English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Two union networks of Brazilian chemical workers met recently. Union leaders of Brazilian federations of Akzo Nobel are meeting today and tomorrow, 29-30 January, in S&atilde;o Paulo. And workplace leaders from three of DuPont&rsquo;s major manufacturing sites in Brazil met in the same city on 24 January for a planning meeting. 
 
The Akzo Nobel meeting represented the fourth time trade unionists convened. On tomorrow&rsquo;s agenda, managers have been invited for discussions. The talks will centre on the Dutch-based company&rsquo;s corporate social responsibility plan. Trade unionists from Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s multiple S&atilde;o Paulo worksites are attending, including the Itupeva and Reposa Taveres sites, and from the company&rsquo;s Tintas Division. 
<img height="99" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The Brazilian DuPont network meeting saw 12 participants attend from three DuPont sites, including the chemicals plant at Guarulhos near S&atilde;o Paulo, the Barra Mansa worksite in Rio de Janeiro, and a chemicals facility in northern Bahai State. The network is planning further meetings for 18-19 April, at which time Brazilian management of DuPont will be invited. 
 
Chemical union leaders from two Brazilian national centres were represented, Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and For&ccedil;a Sindical (FS).

Brazilian Union Networks for DuPont, Akzo Nobel Meet

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
ExxonMobil is not going to escape the fact that it has to answer for Indonesian human rights crimes occurring in the 1990s. That decision came from a US Appeals Court on 17 January, after the world&rsquo;s biggest energy company attempted to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 11 Indonesian citizens. 
 
The alleged crimes came when Mobil was opening the Arun gas fields in joint development with the Suharto government. At the time, Suharto&rsquo;s regime was deploying brutal methods to put down a separatist movement in the Aceh region on the northern tip of the Sumatra Island. 
 
The lawsuit contends that Suharto agreed to provide army troops during the development, and that Mobil provided logistical and material support to the troops. Troops used the company&rsquo;s facilities and equipment to &ldquo;interrogate, torture and murder Acehnese civilians suspected of engaging in separatist activities,&rdquo; the lawsuit states. Following Suharto&rsquo;s forced leave from office, independent investigation teams did find several mass graves connected with the human rights atrocities. 
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
The lawsuit is legitimate in US courts because of the Alien Tort Claims Act, a 216-year-old American statute that allows persons from other countries to hold accountable, either American citizens or US-based corporations, when violations of international law are committed outside of the US. 
 
ExxonMobil filed a review of the case in the US Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, after a US Federal District Court denied a prior request for dismissal. 
 
This American court case has special significance inside Indonesia. Under a negotiated autonomy agreement implemented last year for Aceh, the Indonesian government has pledged to establish a special court by July 2007 to hear the thousands of human rights cases that have been pending after 30 years of regional strife on Sumatra.

ExxonMobil in Dock for Indonesian Human Rights Crimes

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
French unions held successful manifestations on 22 January at Shell France refineries over possible the possible sale of three facilities. FCE-CFDT, FO, CGT, CFE-CGC, and CFTC joined as one to call on the Anglo-Dutch company to assure full employment and maintain all social rights of workers in the event of divestiture. 
 
On 11 January, Shell France confirmed reports from late last year that three French refineries, as well as a petrochemical refinery in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, were up for &ldquo;strategic review.&rdquo; The French sites include the large Berre-l&rsquo;Etang solvents refinery, and refineries at Petit-Couronne and Reichstett-Vendenheim. Some 2,500 of Shell France&rsquo;s 3,600 workers would be affected by asset sales of the three refineries. 
The unions held a press conference at Berre after presenting management with a petition calling for respect and honest social dialogue with workers before any sale occurs. Some 1,500 workers are employed there. Similar petitions were handed to Shell management at Petit-Couronne and Reichstett, where 550 and 240 workers are employed. 
<img height="150" src="" width="115" alt="" />
&ldquo;We request from any potential buyer a clear plan for the facility,&rdquo; FCE-CFDT Union Representative Jean-Luc Bildstein told Agence France Presse. &ldquo;For now, we do not see a strike occurring but if Shell does not hear our demands, other actions will be considered.&rdquo; 
 
The one-day manifestations were considered a success since the vast majority of Shell workers at each site turned out for the protests.

French Unions Mobilise as Shell Prepares to Sell Refineries

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Polish mining unions stood their ground with the country&rsquo;s Economic Ministry over total privatisation of two coal mining companies, as well as the sale of several mines of Europe&rsquo;s largest coal producer, Kompania Weglowa (KW). A compromise agreement was reached late on 22 January between 12 miners&rsquo; unions and Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak, an agreement which halted a planned 24-hour warning strike, scheduled to start on 24 January. 
 
