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The second issue of the ICEM e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS is here. At the beginning of this issue we would like to draw your attention to the new ICEM website <a href="http://www.icem.org" type="internal">www.icem.org</a>. Visit the website and click on HIV/AIDS. You will find the latest articles from ICEM sources. Links lead you to important HIV/AIDS sites of intergovernmental organisations and other Global Union Federations. 
You can also find useful materials such as the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work or the HIV/AIDS Mining Tool Kit produced by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, as well as the Annual Report of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the statistical updates on the pandemic published by UNAIDS. 
To introduce the subject of HIV/AIDS and the workplace, the ICEM has developed Power Point Presentations, which can be accessed through the website. There are versions for the regions Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Latin America as well as a global generic version. Download and use them for your own awareness and prevention activities. 
 
We reiterate our call from the first issue of the e-bulletin. To spread the information on new agreements and campaigns and to build on best practices, 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. 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an e-mail 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://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a> or <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=1479 " type="internal">www.icem.org/index.php?id=72&doc=1479 </a> 
 
 
ICEM-JAF Asia and Pacific Seminar Focuses on HIV/AIDS 
 
The Asia and Pacific Seminar held in Tokyo on 27 October in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of ICEM-JAF, the coordinating body of ICEM affiliates in Japan, focussed on HIV/AIDS and the workplace. In his opening address, Kiyoshi Ochiai, the Chairperson of ICEM-JAF and the ICEM Asia and Pacific Region, stressed the increasing relevance of the topic for the region and the need for increasing workplace activities by unions.
After an introduction by ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, the Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator, Hans Schwass, gave a power point presentation and facilitated the session, which included country reports and presentations by Japanese organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), such as PEOPLE Tokyo (Positive Living and Community Empowerment), the NGO-TU Forum on PLWHA collaboration and JaNP+ (Japanese Network of PLWHA). 
 
Trade union leaders from 14 countries and a large number of Japanese participants responded well to the message to intensify work on HIV/AIDS in the workplace and to increase awareness and prevention campaigns. The very timely seminar laid the foundation for the expansion of ICEM’s work in the Asia and Pacific region. 
 
 
New Lafarge Global Agreement Contains HIV/AIDS Clause 
 
The ICEM jointly with the IFBWW, the Global Union Federation for building and woodworkers, signed its twelfth global agreement with a multinational company. 
The agreement with the French-based building materials manufacturer Lafarge on corporate social responsibility and international industrial relations cites the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, the United Nation’s Global Compact and the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. It contains a clause on HIV/AIDS committing the signatories to raise awareness and initiate prevention programmes in compliance with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
 
WHO/Global Union Meeting Welcomes Universal Access 
 
In a historic first meeting in Geneva on 6 and 7 October, WHO/AIDS representatives from field offices in Africa and from the Head Office and trade union leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries together with representatives from Global Unions discussed the unions’ support for expanded access to treatment. Although the 3x5 Initiative had brought treatment to one million people by June 2005, the goal of the Initiative of three million by the end of 2005 will not be reached. 
The WHO recognises the role unions can play in scaling up treatment and achieving universal access. Meetings are planned at national levels in the six countries to develop sustaining partnerships between trade unions, WHO/AIDS, UNAIDS and ILOAIDS. 
 
 
COSATU Slams Government’s Response to HIV/AIDS
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has renewed its attack on President Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang for failing to provide leadership in addressing the country’s HIV/AIDS pandemic. Speaking at the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) annual conference, COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that “denialism” meant the effects of HIV/AIDS were all too often ignored. 
The trade union federation has long been a supporter of TAC’s campaign to force the government to roll out antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. “We are sitting by while the biggest threat to our nation since apartheid is ruining our families and our communities,” said Vavi. 
 
According to TAC, about 10,000 people were receiving antiretroviral treatment at public health facilities. This meant that government had failed to reach its own (already low) target of 53,000 people. It is estimated that for every 10 people who needed antiretroviral treatment, only one was getting it through the public sector and another one through the private sector. 
 
(Source: Business Day, Johannesburg, 26 September 2005) 
 
 
Global Fund Approves Fifth Round of Grants 
 
At its eleventh board meeting in Geneva on 28-30 September, the Global Fund board approved 26 Round 5 grants in 20 countries that will cost US$382 million over the first two years, and provisionally approved, subject to sufficient funding being received next year, a further 37 grants that will cost US$344 million over the first two years. In total, these 63 "immediately approved" plus "provisionally approved" proposals will cost US$726 million over the first two years, and US$1.8 billion over five years. (The Fund approves proposals for five years but initially only commits funds for the first two years). 
 
The reason that some of the grants were only provisionally approved is that the Fund is short of cash (see article in e-bulletin No. 1); this, in turn, is because 2005 is the first year in which substantial amounts of money need to be spent on renewal of grants from earlier Rounds that have reached the end of their first two years. 
Grants that have only been provisionally approved will be formally approved in 2006 when sufficient donor pledges are received. However, any grants provisionally approved for which insufficient pledges have been received by the end of June 2006 will become "un-approved." Of the 63 grants to be eventually approved, AIDS grants account for 40% of funding while tuberculosis and malaria grants account for 27% each with the remaining funding dedicated to strengthen health systems. Africa receives 66% of the new funding. 
 
