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Meeting in Istanbul on 6 and 7 April, delegates at the ICEM’s 3rd World Conference for the Rubber Industries ended two days of discussions and information exchange on Friday with the adoption of a plan for action. 
<img height="120" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="120"/>
Topics at the conference included current world-wide trends in the rubber industries, one of the most oligopolistic industrial sectors, and their effect on workers, as well as the need for multinational companies to guarantee respect for national and international workers’ rights. The conference was attended by over 100 representatives from 16 ICEM affiliated rubber sector trade unions from 14 countries. 
 
At the conference, two special resolutions were adopted. The first one dealt with the recently announced Goodyear plant closures in the UK and Poland, declaring international solidarity support towards the Goodyear workers in those countries. 
<img height="213" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0604rubberconfparticipants.jpg" width="390"/>
The second resolution calls on Goodyear, Bridgestone and Pirelli to “exert common sense and to bargain in good faith” with Turkey’s ICEM affiliate Lastik-Iş. These three companies take a very harsh approach to collective bargaining in Turkey. They are not only demanding concessions in working conditions, they have also consistently called on the Turkish government to ban strikes, while simultaneously threatening to leave the country. 
 
The conference adopted an action plan for the next four years, setting out broad guidelines for international trade union action at both national and international level. An important priority in the action plan is the need for continued and improved dialogue with multinational companies in the rubber sector, including through global framework agreements and global trade union networks. Special emphasis also goes to health and safety issues. 
Other priority areas are the difficulties related to the increased use of contract and agency labour and the fight for gender equality. 
 
Leo Gerard, International President of ICEM’s US affiliate USW (United Steelworkers), was re-elected as Chair of the ICEM rubber section. 
 
Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, ICEM general secretary Fred Higgs said that “The discussions, resolutions and adoption of a forward looking action plan by the conference demonstrates that unions around the world in the rubber sector are determined to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing industry on the basis of mutual support and solidarity”. 
 
 

For the resolution on the Goodyear plant closings in the UK and Poland, <a href="/index.php?id=164&doc=1754&la=EN" type="internal">click here</a>. 
 
For the resolution on collective bargaining in Turkey, <a href="/index.php?id=164&doc=1750&la=EN" type="internal">click here</a>. 
For more information on this conference, including background documents and presentations, <a href="/index.php?id=164&la=EN" type="internal">click here</a>.

ICEM’s World Rubber Conference Reacts to the Challenges of Globalisation

<img height="287" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603rubberconflogo.jpg" width="200"/>
ICEM World Conference for the Rubber Industries 
6-7 April 2006 
Istanbul, Turkey 
The day before the opening of the ICEM World Conference for the Rubber Industry in Istanbul, US-based tyre company Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced its intention to close two European plants. Goodyear Dunlop is to end production at its Washington factory in Tyne and Wear, UK, with the loss of 585 jobs. A further 39 jobs could be lost in another company’s plant in Wolverhampton, UK, which is a supplier of components to the Washington factory. 
 
Goodyear will also stop the production of bicycle tyres in its Polish factory in Debica with the loss of 320 jobs. 
 
Together with planned savings from other business units, Goodyear expects to cut a total of 1,500 jobs. 
 
The delegates at the ICEM world conference expressed serious concern about this plan. They fully support their sister trade unions in the UK and in Poland in their fight for the workplaces of their members. 
 
For a big multinational company like Goodyear, the use constant use of redundancies to try to cut costs is a very poor sign. A challenging market needs investment and R&D activities, instead of plant closures all over the world. 
 
The ICEM and its affiliated trade unions strongly urge the management of Goodyear to show social responsibility and help the workers in both plants getting the chance to save the future of their families.

