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Trade union rallies, protests and strong and bitter objections are being heard across Pakistan to harsh and draconian changes to the country&rsquo;s labour code.
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&nbsp;Five major trade union centres have marched, posted letters, distributed literature, and even promoted and participated in a one-day hunger strike on 20 July in protest to, in the words of one Asian NGO, legislative changes that take &ldquo;Pakistan&rsquo;s working conditions back to the 17th century.&rdquo; 
 
A month ago, the National Assembly&rsquo;s House of Representatives &ndash; without Senate consent &ndash; passed changes to Pakistan&rsquo;s Finance Bill, which effectively increased daily work hours, reduced overtime compensation, and created a new category of &ldquo;contract worker&rdquo; not entitled to legal compensation for overtime work. 
 
The legalisation of contract work with no overtime pay will open the floodgates in Pakistan for employers to use large numbers of people as temporary workers well into the future. By amending just one statute in the framework of the Finance Bill, daily working hours have been increased from eight to 12. 
 
Another amendment abolishes the country&rsquo;s compulsory closed weekly holiday, while others will target women for more work and less family life. A provision in the Finance Bill amends the Factories Act, allowing women workers now to work up until 22h00 in two daily shifts. Prior, women were prohibited from working before sunrise and after sunset. 
 
Trade union leaders in Pakistan, and the world over, are declaring the changes inhumane, in violation of international labour standards and ILO Conventions, and against the spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan. Leaders inside Pakistan also consider the procedure for adopting the labour amendments as unconstitutional and illegal. They say the direct result will be rampant labour exploitation, especially to those people already marginalised within society.

Trade Unions in Pakistan Revolt Against Labour Code Changes

Oil fields workers in Chad again hit Esso-Tchad, lead company in a West African energy consortium, with a three-day strike last week. The workers, organized behind Chad&rsquo;s national labour centre, UST, are seeking salary parity with oil workers in neighbouring Cameroon, connected to them by a 200,000-barrel-per-day pipeline.
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&nbsp; 
The Chad-Cameroon Pipeline, fully operational now and reaping rich rewards for ExxonMobil, Petronas of Malaysia, and Chevron of the US, has been wrapped in a contentious funding dispute between the World Bank and the government of Chad, which only recently was tentatively resolved. The oil companies have used the high-profile stalemate over development monies to take holiday on many of their own social commitments. 
 
Case in point is the difficulty oil workers in the Doha fields of southern Chad have in getting management at Esso-Tchad to respond to good-faith efforts to resolve salary differences and other work terms. An important matter in Doha that employers have ignored is a career development programme for oil workers, a plan that was promised when production began in 2003 but has not been delivered. 
 
The 420 oil workers, behind the UST, said that if Esso-Tchad is not forthcoming in meeting their demands, they will launch a 10-day strike, which could come as early as this week. Workers struck initially from 4-6 July, and last week&rsquo;s strike ran from 18-20 July.
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The dispute between the World Bank and Chad was over a legislative change made to the country&rsquo;s Petroleum Revenue Management Law last year. In effect, it changed the bank&rsquo;s financial terms. The World Bank responded by halting all loans and development monies. On 14 July, the two parties reached an agreement that lending would resume once the government makes amendments to the law, including a requirement that 70% of oil revenues be used for anti-poverty measures. 
 
The Chad-Cameroon Pipeline has been plagued by labour and human rights problems dating back to its construction between 2000 and 2003. To cite one social consequence, credible research done in 2004 reveals that the prevalence rate of those infected with HIV/AIDS was 19.8% in the bordering populations of the 1,063 kilometre pipeline, compared to a 5.5% average on the national level.

ExxonMobil Workers in Chad Launch Renewed Strikes

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Affiliates in Colombia Organise First Seminar on HIV/AIDS
ICEM affiliates in Colombia organised their first seminar on HIV/AIDS and the workplace in cooperation with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Social Protection. 
 
