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Two ICEM Belgian affiliates and members of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC/ACV) consummated a merger Congress in the city of Gent on 5 June. CSC/ACV Energy and Chemicals Union and CSC/ACV Construction Union merged to create a stronger union structure representing 284,000 Belgian workers.
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The union will be known in French as CSC B&acirc;timent-industrie &amp; &Eacute;nergie (CSC-BIE), while its Flemish name is ACV Bouw-industrie &amp; Energie (ACV-BIE). The merged union will cover workers in many sectors, including construction, chemicals, gas, electric, and oil, graphical and paper, pharmaceutical, wood products, leather, and even hairdressing and beauty fitness.
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Vice President Alfons De Potter and President Luc Van Dessel&nbsp; 

The prior president of the Construction Union, Luc Van Dessel, was elected President and Alfons De Potter, previously the President of the Energy and Chemicals Union, was elected Vice President. De Potter will continue in his role as a member of the ICEM Presidium, and two of the newly-elected National Secretaries of the merged union, Justin Daerden and Franćois Laurent, will also remain active in ICEM structures.
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Newly elected leadership of ACV-BIE/CSC-BIE
The merger Congress was a celebratory event, with song and dance throughout. It also contained an overview of the union&rsquo;s new statutes. CSC/ACV Confederation President Luc Cortebeeck delivered a video speech from Geneva, where he was attending the 99th Session of ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda also attended the congress.
The new union will have 15,000 elected shop-floor delegates.

CSC Chemicals and Energy, Construction Unions Merge in Belgium

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The Taiwan Electric Power Labour Union (TPLU) has been protesting in Taipei for clarification of their pension status. Some 6,000 members of the ICEM affiliate, working at several water and electric enterprises, turned out 2 June at the Legislative Yuan to manifest and then to march. 
 
Under current law, workers at the enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning their pension pay-outs are miniscule, not paid out in monthly installments, their retirement earnings are not covered by a state-legislated pension insurance programme, and they are without the preferred interest rate on pension savings accounts.
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TPLU Members Marching on 2 June&nbsp; 
 

Under three classifications of work in Taiwan, employees are classified as civil servants, workers, or civil servants and workers. Public sector engineers and administrators, for example, have the latter classification, which grants them more in terms of pension benefits and better regulated retirement schemes. 
 
But workers at Taipei Power Company (Taipower) and water and other enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning they have the advantages of nether and bear the disadvantages of both. 
 
We are orphans under a system that does not recognise our rights and does not provide any safeguards, said a TPLU spokesperson close to President Guo-Kang Hu. TPLU wants lawmakers and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to amend the provisions of the &ldquo;State-Run Enterprise Administrative Act&rdquo; that better reflects a high court ruling in 1990 that sets forth details on retirement and retirement benefits. 
 
Taipower management supports the workers demands and has laid out three schemes that would correct the legal status. The ICEM also has endorsed TPLU&rsquo;s campaign to achieve fairness and a sense of balance into Taiwanese pension schemes.

Taiwanese Power Workers Protest Over Slight in Pension Laws

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The former ICEM Projects Coordinator in Thailand, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, was released last night, 13 June, from a prison at a Thai army base. He had been imprisoned since 24 May, together with academic Suthachai Yimprasert from Chulalongkom University, after the two presented themselves to police after they heard arrest warrants had been issued for them. 
 
Yimprasert was released 5 June from a prison at the Adisorn military base in Saraburi, 115 kilometres north of Bangkok. Both were arrested under the government&rsquo;s Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), a hastily put together decree stemming from May&rsquo;s political turbulence in Thailand.
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Somyot&nbsp;Pruksakasemsuk
The release of Brother Somyot follows a criminal court&rsquo;s decision rejecting the CRES arrest order. Even after that decision, the government held him for another seven days. 
 
The CRES charges against him were for inflaming public sentiment against the government for holding a news conference on 21 May in which he called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. He also edited a newspaper that supported the viewpoints of the Red Shirts in recent political strife. 
 
The ICEM called the charges a serious breach of universal free speech rights. 
 
International human rights groups throughout the world, as well as several Global Union Federations, sent protests to the Thai government over the unfair arrests of Somyot and Suthachai. An online appeal by the Dutch-based Clean Clothes Campaign also generated pressure on the government.

