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<img height="41" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief.gif" width="100"/>
An acceptable agreement was achieved in northern Brazil between workers represented by ICEM affiliate SINAP-CUT and Group João Santos. The Brazil-based company shut two of its subsidiaries near the town of Coelho Neto, the paper producer Itapagé SA and agricultural entity Agrimex SA. The company’s intention is to use contractors in these enterprises, and sacked 227 workers in the process. 
<img height="213" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603BrazilSantos.jpg" width="283" alt=""/>
 
Workers and their families, who were camped in front of the company’s Maranhaõ State regional headquarters, received a favourable agreement after dialogue between SINAP-CUT, the company, and the Court of Works of Caxias. 
It calls for full wage payments, according to social protocols; extensive company-paid re-training and re-certifications for dismissed employees; maintaining the Coelho Neto schools by Group João Santos; and written rights of local workers for jobs within contractors assuming company work. SINAP-CUT credited “the strength and persistence of workers and leaders of Coelho Neto who with their force of fight had obtained these important advances.”

Accord Reached in Brazil’s Paper Sector Stand-off

Mr. Andrus Ansip 
Prime Minister 
Republic of Estonia 
Tallinn 
Estonia 
 
Brussels, 20 March 2006 

Dear Prime Minister Ansip, 
 
I write on behalf of the 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers in the energy, chemicals, mining and processed industries. Estonian unions, along with Nordic IN, a five-nation trade union federation of workers in basic industries, informed us about your country’s proposed Employees’ Representatives Act, which would replace a labour law which has been in effect since 1993. 
 
The ICEM, and its 389 trade union affiliates in 122 countries, objects to the proposed amended law as an attempt to weaken the role of trade unions in Estonia. We also view the proposal as an erosion of the role and duties that union shop stewards perform. 
 
I specifically refer to the way your government is planning to transpose a European Union directive (2002/14/EC), on informing and consulting employees, into the proposed new Estonian law. Article 1.2 of that Directive, which is also contained in ILO Convention No. 135 on Workers’ Representatives, states that information and consultation must be developed, taking into account national law and existing practices. The proposed Estonian law would exclude trade union shop stewards from these information and consultation procedures, and shop stewards would lose all their existing rights and guarantees. 
 
Furthermore, even though it is required in ILO Convention Number 98, trade union representatives would no longer have protection from dismissals. On top of that, trade union shop stewards would lose the ability to carry out their legitimate responsibilities on the job because the proposed statute significantly reduces the allowed amount of time for this to occur. 
 
In Estonia’s 1993 statute, a well-formulated list exists of issues over which employees must be consulted. This has been changed in the proposed amendment with a short, unclear formulation. 
Additionally, the sanction or penalty for an individual employer representative who neglects the information and consultation section of this proposed law would be less than € 1,000. That is about the same penalty that an employee representative would face for failing to keep confidential information. Article 8.2 of the European Directive stipulates that there should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions in the event of infringement. The ICEM feels this is not the case in the proposed Employees’ Representatives Act of Estonia. 
 
If adopted as the draft now stands, this legislation would be a major step backwards in the development of balanced labour market structures and mechanisms, as specified under the common EU social dialogue agenda.
The appointment of workplace employee representatives in parallel and alongside legitimate trade union shop stewards is directly contrary to this social model. Unfortunately, the proposed Employees’ Representatives Act would provide this option to employers doing business in Estonia. 
 
I urge you to use your influence to amend the proposed Act in such a way to ensure that the legitimate and universally accepted role of trade unions, and their elected shop stewards, is maintained. The ICEM will closely follow developments on this matter, and we intend to report directly to our affiliated trade unions on whether or not Estonia adopts the principle of a balanced social partnership between democratic and free trade unions, and employers. 
 