ICEM Rubber Conference Resolution - Support for the Workers Struggle in 2 European Goodyear plants

In the latest example of the appaling series of human and trade union rights violations in Colombia, the ICEM has learned of the murder of brother Daniel Cortez Cortez, a member of ICEM’s Colombian affiliate Sintraelecol. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombiaflag.gif" width="100"/>
On Sunday April 2nd, brother Cortez was murdered in Puerto Parra, near the city of Barrancabermeja, the third largest city in Colombia, in a region known to be controlled by the paramilitaries. For the last 16 years, he has been working for the energy company Empresa Electrificadora de Santander, where he had been an active trade union member from the day he started. 
 
Daniel Cortez was assassinated at night on April 2nd. Attacked by a group of paramilitaries, he died instantly when he was shot in the face. He leaves behind a wife and four children and the ICEM offers its sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends. 
 
In a <a href="/index.php?id=26&doc=1756&la=EN" type="internal">letter to the Colombian authorities</a>, the ICEM calls for an urgent, full and open investigation into the exact circumstances of this brutal assassination. Those responsible for the crime need to be brought to justice and convicted. 
 
The murder is, regrettably, not a stand alone case. Far more trade unionists are murdered in Colombia every year then anywhere else in the world. According to preliminary figures, over 70 murders on trade unionists were counted last year. In 2004, there were at least 99. 
 
“This murder can not be just another addition to an already lengthy list. We need to keep realising that every time a trade unionist is killed in Colombia, a new tragedy unfolds. Each time, new families, other colleagues and different communities are faced with the loss of a family member, a colleague or a friend” said Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the ICEM. “It is imperative that we continue our demands on the Colombian government for effective protection for trade unionists in Colombia.”

Member of Sintraelecol, ICEM Affiliate in Colombia, murdered

To: All ICEM affiliates in Nepal 
 
Brussels, 12 April 2006 
 
Dear friends and colleagues, 
 
Ever since the illegitimate takeover of power by King Gyanendra in February 2005, the ICEM has been closely following the courageous efforts of its affiliated trade unions and others in Nepal. We are proud to have been able to support you and other trade unions as you have staged and taken part in the many demonstrations and protests actions against the king’s autocratic rule. 
 
As we follow the unfolding events of the present time, we look in disbelief at how the so-called government in Nepal clings on to power using a wide range of brutal measures which seem to be installed specifically to hurt its own people. 
 
The ICEM strongly protests against the many arrests in Nepal that have taken place over the last few days, including the many arrests of both ordinary trade union members as well as trade union leaders. We also condemn the increasing violence used against the people of Nepal. We forcefully support the actions of the independent trade unions in Nepal as part of the broader struggle for the restoration of democracy. 
 
In name of the 20 million members of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions from 122 countries, I would like you to congratulate you on your actions so far and let you know that we are firmly with you and the Nepalese people in your united struggle against the royal oppression during this strike and beyond. 
 
In Solidarity! 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM letter of support for Nepalese affiliates

After six weeks of intense demonstrations and strikes, through which millions of workers and students voiced their aversion of a new French law aimed, at least according to the government, at getting more young people working, the French Prime Minister decided on Monday that enough was enough. 
Dominique De Villepin announced that the “first job contract law” (contrat première embauche – CPE) will be replaced, after it had become apparent that earlier attempts by the government to scale it down were just as firmly rejected by the protesters. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFlag.gif" width="100"/>
The French trade unions, who, together with French student organisations, had successfully managed to stage a few of the largest demonstrations the country has seen for decades, said they were pleased with the result. The proposed CPE would have made it possible to dismiss workers under 26 in their first two years of employment without any reason given. 
Several demonstrations were held in a number of major French cities this week after the announcement on Monday, as the organisations want to keep the pressure on the government to make sure the suggested replacement proposition is of a higher quality. 
Yesterday, the French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) adopted a compromise to replace the CPE. The focal point would now be on providing assistance for young people that face the most difficulties in gaining access to the job market, through measures such as more training, internships and subsidies for hiring youths with lower qualifications.

