English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy 

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL 

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia 

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean 

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="110" height="50"/>
The ICEM held, as part of its ongoing series of national and international events, discussions on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL, known as “tercerización” in Latin America), at an international conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 16-17 November 2010. Participants at this CAL campaign event, sponsored by Swedish LO/TCO and LO Norway, came from Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and ICEM headquarters. 
 
Judging by participants’ accounts, the problem of outsourcing and precarious labour seems to be at least as widespread in Latin America as it is in other parts of the world. It was said, for example, that it is not uncommon for up to 40-50% of the formal workforce in these countries to work for subcontracting companies, with outsourced workers often doing exactly the same work as permanent staff, but for a much lower salary. 
 
That said, in nearly all countries in the region there also were - in addition to a large number of bad practice examples - encouraging stories on how different unions successfully managed to deal with part of the problem. 
 
In the host country Uruguay, for example, some unions now have CAL workers as board members and, in the paper sector at least, most outsourced workers are union members. On the other hand, the country is also known for its omnipresent “use” of cooperatives, which seems to be a means in Uruguay to avoid unionisation. 
 
These cooperatives, which were said to employ great numbers of workers, very often are small, worker-owned and independent enterprises that cater to other, larger enterprises. As such, they have become part of the subcontracting chain and it is not unusual for an entire department of a company to be turned into an “independent cooperative.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011RosaneSasse.jpg" width="113" height="110"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011EliasPintado.jpg" width="101" height="110"/> 
 
ICEM Latin American CAL Project Coordinators Rosane Sasse and Elias Pintado
During the last few years, Uruguay has adopted two new laws on temporary employment. The most recent one, adopted in 2007, introduces the idea of co-responsibility in case something goes wrong when workers are in a triangular relationship (i.e., when working for a “third” company, which is not the “user-enterprise”). 
 
This co-responsibility, which was mentioned by trade unionists from various countries as a key item, makes sure that workers can claim their salary, benefits, and/or social security from the user-enterprise in case “their real employer” fails to pay, or, as is fairly common, simply disappears. 
 
An interesting presentation was made by ICEM Project Coordinator Patricio Sambonino on the contract and agency labour situation in his home nation, Ecuador, a country where the government in 2008 adopted a new law that bans “tercerización.” 
 
According to a 2010 FES-ICEM research effort that looked into the effects of this new law, the success of the recent ban on outsourcing (the key point of the new law, which still allows exceptions for such jobs as catering, cleaning, security) has been mixed. Among the problems found by the FES-ICEM research was that workers that had to be rehired by the user-enterprise started at a lower salary than those that already had or have permanent jobs. Most workers also did not get lost rights, such as seniority or a decent pension. It was further pointed out that some companies have in the meantime found new ways of outsourcing.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011PatricioSambonino.jpg" width="95" height="110"/>
ICEM Project Coordinator Patricio Sambonino 
In the Ecuadorian mining sector, the level of informal work appears to be so high that the new law has not been able to make a difference. The study described the use of cooperatives in mining and in many cases, cooperatives are, in fact, just another form of bogus self-employment. In the oil sector, the new law has not brought the hoped for progress for workers. In the electricity sector in Ecuador, on the other hand, unions are very happy with the new law and the protection it brings, since many more workers now have direct and permanent contracts. 
 
In total, over 200,000 Ecuadorian workers have been made permanent since 2008. This must be qualified by stating that in many cases, the permanent status is only for one year, after which workers were dismissed again. This is the case for many oil workers. Still, a lot of workers were able to join the social security system for the first time and a few thousand “subcontracting” companies have closed their doors. 
 
Another important point is that, even though it was “predicted” by those opposed to the law, none of the major investors left the country as a result of the ban. Unions in Ecuador, who were not involved in the drafting of the law at the time, are now looking to dispel the negative consequences of what is, essentially, an excellent improvement for workers. 
 
Also noted is the fact that multinational companies in Ecuador seem to have accepted the new law much easier than most national companies. Reportedly, multinational companies were faster to calculate that the changes would not bring extra costs, and if any, certainly not in comparison to their total turnover.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011Uruguay1.jpg" width="274" height="149"/>
Participants at the Montevideo Seminar 
An interesting “best practice” example was provided by the representatives of Argentinean ICEM affiliate FASPyGP, the Federación Argentina Sindical del Petróleo, Gas y Biocombustibles. 
 