 
Sincerely Yours, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
ICEM

ICEM letter to Estonian Prime Minister on Employees’ Representatives Act

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Contents
1. Afghanistan - Violence against Women Goes Unpunished 
2. Australia - Women Shrink the Pay Gap 
3. Belgium - Equal Pay Day 
4. Brazil - Women Demonstrate Against Aracruz Celulose  
5. **Carol Fraser on Canada** 
6. Iran - Women Take to the Streets on 8 March 
7. Iraq - Women are Victims of Anarchy 
8. Japan – RENGO Marches on 8 March 
9. Netherlands – Booklet on Pregnancy and Maternity 
10. Pakistan – Working Women Organisation Demonstrates on 8 March 
11. United Kingdom - Women Are More Likely to Join Unions 
12. USA - The Retirement Gap 
13. Inter-Parliamentary Union - More Women Elected to Office 
14. Resources 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
1. Afghanistan - Violence against Women Goes Unpunished 
 
Women in Afghanistan continued to suffer from official neglect and social restrictions in 2005, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported. The commission said it has documented 154 cases of self-immolation (setting oneself on fire) by women in the western zone over the course of the year, while as many as 144 forced marriages and 25 money-for-opium marriages were reported in the South. 
 
The Afghanistan government’s attempts to curb the cultivation of opium have had unexpected fallout on women. Desperate farmers, with their poppy fields razed by the government, were forced to turn to a traditional practice, in which a family pays off debts by handing over a daughter to a relative of the creditor. Usually, there is a marriage ceremony for the sake of propriety, but the woman is treated as property. 
 
Also, investigations by the authorities into complaints of violent attacks on women are neither routine nor systematic, and few result in prosecutions, stated Amnesty International in its 2005 report. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
2. Australia - Women Shrink the Pay Gap 
 
In a comparison of gender-pay ratios among developed nations, Australia ranks second. Women make 91 cents to the man’s dollar in Australia. The reason lies partly with the high number of Australians whose wages are determined by collective bargaining, or are set by the government. However, major changes to labour laws go into effect soon, which could endanger some of the strides made by working women over recent decades, say rights activists and labour leaders. 
 
Under the current system, government panels set industry-specific wages and benefits for many workers. This baseline pay is generally high in comparison to minimum wages in other developed nations. Some workers then strike still better deals through union negotiations with their employers. 
 
Labour experts contend that the pay gap between men and women has narrowed under this system for a couple of reasons. One is that it has kept many women from having to negotiate their own salaries (research shows women tend not to bargain as hard as men). Another reason is that feminists have been able to mount legal challenges against the traditional undervaluing of predominantly female professions like nursing and teaching. 
 
It needs to be pointed out, though, that the 91-cent figure only applies to non-managerial, full-time workers, excluding overtime pay. Once all earnings and part-time labour is included, the ratio falls to 66 cents to the dollar. 
 
The problem is that the state board will be scrapped under the new system, and that its federal counterpart will have many of its powers placed into a new entity, called the Fair Pay Commission (FPC). The FPC is expected to be more focused on Australia’s international competitiveness and on expanding employment – suggesting it will hold a tougher line on wage increases. The legislation also encourages more individual bargaining for wages. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
3. Belgium - Equal Pay Day 
 
31 March was Equal Pay Day in Belgium, organised jointly by the Belgian trade union federation FGTB and the country’s Socialist Party. 
 
The date of 31 March is significant: women, on average, have to work one year and three months (until 31 March) to earn the same wages as a man in one year. 
 
More information is available on <a href="http://www.equalpayday.be/">www.equalpayday.be</a>. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
4. Brazil - Women Demonstrate Against Aracruz Celulose 
 
Via Campesina, which represents peasant organisations in 56 countries, staged a demonstration on 8 March in Brazil. About 2000 women invaded the Barba Negra eucalyptus-growing estate, owned by Aracruz Celulose, in Barra do Ribeiro, in the Rio Grande do Sul state. Aracruz Celulose was targeted because it is one of the largest paper and cellulose firms in Latin America with huge eucalyptus and pine plantations. 
 