The seminar concluded that there was a lack of consistent campaigning on the part of companies and also unions. To overcome ignorance, discrimination and stigmatisation participants recommended including clauses in collective agreements and drawing up workplace policies based on the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work.
The seminar formulated an action plan which includes the formation of workplace committees, workshops, information material, revision of collective agreements and gender-oriented programmes. Each union is to nominate a focal point to coordinate implementation of the action plan. 
 
Company representatives were invited to the seminar but only Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, which&nbsp;represents the interests of BHP Billiton, Glencore and Anglo American, participated. 
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
Mongolia Union Concerned about Increase in Reported HIV Infections 
In a report to the ICEM's Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, the Mongolia Mining and Energy Union expressed concern about the recent increase in HIV prevalence in the country. Despite the still very low prevalence rate, the potential for a further increase due to unsafe sex, high infection rates among migrant workers and mobile traders and lack of education among young people is high. 
 
Workplace prevention programmes are at the initial stage in the country. Only recently, trade unions organised a national seminar in collaboration with the employers&rsquo; federation and the ILO on the introduction of workplace prevention programmes. 
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A Quarter of a Century of AIDS
The world has changed in 25 years since physicians saw the earliest cases of AIDS in hospitals in the United States and in Africa. The world was slow to recognise the gravity of the new health crisis and in the years in which AIDS remained off the political agenda, the infection took a foothold that it has not yet relinquished.
Over the last quarter century nearly 65 million people were infected with HIV and an estimated 25 million have already died of AIDS.
Today it is estimated that close to 40 million live with HIV &ndash; yet the vast majority are unaware of their status. More than 4 million became newly infected with HIV and almost 3 million died in 2005. 
 
With the establishment of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS in 1987 and UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) in 1996, the United Nations moved to address the epidemic not as an isolated health problem, but as a human development issue. 
 
At the 2001 Special Session of the UN General Assembly on AIDS (UNGASS), 189 nations agreed that HIV/AIDS was a national and international development issue of the highest priority, signing the historic Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS that promised innovative responses, coordinated efforts and accountability for progress against the epidemic.
The Declaration set a comprehensive list of time-bound targets to support the Millennium Development Goal 6 of halting, and beginning to reverse the epidemic by 2015. 
 
In 2003, UNAIDS and the WHO promoted the 3 by 5 Initiative (3 million people living with HIV/AIDS on treatment by the end of 2005). Although the initiative did not meet its target, it focused attention on treatment and increased the number from 400,000 in December 2003 to 1.3 million in December 2005.
When new targets such as universal access by 2010 are set it is hoped that these are not empty promises but there is a real commitment behind them which includes the massive financial resources required. 
 
A real breakthrough in funding came with the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) in December 2002. More than 20% of all international financing to fight HIV/AIDS is currently channelled through the Global Fund, which has approved close to 400 grants to government and civil society partners in 131 countries.
Funds contributed and pledged to the Global Fund by donors totalled US$8.5 billion. But even such a large amount pales when resource requirements for 2007 are estimated to be US$18 billion, while resources expected to be available from all sources are estimated at US$10 billion. Despite substantial increases in donor funding, huge gaps remain.
(Source: UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic &ndash; see below. Read also: Newsweek, 5 June &quot;AIDS at 25&quot;) 
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UNAIDS Publishes Report on the Epidemic
As reported in the June issue of ICEM's e-bulletin, UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, launched the 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic on the eve of a United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS. This special edition, marking the 10th anniversary of UNAIDS, contains the most in-depth data from countries to date, based on progress reports from 126 countries as well as independent data from more than 30 civil society organisations. 
 
The Report cites positive trends, and states that the epidemic appears to be slowing down globally but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. The Report also shows that important progress has been made in country responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years.
It states, however, that HIV/AIDS remains an exceptional threat. The response is very diverse with some countries doing well on treatment but poorly on HIV prevention efforts and vice-versa. 
 
An estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide. This is lower than the 40.3 million given in the UNAIDS December 2005 Epidemic Update. The lower estimate is partly due to genuine declines in HIV prevalence in several countries. However, most of the differences are due to increased availability of reliable data.
Rising mortality have also caused HIV prevalence to level off although the numbers of people living with HIV have continued to rise, due to population growth and antiretroviral treatment. 
 
The report can be accessed at <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>. It includes profiles of the 126 countries surveyed. 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 30 May 2006) 
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS
Unlike the 2001 UN General Assembly Session on HIV/AIDS, relatively few world leaders attended the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS which took place in New York from 29 May to 2 June.
Civil society organisations have criticised the final declaration of this meeting. Difference over prevention strategies, such as abstinence and condom use, intellectual property rights, and the naming of vulnerable groups have resulted in a weaker declaration and in serious omissions.
In deference to Muslim and conservative Latin and Vatican opposition, the Declaration refers only to &ldquo;vulnerable groups&rdquo; at risk for infection without naming sex workers, homosexuals, or intravenous drug users as in need of particular attention. Civil society also noted an insufficient commitment to women&rsquo;s rights. 
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
Global Fund Progress Report Shows Substantial Impact 
 
Performance results from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria show that as of the end of&nbsp;April, 544,000 people have begun antiretroviral treatment through Global Fund-supported programmes &ndash; up from 384,000 six months ago. 
 
Global Fund support for efforts to combat AIDS, TB and malaria account for 56% of the total US$5.4 million committed to date for programmes in 131 countries to fight the three diseases. Some&nbsp;400 grants have been approved so far. Of the US$3 billion allocated to AIDS, half is dedicated to prevention activities while the other half is allocated to treatment. 
 
In 2005, the Global Fund was responsible for an estimated 20% of all international funding in support of efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, and approximately two-thirds of global funding for programmes against TB and malaria. 
 
What is encouraging is that civil society organisations are strong implementers as compared to government agencies, with 30% of their grants over-performing and the remaining 70% showing satisfactory performance. 
There are strong indications that countries can drastically increase their national absorptive capacity by channelling more of its health spending through non-governmental and faith-based organisations and the private sector. 

(Source: Global Fund Press Release, 29 June 2006)
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Focus on the Caribbean
According to the UNAIDS Report (see above), AIDS-related illnesses are the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 44 in the Caribbean, accounting for more than 27,000 deaths in 2005. 
 
While the Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti have contained the progress of HIV, Guyana has a serious epidemic underway.
The Caribbean remains the region most affected by HIV/AIDS after Africa. According to UNAIDS estimates 330,000 HIV-positive people were living in the Caribbean at the end of 2005, 51% of whom were women.
This status as second-most affected region masks substantial country differences in the extent and intensity of the epidemic. Prevalence rates range from 0.1% in Cuba to more than 2% in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, and exceeding 3% in the Bahamas and Haiti. New infections among women are far surpassing those among men, ranging from twice the likelihood for teenage girls to be infected in Jamaica to six times in Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
In the region fewer than one in four people needing antiretroviral drugs are actually receiving them. 

(Source: UNAIDS 2006 Report as compiled by Medical News Today, 5 June 2006) 

<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
Global Unions Demand G8 Permanent Working Group on HIV/AIDS 
In the run-up to the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, 15-16 July, a Global Union delegation met Russian President Putin.
Among other items, they put forward the demand for a permanent Working Group on HIV/AIDS. At last year&rsquo;s Summit in Gleneagles, there was a time-bound commitment to fighting the epidemic but since then there has not been a clear follow-up and monitoring mechanism to reach the objective of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010.
The call for a permanent Working Group was also made at the ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference in Geneva in June when Global Unions delivered letters to government, workers&rsquo; and employers&rsquo; delegations and to the Health Ministers gathered at the WHO annual World Health Assembly in May.
(Source: OECD-TUAC Press Release, 5 July and Global Union Statements) 
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
International AIDS Conference 
 
The ICEM abstract written for the International AIDS Conference, Toronto, Canada,&nbsp;13 to 18 August, was accepted for a poster exhibition.
The ICEM was also invited to speak on &ldquo;The importance of social dialogue and workers&rsquo; participation in public/private partnerships&rdquo; at a Satellite Meeting Session with the theme: &ldquo;From the workplace to the community &ndash; Co-investment to access prevention, treatment and care in public/private partnerships&rdquo;. 