The board made no decision as to when Round 6 will take place. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Press Release of 30 September and Global Fund Observer Newsletter, Issue 51 of 3 October 2005) 
 
The GFO is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the Global Fund. The Newsletter is provided free of charge; to receive it send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 2

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A major demonstration set for tomorrow, 30 May, in Sofia, Bulgaria, by trade union organisations there has the full support of the ICEM. The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), together with another labour federation, will protest over government and employer disinterest in social dialogue talks with trade unions over a national income policy. 
 
The protest will also center on workers’ rights over their legitimate right to strike in Bulgaria, as well as gaining that rights for civil servants. 
In March 2006, the average monthly income of a Bulgarian family stood at €241, while average household expenditures rose to over €226 per month, according to the National Statistical Institute. “Bulgaria is the only one among the countries that are acceding to the European Union that does not have an income policy bargained at the national level,” said CITUB President Zhelyazko Hristov. 
 
In a poll taken last month, over 60% of Bulgarian trade union members insisted on national protest actions for the end of May, while 40% said they would join a national strike over the income and other issues if one were called. For ICEM’s letter of support to affiliate National Labour Federation of Chemistry and Industry on the 30 May demonstration, <a href="/index.php?id=9&doc=1810" type="internal">click here</a>.

Bulgarians Protest Tomorrow over Low Wages, Labour Rights

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Oil workers in southern Iraq conducted a one-day strike 21 February as grievance to the Oil Ministry’s neglect for work conditions and the infrastructure of the company. The strike at the Oil Transport Company of Basra was brought by the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Basra. 
The strike took place due to the deliberate and targeted neglect of the transport company by the ministry and government; for improvements in workers’ living conditions; and as a demand to pay money promised to workers by the Oil Ministry but never paid.

Iraqi Oil Workers Strike Oil Ministry in Basra

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An 18-day lockout of 58 members of Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union in New Zealand ended on 21 February after workers ratified a mediated settlement with a North Island regional electrical provider, Top Energy. 
The two-year accord gives the linemen a 5% wage increase, backdated to 1 July 2005, and a 4% wage increase in July of this year. The agreement also retains for workers key work-rule conditions, items that the community-owned electric distributor tried to take from workers in initiating the lockout.

Lockout Ends at Top Energy in New Zealand

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ChevronTexaco Nigeria Ltd. and one of its contractors, US-based Elper Engineering, face strike actions if the companies do not live up to terms of a collective agreement put in place five years ago. ICEM affiliate NUPENG met again last week in Nigeria with the two companies to resolve the dispute over back wages and severance, but the employers rebuffed efforts to settle the issue. 
The union declared its intent to resolve the dispute through social dialogue, but warned that NUPENG members working inside the two companies would strike if ChevronTexaco and Elper continue to avoid the issue. The two firms have granted the contractual obligation to a few employees, but have denied it to most. Contract workers at ChevronTexaco’s massive Escravos operations in Ugborodo, Delta State, and its shallow-water platform Funiwa off Bayelsa State are affected.

Dispute Festering in Nigeria Between NUPENG, ChevronTexaco

Following a two-day strike on 22 and 23 February, a two-week cooling off process is now underway between ICEM Belgian affiliate ABVV-FGTB and ExxonMobil at a polymers plant near Antwerp. The entire workforce of 350 totally shut down operations at the Zwijndrecht plant in a contract dispute for a 2006-2007 renewal. 
<img height="65" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BelgiumFLAG.gif" width="100"/>
Workers were incensed at the wage offer presented to them. Also in dispute is management’s proposal to reduce staff by increasing automation. 
Determined worker unity under the guidance of ABVV-FGTB brought the company back to the table, where a conciliator did remove some obstacles to a new agreement on 27 February, the day the two-week cooling off period took effect. Labour and management will return to talks on 14 March.

Belgian ExxonMobil Strike Over; Talks will Resume 14 March

Inside Thailand’s current political turmoil and Prime Minister’s Thaksin Sinawatra’s rush to elections next month to solidify his authority rests the issue of privatisation and whether or not a country’s resources belong in public control or sold off to capital markets. 
 
There is little question of where Thaksin stands, judging from his own business dealings and his government’s actions to break up the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), as well as Metropolitan and Provincial electric utilities. 

<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ThailandFlag.gif" width="100"/>
A central demand by the political opposition, which seeks Thaksin’s resignation, is immediate debate and introduction of new constitutional amendments. Thaksin is seeking a quick victory, allowing him to continue setting constitutional precedents, including the ones he has used as the means to sell public-vested enterprises to investors. Initial listing of EGAT on the stock markets was scheduled for November 2005, but has been suspended pending a court review. 
 
New debate also has surfaced over privatising the regional electric power authorities, scheduled for later this year. Last month, the Thai Finance Ministry raised uncertainties on privatising these utilities by stating electricity rates are set by government policy, raising questions on profitability and revenue forecasts. Even more to the point, a ministry official said new investment decisions cannot necessarily be made just on commercial reasoning, but also must be made on social needs. 
“The plan to shift transmission wires underground will in no way help boost profits, but rather is aimed at improving service quality and the community,” the official told the Bangkok Post. The outcome in Thailand over the next several weeks promises to be the watershed that will shape political decision-making well into the future.