Thai Labour Activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk Finally Released

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The ICEM is demanding that PT Kayan Putera Utama Coal (KPUC), an Indonesian company, stop its attacks on the SPE-SBSI Mining Union in eastern Borneo in Indonesia. Recently, the Samarinda-based company dismissed seven trade union leaders at the Desa Separi mine near Tenggarong in the Kalimantan Timur coal fields and enlisted another organisation to attack the union. 
 
In a letter to KPUC managing director Arifin Harun in Samarinda, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;If you do not cease and desist from your actions, we will take further steps to bring the weight of the ICEM and its affiliates comprising some 20 million members to bear on this situation.&rdquo; A copy of the letter was also sent to Andrew Vickers, Chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Mining Sector and General Secretary of the Mining Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia.
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The ICEM cited clear violations of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom association and collective bargaining in the letter. The letter can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1006%20Indonesia%20KPUC.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM intends to conduct a full investigation of the situation if it is not resolved. It will work closely with its affiliate, the Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union Central Board, the largest trade union representing miners in Indonesia. Indonesia is a major supplier of coal to China, and is now the largest exporter of thermal coal in the world. In the wake of the surge in coal mining in Indonesia, employers have become increasingly hostile to trade unions. 
 
PT Kayan Putera Utama Coal is listed as Indonesia&rsquo;s 42nd largest coal producer, with the latest figures citing it produced 322,826 tonnes of coal in 2008. 

&nbsp;

Indonesian-based Coal Mining Company Sacks 7 Union Leaders

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Scores of letters were sent to Mexico President Felipe Calder&oacute;n from ICEM affiliates last week, responding to an ICEM call for dialogue not brute force to resolve the three-year long strike by 1,200 workers of Section 65 of the Mexican National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in northern Sonora State. On 6 June, Mexican federal police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse strikers at the mine and inside Section 65&rsquo;s union hall. (See ICEM report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/3838-ICEM-Calls-on-Mexico-to-Halt-its-Violence-at-Cananea">here</a>.) 
 
By the end of last week, following a 10 June skirmish between miners and police that injured eight, a truce was declared by leaders of Section 65, as they held meetings on 10 and 11 June with Sonora Governor Guillermo Padr&eacute;s El&iacute;as in Hermosillo and the Mexican Interior Secretary, Fernando G&oacute;mez-Mont. 
 
In the latter meeting on 11 June, G&oacute;mez-Mont said he would work to arrange a meeting between the union and the Southern Copper Corp. of Grupo M&eacute;xico, owners of the mine, this week. Following the meetings, Section 65 Secretary-General Sergio Tolano Lizarr&aacute;go said the government now appears committed to bringing the two sides together for dialogue. 
 
For the union&rsquo;s part, the Strike Committee is adamant that Southern Copper halt all &ldquo;illegal hirings&rdquo; of contractors in order to re-start the 230,000-ton copper mine. The 10 June confrontation started in the early morning hours when strikers rolled huge rocks on to an access road of the Cananea mine to block contractors from entering. Federal police responded by taking control of the entrance, and then fired tear gas and pepper spray at some 150 miners, who had retreated into nearby hills.
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According to reports, in four days of altercations, 16 people have been injured, including four miners, 2 police, and the remainder civilians, mostly family members of strikers and others overcome with gas poisoning. 
 
Responding to the ICEM for intervention, South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it would organise protests at the opening World Cup match on 11 June between South Africa and Mexico. The action involved members of NUM, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the Chemical, Energy, Pulp, Paper, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPAWU), and the South African Transport and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (SATAWU). 
 
In coordination with the taking of Cananea, federal forces also forcibly took control of Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s coal mine at Pasta de Conchos in Coahuila state. There, they overcame the widows and family members of 65 dead miners still entombed in shafts following a methane gas explosion in February 2006. The women and family members had been on a long vigil, with demands that the state and company recover the bodies of their cherished ones. 
 
The Mexican government and Grupo M&eacute;xico refused that plea, and stopped others in search by cutting off electricity. Halting the search, many felt, served to hide evidence of management responsibility for the accident. The mine was sealed permanently following police actions on 6 June. Widespread criticism has been made of the company's continued failure to properly compensate families of the dead. 
 