In each of their sectors (oilfields, oil refineries, and gas) good sectoral collective agreements exist. And each of these sectoral agreements also fully covers all outsourced workers. The result is that, even though the outsourcing rate is around 60%, all workers - CAL or not - receive the same salaries and the same benefits for equal work of equal value. 
 
Participants at the meeting in Uruguay were also informed about proposed legislation that is currently being prepared in Brazil by one of the national labour centres, CUT. If and when adopted, this proposal would strengthen earlier laws that deal with Contract and Agency Labour, which now already foresees co-responsibility in triangular work relationships. 
 
The new law would introduce, among other items, a ban on outsourcing core jobs, a strengthening of the co-responsibility, language to make sure that the union at the actual workplace can also represent the CAL workers, equal pay for equal work, and an obligation to inform unions in advance of any outsourcing plans. 
 
Finally, also mentioned at the seminar was a study by the Brazilian ICEM affiliate FUP, which showed that it would - all things considered - actually be cheaper for state-owned oil giant Petrobras to turn all its outsourced workers into direct workers. Knowing that, there still is a long way to go for Petrobras, as the company employs just over 70,000 direct employees, with almost 250,000 outsourced staff working on its assets.

Precarious Work Mounts in Latin America … But So Do Union Actions to Counter It 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="110" height="50"/>
The last issue of this Contract and Agency Labour newsletter reported that a draft report on precariously-employed women workers was presented to the European Parliament by Danish Social Democratic MEP, Britta Thomsen. 
 
The report called on the European Commission and European Union Member States to ensure that all employees are granted equal access to social services and benefits regardless of their employment conditions. 
 
On 19 October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing disappointment that the EU employment law package and the directives on fixed-term, part-time, and temporary agency work do not adequately address the precarious nature of employment, and called on the Commission and the Member States to take further specific legislative measures. Those measures include introducing binding minimum social standards for employees and granting all employees equal access to social services and benefits, including maternity leave, health care and retirement pensions, as well as to education and training, regardless of employment conditions. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.cal.britta.thomsen.png" width="100" height="126"/>
Britta Thomsen, MEP
The resolution recognises that the “over-representation of women in precarious work is a key contributing factor to the gender pay gap.” It also states that “improving job quality for women will reduce the gender pay gap.” The resolution calls on the Member States to take legislative measures to put an end to zero-hour contract and to introduce controls to regulate all types of false training, which conceal actual employment without proper payment or protection. 
 
The Commission and the Member States are requested to develop strategies on precarious work in order to emphasize decent work and green jobs, and incorporate gender balance; and to take action in order to reduce the double burden of work on women. 
 
Attention is brought on the fact that studies have shown that precarious employment, in which minimum health and safety standards often are ignored, carries higher injury rates and a greater risk of disease and exposure to hazards. The Commission and the Member States are requested to enhance their monitoring of minimum health and safety requirements in the workplace, paying particular attention to the specific risks to female workers. 
 
Due to the lack of adequate research on the subject, the resolution calls on the Commission and Eurofound to cooperate with the European Institute for Gender Equality and to initiate targeted research in order to assess the cost of de-skilling and welfare loss resulting from precarious employment, taking into account the gender aspect. 
 
The resolution has been sent to the European Council, the European Commission, and the governments of the Member States.

Precarious Women Workers’ Resolution Passed by European Parliament 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The formation of a strike committee by ICEM-affiliated Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers’ Unions (VDSZ) at Hankook Tyre Magyarország Kft. in Hungary prompted the Korean-based company to increase wage rates by an average of 8%. 
 
That happened last week, after the VDSZ Tyre Manufacturing Workers’ Union threatened strike action ten days earlier on 3 March. They did so because management had failed to raise salaries to compensate for Hungarian tax changes that went into effect 1 January. 
 
