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<img height="39" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100"/>
Among the scores of new affiliates to join the ICEM at the turn of the year, one from Cyprus is particularly grateful due to the fact that the ICEM website now includes Turkish-language features. It is the Union of Turkish Electricity Institution Employees (EL-SEN).
The union, founded in 1957, represents workers of the Turkish Electricity Institution, and it is headed by President Caglayan Cesurer and General Secretary Ercan Köseoglu. It has several hundred members and it also affiliated to the Cypress-Turkish Trade Union Federation (TÜRK-SEN). 
<img height="92" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Cyprus.png" width="200"/>
The ICEM welcomes EL-SEN to its family of affiliates, and wishes the union and its members many years of Turkish-language reading, courtesy of the ICEM website.

Cypriot Electrical Union Takes to Turkish-language ICEM Website

Global Fund Calls for Round 8 Proposals 

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its Eighth Call for Proposals. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
 
Proposals have to reach the Global Fund by 1 July 2008. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 1 July 2008 will be reviewed by the Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations on the basis of which the Global Fund Board will decide.
<img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
How does the Global Fund work? 
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002, and up to December 2007, the Global Fund has approved grants with a total commitment of US$14.5 billion, more than half of it targeted for HIV/AIDS projects. 
 
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it, and proves it – the Global Fund is performance based. 
 
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector, and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
<img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
How can unions get involved? 
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is recognised. The workplace is an important entry point for HIV/AIDS services and no workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, the Global Unions, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the WHO, and UNAIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is supportive of public/private partnerships, or co-investment arrangements. Without the involvement of the private sector universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), it is not possible to qualify, or projects will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions, as the workers’ representatives. For the first time, the Guidelines for Round 8 proposals mention unions under eligible organisations of the private sector. 
 
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. Unions must tend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs. 
 
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term, it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM. 
 
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances – Creating Knowledge – Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. A lot of USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably of Nordic countries, The Netherlands, the UK, and the European Union may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme, ILOAIDS, has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices. 
 
The most significant new feature in Round 8 is that the Global Fund is recommending that applicants specify one (or more) Principal Recipients (PRs) from the government sector and one (or more) from the various non-government sectors, including the private sector which includes unions (dual-track financing).
<img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
What are your next steps? 
• Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget. 
• Get to know the members of your country’s CCM and lobby those potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 8 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
• Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS, and WHO offices in your country. 
• Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility. 
• Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA. 
• Access the website <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> on which a guide to Round 8 applications is available.
<img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
How can the ICEM help? 
The ICEM Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and inquiries to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. The ICEM has Global Agreements with 13 multinational companies. These companies should be engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
Above all 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>Start today if you want to do something. </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Remember that the private sector includes business and unions as the workers’ representatives. </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance. </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a> for further information and help. </div>
 </li>
</ul>

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin: Special Issue, 20 March 2008

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Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month, leaders of five energy unions – comprising the ICEM’s Caspian Sea Energy Union Network – drafted and issued the nine-point “Declaration on Social Standards for Workers of MNCs Operating in the Caspian Region.” 
 
ICEM-affiliated energy unions from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan took part. The meetings also had the active involvement of Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Siftung, with Azerbaijan Country Director Rashad Huseynli participating. 
 
The declaration was the natural outgrowth of efforts by the host union, the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union of Azerbaijan (OGWUA), to bring trade union rights and better social benefits to workers of contracting firms in the Caspian’s oil and gas development areas.
<img height="225" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0810BakuCaspConf2.jpg" width="300" alt=""/>
 Delegates to the ICEM's Caspian Sea Energy Union Network 

The two-day conference was led by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and ICEM Energy Sector Chairman Lars Myhre, the Norwegian Industri Energi trade union leader who played a key role with OGWUA President Jahangir Aliyev in organising the first of the Caspian Sea contract workers through a strike against McDermott International in 2005. 
 
The declaration pledges to defend the civil, social, and economic rights of energy workers in the region. It states, using “multilateral and bilateral discussions, our resolve (is) to defend through our consolidated activities” the nine civil, social, and economic rights inherent in all work.
<img height="173" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0810BakuCaspConf3.jpg" width="230" alt=""/>
Signing of the Declaration, at left ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda; right, seated: ROGWU's Lev Mironov
Those nine include: a “guaranteed right of workers to organise as the key component of human rights in the sphere of work”; decent remuneration and promotion of job opportunities for people in the countries where the MNCs operate; gender, race, and youth equality, with “non-acceptance of all manifestations of discrimination at work.” 
 