The legal strike at Cananea began on 30 July 2007 when Section 65 of SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, refused to work in dangerous conditions, similar to those causing the Pasta de Conchos explosion. During the attack of 6 June, police arrested five Los Mineros members, Rodolfo Valdez Serrano, Everardo Ochoa Ballesteros, Luis Alonso Borb&oacute;n P&eacute;rez, Luis Alonso Torres, and Marcelo Lara L&oacute;pez.
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Sergio Tolano and Juan Guti&eacute;rrez Ballesteros, a Los Mineros National Executive Member from Section 65, also faced arrest warrants on 6 June, but both won court injunctions preventing their incarcerations. 
 
At an economic forum Friday, 11 June, in Peru, where Southern Copper also holds mining assets, President and CEO Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said the police takeover of Cananea enables the US-based subsidiary to begin an investment plan and re-start copper production early next year. He said Southern Copper will invest US$50 million in Cananea. 
 
On another level, at the ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference in Geneva on 10 June, the Mexican situation was brought up before the Committee on the Application of Standards. Specifically, debate arose with regard to ILO Convention 155, the Health and Safety at Work Convention. Although Mexico&rsquo;s government and employers&rsquo; representatives, together with a Grupo M&eacute;xico representative, pointed to increased numbers of inspectors at worksites, workers&rsquo; representatives from around the world criticised the disregard for working people shown by the government of President Felipe Calder&oacute;n. 
 
It was argued that work performed by employees on short-term contracts or through labour agencies accounts for 60% of the entire Mexican workforce. Those workers are given few social protections, thus leading to statistics that are askew, including occupational safety accidents. On the issue of health and safety in Mexico, it is the worker who must provide burden of proof for accidents or injuries, and since labour tribunals often take years to issue rulings, companies tend to act with impunity.

Tense Truce Takes Hold at Mexico’s Cananea Copper Mine

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A 15-week lockout by Rio Tinto on 760 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 in Boron, California, ended over the weekend, following a 75% approval of a new collective agreement by union members who voted Saturday, 15 May. 
 
The six-year labour accord at a borax mine and processing operation in California&rsquo;s Mojave desert comes minus nearly all of the job-destroying contract proposals that Rio Tinto Minerals sought over nine months, and stands as testament to the courage and resolution of ILWU Local 30 members. 
 
It came after three straight days of non-stop bargaining last week, negotiations in which ILWU President Bob McEllrath hammered home the fact that loyal and dedicated workers did not deserve the harsh contract-language takeaways that the company sought. Rio Tinto listened. 

<img alt="" src="" width="168" height="256" />
&ldquo;Bob brought something else, something completely different to the table,&rdquo; said a Local 30 Bargaining Committee member. &ldquo;His resolve to get this dispute ended, get these unfair issues wiped clean made all the difference.&rdquo; 
 
Last week&rsquo;s negotiations took place at the offices of the US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) in Glendale, California. 
 
Boron workers will begin reporting on 18 May for four days of US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) refresher training in Palmdale, California, training for which they will receive 40 hours pay from the company. Rio Tinto will remove the company that provided replacement workers this coming weekend, and Local 30 members will be back to work on 24 May. 
 
The six-year agreement, which takes effect 15 May, provides for a 2.5 percent wage increase each year. In addition, workers receive a US$5,000 ratification bonus.&nbsp; 
 
But more importantly, Local 30 and the ILWU leadership resisted Rio Tinto proposals to restrict job bidding and job transfers based on seniority; protected full-time employment against creation of part-time and temporary work; gained an agreement that prohibits sub-contracting unless union members cannot fulfill company assignments; and beat back a company proposal to eliminate one day of holiday leave each year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
The union did concede a few issues. It granted the company some flexibility regarding overtime, in that workers must give one week&rsquo;s advance posting if they will be available to work overtime; sick leave was reduced from 14 to ten days per year, but workers are allowed to maintain up to 200 hours of banked sick leave pay atop the ten days; and new hires will fall into a different pension-savings scheme. 
 