<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="20" />
ICEM Resources on HIV/AIDS 
 
This is a reminder that HIV/AIDS materials are available on our website <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>. You can download the ICEM Leaflet on HIV/AIDS as well as power point presentations and find links to other interesting websites and materials.
Latest addition is the HIV/AIDS Training Manual for Collective Bargaining. Written by the ICEM Africa Regional HIV/AIDS Coordinator Shirley Miller with input from the national coordinators from sub-Saharan Africa the manual is a rights-based practical guide for unionists to deal with HIV/AIDS at the workplace and bargain for clauses safeguarding against discrimination and victimisation. The manual can also be found in three different languages at:
English: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf</a>
French: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf</a>
Spanish: <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf</a>

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No.10

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On the eve of critical Nigerian national and state elections, the country&rsquo;s two national labour centers elected the two presidents of both ICEM&rsquo;s oil workers&rsquo; unions to key positions. 
 
Comrade Peter Esele, president of white-collar PENGASSAN Union, was elected President-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria on 3 March in Lagos. The TUC is a newly-formed association of 22 unions, representing some 2.5 million senior staff in varying services and industries. 
 
Two weeks earlier, Peter Akpatason, president of blue-collar NUPENG, was elected Trustee of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). 
<img height="124" alt="" src="" width="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <img height="116" alt="" src="" width="110" />
For the first time since 1999, the 38 affiliates of the NLC have new leadership. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was given a rousing send-off as a dynamic trade union leader. Abdul Waheed Omar, president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, won election as President of NLC on 17 February. Oshiomhole has left his trade union post to seek election as governor of Edo State from a multi-party alliance that includes the Labor Party and the Action Congress Party. 
 
In a message to the NLC&rsquo;s 9th National Delegates&rsquo; Conference at Abuja, Oshiomhole commended the role the four-million-member NLC has played in the enhancement of the welfare of workers, the consolidation of democracy inside Nigeria, and the war against corruption. 
 
He said that democracy with all its imperfections was better than the most benign dictatorship. Oshiomhole added that the NLC has become a democratic, independent, socially responsible, and effective organisation that commanded the confidence of workers, trusted by the public, and respected by the government and employers. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
The national and state elections in April will be held at a time when security for oil and other workers in Nigeria is seriously threatened, and when corruption among public officials is rampant. Lack of development and job opportunities for local people in the oil-rich Niger Delta has spawned scores of ransom kidnappings, while theft, or bunkering, of petrol from pipelines has jeopardized public security.
Last week, for instance, a communiqu&eacute; issued by NUPENG typifies what workers face in Nigeria. The union issued a 21-day ultimatum to police in the Port Harcourt zone to halt the &ldquo;illegal extortion of money from tanker drivers by the police.&rdquo; The statement added that on most occasions, tanker drivers are &ldquo;unnecessarily delayed to the point of breaking their resistance, to offer money as ransom before they are eventually released to continue with their journey.&rdquo; 
 
NUPENG contends that such extortion by police occurs under the guise of law enforcement fighting pipeline vandalism, when, in fact, NUPENG&rsquo;s Port Harcourt zonal branch has evidence of police complicity in pipeline vandalism. 
 
The two oil workers&rsquo; unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, have also warned against election rigging as the coming presidential and state governorships balloting draws near.

