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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
On 18 May, Grafiska Fackförbundet, Sweden’s Graphical Workers’ Union, and Skogs-och Träfacket, the Forest and Wood Trades Union, held their last Congresses in Stockholm. On 19 May, the two Swedish national unions held a successful merger Congress, reports the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI). 
 
Per-Olof Sjöö was elected the new President of GS, the Forestry, Wood & Graphical Workers’ Union, numbering now 70,000 union members. Three Vice Presidents were elected, Tommy Andersson, Kenneth Johansson, and Erik Georgii. 
 
Sjöö said an immediate priority for the union will be the continued and unrelenting struggle to protect jobs, ensuring that it is not workers who foot the bill for the current economic crisis. He promised peace with the LO family of unions, but said it will not be a peaceful Swedish labour movement until the fight for justice has been won. 
 
The ICEM extends its best to GS and knows it is ready to face the struggles that will re-shape Swedish social life and work.

Swedish Graphical, Forestry Unions Merge

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In October 2006, efforts to make the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure of the Rotterdam Convention apply to asbestos were blocked by a handful of countries, including Canada. The Rotterdam Convention is an international agreement on hazardous materials. 
 
PIC is not a ban. It is a requirement stating that information is to be made available, and adequate warning of a substance’s hazards is to be made available when that substance is traded on global markets. However, even this mild requirement has been too much for the asbestos industry to accept. Their fear, no doubt, is that such warnings will cause developing countries – Canada is one of the biggest exporters of asbestos – to question the safety of asbestos. 

<img height="200" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Asbestos.jpg" width="135"/>
The Canadian government made the usual public excuses about scientific uncertainty but, in fact, a government memo that became public last year proves that Canada backs the asbestos industry for crass economic and political reasons. The existence, or lack of existence, of any scientific doubt about the hazards of asbestos played little role. 
 
On 31 October, at the most recent Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention, Canada once again managed to prevent the PIC procedure from applying to asbestos. Canadian delegates, aware of the embarrassing stance of their position, chose to keep a low profile, but worked behind the scenes to organise and encourage the very few remaining supporters of asbestos to block any progress. Those nations are India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Ukraine, Pakistan, and the Philippines. 
 
It is interesting to note that the Rotterdam Convention binds signatory countries to consider only the hazard criteria. Economic and trade issues are not grounds for excluding a substance from the PIC procedure. How then were the parties able to prevent the inclusion of asbestos under PIC when no one at the October meeting was able to refute the case that all forms of asbestos – including chrysotile – meet the Rotterdam Convention’s scientific and legal criteria?

Canada Again Serves as Roadblock at Rotterdam Convention on Asbestos

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

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

Workers in Pakistan Unite Against Oil, Gas Privatisation

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

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

Last Major Pact in Place for Western Canadian Paperworkers

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In this issue, we report on World AIDS Day, the sub-regional HIV/AIDS workshop in Windhoek and the Global Fund grant approvals for Round 8. 
 
This e-bulletin is also available on the ICEM Website <a href="/index.php?id=72&doc=2912" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator 
 
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Botswana: HIV Practice Code Released 
 
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has released a National Code of Good Practice with emphasis on HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The Code’s primary objective with respect to HIV/AIDS is to provide guidelines for employers and trade unions on how to manage HIV/AIDS in the workplace. 
 
The Code includes the following principles: creating a safe working environment, developing procedures to manage occupational incidents and claims for compensation, introducing measures to prevent the spread of HIV, developing strategies to assess and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS and supporting those individuals who are infected or affected. 
 
(Source: Mmegi/The Reporter, Gaborone, 16 October) 
 

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

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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window “Translate a Web page“: 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 39 December 2008

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The body count was still being tabulated early today in China’s deadliest coal-mine accident in over 14 months. But at least 74 miners were confirmed dead, following a gas explosion that occurred at the Tunlan Coal Mine early Sunday, 22 February. The mine is owned by the Shanxi Jiaomei Group. 
 
Dozens more are still trapped and the death toll could rise to nearly 100. search and rescue efforts were called off at midday today, 23 February. The tragedy occurred at Gujiao City, Shanxi Province, at the company’s Shanxi Coking Coal Co. 
 
