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A critical multi-union trade union conference was held in Basra, Iraq, last week, 14 May, under the scope of the Executive Committee of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW). Chaired in part by Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, president of the ICEM affiliate, General Union of Iraq Electricity Workers and Technicians (GUEWT), the conference produced a unified response to the Iraqi government’s call for union elections between June and August of this year.
<img height="225" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805IraqBasraConf.jpg" width="300" alt=""/>
  
At left, ICEM Executive Committee Member Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein  

The demand called on the government to abolish 1987’s Public Law No. 150, a Saddam-era decree forbidding workers employed in the public sector from forming or joining a union. A statement issued to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that followed the meeting also called on it to abolish Decree No. 8750, the draconian instrument put in place in 2005 by the occupational forces. That measure effectively confiscated all trade union funds, and prohibited unions from collecting dues or maintaining assets. 
 
In addition, the 15 trade unions present issued a demand for revival of Article 22, Paragraph 3 of the Iraqi Constitution, which would guarantee Iraqi unions the right to form or join free and democratic trade unions. 
 
Early this year, the al-Maliki government decreed that trade unions inside Iraq must conduct several rounds of elections in order to choose leaders. But under Public Law 150 – and of equal significance, the occupation’s Decree No. 8750, which al-Maliki continues to uphold – most of the unions at last week’s GFIW Basra event could not participate in such elections. 
 
The GUEWT, for example, as well as workers in the oil, railway, transport, ports, and health care sectors, are excluded because these sectors all are part of Iraq’s public sector. “We agree with the format for union elections, but with reservations,” said Abdullah Muhsin, GFIW International Representative. “Full freedom of association and common recognition of free and democratic trade unions inside Iraq must come first.” 
 
In the letter to Prime Minister al-Maliki, that went as well as to Iraq’s President and the President of Parliament, the GFIW states: “Five years have passed since the fall of the hated regime. Iraqi workers, instead of receiving the support they deserve, must realize their potential and thus employ this potential to help reconstruction of Iraq’s devastated economy.
<img height="101" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraq.png" width="220" alt=""/>
“In the name of Basra workers, our federation, the GFIW in Basra, appeals to your Excellencies to recognize the sacrifices endured by Iraqi workers in their defiance of extremist onslaughts, and allow workers the right to conduct free and open elections across Iraq’s public, private, and cooperative industries.” 
 
Besides the GUEWT, the letter was signed by the GFIW Basra Head, Hussein Fadel Hassan; the Mechanic Workers’ Union of Basra; the Transport Workers’ Union of Basra; the Service Workers’ Union of Basra; the Construction and Wood Workers’ Union; the Municipality Workers’ Union of Basra; the Iraqi All Ports Workers’ Union, based in Basra; the Railway Workers’ Union; the Health Workers’ Union of Basra; the Engineering and Professional Workers’ Union of Basra; the Agricultural Workers’ Union; and the Society for Development and Reconstruction.

Iraqi Trade Union Conference Demands Repeal of Draconian Labour Decrees

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The ICEM is backing seven Turkish road transport workers who have been imprisoned since November 2007, and who will have their first court hearing on 6 June. The seven, as well as eight others – all connected with the Labour Union of Turkish Motor Vehicles’ Workers (TÜMTIS) – will be in an Ankara courtroom, charged with “setting up a criminal organization.” 
 
In fact, the road transport workers were organizing other transport workers in two separate recruitment drives for TÜMTIS around Ankara. The ICEM has joined the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), as well as affiliate Petrol-Is, in seeking justice for the trade unionists. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Turkey.png" width="250"/>
The ITF has established an online campaign (which can be found <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/TUMTIS.cfm">here</a>). It has also filed protest letters with Turkish Prime Minister Reçep Tayyip Erdoğan, and taken the matter before the European Parliament’s Human Rights Department. 
 