Also, to resist the employment practices of temporary and seasonal work; to promote uniform qualification requirements by MNCs; promote best practice health, safety, and ergonomic policies; adhere to national labour law observances; full compliance with ILO core labour standards, and the OECD Guidelines for MNCs; and to seek Global Framework Agreements with MNCs “as a tool to guarantee uniform social and economic standards, and civil rights for workers of the Caspian Region.” 
 
Besides the ICEM and OGWUA’s Alyiyev signing the Declaration, it was also signed by Tlekkabyl Kabdulov, President, the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union of Kazakhstan; Lev Mironov, President, the Russian Oil and Gas Workers’ Union; and Mustafa Oztaskin, General Secretary of Turkey’s Petrol-Iş.

ICEM’s Caspian Energy Network Formulates Work Rights Declarations

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The second meeting of the Brazilian National Network of Unions representing Belgian chemicals and pharmaceutical company Solvay was held from 9-11 June in São Paulo, Brazil. The network was created in September 2007 when Brazilian trade unions at nine worksites gathered to create coordination and solidarity. 
 
Chaired by ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President Sérgio Novais, the network is coordinated by Juvenil Nunes da Costa from the ABC Regional Chemical Workers’ Union of Brazil. With support from the Brazilian national labour centre CUT, the National Confederation of Chemical Workers’ of Brazil (CNQ-CUT), as well as from the ICEM, the meeting also had the full solidarity from Belgian union Centrale Générale and the European Works Council (EWC) of Solvay.
<img height="233" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0807SolvayBrazil.jpg" width="350" alt=""/>
The EWC sent a solidarity message and a detailed presentation, explaining composition and activities of Solvay’s structure. 
 
Along with the global economic situation of the company, participants gave reports from the nine Brazilian plants. Enhancing integration and solidarity of Solvay’s workers, complying with the major ILO Conventions regarding trade union rights, combating all forms of discrimination, protecting workers’ health and safety, and maintaining the fight against outsourcing were defined as important principles for the network’s activities. 
 
Delegates also decided to seek all opportunities for social dialogue with the company, to increase global solidarity with trade unions throughout the world, and to enter into deeper relations with the EWC. 
 
The Solvay Brazilian Network published a first edition of a newsletter following last September’s meeting, and will do another one shortly to inform all Brazilian Solvay workers of its activities. 
 
Another network meeting has been scheduled for December 2008, again in São Paulo.

Brazilian Solvay Chemicals Network Organises Second Meeting

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Thousands of oil and gas workers held a rally on Thursday, 19 November, in continuation of strong protests against the decision to privatize the Qadirpur gas fields. The company, Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd., will lose huge assets to foreign investors. The government is expecting to receive between US$3 and US$4 billion, whereas many commentators value the assets at more than US$12 billion.
The most recent rally was led by the OGDCL Labour Union President, Chaudry Mohammad Akram. “The Qadirpur gas field is a profit-earning entity, making over US$182 million for the state each year, and its privatization will hurt the national interest,” he said. 
 
Hundreds of workers in the Dhodhak oil fields staged a demonstration and blocked the Taunsa Sharif-Dera Ismail Khan road for four hours, while dozens of OGDCL workers from the Qadirpur fields staged hunger strikes, demanding that the government reverse the decision. 

<img height="140" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/pakistan.ogdcl.jpg" width="140"/>
“President Asif Ali Zardari should act upon the mission and policies of Ali Bhutto instead of following the policies of IMF-World Bank and the United States,” said Badshah Khan Qaiserani, a manager at the Dhodhak oil and gas fields. 
 
Leader of the opposition political party JI, Liaqat Baloch, assured the demonstrators that political parties would support their cause. “We will launch a massive countrywide political move if government fails to withdraw its privatization decision.” 
 
The Pakistan Muslim League-N has also strongly opposed the move to privatize. Information Secretary, Ahsan Iqbal, described the Qadirpur gas fields as “the spinal cord of the Pakistan economy. The country is already facing an energy crisis, this would further worsen the situation.” 
 
Elsewhere in Pakistan, workers from WAPDA Hydro Electric Central Labour Union held a rally, demonstrating against recent price hikes, unemployment and lawlessness.

Workers in Pakistan Unite Against Oil, Gas Privatisation

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The last big pulp and paper employer in Canada’s Western region agreed to the pattern labour agreement, as set by ICEM North American affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union. Some 2,000 workers of Catalyst Paper, the continent’s second largest newsprint producer, are expected to agree to terms shortly in balloting at four worksites. 
 
