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UNI-Europa, the European section of the Global Union Federation UNI, signed an agreement in May 2008 with Euriciett, Europe&rsquo;s only association of temporary work agencies. UNI-Europa and Eurociett agreed on a joint declaration related to the draft EU Directive on Agency Work, while UNI also made improvements in a renewed Global Framework Agreement with ISS, a Danish-based company that provides property services worldwide. 
 
UNI-Europa&rsquo;s accord with the umbrella association of temp work agencies &ldquo;recognises the principle of equal treatment from day 1 for temporary agency workers,&rdquo; the same language as contained in the draft EU Directive.
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The text of the document improves on the draft Directive by providing two definitions for the comparability of workers, &ldquo;extending the comparison of the working and employment conditions to those workers doing the same or similar job in the user company.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement also enjoins both parties to a commitment that temporary agency workers should not replace workers who are on strike. 
 
These issues are viewed as sensitive within the industry, as they are important for its public image. Larger agencies like Adecco, Manpower, Randstad, and Vedior are concerned that smaller and mid-size agencies will not follow the rules. 
 
Most agency workers do not work for companies with which UNI is dealing. UNI therefore hopes to first reach an agreement with employers on workers&rsquo; whose interests are directly represented by UNI. After this is signed, possibly in September 2008, it is hoped to extend this to all temporary agency workers, perhaps early next year.
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&nbsp;UNI-Europa Gen. Sec. Bernadette S&eacute;gol 
 

UNI-Europa General Secretary Bernadette S&eacute;gol said, &ldquo;It is now urgent that the EU institutions finally agree on a Directive on (temporary agency work) to protect the interest of workers.&rdquo; UNI-Europa has lobbied the European Commission for the past ten years for a Directive on agency work. 
 
The renewal agreement between UNI and ISS, which employs 440,000 workers 
worldwide, was signed in June and gives staff the right to join unions and to bargain collectively.

UNI-Europa Signs Accord with Temp Work Association; UNI Renews Global Agreement with Danish Firm

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In early 2008, with support from the ICEM CAL Project, workers at German-owned Thai Industrial Gases (TIG), a subsidiary of Linde, and their union TIGLU, signed a milestone agreement with the company. The accord secured their rights to organise TIG workers across Thailand. 
 
TIG/Linde is Thailand&rsquo;s biggest provider of industrial gases. The agreement came only after a struggle, including a month-long protest at all of the company&rsquo;s 13 work sites. It also saw support and pressure by the ICEM and its global affiliates, including ones in Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium.
<img height="181" src="" width="240" alt="" />
This was a remarkable achievement for the TIGLU, which was established only three years ago. 
 
In one situation, jobs had been contracted out first to Adecco. That temporary agency firm was then replaced by an unknown agency, whose address turned out to be a building under construction. This made the agency seem a sham, making it appear that this was an attempt by TIG/Linde to circumvent the union. 
 
Most workers signed the new work agreements, but nine refused and were fired. Reportedly, some who did sign were threatened with dismissal if they got involved in union activities. 
 
In the end, TIG/Linde agreed to reinstate the nine dismissed workers, who were all truck drivers. The company also agreed not to victimise workers by transferring them, a common tactic used by the company. TIG/Linde also agreed to give the 19 agency workers the same conditions as TIG&rsquo;s regular employees.
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TIGLU has also used the Thai labour inspection service to counter bad employment practices at TIG&rsquo;s branch in Saraburi province, a worksite where agency workers had received lower overtime pay, no sick leave payments, and were issued inadequate safety equipment. After the inspection, the employment agency paid the workers in full, but then retaliated by giving them contracts which had to be renewed every three months. 
 
A national campaign in Thailand calling for recognition of workers&rsquo; rights for temporary or agency workers, and their right to unionise and join the same union as permanent workers, has now been started through support of the ICEM campaign. Union networks have been formed to organise and protect agency and contract workers throughout Thailand.

Positive Developments for Agency Workers in Thailand

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Manpower, the second largest employment agency in the world, has announced the creation of a &ldquo;Manpower Equaltreatment&rdquo; subsidiary in Germany. 
 