Some 1,700 workers at the 1,800 workforce will receive an average 8% pay hike retroactive to 1 January. In addition, workers will receive HUF 20,000 (€73.40) yearly in non-wage benefits. Hungary’s National Interest Conciliation Council was recommending 4-6% increases to offset the tax change. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.hungary.tamas.jpg" width="166" height="221"/>
VDSZ President Tamás Székely
The average 8% wage increase surprised many due to the negative labour climate made by Hankook since opening the Rácalmás factory near Dunaujváros in 2007. Only last year, Hankook Tyre Magyarország was fined by the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate for obstructing VDSZ’s legitimate duties of representation inside the plant. And shortly after production began in 2007, Hankook was charged or found guilty of non-payment of overtime remuneration, forcing a six-day work-week, making work mandatory on public holidays, and interrogating workers over their lawful union activities. 
 
Hankook, 10% owned by French Michelin, is the world’s seventh largest tyre producer, capable of making 87 million tyres a year from five plants – the Guemsan and Daejeon factories in Korea, the Jiaxing and Jiangsu plants in China, and Rácalmás in Hungary. It is expected to jump to the world’s fifth biggest producer after factory start-ups in Liang Jiang, Chongqing province, China, and the Bekasi, Java, Indonesia, over the next few years.

Hankook Tyre Averts Hungary Strike with Pay Rise

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Elefsina, an industrial town on the outskirts of Athens, was the venue for the 38th Congress of ICEM – affiliated trade union, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries and Chemical Industry. ICEM Energy Officer, Jim Catterson represented the ICEM at the Congress which brought together several hundred delegates together with guests from the across the political spectrum of Greek political parties as well as international trade union guests from Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.greece-congress 2.jpg" width="252" height="189"/>
The world economic crisis and its effects on the Greek economy with the imposition by government of a severe austerity package was subject to extensive and lively debate, including the messages from both political and international guests who also discussed the RETUN-SEE network of Energy Unions, the future role of Greece as a transit country for gas and petroleum supplies to European Union countries as well as the changing economics and structures of European petroleum refining. 
 
The Congress elected a Presidium to guide the union’s work in the next Congress period. It will elect the President and other leading officials of the union at its first meeting. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.greece-congress-mar42011 154.jpg" width="365" height="141"/>
Prior to the Congress the union arranged a first meeting between ICEM and senior management of Hellenic Petroleum, a significant multinational involved in Petroleum refining and distribution throughout the Balkans, as well as exploration in both Macedonia and Egypt. Jim Catterson was able to describe ICEM priorities in the industry including Global Framework Agreements as well as discuss in general the challenges facing the industry, ranging from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to the present turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

Petroleum, Energy Workers of Greece Celebrate 38th Congress

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/en-header.jpg" width="160" height="49"/>
Industrial development in mining and manufacturing sectors will continue to be an essential part of economic development in Latin America, for both the economic giants of Brazil and Mexico and for the other countries in the region, such as Argentina, Peru, Chile and Venezuela. 
 
Despite improvements over the last decade, poverty and inequality continue to be a major feature across the region both within and between countries. Ensuring the benefits of industrial and economic development flow to working people requires a strong and united trade union movement across all sectors, including in mining and manufacturing. 
 
Commodities, particularly oil, silver, copper and iron ore, are generating a lot of wealth in the region and Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have led the way in also developing a significant manufacturing industry, particularly in automotive, petroleum and textiles, on the back of this wealth. 
 
At the national level, the organization of companies often sees workers linked through highly integrated supply chains from one sector to the next. For example, in the Maquiladoras of Mexico there is a concentration of textiles, electronics and automotive parts production where workers face similar challenges in organizing and securing a fair share in the profits of the companies. 
 
Solidarity between Mexico’s mine workers and automotive parts workers under the leadership of the Mexican Miners’ Union is creating opportunities for gaining freedom of association previously not achieved, as witnessed in the case of <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=23862&l=2">Johnson Controls in Puebla</a>. After a long struggle and with the support of the Mexican Miners’ Union, Johnson Controls workers at the Resurrección plant in Puebla were able to join a union of their choice and through this union reach an agreement at the plant. 
 
Meanwhile, in the Export Processing Zones of the Dominican Republic, textile and electronics workers live and work along-side each other facing many of the same problems and working conditions. Unions here have found that the same strategies are required to organize across both sectors. (See below Gertrudis Santana on cross-sector organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs.) 
 
In Brazil, more than three million workers are employed by mining and manufacturing companies in a very integrated cross-sectoral process. From mine sites to the production lines of airplanes, ships, and cars, workers are organized by mine, chemicals, textiles, and metal workers’ unions that fight together for better work conditions and benefits. 
 