Electric Privatisation Cloaked in Thailand’s Political Tempest

Going against the flow of today’s business mantra on ethical and sustainable behaviour, China and India continue to sign energy agreements with the military dictators in Burma. 
Only last Friday, Indian President Abdul Kalam sealed such a new deal, which will allow India to tap into a part of Burma’s vast natural gas reserves. As part of that deal, yet another pipeline will be built. In Burma, more pipelines mean more slave labour, and more misery for the Burmese people. 
<img height="200" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/burmamap.gif" width="200"/>
This latest Indian deal follows the announcement late last year that the Burmese junta decided to sell a portion of its gas from the large Shwe project to China. 
By granting this and other rights to PetroChina and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp.), the military dictators opened up Burma’s new natural gas resources to both regional superpowers, continuing their old habit of creating rivalries between them. Some gas will now, in part, be produced by Indian companies, but sold to China. Both nations are hungry for resources to drive their energy needs. 
 
These deals concern recently discovered offshore gas reserves, including the massive Shwe Project, operated by consortiums of Asian companies, including South Korea’s Daewoo and India’s state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC). 
This is in addition to the other ‘older’ gas fields in the region, such as Yadana and Yetagun, which are mainly operated by a mixture of OECD-based and regional companies, including Total, Unocal (now Chevron), Nippon Oil and Petronas of Malaysia. 
 
The ‘newer’ fields are still largely in their test-drilling phases. Estimates on their combined size vary, but range from twice the size of the combined Yadana and Yetagun fields, to ten times as much. 
Together with a few recently discovered oil fields, they are likely to become the latest and maybe largest pool of resources at the hands of Burma’s military cartel, widely known as one of the most horrific dictatorial regimes in the world. Burmese generals spend roughly half of their nation’s budget on the army, a tool used to terrorize Burma’s population. Spending on education or health services is nearly non-existent. 
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With the Chinese and Indian investments comes a startling fact: the projects will entail at least two new pipelines built inside Burma, one to India and one to China. 
While China is “studying” building a pipeline from the Arakan coast to the Chinese province of Yunnan, India reportedly agreed with Burma to build a pipeline that will now be much longer than originally anticipated, bypassing Bangladesh and going via Burma into northeast India. 
 
“We all know about the consequences of building pipelines in Burma: countless Burmese civilians may be subjected to forced labour and suffer from it, ranging from having to work under slavery conditions at gunpoint, at best, to being murdered at worst“ said Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. 
 
History is clear about what happens when pipelines are built in Burma. While the onshore part of the pipeline that links the Yetagun and Yadana gas fields with Thailand is only 65 kilometres in length, construction of it brought serious human rights concerns with it. 
Forced labour was used in connection to the building of the pipeline by the omnipresent army, officially there to protect operations. Land confiscation without compensation, something common throughout Burma, is another likely consequence of the investment. Estimates on the current number of people forcibly displaced already range from a few hundred thousand to a few million. 
 
All this will be no different this time. According to the ILO, the United Nations agency that deals with labour issues, forced labour is still widespread in Burma.
Multinational companies still have to enter into joint-venture deals with Burmese state-run companies, in this case MOGE, the Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise, a company owned and controlled by the army, which continues to control virtually all aspects of life in Burma.

India and China to boost forced labour in Burma

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A United Steel Workers (USW) local union in the US is alleging Bridgestone/Firestone (BFS) blocked a plant-gate effort to raise money for Firestone rubber plantation workers in Liberia. This would violate workplace rules as defined under the national US labor law statute. 
USW Local 1055 in LaVergne, state of Tennessee, filed the charges last month with the US government over management’s action at a BSF auto/truck tyre plant employing 1,500 workers. The branch union was blocked by the company from collecting funds and sending the voluntary proceeds to some 6,000 plantation workers in war-infested Liberia, who, with their families, have been exposed to toxic chemicals in the cultivation of natural rubber. 
 
“We’ve stood for years collecting for members who are ill or other locals on strike,” said USW Local 1055 President Lewis Beck. “Most recently, we collected to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.” The US government’s labor board will now investigate the charges and issue a ruling.

Steelworkers in US Press Charges Against Bridgestone Management

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French ICEM affiliate CFDT Chimie Energie is calling for a day of action on 23 March to protest the government’s broken promise on Gaz de France. The union will call on members of Parliament, community officials across France, and consumers to tell them of the consequences if the government-brokered merger between Gaz de Franc and Suez, a French-Belgian water/power group, goes through. 
 
CFDT Chimie Energie declares that the social effects of the proposed merger have been completely disregarded. The French government pledged in June 2004 that no less than 70% of Gaz de France would remain in state hands following a debate on partial privatisation of the public utility. If the merger with Suez happens, only 34% of the combined enterprise would be under state control. The union will hold news conferences and conduct actions throughout France this Thursday.

23 March Day of Action to Save Gaz de France

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