The campaign points were as follows: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div align="left">Protest against the invasion of the native forest with single-crop plantations; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">Draw attention to the fact that pollution by cellulose firms is not confined to the headline-grabbing case of Uruguay’s projects on its border with Argentina; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">And highlight the fact that large enterprises, such as these, boosted by public financing, generate only one job per 185 hectares planted, whereas smaller properties generate one per hectare. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
The demonstration was also a solidarity action with the indigenous people in the state of Espiritu Santo, another state where Aracruz Celulosa invaded lands. This January, indigenous families were expelled by the Federal Police there, with police using the company’s own vehicles to displace them. 
 <img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
5. Carol Fraser, CEP Canada, writes: 
 
Canada: The Battle over National Child Care 
Thank goodness for Canada's women. They won 16 medals in Turin… 
Now we're counting on women to save our national bacon in the political arena, too. 
In particular, Canadian women -- individually and collectively -- will be the key players in the first major legislative contest facing Stephen Harper's minority government: the battle over national child care. 
<a href="http://www.buildchildcare.ca/">http://www.buildchildcare.ca</a> 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
6. Iran - Women Take to the Streets on 8 March 
 
The total number of arrests, which followed a gathering of hundreds of women’s rights defenders in Tehran, remains uncertain, as is the fate of those arrested by the security forces, which reportedly used harsh tactics to disperse the peaceful demonstration. According to Human Rights Watch, police dumped cans of garbage on the heads of women that were sitting down, before charging into the group and beating them with batons to compel them to leave. 
 
Mehri Amiri of the Society for Defence of Women’s Rights in Iran reported that three women from her organisation had been released, but that four others remained in the Evin Prison in Tehran. She said that many others are still being held, but that her group cannot get in contact with any of them since the phone lines are being controlled by the government. 
 
On the eve of International Women’s Day, the Women Rights Association of Iran had prepared a resolution calling for an end to gender discrimination, demanding social and legal rights for all Iranian women. Many of the women who handed out the resolution were arrested. 
 
Since 1981, over 120,000 political opponents have been executed in Iran. A report compiled by Iranian human rights activists in commemoration of International Women’s Day says that four women were executed this year, all under the age of 30. Another 1,372 women have been arrested since the start of 2006, the group says. And, according to Human Rights Watch, security forces have repeatedly resorted to violence to suppress peaceful gatherings. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
7. Iraq - Women are Victims of Anarchy 
 
The situation in Iraq is going from bad to worse, say NGOs and women’s organisations such as MADRE, an international women’s rights group, and Women’s Will. Most women feel that they will only be better off once the occupation is over. 
 
As the crisis in Iraq intensifies, the group says women and their families need security urgently, as well as a functional government and the provision of basic services within a human rights framework. Rape, abduction and abuse in prisons by prison guards and the killing of women is widespread, say the women. MADRE is calling for the deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force and an immediate end to the occupation. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
8. Japan – RENGO Marches on 8 March 
<img height="200" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603Japan.jpg" width="300"/> 
On 8 March, Japanese trade union women distributed leaflets on the streets in major Japanese cities and called for “Solidarity for Women.” In Tokyo, the action was the start of the Women’s Conference, attended by 800 union women. The conference was organised to demand the inclusion of provisions to eliminate indirect discrimination into the law of equal employment for men and women. The participants pledged their commitments to pursue the campaign at their workplaces. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
9. Netherlands – Booklet on Pregnancy and Maternity 
 
Jeannette Van Dongen of FNV Bondgenoten has sent us a booklet on pregnancy and maternity called “Work and Pregnancy: From Month to Month”. The brochure explains what pregnancy and maternity means for working women and working new mothers, providing practical advice. To receive a copy of the booklet, please ask <a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">carol.bruce@icem.org</a>. Thanks to Jeannette and Bondgenoten, Netherlands. 
 