For unions in Latin America and beyond, a strong international approach will also be required in tackling the transnational corporations that are emerging mostly from Brazil and Mexico in this region. Many of these “multilatinas,” such as Vale, Gerdau, Cemex, Grupo México, and Tenaris, have a notorious history of anti-union and poor labour relations, which is being exported by the companies as they expand regionally and globally.

Latin American Industrial Landscape Requires United Cross-sectoral Approach

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/en-header.jpg" width="160" height="49"/>
Organizing has always been a top priority of unions, requiring significant effort and resources to be successful. Particularly challenging is organizing workers in union hostile areas like Export Processing Zones (EPZs). 
 
The IMF affiliate in Dominican Republic, Federación Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros y Metalúrgicos (FENATRAMIM), through the Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de Zonas Francas (FENATRAZONAS), is specialized in organizing at EPZs, also known locally as Zonas Francas. 
 
When Gertrudis Santana, the national education secretary of FENATRAZONAS, first became active with her union, she was working at a shoe factory in one of the zonas francas of Dominican Republic. She became an organizer at the EPZ in San Pedro de Macoris. Soon Santana was responsible for organizing at other zonas francas, including both textile and electronics sectors. 
 
“Initially,” explains Santana, “in the EPZs of the Dominican Republic one could see only textile factories present. Later on production of electronic chips also moved in and the metal sector became present through the use of gold in cloth manufacturing.” 
 
Nowadays Santana does not organize workers directly; she is more involved in the political work within her union. As national secretary of education, she trains activists on issues of organizing. Her union constantly has to deal with challenges in organizing due to the problem of restricted access to workers. 
 
“The working conditions in EPZs these days have changed,” continues Santana. “Before workers used to have fixed working hours, now they are paid for finished product. Despite claims that this will result in higher earnings, in practice workers’ income has shrunk and working hours have increased.” 
 
From her experience Santana notes that in organizing at EPZs the organizing tactics and strategies in different industrial sectors are very similar as the conditions are often the same. However some of the sectors, like welding in metalworking, are notorious with health hazards, while in textiles it is much easier for an employer to change the location of an enterprise as in most cases the machines are rented. 
 
“Freedom of association is still a dream for us,” says Santana, giving the example of the EPZ in San Pedro de Macoris, which is the largest electronics industry area in the Dominican Republic. 
 
According to national legislation a union can be established with at least 25 workers. However the creation of a union is not the final goal, since these workers will achieve little at an enterprise employing thousands of workers. Instead the main goal is to form a union big enough to bargain collectively. The union’s current campaign, “Fuerte” (from Spanish “strong”), has organizers communicate with workers at factory gates, bus stops and also try to obtain their addresses in order to contact them at home and convince them to join the union. 
 
The results of this work are promising: nine collective agreements were concluded by FENATRAMIM in EPZs, and considering that 50% plus one rule is an obligation for the union to start collective bargaining, this is a very serious achievement.

Gertrudis Santana on Cross-sector Organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Upwards of a half million people marched through London on Saturday in a turnout that British trade unions said exceeded their highest predictions. The manifestation, heard around the world, was called “The March for the Alternative: Cuts are not the Cure” and was direct push-back to the deep, rapid, and unfair public sector cuts in the pipeline by the ruling UK Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition. 
 
Turnout for the march and rally at Hyde Park in London’s West End was so massive that the rear of the march had just left the Victoria Embankment staging area when the Hyde Park rally – five kilometres away – began. The front of the march left Victoria and passed by Parliament four hours earlier. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.london march for the alternative - mac urata.jpg" width="365" height="192"/>
photo: Mac Urata
Using the argument that fiscal austerity is needed to reduce UK’s financial deficit, the right-wing government led by David Cameron wants to cripple a social welfare system that will see cuts to people and curtailment of British services. And both will fall disproportionately on the poor and on the workers of Britain. 
 
Deep cuts to education, pensions, and Britain’s 62-year-old National Health Service (NHS) are being laid out on the Con-Dem chopping block. And Saturday’s manifestation – the biggest in London since 2003 and an anti-Iraq war protest – validated the fact that tens of thousands of teachers, doctors, nurses, police and prison guards, municipal council workers, joined by students, retirees, private-sector workers fiercely resist this agenda. 
 