Yesterday, family members of some of those trapped received mobile phone calls from miners’ deep underground, perhaps hearing their loved ones voices for the last time. 

<img height="130" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="130" alt=""/>
A total of 436 miners were working at the time of the explosion, and some 300 miners managed to escape. Some 114 of those had been hospitalised, and at least 21 of those faced death-threatening circumstances. The Shanxi Jiaomei Group is a private coal and petroleum company. 
 
The disaster was China’s worst coal-mine blast since 105 miners perished on 5 December 2007 at the Xinyao coal mine, also in Shanxi Province. Four months earlier, 181 miners died inside shafts of two adjoining mines in Shandong Province when the mines flooded. 
 
Earlier this month, on 13 February, eight Chinese miners were killed in a gas explosion inside the Zhijin mine in Zhijin County, Guizhou Province, which is in the China’s southwest region. Those victims were identified as migrant workers from nearby Chongquing. Twenty-five miners managed to escape that explosion.

Mine Explosion Brings Weekend Death Toll to 74 at Major Chinese Colliery

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The ICEM expressed concern recently at the actions of Sinotex Lanka, Ltd., a garment producer which is owned by Hong Kong-based Cristal-Martin Group. The company has closed two factories after operating 27 years in Sri Lanka. 
 
Members of the Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union, who recently applied for affiliation to the ICEM, have called for international solidarity for the 2,500 workers that have lost their jobs. The ICEM insists that the company make the correct pay settlements to workers, in line with national legislation. 
 
Reports suggest that Sinotex has already made arrangements for the factories to reopen with new workers, a clear illustration of how a company uses the global economic crisis to destroy a trade union. Most of the Sinotex workers are women, and many are migrants from rural villages far from the factories in the Investment Promotion Zone of Katunayake. 
 
Many of the workers were sacked after up to 20 years employment. 

<img height="138" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0902.sri.lanka.jpg" width="200"/>
The Joint Secretary of the union, Anton Marcus, sent a letter early in February to the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. That letter urged him to organize “dialogue between social partners in order to overcome the challenges posed by the world economic crisis.” 
 
The legislation that must be upheld is the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1978. In order for a different settlement to be agreed outside of the terms of this law, it must be carried out under a Memorandum of Settlement, covered in section 12(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act of Sri Lanka. This must be based on negotiations between the employer and employees before the Commissioner of Labour. 
 
Sinotex Lanka, Ltd. has violated all of these legal provisions, summoning workers one by one, and then terminating their services with a small stipend. Neither the union nor the Commissioner of Labour had been consulted, even though the union had requested a meeting. 
 
The ICEM believes this has set a dangerous precedent for other anti-union companies across Sri Lanka. Members of the union at Wheel Works Private, Ltd. have also been threatened by managers with discharge if they do not resign their membership.

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

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French trade unions confirmed in late February that they will issue a call for a day of mobilization on Thursday, 19 March, “resulting in strikes and demonstrations throughout the country.” The joint statement was made by members of the Inter-Eight group at CFTC headquarters. 
 
The CFDT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT, FSU, Solidaires, and UNSA continue to show their trade union unity, building on the one-day general strike of 19 January 
 
Although the 19 January action did lead to some changes to government legislation, such as establishing a social investment fund, ICEM’s French affiliates regard the measures as too fragmentary to change the course of economic policy in these trying times. 
 
French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to increase the minimum wage, to change his policy on public sector employment, and refused to return taxes on overtime pay. Other factors in organizing the 19 March strike are continued job cuts, further trends toward partial unemployment, and heavy reductions in workers’ purchasing power, all of which amplify the current economic recession for French workers. 

<img height="136" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM.Solidarity.JPG" width="140"/>
Several workers’ protests began last week. French workers from two Grenoble area factories of US-based Caterpillar protested in the French Alpine city and then marched in Paris over announced plant closure. Rubber workers at a Continental tyre factory north of Paris also protested due to a threatened closure. 
 
And in Lyon on 3 March, 40 workers of auto-parts firm Preciturn began a 30-hour sit-in at the offices of a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland. The highly debt-laden subsidiary, an accounting firm, had abandoned its contract with Preciturn, leaving unpaid bills and an inability to meet salaries. 
 