Thomas Reitz, the head of Manpower-Germany explains: &ldquo;We have recently set up this new subsidiary, Manpower Equaltreatment Gmbh, in which temporary workers will be paid at the same level as the permanent workers of the companies where they work. Other conditions and benefits will also be similar.&rdquo;
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&nbsp; 
 
In doing this, Manpower has given a powerful signal to employers everywhere that the climate regarding temporary work is changing. 
 
&ldquo;We want to remain attractive as an agency, and there is a demand for these kinds of solutions,&rdquo; continued Reitz. 
 
Some collective work agreements within Germany&rsquo;s major industrial enterprises like Audi, BMW, and Airbus already call for temporary and permanent staff to have similar pay and conditions. 
 
Calls for the &ldquo;equal pay for equal work&rdquo; motto in all German enterprises are reinforced by a recent campaign by ICEM affiliate IGBCE and other major trade unions in Germany, which is putting pressure on companies to grant equal pay to temporary workers.
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Manpower estimates that its new Manpower Equaltreatment subsidiary will employ several thousands of temp agency workers in the next few years. It will provide both high-skilled specialty staff and also less-skilled workers. &ldquo;Companies prefer good agency workers,&rdquo; concluded Thomas Reitz, (because) they hope they later become permanent staff, so they need a good pool of workers to choose from.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Equal Pay for All Workers Gains Ground in Germany

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General President Jack O&rsquo;Connor of Ireland&rsquo;s Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU) welcomed the new EU Directive on Agency Work. 
 
In a statement, he said, &ldquo;It will improve people&rsquo;s rights at work in Ireland. Indeed, in the absence of the EU, working conditions in Ireland would still be very primitive. This decision will begin the process of alleviating the plight of tens of thousands of our most vulnerable workers.&rdquo;
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Legislation in Ireland to regulate the use of temporary agency workers has been opposed for years by employers. Although not yet fully adopted, once ratified by the European Parliament, the Directive must be implemented through national legislation within three years. It has thus given a considerable push to people&rsquo;s rights at work in Ireland. 
 
The recent Irish referendum rejecting the Lisbon Treaty would appear to have no effect on the Directive, since existing treaties already cover the details of implementation.

Irish Labour Movement Welcomes EU Directive on Agency Work

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Despite earlier opposition by Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and the UK, which have stubbornly opposed any compromise agreement for the past five years, the EU&rsquo;s Employment and Social Affairs Council agreed on 10 June 2008 to a draft Directive on Temporary Agency Workers. 
 
Temporary agency work has continued to swell, there can be no denying that. In Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, for example, it has increased five fold over the past 20 years. In most other EU nations, it has at least doubled in recent years. Each year, some six million workers in the EU are newly registered with agencies. 
 
And in the new member states, it is crucial that minimum employment regulations are established to avoid undercutting already set standards in pay and working conditions.
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More and more, companies are utilising temporary agency workers to cut costs and to increase flexibility, such as allowing them to adjust staffing needs at short notice. 

Employers can find workers with specific skills, when and as needed, without recruitment expenses, or when restructurings or downsizing occurs. 
 
In general, agency workers tend to be less satisfied with their jobs and work conditions than permanent staff. They also tend to have less control over their work, receive less training, have higher accident rates, and perform more shift work than permanent workers. Mostly, they get lower wages for similar work, and are excluded from bonuses and benefits. They also have less job security. 
 
The EU Directive would set minimum European-wide standards that create a level playing field for all companies in all member-states. The Directive is also aimed at stimulating the EU as a knowledge-based economy. 
 
The draft Directive currently states that temporary agency workers must not be treated less favourably regarding basic work conditions (pay, working time, rest periods, holidays, etc.) than permanent workers doing &ldquo;comparable&rdquo; work, a principle that would apply as of day 1. 
 
Exceptions would be permitted to this principle where the social partners come to an agreement at the national level, as recently happened in the UK, for example, where agency workes are to get equal treatment after 12 weeks, six more than what is proposed in the EU Directive.

European Directive on Agency Work Gets Closer to Passage

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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&rsquo; 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. 
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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&rsquo;s Humanity Fund, CEP is contributing to train HIV/AIDS counsellors within ICEM&rsquo;s two oil and gas union affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN. 
 