Nigerian Oil Workers’ Leaders Elected to Posts in National Union Centres

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Power Workers&rsquo; Union of Canada (PWU) has called the government&rsquo;s plan to close all coal-fired electric generation plants by 2014 &ldquo;unrealistic and risky.&rdquo; The ICEM affiliate reiterated this stand in a statement welcoming the federal government&rsquo;s ecoTrust plan, an investment vehicle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
 
PWU states that energy needs are growing rapidly across Canada. Advocating electric supply in the province of Ontario from many sources, the union is urging the province to use its share of ecoTrust monies to clean up carbon emissions by investing in better and cleaner technologies. 
<img height="30" src="" width="250" alt="" />
&ldquo;Ontario needs affordable electricity for its growing needs and the existing coal-fuelled plants are a necessary part of the mix,&rdquo; said PWU President Don MacKinnon. &ldquo;The technology to dramatically reduce air pollution from these plants is readily available, and the PWU believes it should be installed.&rdquo; 
 
The PWU also believes the best way to lessen the risk over electric supply &ndash; besides clean-coal methods &ndash; is new and refurbished nuclear plant capacity. &ldquo;This is an affordable way to immediately reduce pollution, while the province makes investments in conservation and demand management, viable new energy sources, and new transmissions lines,&rdquo; said the PWU statement. 
 
PWU, an affiliate of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), is the largest electric workers&rsquo; union in Ontario, representing employees in generation, transmission, distribution, regulations, and research and development.

PWU in Canada Calls for Cleaner Coal-Fuel Technologies

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Union members of ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) of Australia began industrial action 8 March at a tyre factory in Salisbury, South Australia. The 500-member workforce voted on 2 March for strike action due to wide differences in future wage increases. LHMU began four-hour work stoppages last Thursday. 
 
Bridgestone responded by issuing temporary suspensions to some workers, claiming the suspensions were necessary due to production cuts. Management issued the suspensions without consultation with the union. LHMU has informed the company that an overtime ban is in effect all this week, and that a 24-hour strike will begin on 19 March. 
<img height="56" src="" width="350" alt="" />
Bridgestone had initially offered either a three-year contract with wage hikes of 4% over the entire contract, or a 6% increase over four years. That was modified to 6% over three years, with a bonus payment of A$2,000 per worker and productivity bonuses that could total A$3,000. Workers are seeking a 4% increase for each year of the renewal agreement. Talks have been ongoing for nearly a year. 
 
LHMU claims workers at the auto and truck tyre plant have been struggling to win adequate wage increases just to keep pace with inflation. &ldquo;For the past six years, they&rsquo;ve received an annual raise of just 3%,&rdquo; said LHMU Organiser Jim Watson. &ldquo;Now the company wants to offer them even less.&rdquo; 
 
On the day of the 8 March job action, LHMU members at the tyre factory received the solidarity of the United Steelworkers (USW) of North America in a letter. The USW is currently engaged with Bridgestone in difficult talks in the US, covering 5,000 workers at eight factories. 
<img height="102" alt="" src="" width="200" />
&ldquo;The USW has a history of difficult negotiations with Bridgestone,&rdquo; wrote Executive Vice President for Rubber, Ron Hoover. &ldquo;One lesson we have learned in our dealings with Bridgestone and other companies is that union power is bolstered when unions across the globe stand together in disputes with common employers. 
 
&ldquo;We are happy to stand together with LHMU in its current effort to achieve a fair contract with Bridgestone,&rdquo; pledged Hoover. 
 
Japan-based Bridgestone Corporation is currently engaged in a share buy-back plan, totalling A$50 million, of Bridgestone Australia Ltd., which would make the company privately-held and a direct subsidiary of the Japanese parent.

Bridgestone Workers in Australia Take Industrial Action for Fair Gains

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
UK paperworkers, members of the Graphical, Paper and Media Division of Amicus, voted by nearly a two-to-one margin to approve a new pay package for 2007. The agreement covers some 3,500 workers in paper mills represented by the employers association, the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI). 
 
Year 2007 pay gains will total 3%, similar to the wage increases achieved by Amicus with CPI for the corrugated packaging sector late last year. Paper mill workers voting for the 2007 wage increase numbered 1,351, while those voting against, 777. 
<img height="102" alt="" src="" width="100" />
This set of wage talks follows detailed negotiations over an 18-month period between the Amicus and CPI for a new national collective agreement for the UK&rsquo;s papermaking sector. The industry has been hard hit by rising energy costs and higher raw material costs, resulting in mill and paper machine shutdowns. The latest example is M-Real&rsquo;s closure of its 350-worker Sittingbourne mill in Kent. 
 