The 26 March manifestation sponsored by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) was civil and peaceful. But the beat of drums, whistles, and chants of resistance made it clear that anger is real. Anger at the fact that for every £4 in spending cuts, there is a £1 tax hike and that mainly is a higher VAT; anger that 50,000 jobs will disappear when the NHS is cut; anger that the brutal cuts will cost 170,000 public-sector jobs. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.london prison union.jpg" width="265" height="189"/>
photo: John MacLennon
Instead of cuts, the “alternative” should be a crackdown on tax avoidance totalling £25 billion alone taken by City of London operators; initiating a Robin Hood tax on banks and financial institutions over their transactions; a stop to exorbitant executive bonuses; and a gradual, sensible, and sustainable deficit reduction plan based on jobs, growth, and tax justice. 
 
At the afternoon rally, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “We will fight these savage cuts and we will not let them destroy services, jobs, and lives. Today we are speaking for the people of Britain, and David Cameron, if you want to meet the Big Society, we’re here in Hyde Park.” 
 
Unite the Union General Secretary Len McCluskey called it the greatest demonstration in London in a generation, and said there is “palpable anger in the country. If the government was brave enough, it would tackle the tax avoidance that robs the British taxpayer.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.lennie london.jpg" width="133" height="150"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.leo gerrard london.jpg" width="105" height="160"/>
Unite's Len McCluskey, USW's Leo Gerard 
photos: John MacLennon
Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis, whose public-sector union chartered 500 coaches to get people to London, told the assembled at Hyde Park that he wants the Con-Dems “to feel the fear and anger of people who have come here today from every part of the UK to vent their frustration and to stand up for a fairer future.” 
 
Another speaker was USW President Leo Gerard of North America who drew the link between the purge of public services in the UK to what is happening in several US states. He said the real culprits are the greedy banks and corporations who pull the strings of politicians. 
 
“It is their reckless speculation that took down the world economy,” said Gerard, adding, The best way to rob a bank is to manage one. We will stand together, we will march together, and we will fight together to demand that our governments protect the rights of public employees and of all workers.”

500,000 Protest Con-Dem Coalition’s Public Sector Cuts in London

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM’s German affiliate, IGBCE, held yet another mass mobilisation on 24 March in Ludwigshafen, alongside BASF’s massive chemicals complex there. The purpose of the manifestations are to continue to buoy support among rank-and-file chemical workers for the union’s 7% wage demands in national bargaining with the chemical employers’ association, the BAVC. 
 
The second round of federal bargaining covering 550,000 workers in 1,900 companies is set for 30-31 March in Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia state. The first round of federal talks took place in Hanover on 15 March, with employers refusing to put forward an offer. 
 
In the fortnight since, IGBCE has deployed a “wage truck” and bus tour of activists to 12 chemical sites, reminding workers that they deserve good money for the hard work they’ve performed in pulling German chemical employers through the financial crisis. Some 30,000 IGBCE members in chemicals have turned out for the rallies thus far. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.TRUCK_IGBCE.jpg" width="240" height="134"/>
A rally also was held at the Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH plant near Mannheim on 24 March and after one on Friday, 25 March, at Boehringer-Ingelheim’s plant in Biberach, the manifestation tour continues today with mobilisations at Hoechst, Merck, and other companies in Frankfurt and in Darmstadt. 
 
The truck and caravan will make another stop tomorrow in Hanau, before culminating for a 30 March demonstration prior to the talks in Bad Honnef. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103. igbce Demo in Hannover.jpg" width="270" height="152"/>
IGBCE Demo in Hanover
“We expect a conclusion to come” in Bad Honnef, said IGBCE Governing Board member Peter Hausmann, who heads the union’s Collective Bargaining Department. “We expect employers to put a fair offer on the table,” something, he noted, that was absent in Hanover, or in the nine rounds of regional bargaining earlier this year. 
 
IGBCE is adamant that 7% over the next 12 months is fair compensation for workers who absorbed work-time cuts and other social curtailments to help chemical producers weather the economic crisis. The union said the industry has now overcome that crisis. With German production capacities at full levels and sales and profits gushing upward, the time for fairness and justice to the people who delivered this return to prosperity is this week in Bad Honnef.