French Prime Minister Gives in to Trade Unions and Students

<img height="55" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUSW.jpg" width="100"/>
Pharmaceutical workers, members of US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW), were locked out off their jobs by Medco Health Solutions on 5 April. Some 500 pharmacy technicians at Medco's prescription mail-order business in Las Vegas, Nevada, are faced with an illegal and unilateral reduction of health care benefits. 
The lockout has been deemed illegal when the US National Labor Relations Board issued an unfair labour practice complaint against the company on 31 March for retaliating against technicians who took part in solidarity actions, protesting the health care cuts. 
Some 25% of the company's prescription business is done through union-sponsored health care plans, and Medco itself admits that six million union workers in the US are covered under Medco prescription plans. The USW has mounted a campaign among unions tied to those plans to protest directly to the Medco's CEO.

Union Prescription Drug Provider Locks Out USW Members in US

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Twenty-two workplace leaders from BASF chemical plants in South America convened 21-24 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for ICEM’s Latin American BASF Network. Trade union leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Chile, together with German Works Council members and IGBCE union officials, met amongst themselves from 21-23 April and then on the final day, entered into social dialogue with BASF management. 
 
Trade union priorities included giving aid and support to a Peruvian chemical workers’ union in its efforts to organise a BASF factory, and adopting ICEM’s stand over contract and agency labour. 
 

<img height="60" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/icem-logo.jpg" width="70" alt=""/>
Works Council members from BASF’s huge Ludwigshafen complex in Germany, presented the challenges facing that body there, and IGBCE’s Michael Vasiliadis gave a report on the changing chemical industry relating to globalisation and the necessity to press global companies on their social responsibilities. 
 
On 24 April, senior BASF managers reported on which priorities from last year’s social dialogue talks had been fulfilled. In follow-up discussions, led by ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Chair Sergio Novais of CNQ-CUT in Brazil, BASF South American managers agreed to accommodate efforts to organise the Peruvian plant. 
 
The discussions were hailed on both sides as promoting an atmosphere of trust, and it was agreed to begin planning more formal rules for the annual process.

ICEM’s BASF Network in South America Meets

28 April – International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers 
Workers throughout the world participated in activities to commemorate the millions of workers who died, were injured or became ill due to unsafe, unhealthy or unsustainable workplaces. Focus of the activities this year was the call of the international trade union movement for a total ban of asbestos and the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
In a massive campaign international and national union bodies called on G8 governments to establish a permanent high-level G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS at their forthcoming summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Such a working group will help G8 countries achieve commitments made at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, for universal access to treatment by 2010 and to the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. (<a href="/?id=72&doc=1729&la=EN" type="internal">See also e-bulletin No. 7, April 2006</a>). 
 
Global Unions have updated their workbook, which reports on ICD activities. It can be accessed at <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/"></a><a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf</a>. 
 
The ILO, as the current chair of the Committee of Co-sponsoring Organisations of UNAIDS, put the spotlight on HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and produced a report, “Decent Work – Safe Work – HIV/AIDS.” 
 
Global Unions Advisory Committee 
 
The Advisory Committee of the Global Unions Programme on HIV/AIDS met in Geneva from 4 to 6 April. The committee, which brings together representatives of all Global Unions, funding organisations and the ILO and UNAIDS, developed a strategic work plan for 2006 and 2007 and a joint action plan for interventions at major events. The overall objectives of the GU Programme are: 
<ul>
 <li>Make HIV and AIDS a priority issue for trade unions </li>
 <li>Strengthen capacity of trade unions  </li>
 <li>Develop partnerships to position trade unions within the AIDS response  </li>
 <li>Mobilise resources, especially at country level. </li>
</ul>
Go to <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids">www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids</a> for more information on the programme. 
 
 
High Level Meeting on AIDS 
 
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), which adopted 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 City from 31 May to 2 June. 
 
The UN produced two reports, which can be accessed on the UNAIDS website www.unaids.org: a report on progress made until the end of 2005, entitled “Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: Five Years Later” and “Towards Universal Access: Assessment by UNAIDS on Scaling Up HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support.” 
In his foreword to the progress report, the UN Secretary General warned, “Failure to urgently strengthen the AIDS response will mean that the world will achieve neither the 2010 targets of the Declaration of Commitment nor Millennium Goal 6.” 
(Note: the wording “universal access to treatment by 2010” has mutated in some official documents to “coming as close as possible to universal access to treatment by 2010.”) 
 