“These kinds of attacks on trade union organizations directly violate the internationally established conventions protecting trade union rights, which Turkey has ratified,” said the ITF. If found guilty, the workers face further prison terms, as well as a court order shutting down their union. 
 
On 20 November 2007, 17 transport workers were detained for exercising their legitimate trade union rights. Three days later, seven trade unionists were formally arrested – along with eight others – and the seven have been held in Sincon prison near Ankara since. 
 
The ICEM encourages affiliates to visit the ITF site, and to lodge protests with Turkey’s government. Protest letters can be sent to <a href="mailto:bilgi@basbakanlik.gov.tr">bilgi@basbakanlik.gov.tr</a>, or faxed to <span onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',false,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_injection" oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'0','sms=0',false);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'0',false,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="softomate_highlight_0" onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'0',false,'');" title="Call this phone number in Turkey with Skype: +903124170476" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','0',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'0',false,'');" durex="368" context="+90 312 417 0476" iamrtl="0">            +90 312 417 0476       , or <span onmouseup="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'1',false,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" class="skype_tb_injection" oncontextmenu="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'1','sms=0',false);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmousedown="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,2,'1',false,'');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" id="softomate_highlight_1" onmouseover="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,1,'1',false,'');" title="Call this phone number in Turkey with Skype: +903124180476" onclick="javascript:doRunCMD('call','1',null,0);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseout="javascript:skype_tb_imgOnOff(this,0,'1',false,'');" durex="368" context="+90 312 418 0476" iamrtl="0">            +90 312 418 0476

Case of Turkish Transport Workers Organising Union Goes to Ankara Court on 6 June

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The Council of Global Unions, the coordinating body for most of the 11 Global Union Federations, as well as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of OECD, has launched a new website, <a href="http://www.global-unions.org">www.global-unions.org</a>. 
 
The site will rely on RSS feeds from the representative global bodies and will provide relevant data and timely calls for action on issues concerning global trade unions. The site was launched on 1 May, and in the coming weeks will be further updated to include features. 
 
The website was a creation of a global union communicators’ task force, and had the technical expertise of the ITUC’s Alex Gomes in design and innovation. Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, chaired the task force.
<img height="105" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805VanLeeuwenEI.jpg" width="160" alt=""/>
 Education International GS Fred Van Leeuwen
“The website is just the latest way to improve how we talk to the world," stated Fred Van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International, who is also chairman of the Council of Global Unions. “Global-unions.org is the new starting point for anyone, anywhere, who works and is looking to someone in fight in their corner.”

Global Unions Raises New Website to Heighten Profile

The ICEM, a 20-million-member Global Union Federation covering trade unions in the Mining Sector, welcomes the settlement reached today between the Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia (MUN) and Skorpion Zinc, a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Anglo American PLC. 
 
The two parties came to terms today in Windhoek in mediation successfully completed by the head of Namibia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare’s Labour Commission, Bro-Mathew Shinguadja.
<img height="120" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="120"/>
The settlement ends a lockout by Skorpion management that started 23 May at the mining and smelting operation in the country’s southern Karas Region. It also resolves the central issue behind that lockout – the company’s insistence that the MUN drop its claim to overtime pay in a to move to continuous shift operations, daily work shifts of 12 hours, with seven days on and then seven days off. 
 
MUN will support Skorpion’s application to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare for a labour code exemption, which, if granted, will allow the longer work shifts. But the issue of overtime pay was resolved by the company agreeing to comply with a pending court case brought by the MUN regarding overtime pay for work performed beyond nine hours per day. 
 
“We believed throughout that Skorpion must honour Namibian labour code regarding payment of overtime for additional work,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, “and we shared that belief with mining unions across the world. We commend the MUN, Skorpion, and Anglo American for reaching this agreement, and thank the many trade unions around the world who promptly responded to our call. 
 