IGBCE Mobilises for Second Federal Round of German Chemical Talks

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A thorough survey conducted by the global trade union network of AkzoNobel reveals key points inside the Dutch chemical company’s worldwide subsidiaries, particularly related to restructuring. The <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3883-ICEM-Affiliates-Move-to-Form-an-Akzo-Nobel-Workers’-Network" type="internal">AkzoNobel Workers’ Network</a> was created only ten months ago when ICEM affiliate FNV Bondgenoten hosted the inaugural meeting in Amsterdam. 
 
The survey saw response from nearly all workplace leaders and it shows important trends regarding use of temporary labour and contractors, labour-management communication levels, pay comparisons, and health and safety compliance. A full 96.5% of trade union leaders surveyed responded. 
 
Also, for example, responses show that in AkzoNobel’s worldwide facilities – most of which are under 500 workers – the core labour standards regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining are in question, with 17% of all workplaces not unionised. Sixty-three percent of respondents answered that overtime work is compulsory, while 63% again said one form or another of restructuring has taken place in their plants over the past three years. 
 
Regarding legal compliance with local or national regulations, AkzoNobel fares extremely well since 100% responding said the company complies with legal requirements, while the same number said AkzoNobel relies almost totally on legally-binding contracts. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/akzonobel[1].gif" width="235" height="56"/>
Ninety-six percent of the respondents stated that the specialty chemicals and paints and coatings company does abide by adequate health and safety regulations. 
 
Other results of the survey: 
 
• 75% of those responding say that the workforce in their facility is composed of between 1-25% temporary workers, while 18% said there are no temporary workers and 7% said that the composition is between 50-75%; 
• At 70% of the locations, there are regular meetings between trade union representatives and management; 
• A good majority of unions (81%) have contacts with other unions inside or outside of their home country; 
• 81% indicate that wages paid are in correlation to what is paid at respective national levels; 
• 81% also say their worksites offer training possibilities; 
• Regarding restructuring, in nearly all cases consultation took place between workers’ representatives and management; 
• And in the restructurings, in 59% of the cases, 1-25% of the workforce was affected and in 33% of restructurings no workers were affected; 
• And in 46% of AkzoNobel’s restructurings, there were no dismissals, while in 54% there were between 1-25% of workers at the site that lost their jobs. 
 
In other AkzoNobel worker news, the Latin American Trade Union Network, held in December 2010 São Paulo, Brazil, created a <a href="http://IWN.AN@groups.facebook.com">group Facebook page</a> called IWN-AN International Workers Network AkzoNobel. The page has an objective to ramp up communications, and post speedy opinions, documents, and other issues that participants wish to share. The facebook group is expected to obtain support for expanding the network via inputs from participants for future communications and discussion. For those wishing to participate, a Facebook account is necessary and then just to IWN-AN International Workers Network AkzoNobel. 
 
The global network’s next activity will be to attend and follow Akzo Nobel’s Annual General Meeting, to take place Wednesday, 27 April, at 14h00 in Amsterdam.

AkzoNobel Network Survey Reveals Pertinent Site-to-Site Facts

<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 approval of Global Fund Round 10 grants, on World Aids Day activities, and on HIV and AIDS targets.
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"/>
Global Fund Approves Round 10 Proposals 
 
The Global Fund Board has approved all 79 Round 10 proposals recommended by the Technical Review Panel (TRP), at a cost of US$1.73 billion over the first two years and US$4.72 billion over five years. This makes Round 10 the third largest round ever, after Rounds 8 and 9, respectively. These decisions were made at the Fund’s 22nd board meeting, held from 13-15 December in Sofia, Bulgaria. 
 
Unlike in previous rounds, the Fund did not have to delay approval of certain proposals pending further funding becoming available; sufficient funding will be available to cover all Round 10 proposals that the TRP recommended for approval. Also, the Board has not required that budgets be reduced. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Global%20Fund%20logo.gif" width="250" height="53"/>
The Board's decision as to which proposals to approve was, as always, entirely based on the advice it received from the TRP, an independent and non-political body of 43 experts from around the world. In total, the TRP reviewed 150 proposals, of which 78 were for HIV/AIDS, 48 for TB, and 24 for malaria. Malaria proposals were by far the most successful in Round 10, with 79% approved (as against 54% for TB proposals and 44% for HIV/AIDS). Over the last three rounds, malaria and TB proposal success rates have always been above 50%, but HIV/AIDS proposal success rates have always been below 50%. 
 