British paperworkers are due to ballot on a joint partnership plan with CPI, called &ldquo;Work Together, Grow Together, Stay Together.&rdquo; The programme will emphasize learning and skills, work-life balances, and better safety at work practices, as well as workplace improvement methods with employee information and consultation processes.

Paperworkers of Amicus Ratify 2007 Pay Gains in UK

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Two short strikes in Zambia&rsquo;s copper belt ended early in March with assurances from managers that miners&rsquo; grievances would be addressed. On 7 March, a seven-day strike by 1,000 miners at Luanshya Copper Mines ended with the company pledging to ICEM affiliate Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) that it would rescind its threat to sack strike leaders, and engage in earnest wage talks with the union. 
 
Another strike at the Mufulira and Nkana mines of Mopani Copper, owned by Swiss Glencore International and First Quantum Minerals of Canada, started on 1 March and ended two days later when Mopani&rsquo;s 7,000 miners began returning to work. MUZ entered bargaining there with the company and secured an 18% wage increase for miners. 
At Luanshya, owned by J&amp;W Investment Group Ltd., miners marched to the offices of the company on 1 March after they received their February salaries. MUZ President Rayford Mbulo said management had threatened to dismiss strike leaders and other miners. He asserted that Luanshya managers had stated on five occasions that they were not willing to accept miners&rsquo; demands, despite workers meeting all the companies set production goals. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
&ldquo;Management should not just be issuing threats of dismissing workers, but should take time to reflect on (workers&rsquo;) actions,&rdquo; said Mbulo to the Times of Zambia on the first day of the strike. He said the position of MUZ is that since copper prices have doubled over the past two years and the Luanshya mine was at peak production, it was only fair that miners were appropriately rewarded.
Workers at Luanshya earn as little as US$200 per month. They are seeking a fair wage increase, in part, because they now pay for basic services, including water and electricity. Previously, the Zambian state mining company paid such expenses. 
 
At Mopani, miners began returning to work on 3 March as an act of good faith that negotiations would succeed. The strike did force the company to increase its wage offer from 16% to 18%.

Two Copper Strikes in Zambia End with Assurances, Pay Gains for Miners

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
While women across the globe celebrated work/life accomplishments on 8 March 2007, women in Iran had to cancel a planned demonstration for women&rsquo;s rights because of certain arrests. Only four days earlier, over 30 women were arrested while protesting and detained at Evin Prison in Tehran. 
 
In Palestine, different from Iran in that a vibrant trade union movement is underway, women celebrated through their union, ICEM affiliate Petroleum, Mining, and Chemicals Workers of Palestine (GUPMCWP). The union marked the day in a moving statement by paying tribute to the hard-won efforts of women everywhere, and then letting women leaders of the union speak for themselves. 
 
GUPMCWP Head Mohammed Jadallah said the day must be held up as one in which women have &ldquo;crossed the border&rdquo; between balancing family life with work in all walks of life. He said country after country began recognising International Women&rsquo;s Day in the early 20th Century when &ldquo;women started pushing the wheel of the economy in the west.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The head of the union&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s committee as well as the union&rsquo;s International Officer, Dr. Nuzha Mohammed Jadallah, said the participation of women in all trade unions must strengthen, and that mass participation by women must occur in all &ldquo;activities and organisations of civil society.&rdquo; 
The GUPMCWP&rsquo;s Nabeela Mahmmoud said the ability of women to take different courses regarding trade union issues is paramount to building strong women leaders. She said that &ldquo;educating the unionist women&rdquo; to the key roles they can play inside the union is the surest way to a strong union. 
 