“We now ask miners and Skorpion management at this important Namibian enterprise to seek reconciliation and move forward from what has been a bitter labour dispute.”
<img height="193" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704Manfred.jpg" width="140"/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Skorpion agreed to lift the lockout immediately, with miners returning to work on Monday, 2 June. The agreement will be jointly presented to the 600 miners on Monday by MUN local branch leaders and Skorpion management. 
 
The one-year labour agreement will be backdated to 1 April 2008, and contains a 12% pay increase for miners. 
 
The ICEM drew global attention to the dispute when Skorpion reversed terms of a near settlement on 19 May, an agreement then that would have ended an 11-day strike by miners. The next day, MUN suspended the strike but three days later – on 23 May – Skorpion management imposed its lockout, seeking a waiver on all overtime pay. 
For further information, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, +41 22 304 1842, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile), or <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>

Skorpion Zinc Lockout Ends with Global Mine Union Pressure

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ICEM Turkish trade union affiliate Lastik-İş made good on its 8 May strike notice by calling 4,000 tyre manufacturing workers out at four factories, operated by three multinational tyre companies. The strikes began late on Saturday, 31 May. 
 
Negotiations continued until the early morning hours of that day, with the employers’ association offering last-minute wage and social payment proposals to avert strikes. Those offers were presented to rank-and-file members of Lastik-İş, but were rejected by an accumulative 80% vote.
<img height="178" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805Turkey3.jpg" width="180"/>
Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan 
 

The strikes then began at factories of Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci and Pirelli, and two plants operated and majority- owned by US-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The four tyre plants are in the Turkish cities of Izmit and Adapazari. The union and management association has been negotiating since September 2007 on a new labour agreement. 
 
“The decision to strike was taken by workers and I believe we shall overcome the employers’ intransigence,” said Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. “The salary offer made by employers is far from meeting the work performed by tyre workers. Our decisiveness for gaining our demands is resolute.” 
 
The union is seeking a 12% wage increase for the first six-month period of a two-year labour agreement, and the Turkish rate of inflation for each six-month period thereafter. The tyre companies are resisting inflation-rate payments for the three six-month periods. The two sides differ also on various social payments customary in Turkish work schemes.
<img height="240" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805Turkey4.jpg" width="360"/>
Striking Rubber Workers at Pirelli Factory 
All agenda items within the 59-article labour contract, save for the wage and social payment items, have been agreed upon by the two sides. 
 
Goodyear operates an auto, light truck, bus, and heavy equipment tyre plant in Adapazari, employing 800 rubber workers, and a truck, bus, and agriculture tyre plant in Izmit, where 500 workers are employed. Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, jointly owned by Japanese-based Bridgestone and Sabanci Group of Turkey, manufactures auto, truck, and heavy equipment tyres in Izmit, employing 1,500, while Italian-based Pirelli has another auto and truck tyre plant in Izmit, in which 1,200 workers are employed.

4,000 Turkish Rubber Workers Strike Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Pirelli

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After 14 long months of struggle and dispute with American consumer products company Procter & Gamble, 350 workers represented ably by Sindicato de Trabajadores de Procter & Gamble Industrial Peru (SINTRA P&G) have won their first collective agreement through arbitration. 
 
In the agreement, the union secured fundamental workers’ rights principles guaranteed under ILO standards, particularly the right of freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. In making the announcement, the Peruvian union thanked the ICEM and other organisations for assistance and solidarity since the new union began organising at the chemicals, soaps, and detergents factory in San Isidro, near Lima, in March 2007.
<img height="105" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0806PandGPeruUnionLogo.jpg" width="140" alt=""/>
  
The contract became viable through arbitration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion. Procter & Gamble Peru management had resisted going to arbitration throughout, despite the fact that it had engaged in previous such sessions with a predecessor union. 
 