The brochure is also available on the ICEM web-site here: 
<a href="/index.php?id=71&la=EN&doc=1719" type="internal">http://www.icem.org/index.php?id=71&la=EN&doc=1719</a> 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
10. Pakistan – Working Women Organisation Demonstrates on 8 March 
 
Pakistan’s Working Women Organization demonstrated in Lahore, on the occasion of 8 March, with the demand to narrow the gender gap, improve women’s status and improve the economy. Women can play an effective role in income generation activities as well as in the sustainable development of countries and societies. However, this will only happen when women are perceived as subjects, not objects of development. 
 
Large numbers of children and trade union activists also participated with great enthusiasm. Women and children were chanting slogans, such as “we want peace,” “stop violence against women and harassment at workplace,” “no gender discrimination,” “women want equal rights,” and “long live international women solidarity.” 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
11. United Kingdom - Women Are More Likely to Join Unions 
 
Government figures show that women workers in the UK in 2005 were more likely to belong to a trade union than men. The data show that 29.9 precent of women workers were union members last year, versus 28.2 percent for men. 
 
Members’ average pay was 11.98 pounds an hour – 17.6 percent higher than for their non-union colleagues, who averaged 10.19 pounds. 
 
Low paid women are the main winners from the 30 pence minimum wage increase announced by the government. Low paid women benefit from minimum wages more than any other group in the economy, with part-time workers benefiting most of all. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
12. United States of America: The Retirement Gap 
A lifetime of hard work should bring economic security -- income sufficient to raise a family, and resources to enjoy a retirement earned over many working years. It is troubling that as far off as this goal seems to millions of American men, it is even further off for America's working women, especially in the area of retirement security. 
For more: <a href="http://www.steelworkers-usw.org/usw/program/content/2592.php">http://www.steelworkers-usw.org/usw/program/content/2592.php</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
13. Inter-Parliamentary Union - More Women Elected to Office 
 
As reported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the ratio of women elected to public office increased in 28 of the 39 countries that held parliamentary elections in 2005. By the end of 2005, 16.3 percent of upper and lower house members were women, sustaining the progress made since 1995, when the proportion of women in parliaments was only 11.3 percent. Several African nations now have a third of their parliaments comprised of women – Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa, Burundi and Tanzania. 
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/>
14. Resources 

<ul>
 <li>
 <div align="left">For the conclusions of the recent 50th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, see: <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/50sess.htm">http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/ 
 50sess.htm</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">WICEJ has produced a guide to UN summits and how to use their outcomes. See <a href="http://www.wicej.addr.com/tools.html">http://www.wicej.addr.com/tools.html</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights focuses on HIV/AIDS among other things: <a href="http://www.wgnrr.org/">http://www.wgnrr.org</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights - <a href="http://www.cladem.org/">http://www.cladem.org</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">EU Commission Report on Equality between Women and Men – 2006: 
 <a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/publications/2006/keaj06001_en.pdf">http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/ 
 publications/2006/keaj06001_en.pdf</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The International Women’s Health Coalition works to promote and protect the health and rights of women and girls worldwide: <a href="http://www.iwhc.org/">http://www.iwhc.org</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The elimination of gender stereotypes at work has been the object of a European project involving UGT Spain, FGTB, Belgium and the UIL, Italy. A booklet on this is available from UGT Spain. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The Chilean Health and Gender Equity Observatory is an instrument to provide follow-up and evaluation in the framework of cooperation with the Pan American Health Organisation. See <a href="http://www.observatoriogenerosalud.cl/">http://www.observatoriogenerosalud.cl</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The Clean Clothes Campaign has published a book on improving working conditions in the global garment industry as well as on the movement for women workers’ rights. To order it, see <a href="http://www.cleanclothes.org/pub.htm">http://www.cleanclothes.org/pub.htm</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">FORWARD is an international NGO dedicated to improving the health and well-being of African women and girls See: 
 <a href="http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/welcome.htm">http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/welcome.htm</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">Two new websites provide gender-sensitive news reporting: <a href="http://www.cimacnoticias.com/index.html">http://www.cimacnoticias.com/index.html</a> and <a href="http://www.artemisanoticias.com.ar/site/default.asp">http://www.artemisanoticias.com.ar/site/ 
 default.asp</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">For a report on the ILO/PSI/Global Unions Discussion Forum on Pay Equity held at the ILO on 16 February 2006, please contact <a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">carol.bruce@icem.org</a>. 
 </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div align="left">The International Labour Organisation has published a new International Labour Review which highlights women’s labour force participation. It is the 2005/4 edition and is available from the ILO.</div>
 </li>
</ul>