There was pressure on Rio Tinto Minerals to end the lockout, since orders for sodium borates were picking up and replacement workers provided by the private-security company were unable to handle processing work. The mineral is used in detergents, glass, building materials, and other uses such as an ingredient in chemicals. 
 
The ICEM congratulates ILWU President Bob McEllrath, Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams, Vice President Ray Familathe, and the entire membership of Local 30 for standing together, refusing to settle for less, and sending a signal to all that fiercely resisting a multinational company&rsquo;s family-wrecking agenda can succeed. 
 
The ICEM also commends the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, for providing continual aid and assistance to Local 30 members and their families.

ILWU Beats Back Concessions in Rio Tinto US Collective Agreement

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Next month, the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) will conduct a pivotal forum for industrial and manufacturing unions on sustainable development. On 18-19 June 2010, the two Global Union Federations &ndash; along with their Canadian affiliates &ndash; will host a conference titled &ldquo;The Triple Crisis of Sustainability&rdquo; in Toronto, Ontario, to precede the G8 and G20 summit meetings near there. 
 
There is little question that the economic collapse, environmental degradation, and the resulting negative social impacts have badly affected workers, their families, and their communities. Contributing to the magnitude of these crises is the absence of effective global regulations and lagging financial governance of markets. 
 
Toronto&rsquo;s World Conference on Sustainability will produce a declaration that will be forwarded to the G8 and G20 summits. It will demand that global economic and political leaders take decisive action to reverse the downward social spiral felt by most of the world&rsquo;s people, and begin implementing real, worker-friendly solutions on climate change and a sustainable economic future. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="86" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="90" height="87" />
The Conference will include panel discussions, as well as keynote speeches from notable experts on the economic crisis, sustainability, and global governance. In addition, there will be ample opportunities for trade union leaders of ICEM and IMF affiliates, as well as others to tell their own stories of how workers have responded to a crisis not of their own making. 
 
The Conference will be held in the Dominion Ballroom of the Sheraton Centre Hotel, Toronto, 123 Queen Street West. The ICEM has reserved a block of rooms. The registration form for the Conference and hotel rooms can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/EN%20sust.dev%20Attendance%20form.pdf">here</a>, and it should be returned forthwith to <a href="mailto:Fanja.rasolomanana@icem.org">Fanja.rasolomanana@icem.org</a> in order to assure prompt booking. 
 
Workers have a central role to play in building a future that lifts people out of poverty, while protecting the environment. The ICEM and IMF believe that the systematic looting of the global economy by unscrupulous speculators must be stopped. The Jobs Pact, developed by the ILO, is one proposal for exiting a financial crisis brought about by greed and lack of financial oversight. 
 
Regarding the environment, industrial unions did deliver a message in Copenhagen that a fair, ambitious, and legally binding agreement on global greenhouse gas emissions is necessary, but that the legitimate concerns of workers for decent work, social justice, and long-term, sustainable jobs must be forefront. It cannot be jobs or the environment, it must be both, or it will ultimately be neither. 
 
The crises of failing economies, environmental inaction, and social disorder are interconnected. It will be the goal of the ICEM/IMF conference to ensure that the voices of workers are heard on these matters at the highest level. Jobs, workers&rsquo; rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability are at the heart of this agenda.

Global Trade Union Sustainability Conference in Toronto Fast Approaching

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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM), the dominant global trade union federation for the mining industry, endorses a letter by its Liberian union affiliate to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf protesting proposed rail passage through the West African nation by Brazilian-based Vale SA. 
 
Recently, Vale purchased a 51% stake from BSG Resources of iron ore blocks near Simandou in eastern Guinea. The mining house intends to create a rail and logistics corridor from Guinea through Liberia to the Atlantic Ocean coast. 
 
In the letter, dated 13 May, the Forestry, Logging, and Industry Workers of Liberia (FLIWUL) calls on President Johnson-Sirleaf to fully examine Vale&rsquo;s global social record before her government grants the rail concession. Among several irresponsible social acts, Vale has a forced a bitter strike &ndash; now in its eleventh month &ndash; on 3,500 nickel and copper miners in Canada. 
 
&ldquo;We are aware of many serious issues surrounding Vale and its mistreatment of workers and communities where it operates around the world,&rdquo; writes FLIWUL Secretary-General David D. Sackoh. 
 