Civil society organisations and trade unions will be represented at this important event. The South African government objected to the participation of the Treatment Action Campaign and two other NGOs and refused their accreditation. 
 
 
Bangladesh 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Bangladesh Chemical, Energy and Allied Workers’ Federation is getting involved in the fight against the pandemic. In a wide-ranging report to the ICEM, the Federation pinpoints the dangers which high-risk behaviours pose. 
Although the overall prevalence rate in Bangladesh is still very low, a large commercial sex industry, low levels of condom use and needle sharing among drug users contribute to a slow but steady increase in the infection rate. The Union is getting involved in awareness raising campaigns and the promotion of prevention. 
 
 
World Bank Suspends US$60 million AIDS project in Ukraine 
 
The World Bank has suspended a US$60 million project on combating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis because of the government’s failure to implement the project. Only 2% of the funds earmarked in January 2004 have been spent. This is a major tragedy for the people who need treatment in this country, which has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Europe. 
(Comment: While a series of political crises’ may have contributed to this development, the World Bank may also have failed to include capacity building into such a large project). 
 
(Source: Kyiv Post, 12 April 2006) 
 
 
Life Expectancy in Zimbabwe – World Health Report 2006 
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the 2006 World Health Report in advance of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 22-26 May. 
 
Outstanding from the mass of data are the statistics for the life expectancy in Zimbabwe, which at an average of 36 years is lower than anywhere else in the world. The high mortality rate of people at a young age is largely due to death caused by AIDS. 
Ten years ago, life expectancy was still 56 years. Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where women have a lower life expectancy (34 years) than men (37 years). Behaviour change may have contributed to a falling HIV infection rate in the country in recent years but more tragically a lower rate at this stage of the pandemic is probably due to the high death rate. People who have died of AIDS are no longer included in the statistics of people living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
By the end of 2005, only 20,000 people in Zimbabwe were receiving antiretroviral treatment. The target was 145,000 people, around half of the total of 295,000 believed to require the drugs. 
 
 
Global Fund Phase 2 Renewals 
 
Only 23% of the 124 Global Fund grants that have reached the end of their second year have met or exceeded the performance targets that were set by the applicants when they submitted their original proposals. This constitutes an A rating. 
(Note: Global Fund grants are approved for five years but are reviewed and rated after two years. The Fund can then decide whether a grant receives funding for Phase 2, i.e. years 3 to 5).
The rest of the grants received a B1 or B2 rating with a conditional or revised go-ahead. Only two grants received a C rating, which means that no funding is approved for Phase 2 (Senegal and South Africa). 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 56 of 17 April 2006) 
 
Theoretically, the Fund has the right to terminate grants at any stage, not only after a Phase 1 review. The Global Fund Board meeting on 27-28 April applied this exceptional procedure to two HIV grants worth some US$81 million to Nigeria on the grounds of inadequate performance. One of the grants was supposed to have 14,000 people on ARV treatment by the end of the first year, but the actual number was zero. 
 
On continuation of services, the Board agreed that in cases where people have started treatment on ARVs or for TB, financial support for such treatment would not automatically stop when a grant is terminated. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 57 of 1 May 2006) 
 
Note: The Global Fund Observer is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the GFATM. To receive it, you can send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>. The subject line and text can be left blank. 
 
 
News from ILOAIDS 
 
The ILOAIDS website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a> now features country profiles with information on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. They are also linked to new pages providing details of project activities. The 15 countries, which are so far included, can be found on the roll-down menu on the left side of the screen. 
 
ILOAIDS has made available, on its website, a tool kit for the workplace on Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) jointly published with Family Health International. The tool kit provides a step-by-step approach, emphasising prevention through education, gender awareness and practical support for behaviour change. 
 
