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<img height="99" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMpaper.jpg" width="100"/>
CEP members at a Stora Enso paper mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, will vote tomorrow and Wednesday, 24 and 25 January, on a company contract proposal. Rejection likely will mean 660 members of CEP Local 972 will face a lockout effective 26 January. 
Following eight days of non-stop bargaining that ended late on 18 January, Local 972 members met with union leaders on 21 January to review proposed terms, which includes job losses, contracting out provisions and changes in seniority procedures.
Stora Enso issued the mandatory 48-hour lockout notice on 30 December, and has had its only Canadian pulp and paper mill closed since 23 December, with nearly all workers on layoff status

Canadian Stora Enso Workers to Vote on Contract

French multinational Saint-Gobain in Thailand is using contract employees as well as logistics and maintenance workers to continue a lockout at an auto-glass assembly plant in Rayong province.
<img height="97" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMglass.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
After Saint-Gobain Sekurit presented, on 5 January, a pay offer that included an inferior bonus payment for 2005, some 300 workers protested outside the plant. The company locked out the workers the next day.
The plant has increased production since Saint-Gobain Sekurit gained auto-glass assembly contracts from General Motors Holden in Australia last year, a move inspired by the Howard government’s free-trade agreement with Thailand that cost 120 jobs at two Pilkington auto-glass factories. The plant also fits glass for Toyota and Ford automobiles.
Thai union members at Saint-Gobain Sekurit, affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers’ Unions, are facing management proposals calling for reductions in Sunday overtime pay, a reduction from five days to three on “private leave,” and extending the retirement age.

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Five subcontractors at a Taiyo Oil Co. refinery in Imabari, Japan were burned to death 17 January inside a 100,000 kiloliter oil storage tank. An explosion and fire occurred when two contractors were preparing the tank for cleaning.
Investigators are looking at safety management practices of the two contractors, Taiyo Techno Service and Fukasaki-Gumi, and suspicion of negligence on their part.
The Taiyo Oil Workers’ Union, affiliated with JEC Rengo, is monitoring in the investigation. The union represents refinery workers at the 120,000 barrel-per-day Taiyo refinery, but not contract workers. Two other contract workers were injured in the blast and subsequent fire.

Contract Workers Killed at Japanese Oil Refinery

<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
A 17-day strike by some 28,000 contract workers of Chilean state-run copper producer Codelco ended over the weekend.
Contract workers did not receive the bonus payment they were seeking, but did achieve a pre-agreement to end the strike for alternative financial compensation and improvements in working conditions. Codelco’s contract workers are unionised and are members of divisional unions aligned with the Copper Workers Federation (FTC). 
The non-ICEM-affiliated FTC’s strike actions centered at Codelco’s El Teniente mining area and at the company’s Andina Division. Codelco is the world’s largest producer of copper. The strike caused copper prices to hit a record high on 19 January.

Contract Workers End Strike at Chile’s Codelco Mines

The worst Romanian mining catastrophe in 20 years occurred on 14 January when a methane gas explosion occurred at the Anina Mine in the southwestern part of the country.
Seven miners were killed and five seriously injured by the blast at the 200-year-old mine owned by state-run Benat Mining Co. The mine was scheduled to be closed in October 2006, but Romanian President Traian Basescu—upon visiting the site a day after the disaster—ordered immediate closure.
<img height="67" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RomaniaFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Records show that some 1,000 miners have died at the Anina Mine since it opened in 1792, with the worst tragedy happening in 1920 when 270 miners perished from an underground explosion.

Gas Blast in Romanian Colliery Closes 214-Year-Old Mine

For the urgent attention of His Majesty 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 
Narayanhity Royal Palace 
Durbar Marg 
Kathmandu 
Nepal 
 
By fax: +977 14 413577 and +977 14 228235 
 
 
Brussels, 24 January 2006 
 
 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, 
 
I am writing as General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), in the name of the 20 million members that we represent worldwide in over 120 countries, to protest the ongoing repression in Nepal against numerous trade union leaders. 
 
Over the course of the past week, as your regime began preventing planned pro-democracy demonstrations and engaged itself in a brutal and repressive wave against peaceful protests, a large number of trade union leaders were arrested, together with many other leaders and activists from other organisations. 
 
Amongst the trade unionists arrested were GEFONT Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Gefont Secretary-General Binod Shrestha, as well as Ms. Manju Bhattarai, NTUC Central member and Mr Radheshyam Pathak, NTUC District President. 
 