That gives some 12,000 paperworkers in Canada’s industry-battered West renewal labour agreements. The CEP still has to negotiate with some smaller pulp and paper employers in the West. The pattern was set when the region’s largest pulp and papermaker – employment wise – Canfor Pulp Ltd. came to terms for total 10% wage increases over the four-year term of the pattern in early July. 

<img height="109" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0810PaperRollArt.jpg" width="180"/>
That was followed by agreement at multiple mills by Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, Domtar Corp., Kruger Products, and West Fraser Timber Co. The pattern accord also contains significant benefit increases, craft trades allowances, and job security provisions, including good severance packages. 
 
“During the tough economic times we are facing, maintaining this pattern across the Canadian West is an important victory,” said CEP president Dave Coles. 
 
The CEP covers seven branch unions at Catalyst’s four mill sites, Crofton, Powell River, Campbell River, and Port Alberni, all in the province of British Colombia. The agreement for pulp and paper firms operating in the West expired on 1 April 2008. A separate agreement covering 20,000 workers in Canada’s East region expires on 1 April 2009.

Last Major Pact in Place for Western Canadian Paperworkers

<img height="85" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="60"/>
In this issue, we report on World AIDS Day, the sub-regional HIV/AIDS workshop in Windhoek and the Global Fund grant approvals for Round 8. 
 
This e-bulletin is also available on the ICEM Website <a href="/index.php?id=72&doc=2912" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already 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. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator 
 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
1 December 2008 is the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day. To mark the day, the ICEM issued a campaign leaflet which was distributed to all affiliates. The role of trade unions is critical in the struggle against the pandemic. Unions demonstrate leadership by advocating testing and prevention methods at the workplace, in homes and communities. 
 
“The fight to eliminate the scourge of the pandemic is far from finished and more must be done”, said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We are proud to recognise the 20th Anniversary of 1 December, but even prouder to mark this day with commitment to wage this fight until the disease is gone.” 
 
Germany’s ICEM affiliate IG BCE held information meetings and raised additional funds for an HIV and AIDS project in Tanzania in cooperation with the mining and industry affiliates there. 
 
On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Global Union AIDS Programme issued a press statement appealing to governments, the international community and other actors to make Universal Access for HIV/AIDS services an urgent priority for the next two years, to reach the 2010 target. 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation ITF continued its efforts and published Campaign Guidelines for the planning and implementation of World AIDS Day activities by its affiliates. At the ILO, the Sector department and ILOAIDS together with the ITF and the employers’ organisation IRU were holding a training course for managers and workers in the transport sector based on a new toolkit. Education International has targeted teachers in its “One Hour on AIDS” campaign at schools. 
 
The World AIDS Campaign supports, strengthens and connects campaigns that hold leaders accountable for their promises on HIV and AIDS. “Stop AIDS – Keep the Promise” is the slogan for the campaign to 2010. “Lead – Empower – Deliver” is the theme for 2008. 
 
UNAIDS, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, published a new report, AIDS Outlook 2009, which calls on countries to realign HIV prevention programmes through understanding how the most recent HIV infections were transmitted. Even though the number of new infections has fallen in several countries, there are five new HIV infections for every two people put on treatment. An estimated 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide; 2.7 million people were newly infected and 2 million died of AIDS in 2007. The report can be downloaded at <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>. 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
ICEM Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Review Workshop in Windhoek 
 
Unionists from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia came together in Windhoek, Namibia from 24 to 26 November, for a sub-regional workshop to review progress in their HIV/AIDS work. Working groups dealt with constraints in their HIV/AIDS work and possible solutions; considered new proposals; discussed the role of women and young workers and argued in favour of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in all union activities; and explored the idea of making HIV/AIDS an organising tool for unions. 
 
Above all, participants discussed future sustainability in view of the expiry of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project. While funding from employers and national and international organisations, and cooperation with NGOs and faith-based organisations are all important, commitment by union leadership is crucial in the fight against the pandemic. Unions should also develop technical competence in proposal writing and project management. 
 
Presentations on HIV/AIDS workplace policies, the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and collective bargaining for HIV/AIDS were made by representatives of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia, the ILO/GTZ project and NUM of South African. The AIDS Law Clinic in Windhoek dealt with special challenges facing women and youth. 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
Women in Namibia Call for Efforts to Improve Sexual Rights 
 
A group of women in Namibia recently called for efforts to improve their sexual rights in an attempt to curb the spread of HIV in the country. A workshop, organised by the group Sister Namibia, examined sexual rights, culture and HIV/AIDS. 
 