&ldquo;Organizations in Mozambique, Brazil, Canada, Peru, Chile, Germany, Italy, and New Caledonia have declared that Vale &lsquo;infringes human rights, exploits both male and female workers, imposes precarious working conditions, destroys nature and disrespects traditional communities.&rsquo; It appears that every place where Vale operates, communities are displaced, the environment is harmed and workers&rsquo; rights are not respected. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
&ldquo;We are disturbed at the treatment that Vale has given to its workforce in Canada. The company provoked a strike through its demands for deep concessions from its workers despite the fact that the company has made billions of dollars in profit in recent years. 
 
&ldquo;Madame President, following many years of civil war and turmoil the Liberian people finally enjoy peace and has a promising future under your leadership. This behemoth Vale with its suspect actions could potentially destroy our fragile economy for the benefit of a greedy few. As key stakeholder in the infrastructural and economic development of Liberia, FLIWUL wishes to urge the government to carefully study the situation and ensure that transitional companies investing in Liberia do so responsibly.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda soundly endorsed the letter, and said the Geneva-based federation will also raise Vale&rsquo;s investment in Guinea with trade unions there, and with the government of Guinea. &ldquo;We cannot accede to Vale&rsquo;s investment agenda anywhere while the company brings pain and suffering on workers,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;The atrocities that Vale is inflicting on people and their communities in Ontario and Labrador in Canada must stop and we give sound warning that we will follow this mining company everywhere and repeat FLIWUL&rsquo;s message.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is a global union federation consisting of 467 trade unions in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers worldwide. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile) +41 22 304 1842 (direct line).

ICEM Commends Liberian Affiliate for Opposing Vale Investment

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we continue the G8 campaign for universal access and inform about critical issues concerning prevention of mother-to-child transmission. We also cover a novel Grandmothers to Grandmothers summit between African and Canadian relatives of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic, an undertaking by the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 
 
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="" width="40" height="40" />
Support for G8 Campaign for Universal Access 
 
Initiated by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), click <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3703-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-55-April-2010">here</a> for details from last e-bulletin, support for lobbying the G8 Summit has extended beyond Africa. Unions all over the world have now sent petitions. 
 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, has written to the Canadian Mission in Geneva urging the G8 to put forward an action plan to achieve Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support. The ICEM has also called on its affiliates to join the petition and letter writing campaign from their own countries. 
 
Show your support for Universal Access: 
Follow the links below to sign a petition that will be delivered to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and world leaders attending the G8 meetings in June. 
English: <a href="http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids">http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids</a>&nbsp; 
Fran&ccedil;ais: <a href="http://scfp.ca/action/sida">http://scfp.ca/action/sida</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
New ICEM HIV/AIDS Leaflet 
 
The ICEM has produced a new leaflet, &ldquo;The ICEM responds to HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; The leaflet is available in English and French on the ICEM website <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2010-AIDSLeaflet.2.pdf">here</a>&nbsp;and <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM%20Leaflet%20FR.b.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp;Hardcopies can also be ordered from the ICEM Head Office, by writing <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Shortage of Funding Threatens AIDS Prevention for Pregnant Women 
 
Reports from Kenya and Malawi suggest that new WHO guidelines, which recommend an earlier start of anti-retroviral treatment, cannot be met because of shortages in funding. 
 
The WHO recommended to raise the CD4 count (measure of immunity to ascertain when HIV positive persons should begin treatment) from 200 to 350 and called for HIV-positive mothers to begin treatment at 14 weeks of pregnancy, up from the previous 28 weeks. 
 
In Kenya, rejection of Global Fund Round 9 and 10 proposals means that the country will be seriously short of funds and that around 300,000 people in need of life-saving antiretroviral drugs and pregnant mothers are not sure of continued access to medication. The Global Fund denied approval because of the duplication of roles of the ministries of medical services and public health and because of the huge unjustified and unsustainable workforce in implementing agencies. 
 
In Malawi, services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) are gaining ground but the country continues to battle drug shortages. Pregnant women and mothers and their infants also often do not turn up for follow-up treatment. 
 