HIV proposals from the countries where the ICEM also has activities did not fare well: proposals from Botswana, DR Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mauritius, Mongolia, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe were rejected; most of these for repeated rounds. Only the HIV proposals from Guinea, South Africa, Zambia, and a smaller grant for Uganda were approved. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 135 of 16 December. 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"/>
World AIDS Day 2010 
 
ICEM affiliates all over the world organised or participated in activities on 1 December, World AIDS Day. 
 
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Oilfield Workers’ Trace Union (OWTU) organised an HIV/AIDS workshop in cooperation with the Humanity Fund of the Canadian affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union (see e-bulletin No. 63, December 2010). 
 
The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa focused on their own staff and organised a “Lights for Rights” commemoration at the union’s head office. Mary Nxumalo, National Gender and HIV Coordinator, spoke of a positive step in engaging trade union officials in dealing with the pandemic. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.wad%20logo.jpg" width="110" height="96"/>
The Canadian Automobile Workers (CAW) launched its new HIV/AIDS information manual entitled “HIV/AIDS: A Worker’s Issue, A Union Issue” on World AIDS Day. The booklet offers information on HIV/AIDS in Canada, prevention and transmission, model collective agreement language, and a wealth of other data. 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reports on activities of its affiliates in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Venezuela. In Namibia, the Namibian Transport and Allied Workers’ Union organised a trucker convoy which travelled through the capital Windhoek, distributing male and female condoms and leaflets. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Commentary by the Editor: 
Does the World Need More HIV and AIDS Targets? 
 
“UNAIDS in 2011 – Getting to Zero,” says the feature story on the UNAIDS website which introduces the new UNAIDS strategy 2011-2015 adopted by the Programme Committee Board in December 2010. The strategy aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, support, and care and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015. 
 
Sounds familiar? Well, yes, 2010 just closed without having reached universal access – a commitment from the G8 summit in 2005. And a few years ago the WHO “3 by 5” initiative to provide three million people with antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005 barely reached more than half of the target. 
 
Have such ambitious targets positively affected global HIV/AIDS efforts? Two views on targets are current. “People need targets,” says Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS head in eastern and southern Africa. “Aim for the sky and you’ll reach somewhere. Had countries been given lower targets, chances are they would only have realised half of that.”
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.unaids.jpg" width="218" height="109" alt=""/>
However, Alan Whiteside, executive director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at the University of KwaZulu-Natal says “unreachable targets are demoralising and unfair to health workers expected to meet them with often inadequate resources.” 
 
A closer look at the details of targets also reveals that “universal” and “zero” do not necessarily mean what is commonly understood by it. The G8 universal access to treatment target was achieving “as close as possible to universal access to treatment of all who need it by 2010.” As close is possible was often defined as 80%. 
 
And do not be deceived by the fancy zero in the UNAIDS “Getting to Zero” logo. The goal for 2015 is: sexual transmission of HIV reduced by half. Universal access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV who are eligible for treatment is also to be achieved by 2015. But that was already the target for the year that just ended. 
 
We may need targets but we must not forget that the people who are held responsible for missing them are not the people who rolled them out, but the people on the ground charged with implementing them. And we must also consider that sometimes the goal posts shift and targets become more distant, as was the case when the WHO raised the recommended threshold for starting treatment form a CD4 count of 200 to one of 350. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 1 December 2010; circular World AIDS Campaign of 13 December and feature story UNAIDS, 30 December)
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Drug Kit Helps Mothers to Protect Babies 
 
Close to 400,000 African babies are infected with HIV every year, in pregnancy, during birth, and through breastfeeding. The situation points back to the high HIV prevalence among women of reproductive age. Zambia, where some 85,000 women in the age group 15 to 40 are HIV positive, is one of the countries recognised for making progress in addressing the problem. 
 
The introduction of a new drugs kit called Mother-Baby Pack is expected to further reduce transmission. The kit is a pre-packaged set of medicines including maternal and baby prophylactic anti-retroviral medicines in line with WHO Guidelines. 
 