“Everyone talks about the need to change behaviour to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, but there is hardly any discussion on the need to change harmful sexual cultural practices that are often the drivers of the disease”, said Sister Namibia Director Liz Frank. Women are not able to make choices about sex. They do not have the power to negotiate condom use. 
 
(Source: Medical News Today, 7 October from <a href="http://www.kaisernetwork.org">www.kaisernetwork.org</a>) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
Global Fund Approves Round 8 Grants 
 
The Global Fund Board approved 94 Round 8 grants that will cost up to USD 2.753 billion over the first two years and USD 5.840 billion over five years – a record amount. The decision was made at the Fund’s 18th Board Meeting, held in Delhi, India. 
 
The Board decision was rendered particularly difficult because the unusually large average size of the proposals meant that there was not enough money to pay the full cost of the proposals recommended for approval by the Technical Review Panel (TRP). After extensive negotiation, the Board handled this by calling for various budget cuts, and by delaying by six months the date at which Round 9 grants will be approved. 
 
Some of the highlights of Round 8 approvals were as follows: 
 
Ninety-four Round 8 proposals were approved, with a total two-year requested amount of USD 3.1 billion, up from USD 1.1 billion in Round 7, the previous largest round. The average Round 8 approved proposal has a two-year requested amount of USD 33 million, up from USD 15 million in Round 7. 
54% of eligible proposals submitted in Round 8 were approved, up from 49% in Round 7, the previous highest percentage. Malaria proposals in Round 8 were particularly successful. 68% of them were approved. Although HIV/AIDS proposals in Round 8 were less successful than were malaria proposals, they were still significantly more successful than they had been in any previous round. The percentage of HIV/AIDS proposals that were approved in Rounds 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively was 38%, 39%, 41% and 49%. 
 
Regarding Round 9, the Board decided to extend the date by which applications must be submitted from 21 January 2009 to 31 May 2009, and to make final grant approvals for these proposals at the November 2009 board meeting rather than the May 2009 board meeting. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, GFO, Issue 98, 9 November 2008. The GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>, a Kenya-based NGO that serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund. To receive the GFO send an email to receive-gfo-<a href="mailto:newsletter@aidspan.org">newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
Global Fund Adopts New Gender Equality Strategy 
 
At its meeting last month, the Global Fund Board adopted a new Gender Equality Strategy, the full title of which is “The Global Fund’s Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equality in the Response to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.” The strategy is available under “Addendum to Report of PSC: The Gender Equality Strategy” <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/eighteenth/documents">here</a>. 
 
The strategy says that the Global Fund will champion and fund proposals that: scale up services and interventions that reduce gender-related risks and vulnerabilities to infection; decrease the burden of disease for those most at risk; mitigate the impact of the three diseases and address structural inequalities and discrimination. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, GFO, Issue 100, 3 December 2008). 
<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
South Africa: Miners Face Huge HIV/Aids Challenge 
 
By virtue of the physical nature of their jobs, South African miners receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS are vulnerable to discrimination when they are not at peak performance, because of the drugs' side effects. 
This is one of the challenges that workers in the mining sector have to deal with, as HIV/AIDS rips through the industry. It is estimated that about 16%-30% of mineworkers are infected with HIV/AIDS. Experts also say stigmatisation and discrimination are common in many mines. 
It is difficult at the moment to determine the exact HIV/AIDS prevalence figures because the majority of the workers were resistant to participating in HIV voluntary testing programmes. Among those who have tested HIV positive, there is a low uptake of antiretroviral treatment (ART) as most workers are afraid of being subjected to discrimination by managers and supervisors. 
Mineworkers were most vulnerable because of the apartheid-inherited migration labour system through which workers spend many months away from their families. They remained the most affected group. The single-sex hostel systems still exist in many mining companies. These hostels mean that miners cannot be with their partners. 
Eric Gcilitshana, National Union of Mineworkers health and safety secretary, says 60% of mineworkers are still living in same-sex hostels. "We are saying the hostel system must be abolished and be replaced by family units, where workers will live with their families," he said. The union is engaging with mining companies on the victimisation of infected workers and treatment available to them. These remained some of the biggest challenges towards the ultimate emancipation of mineworkers. 
 