 
Resource Pack on Gender and HIV/AIDS 
 
The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Gender and HIV/AIDS developed a resource pack. It aims to strengthen the impact of national HIV/AIDS programmes by tackling a key underlying factor that fuels the epidemic: gender inequality. 
The resources pack contains an Operational Guide on a rights-based approach, a Review Paper on Integrating Gender into HIV/AIDS Programmes and 17 Fact Sheets with concise information on gender-related aspects of HIV/AIDS. The resource pack can be accessed at <a href="http://www.unfpa.org">www.unfpa.org</a>. 
 
 
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=1790" type="internal">/index.php?id=72&la=EN&doc=1790</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 8

Mid-July proved to another deadly period in the coal mines of China. In total, over 100 miners lost their lives in six separate and recorded tragedies occurring over in just over a week’s time.
<img height="80" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ChinaFLAG.gif" width="120"/>
 The largest number of industrial deaths occurred in north China’s Shanxi Province, at the Linjiazhuang Coal Mine in Lingshi county. A coal dust explosion on 15 July killed 57 miners, with only six miners managing to escape. Also on 15 July, a flash flood in the central Chinese province of Hunan killed 14 workers at the Shenjiawan Coal Mine. Only one of those workers was underground at the time, but the flooding also trapped rescue workers. 
 
Another mine flood in yet another province on 15 July took the lives of 18 miners. This occurred at the village-run Pianpoyuan Coal Mine in southwest China’s Guizhou province, near the town of Anshun. On 16 July, an explosion at the Lilan Coal Mine in Junlian county, province of Sichuan province, claimed the lives of five miners. Thirty-four coalminers managed to escape. 
 
Eight miners were feared drowned inside a mine shaft that flooded on 10 July. This occurred in Shanxi province at the Dongchuan Coal Mine in Luliang City. Ten miners escaped, but rescue efforts were hampered by the necessity to pump some 2,000 cubic metres of water from mine shafts. On 8 July, a colliery in neighbouring Liulin county of Shanxi province, saw six miners trapped and presumed dead by flooding.

Spate of China Coal Mine Accidents Occur in Mid-July

<img height="98" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="200"/> 
The selective strike by ICEM Norwegian oil workers’ union NOPEF ended late on 24 July following a mediated session by the government. The 34-day strike against oil service companies operating on Norway’s Continental Shelf proved highly effective, and produced a new two-year agreement that fulfils NOPEF’s demands toward normalising the national oil services agreement with other collective agreements in the country’s energy sector. 
 
The accord also matches the other agreements in the sector with the first-year wage increase, and provides an even better salary pay-out for 2007. Effective 1 July 2006, oil service workers in Norway, numbering some 2,650, receive a 5.9% wage increase. In 2007, a lump sum bonus of NOK 17,000 (US$2,800) was won. 
 
But more significantly, the 2006-2006 agreement sets forth a protocol that will begin moving oil service companies to the standard rotation schedule of two-weeks on, four-weeks off. Local discussions toward that work schedule will now occur, with NOPEF and the employers’ federation, Oil Industry Association (OLF), meeting in February 2007 to review the progress. 
 
NOPEF also achieved an increase in night work, added pay for holidays, and increases in food and travel pay and arrangements. The union did not achieve pay for waiting time, but that issue will be prioritised for talks in future renewal contracts. Workers will now vote on the new contract, with the vote to be completed by 1 September. 
 
NOPEF’s strike against oil service contractors began on 21 June. The union called but 87 workers out on strike against just a handful of employers, knowing that such a strategy would place pressure on the oil majors in their drilling and development projects. The main employers targeted were Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Oceaneering. 
 
The ICEM salutes NOPEF for carrying out a tactical and effective strike in achieving a national oil services agreement that has proven to be the most difficult in the Norwegian energy sector. The will and discipline from a set of highly-skilled workers and trade unionists has now brought major employers providing oil services closer to the work rules and terms of other companies operating inside Norway’s oil patch.

NOPEF Wins Oil Services Strike in Norway

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