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 10

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) announced it will conduct a week-long general strike in South Korea, beginning 6 April, over the non-regular workers’ legislation that again is before the National Assembly. The legislative body opened an extraordinary session today and the controversial bill, designed to allow employers more flexibility in hiring contract workers, will be the focal point of its agenda. 
KCTU organised a mass rally today in front of the National Assembly to draw attention to the start of Thursday’s strike. The legislation, a cluster of three bills adversely affecting the rights and working condition of temporary workers, would grant employers the right to employ hundreds of thousands more contract workers for up to two years before laying them off.

Korean Labour Group to Strike over Non-Regular Workers’ Legislation

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief%201.gif" width="100"/>
Oil and gas trade unions, including the ICEM, were represented for the first time at the annual Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition last month in Baku, Azerbaijan. The eighth running of the show included oil and gas workers’ unions from Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, and Norway. 
 
Trade unions representing the ICEM’s Caspian Energy Project, together with staff from the Brussels Secretariat, manned colourful booths and distributed brochures, pins, banners and histories of their respective unions. Materials on HIV/AIDS, health and safety, contract and agency labour, and general labour relations were also presented to oil and gas company trade representatives.

ICEM’s Caspian Energy Network Debuts at Oil & Gas Trade Show

<img height="28" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="20"/>
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 Cerrejón, which represents the interests of BHP Billiton, Glencore and Anglo American, participated. 
<img height="28" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" 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’ federation and the ILO on the introduction of workplace prevention programmes. 
<img height="28" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="20"/>
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 – 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 – see below. Read also: Newsweek, 5 June "AIDS at 25") 
<img height="28" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="20"/>
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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" 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 “vulnerable groups” 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’s rights. 
<img height="28" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" 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 April, 544,000 people have begun antiretroviral treatment through Global Fund-supported programmes – 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 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) 

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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’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’s International Labour Conference in Geneva in June when Global Unions delivered letters to government, workers’ and employers’ 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) 
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International AIDS Conference 
 
The ICEM abstract written for the International AIDS Conference, Toronto, Canada, 13 to 18 August, was accepted for a poster exhibition.
The ICEM was also invited to speak on “The importance of social dialogue and workers’ participation in public/private partnerships” at a Satellite Meeting Session with the theme: “From the workplace to the community – Co-investment to access prevention, treatment and care in public/private partnerships”. 

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ICEM Resources on HIV/AIDS 
 
This is a reminder that HIV/AIDS materials are available on our website <a href="http://www.icem.org" type="internal">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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf" type="internal">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualEN.pdf</a>
French: <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf" type="internal">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualFR.pdf</a>
Spanish: <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf" type="internal">/files/PDF/Key_issues_pdfs/ 
AIDS/0606ICEMHIVAIDSManualSP.pdf</a>

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No.10

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Goodyear Thailand Ltd. has refused to reinstate 18 contract workers it sacked last year, despite an Industrial Court Commission (IRC) ruling that it must do so. Sixteen of the 18 reported for work at Goodyear’s Bangkok tyre factory on 3 May, but management refused entry. 
 
Later, the workers received letters stating that the company disagrees with the IRC directive and intends to file papers in Thailand’s central labour court to reverse the decision. “The IRC’s order is not final,” the letters read, “not until we exhaust the labour court mechanisms and the company cannot reinstate you at this time.” 
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The contract workers, employed in the warehouse and rubber stock department, were fired in October 2005 for attempting to exert their legitimate collective bargaining rights. Several had been working for Goodyear for up to 10 years under one-year contracts. Goodyear had been deducting union dues from their pay checks for as long as four years. The IRC delivered its reinstatement order in mid-April. The ICEM will continue to press for permanent employment at Goodyear for the Thai rubber workers.