In 2005, only 3% of HIV-positive women in Malawi were using PMTCT services and mother-to-child transmission accounted for 30% of all new infections. Today, 45% of HIV-positive women are accessing PMTCT services. More than 95% of pregnant women opt for an HIV test. 
 
But last year&rsquo;s change from single-dose nevirapine to a combination therapy, which is more effective and less likely to lead to drug resistance, also means that more funds are required and that clinics, especially in rural areas, run out of drugs or can only administer a single-dose therapy. 
 
(Sources: IPS, Nairobi 1 April, and IRIN PlusNews, Lilongwe, 7 May) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
AIDS Activists Ousted during World Economic Forum 
 
The Tanzanian government has deported several AIDS activists and banned a demonstration to protest decreasing funding for HIV and AIDS at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa meeting in Dar es Salaam. 
 
Shortly after a small number of activists from different African countries gave a memorandum to be presented to leaders attending the WEF to South African singer and AIDS activist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, they were arrested. The group had the support of Christoph Benn, director of external affairs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Among those detained was Michael O&rsquo;Connor also of the Global Fund. 
 
In a statement, the activists condemned the Tanzanian authorities&rsquo; &ldquo;complete disregard for the right of freedom of expression in respect of the conveyance of a message as critical as this.&rdquo; 
 
Activists from several African countries said that their government-run antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programmes were turning patients away because of cuts in both domestic and external funding. They declared that the groundwork for achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care has been laid and now is not the time to backtrack on funding commitments and undermine the gains which have been made. 
 
The past five years have witnessed a ten-fold increase in the number of people on life-saving ARVs; an estimated 3 million Africans were on ARVs at the end of 2008, according to the WHO. But some 3.7 million Africans who need ARVs have still no access to them. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 7 May, and Mail &amp; Guardian, Johannesburg, 6 May) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Ethiopia: In Search of made-to-measure HIV Prevention 
 
With more than half of all Ethiopian adults tested for HIV in the past five years and a campaign for behaviour change in place, specialists are now calling for a more targeted approach. 
 
Most-at-risk populations (MARPs) have to be targeted through better understanding of how the epidemic is affecting them and in turn, to develop a more specific response. &quot;The government has launched a vigorous campaign to fight HIV, but now it is important to ... target specific groups among whom the epidemic is raging,&quot; said Desmond Johns, UNAIDS country director for Ethiopia. &quot;High testing numbers mean little unless you are testing people at risk, such as commercial sex workers.&quot; 
 
High-risk groups in Ethiopia include sex workers, uniformed forces and migrant workers, street children, students and discordant couples. Men who have sex with men have, for the first time, been included in the national strategic plan for the next five years, which still is in draft form. 
 
A more focused response means that regional branches of HAPCO, the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, will need to draw up specific plans for prevention in their regions, where the risks and prevalence differ widely. 
 
According to HAPCO, the provisional national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 2.3%, but big cities such as Addis Ababa have an average HIV prevalence of about 7%, while rural areas &ndash; home to 85% of the population - have an average prevalence of 0.9%. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 3 May) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Ukraine: Outcomes of HIV Global Fund Grant 
 
As of 31 March 2008, a recently completed Round 1 Global Fund grant in Ukraine had provided prevention services to 214,103 people who inject drugs. By the end of September 2008, 6,070 people, including 911 children, had received antiretroviral therapy (ART). And, in 2008, 80% of pregnant women living with HIV had received treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission, up from 35% in 2003. The grant exceeded the majority of its targets. 
 
This information was contained in a report released in September 2009 by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. The grant, which cost US$98 million over five years, supported programmes that involved the rapid scale-up of ART, a comprehensive package of care, support and prevention services for most-at-risk populations, and the roll-out of substitution maintenance therapy. 
 
The Global Fund grant formed the major part of the national response to HIV and AIDS in the Ukraine. During the period of the grant, the number of new HIV cases per 100,000 tests decreased from 632.8 in 2006 to 590.2 in 2008; and the AIDS mortality growth rate dropped from 38% to 8% (between 2004 and 2008). 
 
The report, &ldquo;Civil Society Leads National Response &ndash; Final Report: Overcoming the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Ukraine, Funded by the Global Fund (2004-2009),&rdquo; also describes the experiences of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance as principal recipient (PR) of the grant, and outlines the lessons learned from the experience. According to the report, one of the Alliance&rsquo;s major contributions to the grant was to strengthen civil society. 
 