In extending its joint declaration of 5 January, the eight trade unions listed their targeted goals as: “Upholding public and private employment; Fighting against job insecurity and social and economic deregulation; Calling for compensation policies that maintain the purchasing power of wage earners, the unemployed and pensioners; and Defending the collective framework of solidarity and social protection.” 
 
The social protests which began last week are expected to gain momentum between now and 19 March, with calls for mobilization among employees in the education sector, doctors and hospital staff, as well as police. According to a 2 March opinion poll, 58% of company executives support the manifestation of 19 March. Workers at Air France have already confirmed that they will take part in the strike. 
 
The group of eight unions will meet again 20 March 2009.

French Unions Call Workers Out on Strike 19 March

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On 6 March, ICEM Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten hosted an international conference on decent work in Utrecht, The Netherlands, attended by 200 activists. 
 
The main topic of the conference was how trade unions globally can work together to respond to and resist the increasing trend of using flexible, contract, and agency workers. The conference featured various speakers from different sectors and regions, discussing union strategies to combat this worrying trend. 
 
As the basis of a now five-year campaign by the ICEM, many corporations throughout the world are increasingly employing workers on temporary contracts, and sometimes use fake employment agencies to avoid labour legislation. The ICEM has documented many instances in which employees remain on rolling, short-term contracts for many years, allowing management to skirt social responsibilities such as health care, welfare benefits, overtime pay, and liveable wages. 
 
The practice of outsourcing allows companies to become extremely flexible in their planning, with improvements in their bottom financial line, while at the same heavily inflicting job security for workers. 

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Manfred Warda
In Utrecht on 6 March, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda chaired the panel discussion on “Flexibilisation: What can you do as a union?” that included Joseph Toe, ICEM regional coordinator for the Contract and Agency Labour campaign in sub-Saharan Africa. The specific case of Unilever workers in Pakistan was examined, which can be found <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3015-Support-Needed-for-Contract-Agency-Workers-Forming-Union-at-Unilever-Tea-Factory-in-Pakistan" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
Practical examples of trade union approaches to Contract and Agency Labour were exchanged through workshops. Issues of health and safety brought about by the increased trend were discussed, as well as concrete future steps in the continued fight for decent work.

Dutch FNV Bondgenoten Holds Decent Work Conference on Contract, Agency Work

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Oil-rig workers at Terra Nova off the Canadian province of Newfoundland ratified their first non-mediated collective agreement in March. And with it, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada is on track to link collective agreement expiration dates between onshore oil, gas, and chemical plants with its two North Atlantic offshore agreements. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, a consortium of seven oil companies led by Petro-Canada, ratified a two-year agreement by a 60% vote. The 180 workers will receive a 6.5% wage increase retroactive to 1 October 2008, and they will receive a 4.5% increase in October 2009. 
 
Joe Gargiso, an Administrative Vice President for CEP who heads the union’s Oil and Chemicals bargaining, said the main significance of the agreement is that it expires in 2010 when the CEP’s National Energy Bargaining contracts come due. “Our goal is to line up the offshore agreements with the refineries and other energy installations across Canada,” he said. “And we’re now moving in that direction.” 
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The CEP’s other offshore contract, covering 450 union members, is at Hibernia, a North Atlantic platform owned by another consortium of oil companies including Petro-Canada, only led and operated by US based ExxonMobil. The collective agreement there expires on 1 July 2009. 
 
Gargiso said the labour-management relationship there has improved markedly since workers made Hibernia the first North American offshore oil platform to unionise back in 2001. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, who organised in 2003, saw a first collective agreement take effect through a provincial mediator’s interest arbitration award in 2006. The same holds true at Hibernia, where a Canadian provincial government mediator determined a 38-month initial agreement in May 2006. 
 
At Terra Nova, Gargiso singled out participation in a CEP Health, Safety, and Industrial Relations Fund, as well as wage adjustments ranging from one percent to 6.5% for 117 of the rig’s workers as highlights of the new, bi-laterally negotiated agreement. The CEP’s Fund requires employers to pay C$.03 per hour worked for this purpose. Workers won improvements in shift differential for night-time work, and improvements in training, travel expenses, and vacations. 
 
At both Terra Nova and Hibernia, the CEP collective agreements cover workers employed by all service and supply operators on the two oil platforms.

Terra Nova Offshore Oil Pact Major Step for Canadian CEP

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