s official closure was sacked and the regional director then resigned. Sill in question is how Bazán managed to acquire a deal to sell copper and other metals to Empresa Nacional de Mineria (Enami), a state-owned firm that processes and sells metals. 
 
Separately from Los Reyes, SERNAGEOMIN has acknowledged that only 7%, or 27 of 394 small-scale mines in Region II are operating legally. Currently there is legislation drafted in Chile to reform SERNAGEOMIN. Part of the bill would institute a mining regulator that would be charged with overseeing exploration and mine development plans. The new regulator will have oversight on mine safety too. 
 
In January, the Chile Mining and Energy Ministry did approve a 62% increase in the agency’s funding, which is expected to raise the number of mine safety inspectors across the country from 18 to 45. But with over 4,000 mining operations, that number is far too low and it is still too early to judge the effect revisions in the proposed legislation will have.

2010 Chile Copper Mine Blast Reveals Regulation Gaps

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The ICEM Secretariat was stricken with grief on 4 April upon learning of the death of Liv Undheim, former Vice President of Norwegian trade union affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Liv Undheim died at 07h00 that morning in an Oslo hospital after a period of illness. She was 61. 
 
She was an ICEM Vice President, representing the Nordic region, and had served on ICEM statutory bodies for the past 20 years, dating to her tenure as an officer of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers’ Association. She was the driving force inside ICEM in the development of gender equality and women’s activities. 
 
In a letter to IE President Leif Sande, General Secretary Manfred Warda said her advocacy in this regard made the ICEM a leading Global Union Federation on gender issues. 
 
She began working in an industrial setting in the late 1960s at Figgjo AS, a ceramics and pottery manufacturer near Stavanger. She then became a federal secretary of the Chemical Workers’ Association and served in that capacity for nine years before being elected organisation secretary of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO). In that capacity in 1997, she also became deputy minister with responsibility for energy issues. 
 
In 2001, she became Vice President of the Chemical Workers’ Association and in 2006, upon the merger of that union with the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemicals Workers’ Federation (NOPEF), she was elected Vice President of IE. She retired in October 2010 but retained the exemplary role she always performed as IE’s head of international affairs.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayIE.jpg" width="112" height="150"/>
She also had served on a number of boards and public bodies, including the research institute FAFO, Norway’s Labour Directorate, the Labour Inspection Authority, and many others. 
 
She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and in February 2011 was stricken and hospitalised with pneumonia, which prevented cancer treatment. The ICEM’s Warda said she always delivered a great deal of energy and passion to global trade union work, and “we held hope that this same energy and passion would allow her to overcome this illness.” 
 
He added: “Her passing at the age of 61 is a sad moment for us here. The extraordinary work she performed for the ICEM – and for all trade unions – will carry on in her honour. We pledge to re-dedicate the many workers’ issues that she championed in her memory.” 
 
In a statement this week from Oslo, IE President Sande said, “Following her long and devoted service to the labour union movement we all felt with all our hearts that Liv had deserved a long and pleasant retirement together with her dear Elisabeth. The holiday to Thailand was booked and she was looking forward to spending her time reading, travelling and generally enjoying life. Instead she was struck down with cancer, having to spend her last days in a hospital. It seems so unfair. She will be deeply missed.”
Liv Undheim's funeral will be 14 April in Oslo. Following, a memorial and commemoration of her life will be held at IE's offices there.

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

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