The report is available on the website of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance at <a href="http://www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx">www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 April. 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>) 

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Opportunity to Re-programme Grants to Improve PMTCT Treatment 
 
The Global Fund Secretariat is working with 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assess the possibility of re-programming existing Global Fund grants to allow for a switch from the use of single dose nevirapine to more effective dual or triple ARV therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). 
 
The countries are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, C&ocirc;te d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. (Other countries may be added later; a similar initiative is already underway in India.) 
 
There are several factors that have to be considered to determine whether re-programming is feasible. These include the ability to free up some money in other parts of the grant budgets (e.g., if a particular area is under spent), and whether there already is a PMTCT-related service delivery area in the existing programmes. 
 
The Global Fund projects that the call for the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission by 2015 is within reach. This is contained in the <a href="http://data.unaids.org/pub/ExternalDocument/2010/20100308_gf_progressreport_en.pdf">Global Fund 2010 Results Report</a> which was released recently. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 April. 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>) 
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Grandmothers Gather for AIDS Summit 
 
This is a remarkable initiative. Grandmothers from all over Africa have joined hands with grandmothers in Canada to call for greater support and recognition of their role in caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. 
 
&quot;We are the backbone of our communities; with our love and commitment we protect and nurture our orphaned children. Africa cannot survive without us,&quot; declared a manifesto released to coincide with the first African Grandmothers' Gathering held in Swaziland. 
 
Eunice Simelane, who has supported and cared for five grandchildren since her son and daughter-in-law succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses, read the manifesto at the meeting attended by 200 grandmothers from Swaziland, 232 from African nations, and 42 Canadian grandmothers, representing 7,000 others who have formed groups in Canada to raise funds and awareness to help elderly African women struggling to raise AIDS orphans. 
 
The first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, and was the brainchild of former United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, whose foundation has been channelling funds to community-led AIDS organizations that support grandmothers in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. 
 
Swaziland's AIDS epidemic is among the worst in the world - around 160,000 children are classified as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in a population of less than one million - and was a natural choice to host the first Grandmothers' Gathering held in Africa. 
 
The delegates compiled a list of demands to their governments, including financial assistance and sustainable projects, created with their involvement. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Manzinin, 11 May) 

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News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) 
 
SWHAP reports that during 2009 companies that have reached the end of their three years of co-funding continued to implement and invest in their HIV/AIDS programmes. This shows the viability of HIV and AIDS workplace programmes. It also indicates the effectiveness of the strategy &ndash; SWHAP supported programmes achieve results and create sustainability. This achievement is even better considering the adverse economic situation in 2009. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter April 2010, <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>) 

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News from Global Unions 
 
The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) reports that BWI affiliates in East Africa are increasingly mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues in their activities. HIV issues are integrated in study circles, child labour training, para-legal courses, and industrial relations programmes. A sub-regional HIV/AIDS seminar at the end of March also called on the East African Community to include rights for people living with HIV and AIDS in the East African protocols. 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update on a new navigation tool for truck drivers to help them find healthcare centres along major transport corridors in Africa. Most of these centres also provide HIV/AIDS testing. 

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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 56, May 2010

Making available a significant number of key statistics, including the ICEM&rsquo;s own, as well as a wide range of &ldquo;best practice examples,&rdquo; the ICEM issued a new comprehensive presentation on &ldquo;CAL and the ICEM CAL campaign.&rdquo; Slide by slide, this education tool provides information on the ICEM&rsquo;s national and international CAL work, highlighting, among many other items, what unions around the world are doing in their daily struggles against precarious work. The presentation can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2010CAL.ppt">here</a>. 
 
The statistics indicate that the phenomenon of short-term, contract, agency and other precarious work is still growing in almost every part of the world. On the other hand, there also is progress being made. In a lot of countries, for example, laws have been changed for the better. In other cases, unions managed to gain improvements for precarious workers through successful collective bargaining. Trade unions are also increasingly looking towards their own structures and strategies, aiming to better protect and defend often non-affiliated CAL workers.

New CAL Facts and Figures Overview

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