The project will extend ICEM&rsquo;s work in Nigeria in training peer counsellors to provide HIV and AIDS awareness, education, and testing for workers and their families. 
 
CEP&rsquo;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 F&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Travailleurs de Qu&eacute;bec on HIV/AIDS awareness with an oil workers&rsquo; union in Chad. 
 
CEP heralds the fund as not charity, but rather solidarity in &ldquo;building partnerships with workers&rsquo;, community, and women&rsquo;s organisations in developing countries.&rdquo; 
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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&rsquo; 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&rsquo; 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 C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;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. 
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ICEM Sub-Saharan Women Draft Women&rsquo;s Charter; Global Women&rsquo;s Committee Adopts Action Plan on Zimbabwe 
 
The Women&rsquo;s Committee of ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan Africa Region met in Accra, Ghana, on 5-7June to draft a women&rsquo;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&rsquo;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. 
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UN High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS &ndash; 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&rsquo; 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&rsquo;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) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" src="" width="25" alt="" />
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) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" src="" width="25" alt="" />
Risk Factors for Spread of HIV in Afghanistan High 
 
Although the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively low in Afghanistan, the country&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&ndash;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&rsquo; Federation (ITF) (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports, among other things, on the publication of the ILO report entitled &ldquo;Saving Lives, Protecting Jobs&rdquo; 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.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

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Some 30,000 trade unionists took to the streets of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Saturday, 5 April, as European Union finance ministers met in the Balkan country. The unionists, marching behind a call by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), were protesting record-high inflation and declining purchasing power at a time when EU officials were calling for wage restraint. 
 
The EU ministers were meeting in nearby Brdo in talks to reform social welfare programmes. 
 
ETUC General Secretary John Monks told the assembled in the capital city&rsquo;s Congress Square that &ldquo;we cannot accept lectures that workers should be modest&rdquo; in pay deals. &ldquo;Getting a fairer deal for workers across Europe is a top ETUC priority.&rdquo; The trade union federation has produced evidence that wage moderation does not create more jobs, as some claim, but leads instead to stagnating domestic demand and weakened employment rates.
Since 1995, while wages have dropped as a share of Gross Domestic Product across the EU, corporate profits have risen. Top managers earn up to 300 times more than workers, leaving over 30 million people earning poverty-level wages. 
 
EU unionists that converged in Slovenia over the weekend demanded a rise in real salaries and purchasing power; efforts to create more and better jobs; creation of decent minimum wages to combat poverty; equal pay for men and women; stronger collective bargaining systems, and an end to social dumping; decent work and fair wages for public sector, temporary, and mobile workers; better opportunities for lifelong learning; and a limit to the income of top earners.

ETUC Call Brings 30,000 to Slovenia to Protest Wage Restraint

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A strike by energy workers against Shell-Gabon that stopped nearly one-half of all oil production and exports in the west African nation ended last week, 1 April, after direct mediation by Gabonese President Omar Bongo. The strike by 800 workers, which began in the early hours of 20 March by the National Organisation of Petroleum Workers (ONEP), ended a day after the union threatened a broader national strike. 
 
ONEP reported its demands had been met. The strike occurred due to non-compliance by Shell-Gabon&rsquo;s managing director over new work-time regulations, rules that had been set in place by an earlier government decree. The union was demanding the ouster of the managing director. Workers had been denied holiday leave.
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
Shell-Gabon is 75% owned by Royal Dutch Shell and 25% by the government. The 11-day strike halted 60,000 barrels-per-day of crude production in the Gamba-Ivinga-Totous oil fields, as well as production from the Toucan and Rabi fields. Shipments of crude were also halted at an oil terminal in Gamba, stoppages which cost Shell US$11 million per day. 
 