Goodyear Refuses to Reinstate Thai Contract Workers

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A rare first-contract lockout in the US ended successfully for workers on 2 May when members of ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) came to terms with Stepan Chemical in Fieldsboro, New Jersey. Workers ratified an initial contract with the specialty chemicals company with a 33-2 acceptance vote that backed Stepan away from continuing a wage freeze, and making health care cuts. 
 
The lockout began on 26 January 2006 after workers chose UE for representation last year. Typically in the US, a company that loses a union certification vote will merely stall the bargaining process, sometimes for years. But Stepan responded to a spontaneous plant-site protest by the 40 workers by locking out the workforce, and attempting to run the plant with managers and scabs. 
 
Direct action by UE at Stepan’s shareholders’ meeting on 27 April triggered a 180-degree shift by management, and a first contract. UE produced documents that proved the company had spent US$1.8 million on expenses relayed to the lockout, including sums to clean up chemical spills. CEO F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., was shocked at the documentation, believing the figure to be only US$500,000. 
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Within two days, Stepan called offering a return to bargaining. The company and the UE workers’ representatives, led by Field Organiser Jim Ermi, then hammered together the initial labour agreement. 
 
“You shouldn’t have to endure a 14-week lockout to get a union,” stated UE Director of Organisation Bob Kingsley. “A courageous group of workers triumphed at Stepan based on protest and perseverance, but their struggle points out the deepening workers’ rights crisis facing all of us.” 
 
Stepan manufactures intermediates for use in consumer products, and has operations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Indonesia and Brazil.

UE Wins First Contract with Chemical Firm Despite Lockout

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The United Steelworkers (USW) kicked off a tour of South African trade union leaders of Sappi’s US paper mills by conducting a loud and demonstrative protest outside the company’s US offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Leaders from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood & Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa joined workers from Sappi mills in the states of Maine, Michigan and Minnesota at the 8 May demonstration. 
 
USW and Sappi are without current labour contracts at three of the company’s four US mills, and a contract at the fourth mill — Cloquet, Minnesota — expires today. Late last week, CEPPWAWU trade union leaders employed at Sappi mills in South Africa met with their US counterparts at mills in Skowhegan and Westbrook, Maine; Muskegon, Michigan; and in Cloquet.

Sappi’s South African Unionists Visit US Worksites

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Some 7,000 demonstrators marched through Paris on 12 September, with many more demonstrating in other cities throughout France, all responding to a joint call for action by French unions CGT, FO, CGC, and CFTC. 
 
The manifestations, held to protest the government sponsored merger between state-owned Gaz de France (GDF) and privately-held Suez, came a week after the CGT and FO unions held a referendum among workers at GDF. The referendum, at which 60% of all 53,000 GDF workers took part, showed a very clear hostility towards the merger plans, with 94% voting against the privatisation idea. 
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The State of France currently holds an 80% stake in GdF, with a current law setting a minimum of 70%. The merger would automatically reduce the state’s stake in GDF to about 34%. 
 
Whereas CGT, FO, CGC, and CFTC would prefer closer cooperation between Electricité de France (EDF) and GDF, the FCE-CFDT union forwarded its own proposal to the government on 13 September. Equally opposed to the privatisation of GDF, FCE-CFDT sees possible advantages in developing partnerships between Suez and GDF. The union’s increased cooperation project would, however, keep GDF in the public sector. 
 
The French government finds itself more and more isolated, with an increasing number of individuals and organisations joining the anti-privatisation call. French Labour representatives, currently in opposition, are also fiercely contesting the privatisation plan at the special parliamentary session on the subject.

Protests in France against Gaz de France – Suez Merger

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