We are calling upon you to ensure the immediate release of all trade union leaders and members that have been arrested over the last few days, as well as for the release of all political leaders and activists that are currently in detention. 
In addition, we understand that the curfew that was in place since 16 January has now been lifted in Kathmandu and its neighbouring city Lalitpur. However, much more remains to be done in order to put your country on the path to democracy. For example, new curfews have been announced, and others remain in place, and these should be lifted. I would like to urge you to rescind these curfews as a matter of priority. 
Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

<img height="61" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="125"/>
The contentious dispute between ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and Continental Tyre over 320 job cuts by year-end 2006 at the Stöcken plant in Hannover, Germany, was resolved Tuesday evening, 24 January, in negotiations between the two sides and the Works Council of the plant.
<img height="126" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyIGBCE.gif" width="100"/>
In the tentative agreement that is expected to be finalised in February, the German tyre-maker has agreed to return to an agreement put in place in May 2005. That agreement called for no job cuts before the end of 2007. Throughout 2007, Continental will offer job opportunities to Stöcken workers in other facilities and also offer early retirement options to eligible workers. In addition, the company will make research and development investments at the Stöcken plant.
IGBCE board member Werner Bischoff said the union succeeded in preserving the future of Hannover’s Continental facilities, as well as making a stand that last May’s agreement cannot be undermined.

Pact Reached in Germany Between IGBCE, Continental Tyre

Global Labour Forum to be organised at International AIDS Conference 
 
As Canada prepares itself to host the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, 13-18 August, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impact and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS policies and actions on workers and workplace at national and international levels. The review will form the foundation of a Global Labour Forum on HIV/AIDS organised by the CLC in conjunction with the Conference. 
 
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Labour Fund, launched by the CLC, works closely with unions that actively promote the rights of workers to fair treatment and provide workplace-based information on protection against the disease and prevention of its spread. Canadian unions, in cooperation with the Canadian International Development Agency, pioneer innovative and gender-sensitive AIDS prevention and advocacy campaigns in a number of developing countries. 
 
(Source: CLC Press Release) 
 
Information on the International AIDS Conference can be accessed at <a href="http://www.aids2006.org">www.aids2006.org</a>. 
 
Second Line ARVs Too Costly for Patients Warns MSF
Now that first-line treatment has come down to less than US$200 per patient per year, concern is rising that an increasing number of HIV patients does not respond to first-line treatment anymore and has to move to second-line drugs, which are much more expensive and therefore harder to access. 
 
Taking the example of Kenya, the international humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) says that for second-line drugs it has to pay US$ 1,400 per patient per year. In a clinic in South Africa, MSF is treating 58 patients on second-line drugs at the same cost as 550 on first-line drugs. 
 
Expanding relatively affordable first-line treatment will inevitably lead to a higher demand for more expensive second-line treatment in the years to come. Failing to switch from first-line treatment, which has become ineffective due to side effects and growing drug resistance, to second-line drugs is a death sentence for the patient. 
 
According to MSF, part of the problem lies in the continuing insistence of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on adherence to strict patent protection, as well as cumbersome regulations that developing countries have to follow to take advantage of concessions. 
In early 2005, the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was implemented in India and other developing countries that had not yet granted full pharmaceutical patents. This widespread patent protection is stifling the production of much-needed cheaper generics, which are as effective. 
 
(Source: The East African, Nairobi, posted on <a href="http://www.allafrica.com">www.allafrica.com</a> on 4 January) 
 
Half of Companies See Future AIDS Impact 
 
Companies around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about AIDS, with 46% now expecting some impact in the next five years, as compared to 37% in the same study a year ago. The survey was released on 11 January by the Global Health Initiative of the World Economic Forum prior to the meeting of the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. 
Although nearly half of the almost 11,000 corporate leaders in 117 countries surveyed recognised that HIV/AIDS would hurt their business in future, only 9% had conducted a quantitative risk assessment. Furthermore, it is only in regions where HIV prevalence exceeds 20% that the majority of firms have formal HIV/AIDS policies in place. Where the incidence is lower only a small proportion of companies have enacted policies. 
 
(Source: WEF-GHI website. The survey entitled, “Business and HIV/AIDS: A Healthier Partnership?” can be accessed at <a href="http://www.weforum.org">www.weforum.org</a>) 
 
Once-a-Day AIDS Pill Shows Promise 
 
A once-a-day AIDS treatment, the first of its kind, has been jointly developed by multinational drug firms Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and could soon outrun three-times-a-day regimens. According to research published in the latest New England Journal of Medicine, the manufacturers found the new drug especially effective in suppressing HIV viral loads and having fewer side effects than commonly used antiretrovirals. It is hoped to obtain approval by the end of 2006. 
 
No cost of the treatment is yet available. AIDS treatment activists have demanded that the drug be marketed at an affordable price for developing countries where simplified regimens are most needed. 
 
(Source: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, posted on <a href="http://www.allafrica.com">www.allafrica.com</a> on 20 January) 
 
China: Number of People Living with HIV/AIDS Down 
 
Figures jointly released by China’s Ministry of Health, the WHO and UNAIDS on 25 January, estimated the number of people living with HIV/AIDS at 630,000 in 2005, down form an estimate of 840,000 in 2003. This is not a success story in prevention but rather due to errors in estimates of people getting infected by blood donations in previous years. 
The survey therefore cautioned against complacency, saying the figure was still rising and the virus is spreading from high-risk groups to the general population. Experts have warned that China’s increasingly mobile population faces a broader risk as more infections occur through drug injection and sexual contact. 
 