The terminal was also shut to crude exports of Total-Gabon and Perenco, the latter a privately-held French oil and gas exploration and production company. The companies share the terminal with Shell-Gabon. Those amounts were estimated at 30,000 barrels-per-day. Gabon is the fifth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Oil Strike Against Shell in Gabon Ends

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In Russia&rsquo;s Sverdlovsk Region, a ten-day sit-in strike by 96 bauxite miners 800 metres below ground ended on Friday, 4 April, as the world&rsquo;s largest aluminium producer &ndash; United Company RusAl &ndash; agreed to dialogue and serious attention to strikers&rsquo; demands. Those strikers, members of one of four mining unions at RusAl&rsquo;s Sevuralboksitruda subsidiary, the Independent Miners&rsquo; Union of Russia, began the strike at the Krasnaya Shapochka (Little Red Riding Hood) Mine on 26 March. Their resolve was furthered on 1 April when they undertook a hunger strike on 1 April.
<img height="205" src="" width="280" alt="" />
The company, privately-owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, shut five other bauxite mines in the North Ural Mountains on 28 March, curtailing wages for 5,000 other miners in an effort to divide miners and pressure the striking union. That failed, with members of the other unions signing pledges of support for the strikers, as well as sending food and other supplies to them, until they started the hunger strike. 
 
An annual pay increase put in place late last year for all the unionised miners of the region by RusAl paled next to the company&rsquo;s vast profits and the 15% inflation rate of the region. The strikers of the Independent Miners&rsquo; Union sent a list of ten demands to the surface on 27 March. Those demands included a 50% pay increase on top of the average salary of US$760 per month, an end to weekend work, resumption of a company halted social welfare programme that took effect 1 January, and investment in other mines of the region.
<img height="120" src="" width="120" alt="" />
On 3 April, RusAl went to court to get the strike declared illegal. However, a pledge to meet their demands, and a promise of amnesty to the strikers, brought an end to the strike on Friday morning. The mine, located near the central Russian town of Severuralsk, is a former operation of Russian aluminium producer SUAL International, which together with Glencore of Switzerland&rsquo;s alumina assets merged with RusAl a year ago.

Russian Bauxite Strike Ends With Pledge of Higher Pay, Better Work Conditions

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In the strongest terms possible, the 20-million-member ICEM has condemned the vile and ruthless murder of trade union leader Adolfo Gonz&aacute;lez Montes of mining affiliate Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajores de la Industria del Carbon (Sintracarb&oacute;n) in Colombia. Comrade Montes was tortured and killed early in the morning of 22 March at his home in Riohacha, La Guajira state, northern Colombia. 
 
&ldquo;We denounce this vile and atrocious murder before the international community and the people and government of Colombia,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We demand that the government of Colombia capture, charge, and convict the cowardly persons responsible for this crime against humanity and affront to democratic trade unionism.
&ldquo;We also call on the multinationals AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, the shareholders of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, to heighten security for workers and trade unionists in the wake of this heinous act.&rdquo; Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n is one of world&rsquo;s largest coal producers. Managers of the enterprise and 4,000-member Sintracarb&oacute;n are engaged in a model Social Dialogue exchange for Colombia, a programme fostered by the ICEM.
<img height="319" src="" width="380" alt="" />
Miners of Sintracarb&oacute;n mourned the killing of fellow worker Adolfo Gonz&aacute;lez Montes 
Comrade Adolfo Gonz&aacute;lez Montes was a committeeman of the Barrancas Section. At 6h00 on 22 March, while he was finishing his rest prior to a work turn, the assailants entered his home. He was tortured and then murder in front of his four young children. Following the murder, other leaders of Sintracarb&oacute;n received telephone threats. 
 
He becomes the 13th trade unionist in Colombia reported to be assassinated so far this year. In March alone, when the eyes of the world had been focused on trade union killings in the South American nation over the stalled free trade agreement with the US, six unionists were murdered. Besides Montes, Hospital Workers&rsquo; Union leader Carlos Burbano was killed on 11 March; ADIDA unionist Gildario Antonio Gomez Alzate on 7 March; Rafael Boada of Union Nacional de Empleados Bancarios on 7 March; Leonidas Gomez Rozo of CUT on 5 March; and Carmen Cecilia Carvajal Ramirez of ASINORT on 4 March.

ICEM Condemns the Assassination of Colombian Sintracarbón Leader, Adolfo González Montes

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