(Source: Business Day, South Africa, 11 November) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
India Loses out on 100m Euros Funding to Combat Diseases 
 
India's fight against the world's three most devastating diseases - AIDS, TB and malaria - has received a serious setback, with the country losing out funding worth over USD 100 million for two years from the Global Fund for its programmes to combat these deadly scourges. 
 
The bad news for India came in the middle of the annual board meeting of the Fund, held in Delhi. The Board rejected Indian proposal for its anti-malaria programmes, the proposals on TB and on HIV/AIDS. The rejection means India has lost out on funds worth USD 255 million for the next five years. The country can, however, re-submit the proposals again next year for Round 9. At the moment, India is the largest recipient of Global Fund grants in Asia with grants worth USD 490 million and based on performance of existing grants will get another USD 250 million to total USD 740 million. 
 
In India, one million people are receiving antiretroviral treatment, 400,000 people have got anti-malaria treatment and 375,000 have got DOTs treatment for TB with Global Fund money. The ongoing programmes will not be affected by the setback India got at this year's funding meeting. 
 
(Source: Times of India, 10 November) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
Botswana: HIV Practice Code Released 
 
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has released a National Code of Good Practice with emphasis on HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The Code’s primary objective with respect to HIV/AIDS is to provide guidelines for employers and trade unions on how to manage HIV/AIDS in the workplace. 
 
The Code includes the following principles: creating a safe working environment, developing procedures to manage occupational incidents and claims for compensation, introducing measures to prevent the spread of HIV, developing strategies to assess and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS and supporting those individuals who are infected or affected. 
 
(Source: Mmegi/The Reporter, Gaborone, 16 October) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
Infections Going up in Switzerland 
 
Although small in comparison to other countries, new HIV infections have been going up in Switzerland since 2005 to reach an estimated 800 in 2008. The increase affects to a great majority men, heterosexual as well as homosexual. Whereas a few years ago new infections among men and women were almost equal, in 2008 73% of the newly infected were men. 
 
In another development, the national NGO Aids-Hilfe Schweiz condemned new criteria of the Swiss army which declare HIV-positive soldiers who undergo ARV treatment unfit for active service. It called on the Department of Defence to revise these rules. 
 
(Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 28 October and 12 November) 
 

<img height="71" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="50"/>
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
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. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window “Translate a Web page“: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&doc=2912" type="internal">/index.php?id=72&doc=2782 </a> 
 
Or click directly on the links below: 
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Cette traduction est faite automatiquement par un logiciel internet gratuit. L’ICEM n’assume aucune responsabilité à cet égard. Elle est approximative, mais peut néanmoins vous donner une idée générale du contenu de l’article. 
 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 39 December 2008

<img height="39" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100"/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda compared the labour repression of the Mexican government to that of the regimes in Burma and Zimbabwe. This follows the recent arrests of two union officials and the seizure of the union’s bank assets. 
 
The targeted National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) is fighting to retain its democratic integrity as a trade union in Mexico. 
 
The recent arrests were clearly carried out on the request of Grupo México and other employers. The ICEM points to reports that arrests of other trade unionists are imminent. The letter can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0812.President%20Calderon.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.
<img height="157" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Mexico.png" width="340"/>
The two union leaders, Carlos Pavon Campos, SNTMMSRM’s secretary of Political Affairs, and Juan Linares Montufar, president of the union’s General Council of Oversight and Justice, are accused of stealing funds awarded the union after the privatization of Grupo México’s Cananea copper mine, according to Mexico’s top prosecutor. Mexican miners at numerous sites laid down their tools in protest against the arrests, including Fresnillo, Madero, and Sabinas worksites, demanding the immediate release of the two. 
 
The illegal arrest of Juan Linares was carried out at his home on 3 December, with a heavy presence of federal and state forces. The equally arbitrary and illegal arrest of Carlos Campos came the following day, with Campos being taken to the Camarones detention centre. 
 
These repressive actions of the Mexican government continue a worrying trend of the last three years, which has seen SNTMMSRM’s General Secretary Napoleon Gomez Urretia twice removed from office, and other union officials charged falsely, with several of those charges dismissed in court rooms.

ICEM Condemns Union Repression by Mexican Government

The 13-month lockout by Petro-Canada of 260 refinery workers in Montréal, Quebec, likely will end tomorrow when unionized members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Local 175 vote on a new collective agreement. 
 
Since 2 December, the union and management of Canada’s second largest oil company have been engaged in private mediation with Special Mediator Lucien Bouchard, who served as Premier of Quebec Province in Canada from 119 to 2001. That mediation apparently has paid off. The two sides agreed to a tentative agreement late last week. 
 