The GUPMCWP concluded the statement by declaring their solidarity with the women strikers of Turkish ICEM affiliate, Petrol-İş, at Fresenius Medical Care. The Palestinian union said it was proudly supporting the strikers &ldquo;until they achieve their demands of dignity and justice, on and off the job, and our union in Palestine stands firmly with them to achieve their just demands. The working women in Palestine congratulate them on this International Women&rsquo;s Day, and the victory that is to follow for their and their union, Petrol-İş.&rdquo;

Women in Iran Try to Celebrate Women’s Day, Palestinian Women Share Thanks on 8 March

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Union members of Lastik-İş, ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish trade union affiliate in chemicals and rubber, returned to their jobs at a pharmaceutical factory in Istanbul, following a six-day plant occupation that ended on 6 March by police force. 
 
Workers became angry when the Turkish arm of the Menarini Group, an Italian-based pharmaceutical firm, sacked ten union leaders after it became evident that the company, İbrahim Etham İla&ccedil;lari A.Ş., would not abide by a Supreme Court of Appeals decree recognising Lastik-İş as the workers&rsquo; bargaining representative. 
<img height="88" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Armoured police, together with security personnel and company management, forcefully ended the workers&rsquo; occupation on 6 March. Workers then gathered at plant gates, but police physically dispersed the assembled. Managers fired seven more Lastik-İş leaders in the final days of the occupation, bringing to 17 the number of sackings in this blatant abuse of trade union rights. 
 
During the six-day occupation, managers locked the gates to the plant cafeteria as a prelude to the stronger force that was to come. Workers improvised by bringing food from the outside past management&rsquo;s security team. Management has now agreed to meet with workers&rsquo; representatives, but not with Lastik-İş officials. 
 
Lastik-İş General President Abdullah Karacan spoke to family members, supporters and other workers outside the factory each day of the occupation. DISK President S&uuml;leyman Celebi spoke as well. Lastik-İş is part of this national labour centre. 
<img height="188" alt="" src="" width="250" /> 
 
Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan meeting outside the plant on 28 February
In mid-February, following the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decree, Lastik-İş called a workers&rsquo; meeting to discuss the decree and a future course of action. Menarini bosses countered by scheduling overtime work in efforts to prevent the meeting. Workers responded by occupying the plant, for the first time, on 21-22 February. On 28 February, the company fired five union activists. It repeated that illegal action on 2 March by sacking five more. 
 
In the days leading up to the second plant occupation, Lastik-İş did force one meeting with management, which included representatives from KIPLAS, the chemical employers&rsquo; association. İbrahim Etham İla&ccedil;lari managers promised to take the global labour standards issue to Italian headquarters of Menarini in Florence. At that point, workers and their union, Lastik-İş, promised to stop the job actions. 
 
But the truce was short-lived. Plant managers claim they are following corporate guidelines from Menarini by staying within the bounds of Turkish national law, even though such appeals have come to mean staunch union-avoidance by employers in Turkey through endless legal delays. 
 
In an 8 March letter to Menarini Chairman Alberto Aleotti, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said the company&rsquo;s anti-worker behaviour is &ldquo;flagrantly violating accepted trade union and human rights laid down in the core Conventions of the International Labour Organisation.&rdquo; 
<img height="174" alt="" src="" width="223" />
The ICEM letter added: &ldquo;For the last two years, your company has cynically abused the present Turkish legislation to make, what we are reliably informed, are spurious appeals, to the court system, and in this intervening period mounted major attacks on the right to freedom of association of your workforce in an attempt to pressure workers to resign their union membership.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is demanding that Menarini immediately intervene &ldquo;in what now has become a very volatile labour dispute to resolve the differences between the workers legally and lawfully represented by Lastik-İş and &hellip; this subsidiary company.&rdquo; 
 
Menarini is a privately-held, 121-year-old company priding itself on research and internationalisation. It is Europe&rsquo;s twenty-fourth largest chemicals company and does business in therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, gastro-intestinal, antibiotics respiratory, anti-diabetics, and anti-inflammatory analgesics.

Tension Eases at Turkish Plant as Pharma Workers End Occupation

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