SINTRA P&G has now pledged to take up the cause of 39 trade unionists at the factory who had been fired for asserting their right to form a union. SINTRA P&G stated that despite the resistance from management to form a union, “It is now time to turn the page and encourage all to move forward on the right path” of active trade unionism, referring to organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The union’s intention now is work toward an improved second collective agreement, and SINTRA P&G has opened its doors to all workers who seek healthy work lives. Procter & Gamble Peru also utilizes 400 indirect workers in its production and distributions operations. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the recent success of its future Peruvian affiliate!

SINTRA P&G Successful in First Contract at Procter & Gamble Peru

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Strategic planning was the focus of an ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 8-9 May. Following up on ICEM Congress motions, delegates defined actions and activities for the period 2008-2011. 
 
The meeting was attended by members of the regional committee, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais, country project coordinators, regional Contact Person Carol Bruce, as well as Regional Secretary Jorge Almeida of the Federación Internacional de Trabajadores de las Industrias Metalúrgios (FITAM), the regional body of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF).
<img height="165" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704Manfred.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda 
Warda explained the concrete meaning of many decisions made at Congress, including offering means for social dialogue with multinationals and working toward Global Framework Agreements with companies. He noted that in Latin America, Rhodia, Freudenberg, Endesa, Degussa, SCA, Lafarge, and Umicore are companies in which ICEM has agreements. An effective workers’ rights agenda at those companies can be implemented, he said. 
 
Warda encouraged trade unions in the region to check that these companies adhere to the principals contained in the respective agreements. He also cited Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and the growing global mining house from Brazil, Vale, as companies in which to approach for social dialogue. 
 
The ICEM campaign of Contract and Agency Labour was also thoroughly discussed. Warda said the ICEM is beginning to coordinate this campaign with other Global Union Federations (GUFs) in efforts to counter the worst trends of this phenomenon. It was also noted that in Latin America, there have been excellent examples of meaningful social dialogue with companies on the issue, and that those experiences should be shared with other regions. 
 
The regional committee also moved to commemorate 28 July 2008 as a memorial to the 200 contract workers who lost their lives due to a landslide while constructing a hydroelectric dam 25 years earlier near Ubalá Cundinamarca, Colombia.
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Brazilian Women March 
ICEM’s HIV/AIDS policy was also confirmed at the regional meeting, as well the GUF’s policy on gender equality. The issue of sustainable development was also introduced. 
 
A major discussion point was cooperation with other GUFs. It was emphasized that GUF cooperation globally is meaningless unless real ties between trade unions are made on the national and regional level. Colombia was cited as one example in which efforts are being made to build a single national trade union centre. 
 
Most countries in Latin America have strong mining economies, but only in a few of those economies does one find a match with equally strong mining unions. It was stressed that mining trade unions must meet the demands that major investment in the sector brings. 
 
Also at the regional conference, the Coordination of Mercosur Trade Unions presented their work. The organisation campaigns for living wage, eradication of child labour, and better distribution of wealth in the region. It has also a working group engaged on the issue of biofuels, as well as a commission encompassing electric power trade unions. 
 
Since all Latin governments in Mercosur are currently progressive and socially-oriented administrations, delegates said it was a good time to draft a model for social development in the region, as well as draft in detail a social charter. The challenge facing the Mercosur Trade Unions is the low degree of efficiency of union organisations, and how to improve that. 
 
The group defined these priorities and conclusions in the region: subcontracting; Global Framework Agreements and trade union rights; HIV/AIDS; the environment; and gender equity. Delegates concluded that networks, social dialogue, and cooperation were the key. 
 
The issue of modernisation of trade union structures and involvement of young workers in the trade union movement was discussed and stressed as imperative in strengthening those structures. This will take further involvement in the ICEM.
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Immediately following the strategic planning conference in Uruguay, ICEM organised a meeting in Buenos Aires with trade unions there to heighten relationships. Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation (FES) lent valuable assistance in order for this to occur.

ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Firms Action Plan for 2008-2011

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A 14-day tyre strike by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Lastik-İş in Turkey ended Friday night, 13 June, and workers at three multinational rubber companies were back on their jobs for the afternoon shift on 14 June. 
 