CEP Local 175 will ballot members tomorrow evening, 23 December. 
 
The union is not releasing terms of the proposed contract until members vote on it, but CEP Local 175 is recommending the proposal for acceptance to membership. CEP Representative Daniel Cloutier said the union’s bargaining committee “is glad to submit the proposal to the membership,” and he predicted it would be accepted. 
 
Petro-Canada locked out workers at the 130,000 barrels-per-day refinery on 17 November 2007. The company was attempting to break from the collective bargaining pattern of the CEP’s National Energy and Chemical Bargaining Programme, ironically negotiated first between the union and Petro-Canada at an oil refinery in Edmonton, Alberta, in spring 2007.

Likely End to Petro-Canada Lockout to Come Tomorrow

Calling it a “complete and total victory,” ICEM Vice President and Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union President Dave Coles said today that CEP Local 175 ratified a three-year labour agreement yesterday with Petro-Canada, ending a 57-week lockout at a refinery in the Canadian province of Quebec. 
 
“The pattern agreement for the CEP’s National Energy Bargaining Programme has been achieved, the employer has recognized this programme, and we can now truly call this a major victory for both the international and national labour movements,” said Coles. 
 
The 260 members of CEP Local 175 at the Montréal refinery voted on 23 December by 94.6% to approve the retroactive contract.
<img height="266" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0801Canada2.jpg" width="200" alt=""/>
CEP Local 175 Members Were Solid in Their Resolve to Achieve the Canadian Oil and Gas Pattern Agreement 
Coles said the mediated settlement contains a commitment by both sides to undertake measures to improve the labour relationship between CEP and Petro-Canada at all locations across the country. The two sides began private mediation early in December with Special Mediator Lucien Bouchard, Premier of Quebec from 1996 to 2001, in efforts to resolve the lockout, which began on 17 November 2007. 
 
The mediated settlement preserves the pattern labour agreement in Canada’s oil, gas, and petrochemicals industry, thus granting Local 175 members a basket-full of wage and benefit improvements at year end 2008. 
 
They will receive a retroactive pay increase of 5% dating to 1 February 2007, with further increases of 4.5% in 2008, and 4.5% on 1 February 2009. In addition, each worker will receive a C$4,000 bonus, an accrued holiday or vacation payment averaging C$6,000, and a 2007 profit-sharing payment of C$3,800. 
 
Petro-Canada dropped a demand to eliminate the refinery’s health and safety prevention officer; its proposal to accelerate a training programme that would place safety at greater risk; and backed away from plans to alter shift schedules and job assignments.
<img height="160" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/0705CEPDaveColes.jpg" width="140" alt=""/>
 CEP President Dave Coles 
 

The settlement provides for an automatic extension of the collective agreement when it expires on 1 February 2010 based on the CEP’s National Energy Bargaining agreement with the company at its Edmonton, Alberta, refinery. 
 
Coles credits the start of a nationwide boycott against Petro-Canada’s retail products, as well as vast support both from CEP members, and from union members throughout the world, with bringing the company to terms of the pattern agreement. 
 
“It was clear that the world’s trade unions were pulling in behind our courageous members of Local 175,” said Coles. “We had international support from energy unions around the globe organized by our international federation, ICEM. There is no doubt that this outcome owes much to this watershed of labour solidarity that was organized in support of our members.” 
 
The other message, Coles said, is that boycotts work. “Canadians from all trade unions had begun executing a flawless boycott, and the company took notice.”
<img height="263" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0803PETROCANADA2.jpg" width="350" alt=""/>
ICEM's Manfred Warda, left, in Ottawa with CEP members 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, who had walked the picket line at the Montréal refinery, as well as protested at company petrol stations in Ottawa, extended the Global Union Federation’s congratulations to the CEP and Local 175. 
 
“This is a tremendous victory. The perseverance and resolve of the 260 refinery workers to protect 40 years of pattern bargaining – backed by CEP members across Canada – is an inspiration to us all,” stated Warda. “This will be acclaimed by energy trade unions across the world.” 
 
The back to work agreement calls for CEP Local 175 members to return to their jobs and begin ramping up production to the refinery’s 130,000 barrel-per-day capacity on 12 January 2009. The CEP agreed to drop all legal charges and complaints arising from the dispute.

CEP’s Montréal Refinery Workers Victory ‘Total and Complete,’ Lockout Ends

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