(Sources: IPS, Lusaka, 30 November) 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Indonesia: Dramatic Increase in New HIV Infections in Bali 
 
Bali's dramatic increase of HIV prevalence among sex workers has changed the face of the epidemic on this famed tourist destination of 3.9 million local residents. In 2010, 25.9% of Bali’s 3,945 sex workers were living with HIV, up from 1.6% in 2000, according to the provincial health department. The HIV prevalence rate among sex workers nationwide in 2007 was 10.4%. 
 
The virus is taking hold of the general population in Bali as some 100,000 clients engage with commercial sex workers, of whom more than half do not consistently use a condom, and then go home to their regular partners. 
 
A decade ago, Bali's HIV problem – as was the entire country’s – was concentrated among intravenous drug users (IDUs). HIV in heterosexual men and women began its steady upward climb in 2005 in Bali, as the number of new infections of IDUs living with HIV steadily declined. Needle exchange programmes as part of an overall “harm reduction” initiative targeting drug users since 2007 helped to bring down new drug-related infections. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Denpasar, 3 January 2011)
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Ethiopia: 5-Year Plan to Half New HIV Infections 
 
Ethiopia's government has come up with an ambitious plan to halve new HIV infections, quadruple its annual condom distribution and put 85% of people who need life-prolonging HIV medication on treatment within five years. 
 
An estimated 1.2 million Ethiopians are HIV-positive. According to the government, the country's national prevalence is 2.4%, with stark differences between urban HIV prevalence, which stands at about 7.7% and rural levels of under one percent. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ethiopia.png" width="180" height="83" alt=""/>
According to UNAIDS, Ethiopia has already managed to bring down new HIV infections by over 25% since 2001. The country's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) says prevalence among young people is dropping even more; in the capital it was halved. 
 
While this progress is impressive, stigma and ignorance are still common among young people. According to a recent study, a considerable percentage of young people had never heard of condoms or had no exposure to them. One third of young people aged 12-24 felt that moral people do not use condoms; 48% of young people felt that condoms should not be used within marriage; and roughly half felt that condoms are used by promiscuous people. 
 
According to the five-year plan, the government also plans to increase the coverage of antiretroviral therapy from 60 to 85%. Close to 400,000 Ethiopians require treatment for HIV. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 23 December 2010) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 97 of 1 to 15 December, reports on World AIDS Day activities of its affiliates (see article on WAD above). 
 
The ITF also published an HIV/AIDS survey in the civil aviation sector in order to improve understanding of the impact of HIV and AIDS in the aviation industry.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/ITF.jpg" width="80" height="80" alt=""/>    <img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/BWI New.jpg" width="90" height="81" alt=""/>
The Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI – <a href="http://www.bwint.org">www.bwint.org</a>) reports on in its work with loggers in Guyana. Guyana, a country of around 750,000, has an HIV prevalence of 2.5% in the age group 15 to 49. Thanks to the cooperation with the ILO and the support from the workplace programme of the US Department of Labor, HIV/AIDS workplace education and prevention programmes are now reaching even the most remote areas of the country, such as logging sites. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Five Years Ago: From the January 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 January 2006 issue of the e-bulletin, we reported on the long overdue commitment by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to ensure continued funding for treatment-based grants when they are denied Phase 2 funding, or they are approaching the end of their term. (Global Fund grants are approved for five years but can be suspended on the basis of a review after two years). Concern had earlier been raised over the fate of the people on treatment when a grant is suspended. 
 
The situation in South Africa, at the time, was characterised by denial at the highest level of government. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joined activist group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to push for a new approach to AIDS. In a joint statement with TAC and the South African Council of Churches, COSATU said, “We lament the continued refusal of our national government to declare the seriousness of the epidemic and to mobilise a response on the scale that is needed.” The new campaign, which was launched on World AIDS Day 2005, was designed to more deeply involve unions, employers, and churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organisations demanded that by the end of 2006, at least 200,000 AIDS patients were enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment (the figure at the end of 2005 was 70,000). By the end of 2009, nearly one million were on ART; yet, according to UNAIDS, that is still only 37% of those needing drugs. 
<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. 64, January 2011

Archive