The strike ended when a two-year accord was reached between the union and the three employers, who jointly represent the tyre industry in talks. The companies include Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, and Pirelli.
The bargaining on 13 June was the first set of negotiations since the strike began on 31 May. Talks first began on a renewal labour agreement for 2008-2009 for the four tyre factories in September 2007. 
 
The two sides agreed to a 14% pay increase for the year 2008, and an increase equaling the Turkish rate of inflation for 2009. In 2007, the Turkish rate of inflation was 8.39% and is expected to rise above that this year. Lastik-İş had sought a 12% wage hike for the first six months of 2008, with increases matching the inflation rate in each six-month period through 2009. 
 
All levels of social benefits will also increase by the inflation rate over the life of the labour agreement. The ICEM, the Global Union Federation covering the chemicals, rubber, plastics, and pharmaceutical sectors, considers the 2008-2009 Turkish rubber agreement a major achievement, considering wage and social benefit gains were stymied in the late 1990s and early years of this decade due to strike bans imposed by the Turkish government.
<img height="178" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805Turkey3.jpg" width="180"/>
 Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan 
 

“We didn’t make any concessions, we preserved our contractual and work-rule provisions, and we posted substantial economic gains,” stated Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. “The decisiveness of our union members at these four factories was effective and ultimately proved successful in bargaining.” 
 
The four tyre plants, which saw workers return to work at 16h00 on 14 June, include two of US-based Goodyear in Izmit and Adapazari, and one operated by Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, a joint venture between Japan-based Bridgestone and the Turkish Sabanci Group, and the other owned by Italian-based Pirelli. Both the Bridgestone and Pirelli plants are located in Izmit.

Turkey’s 14-Day Rubber Strike Ends with 14% First year Wage Gain

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Negotiations today in Baku, Azerbaijan, between ICEM affiliate Oil and Gas Industry Workers’ of Azerbaijan (OGWUA), Agip Azerbaijan BV, and Keppel FELS of Singapore will attempt to resolve issues surrounding a strike by 1,000 contractors of Agip that occurred on Wednesday, 11 June.
Agip, a subsidiary of Italy-based Eni, is constructing offshore oil rigs at Caspian Shipyards Co. Ltd., owned and operated by Keppel.
The contractors, mostly Azeri citizens, seek salaries that match those paid foreign workers and corrections to their labour agreements, according to OGWUA Chairman Jahangir Aliyev. The workers also seek improvements in food allowances, and they seek to have their salaries paid in the national currency of Azerbaijan.
<img height="203" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0711Azerbaijan2.jpg" width="280"/>
OGWUA Chairman Jahangir Aliyev
The ICEM supports the demands made by the workers, and states that they made the correct decision in turning to OGWUA for help in negotiations.
In late 2005, workers constructing rigs for US-based McDermott International struck for union recognition, and OGWUA stepped in to win important gains. Since, the union which once only represented workers of Azeri state company Socar, has aptly represented 20,000 oil and gas workers in the western Caspian region, workers employed by many oil and gas service companies.

Contract Workers of Agip in the Caspian Strike for Equal Pay

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HIV/AIDS Project in India Launched 
 
The ICEM HIV/AIDS Project, in cooperation with affiliates in India and sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, a German world leader in pharmaceuticals, was launched with a planning workshop in Delhi on 3-4 July. 
 
The workshop was attended by 16 participants from ICEM affiliates in the cement, diamond, chemicals, and coal mining sectors. The workshop benefited from the participation of SM Afsar, Technical Specialist, HIV/AIDS South Asia, and National Programme Coordinator, HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, and his assistant, Joshila. Coal India Limited was represented by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of a regional coal mine, Dr Anurag Verma. The talk by Ms. Bhagwati, an HIV+ person invited by the ILO, was exceptional. She radiated will-power and confidence. 
 