(Source: Reuters World Report, 25 January) 
 
UNGASS Review 
 
This year, the United Nations General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in achieving the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS, and set in place the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The review will take place during a high-level meeting at the UN Head Office in New York from 31 May to 2 June. 
 
Update from ILOAIDS 
 
You can access news from around the world on HIV/AIDS and the world of work on the ILOAIDS website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/index.htm">http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/ 
aids/index.htm</a> and click on News from around the world or go directly to <a href="http://www.newsnow.co.uk/clients/ilo/results.html?keyword=AIDS">http://www.newsnow.co.uk/clients/ilo/results.html?keyword=AIDS</a>  
 
Under Core Documents on the ILOAIDS website, you find the ILO Code of Practice and the Education and Training Manual implementing the ILO Code of Practice and the world of work. 

REMINDER TO ICEM AFFILIATES 
 
This is your newsletter – contribute to it! 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of activities, some have formal agreements with companies; others run education and awareness programmes at the workplace. To spread the information on new agreements and campaigns and to build on best practices, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to hiv.aids@icem.org. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
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://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window “Translate a Web page“: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&la=EN&doc=1634" type="internal">/index.php?id=72&la=EN&doc=1634</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 5

The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers and trade unions in the pulp and paper sector, has denounced Stora Enso’s attempts to break from the pattern paper agreement in eastern Canada over contracting out work at its mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. 
<img height="83" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/canadacep.gif" width="100"/>
The company locked out 600 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada - an ICEM affiliate - on 26 January after members of CEP Local 972 rejected a bargaining proposal that contained provisions giving managers unprecedented rights to outsource unionised work. 
 
“Paper companies in Eastern Canada have agreed to a status quo on existing contract-out letters and memorandums with our affiliate,” stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “Stora Enso’s attempt to break from this pattern is unacceptable and the ICEM will support paperworkers at Stora’s only Canadian paper mill in every way possible.” 
<img height="180" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0601Canada1.jpg" width="120"/>
 
In a letter to Stora Enso CEO Jukka Härmälä in Finland, Higgs urged the world’s largest pulp and paper producer to return to bargaining immediately. “The ICEM strongly urges you to personally intervene to amicably resolve this dispute,” wrote Higgs. “We appeal to you to apply the principled custom of Nordic fairness and to direct North American managers to immediately reopen dialogue with the CEP to resolve this dispute.” 
 
The ICEM received assurances from CEP President Brian Payne that the union is willing to reconvene bargaining immediately. 
<img height="128" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0601CEPBrianPayne.jpg" width="90"/>      <img height="128" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Fredhiggs.jpg" width="100"/> 
Brian Payne, CEP President, and Fred Higgs, 
ICEM General Secretary
CEP Local 972 members in Port Hawkesbury rejected Stora Enso’s proposal with better than an 80% vote late on 25 January. The next morning the company began the lockout after issuing a 48-hour lockout notice under provincial labour code on 28 December. The two sides had been in non-stop bargaining for eight days leading up to the company’s demands for contracting-out changes on 18 January. Such changes would eliminate jobs and severely inhibit job security, said the ICEM. 
 
Stora Enso and the CEP, which has been without a current labour agreement at Port Hawkesbury since 31 May 2004, have agreed on economic aspects contained in the paper sector pattern agreement reached with all companies with operations in Eastern Canada. 
 
The issue of contract and agency labour has become a central campaign issue for the ICEM on a global basis. The Brussels-based GUF believes the rush to utilise contractors and agencies by multinational companies in place of full-time, directly-employed workers is destructive to communities. 
 

<hr/>
To read the ICEM letter to the company, <a href="/index.php?id=19&doc=1636&la=EN" type="internal">click here</a>.

ICEM Cites Stora Enso for Breaking from Pattern on Contract Labour in Canada

Both in Ecuador and Nigeria, oil exports have been hampered by popular demonstrations. In Ecuador, following days of protests in two Amazon provinces over foreign companies and their levels of investment, the export of over 100,000 barrels a day had been brought to a standstill last week. Protesters want more of the country’s oil money to be spent on new jobs and infrastructure. Oil revenues account for 25% of Ecuador’s GDP. The state-owned company Petroecuador said over the weekend that production has been restarted “with the help of the army”. In Nigeria, Shell had to shut down the Agbada 1 flow station in Rivers State in the oil-rich Niger delta in southern Nigeria, following action by angry local protesters from the Ogoni community. Protests there were mainly over compensation for a 2003 spill which protesters say impacted over 500HA.

Mass Protests over Oil Exports in Ecuador, Nigeria

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