At the beginning of the implementation phase of the project, the ILO will do the initial training of a select group of master trainers from coal mining, chemicals, diamonds, and the cement sectors as technical support. This will be based on their trainers’ manual for HIV/AIDS peer educators. These master trainers will, in turn, train the peer educators. 
 
The course for master trainers will be held in Kolkata, 18-20 August. In September 2008, the training of peer educators/lay counsellors by the master trainers will commence. It is envisaged that 500 peer educators will be trained (400 mining, 50 cement, and 25 each for chemicals and diamonds). 
 
With the conclusion of the training of the peer educators, they will carry it to workers, family members, and members of the community. In the period to December 2009, each peer educator should reach 1,000 people. This is ambitious, but participants were enthusiastic and confident that this goal can be achieved. 
 <img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
CEP Humanity Fund Supports HIV/AIDS Project in Nigeria 
 
The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada agreed to support a joint project in cooperation with the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project and affiliates in Nigeria. Through the union’s Humanity Fund, CEP is contributing to train HIV/AIDS counsellors within ICEM’s two oil and gas union affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN. 
 
The project will extend ICEM’s work in Nigeria in training peer counsellors to provide HIV and AIDS awareness, education, and testing for workers and their families. 
 
CEP’s Humanity Fund is unique in that funding comes through negotiated agreements with Canadian employers. To date, some 100 CEP locals, numbering 30,000 workers, have successfully negotiated payments into the Humanity Fund with employers. In 2007, contributions to the Humanity Fund increased by 30%. The CEP currently is also funding a project in partnership with the Fédération des Travailleurs de Québec on HIV/AIDS awareness with an oil workers’ union in Chad. 
 
CEP heralds the fund as not charity, but rather solidarity in “building partnerships with workers’, community, and women’s organisations in developing countries.” 
 <img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
News from Affiliates 
 
ICEM affiliates in Nepal have mainstreamed HIV/AIDS in Occupational Safety and Health training. In a workshop, attended by 31 participants and resource persons, information on transmission and prevention was given. Participants resolved to intensify awareness campaigns at the grass-root level. 
 
NUPENG and PENGASSAN, ICEM affiliates in Nigeria, continued their successful HIV/AIDS activities with a training workshop for peer educators/lay counsellors in Ibadan on 4-6 June 2008. The workshop was organised by national HIV/AIDS coordinator Olawale Afolabi. Twelve unionists received intensive training on peer education and counselling skills. Resource persons from SMARTWork facilitated technical sessions of the workshop. 
 
The United Mineworkers’ Union (UMU) of Sierra Leone organised two workshops at the end of May. The workshops were aimed at building capacity for shop stewards, grassroots diggers, and community members, and to promote behaviour change and advocacy of VCT. 
 
In Zambia, ICEM affiliates Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the National Union of Commercial and Industry Workers (NUCIW) have started on a series of follow-up workshops for peer educators to ascertain the achievements and difficulties faced by peer educators trained in previous years. Long working hours and the unwillingness of management to allow time for talks on HIV/AIDS were cited as the main difficulties. 
 
In Côte d’Ivoire, national coordinator Charlotte Nguessan organised a training course for VCT counsellors from the unions. The course was spread over five weekends and included pre- and post-test counselling and practical cases at CIRBA, a medical centre which also facilitated the training. 
 <img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
ICEM Sub-Saharan Women Draft Women’s Charter; Global Women’s Committee Adopts Action Plan on Zimbabwe 
 
The Women’s Committee of ICEM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Region met in Accra, Ghana, on 5-7June to draft a women’s charter for Africa. After a brainstorming session, three major issues were identified: decent work, gender justice, and HIV/AIDS. 
 
In relation to HIV/AIDS, the women unionists from ten Sub-Saharan African countries discussed cultural features, such as polygamy and female genital mutilation, which present particular challenges to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
 
The ICEM Women’s Committee, meeting in Geneva on 19 June, adopted an Action Plan on Zimbabwe. The violence by the bankrupt ZANU-PF government has hit women particularly hard. Those affected by HIV/AIDS are most vulnerable. Proper treatment to prevent spread from mother to child is not available. In their desperation, women have become commercial sex workers and hence, add to the spread of the virus. 
 
Operations of all NGOs, which have been a major conduit for HIV/AIDS services, have been suspended. Although it was reported that more than 400 organisations working in the HIV/AIDS sector would be allowed to operate again, war veterans and ZANU-PF militants have prevented them doing their valuable work in areas of dire need. 
 <img height="35" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25" alt=""/>
UN High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS – Union Leader Speaks up on Workplace Interventions 
 
The UN General Assembly organised a high-level meeting on 10-11 June to review progress on the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. 
 
While progress has been made on reducing infections, bringing down the death rate, and increasing the number of people on anti-retroviral treatment (ART), the number of people newly infected still outnumber the number of people who have been treated in 2007 by five-to-two, i.e. 2.5 million newly infected as compared to one million on ART (see article below). 
 
During the civil society hearing, workplace responses were addressed by Romano Ojiambo Ochieng, General Secretary of the Ugandan Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union. He emphasised that HIV/AIDS is a workplace issue, linked to the broader issues of economic growth and sustainable development. 
 
The potential of the workplace as a vital entry point for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes continues to be overlooked. Many national plans to fight the pandemic still lack a strategy for the world of work. 
 
Many companies began to act when they realised that HIV/AIDS programmes were not only good for corporate social responsibility, but also essential for corporate self-interest, evening some cases, the company’s survival. The position of labour unions in the workplace makes them ideally placed to help workers who are reluctant to submit to testing for fear of discrimination. 
 
Ochieng came out with a number of recommendations, including companies seeking new co-investment opportunities must collaborate with unions to strengthen the impact of interventions; to increase investment in training for union activists; to introduce policies keeping with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work; and representation of unions and employers on national HIV/AIDS consultative and policy-making bodies. 
 
(Sources: UN Press Releases and ITF HIV/AIDS Update 46 of 1 July) 
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Three Million Now Receiving Life-saving Drugs 
 
The close of 2007 marks an important step in the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Nearly three million people are now receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new report jointly launched on 2 June by WHO, UNAIDS, and UNICEF. 
 
The report, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority Interventions in the Health Sector, also points to other gains. These include improved access to interventions aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), and expanding testing and counselling. 
 
According to the authors of the report, the close of 2007 saw nearly one million more people receiving ART, bringing the total to almost three million. This figure was the target of the 3x5 initiative that sought to have three million HIV-positive people on treatment by the end of 2005. Although that target was not achieved until two years later, it is widely credited with jump-starting the push towards ART scale-up. 
 
(Source: WHO press release, 2 June) 
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Risk Factors for Spread of HIV in Afghanistan High 
 
Although the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively low in Afghanistan, the country’s Ministry of Public Health recently said that the potential risk factors for the spread of the virus are high. These include war, poverty, illiteracy, massive internal and external displacement, the existence of commercial and unsafe sex, and unsafe injection practices and blood transfusions. 
 
There is widespread stigma and a lack of awareness about the disease in Afghanistan. The World Bank has granted US$10 million to the country’s Health Ministry for identifying and creating public awareness among groups most at risk of HIV/AIDS. 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.news–medical.net">www.news–medical.net</a>, published 28 May and based on a report by Reuters) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS Updates, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports, among other things, on the publication of the ILO report entitled “Saving Lives, Protecting Jobs” on the SHARE project. According to the report, workplace attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS and acceptance of condom use and other preventive measures have increased in the countries covered by the SHARE project. 
 
It further reports on inroads made against the epidemic in Cambodia and the dangers of a potential increase of infections in Sri Lanka because of the large number of commercial sex workers, internally displaced people and migrant workers. In Kiev, the ITF organised an Eastern European sub-regional HIV/AIDS workshop.

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