Coal miners balloted to strike on 18 January after 62% of the country&rsquo;s 122,000 affected miners voted by 97% in favour of industrial action. A general strike was to follow the warning strike on 1 February if the privatisations and a plan to link miners&rsquo; salaries with production were not reached. 
&nbsp;<img height="53" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The compromised consensus agreement states that the privatisation of mines will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and on condition that the government retain a majority stake in the coal sector. The Economic Ministry last September proposed the sale of state-run companies Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), as well as selling some of KW&rsquo;s 17 pits, as part of the government&rsquo;s mining sector reorganisation strategy for the years 2007 to 2015. 
 
The trade unions, including the ICEM affiliate Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers&rsquo; Section of Solidarnosc, have been critical of the government&rsquo;s minimum investment programme for coal mining, and feel that partial privatisation or management buy-ups of some mines could inject the necessary capital. 
 
The issue of the remuneration-to-productivity ratio is still unresolved, and the mineworkers&rsquo; unions are hopeful that continued dialogue with the government will solve this important issue.

Strike Threat Curbs Polish Government’s Privatisation of Coal Sector

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The general strike that has paralysed the West African nation of Guinea since 10 January ended 27 January. The country&rsquo;s unions, including ICEM mining affiliate SYNAMIC/ONSLG, reached a compromise with beleaguered President Lansana Cont&eacute; to cede some of his near absolute powers. 
 
Guinea&rsquo;s trade unions, backed by some 14 opposition parties, forced Cont&eacute; to concede authority to a yet-to-be-named prime minister, who will run the government. The ending of the strike also produced a pledge from Cont&eacute; to immediately reduce fuel and food prices. 
The ICEM reached SYNAMIC General Secretary Yamodou Tour&eacute; last week, after he had been twice jailed by police and gendarmerie during the strike. Tour&eacute; said he was among some 20 leaders who negotiated with Cont&eacute; until late in the evening of 25 January. Earlier that day, a commission that included government officials, union leaders, and civil society representatives met to work out the new powers for the prime minister. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
The 72-year-old Cont&eacute; sacked former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo in April 2006. The strike started after Cont&eacute;, in December, released one of Guinea&rsquo;s wealthiest men, employers&rsquo; association leader Mamadou Sylla, and former minister Fode Soumah from prison. The two, both close associates of the reclusive president, had been imprisoned on corruption charges. 
 
The peaceful general strike was met with heavy-handed force by Guinea&rsquo;s riot police. At least 59 demonstrators were killed during the 18-day strike, including more than 30 on 22 January when police sprayed automatic weapons fire into a citizens&rsquo; protest in the capital city of Conakry. 
 
Tour&eacute; was among a handful of labour leaders arrested on 17 January as they led a group of some 200 demonstrators on a march to the National Parliament. The leaders were released later that day following negotiations led by National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Sompare. Tour&eacute; also serves as secretary general for the Organisation Nationale des Syndicats Libres de Guin&eacute;e (ONSLG), one of the main national labour centres in Guinea. 
He was arrested again five days later, on 22 January, the bloodiest day of the strike, when a presidential guard led by the president&rsquo;s son, Ousmane Cont&eacute;, stormed a union meeting. Some 30 trade union leaders were then taken to Cont&eacute;&rsquo;s home on the Samory military grounds near Conakry. They were released in the early morning hours of the next day. 
<img height="96" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Ironically, it was those arrests and late night meeting with Cont&eacute; that set the stage for last week&rsquo;s negotiated end to the general strike. 
 
The strike brought Guinea, one of the world&rsquo;s most impoverished countries, to a standstill. It crippled exports of bauxite, the country&rsquo;s major cash source, after miners at one of the country&rsquo;s bauxite mines, Sangaredi, downed tools. 
 
Workers of the Christian miners&rsquo; union, FSAMCA, also played a key role in the strike, after they were told by their union to join the strike on 19 January. Miners belonging to all unions at the country&rsquo;s national bauxite company, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guin&eacute;e (CBG), effectively brought the company to a halt. 
 
CBG is operated by Alcoa World Alumina, through its Halco joint venture with Canada&rsquo;s Alcan, with the two North American companies owning 51% of the enterprise, and Guinea&rsquo;s government the remainder. Russia&rsquo;s giant aluminium producer Rusal also has substantial holdings in the country. 
 
Guinea is the world&rsquo;s leading producer of bauxite.

Unions in Guinea End General Strike

Two recent and separate attacks by lawless militia groupings in Iraq have incensed the ICEM, the Global Union Federation for the energy sector. Both attacks, one random, on 16 January,&nbsp;in which a dedicated trade unionist was slain, the other, on 11 January,&nbsp;a targeted slaying of oil engineers in route to a union&rsquo;s press conference, &ldquo;reflect the failures of both the occupation forces and of the al-Maliki government,&rdquo; according to ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
The ICEM was appalled to learn of the death of Mohammed Hameed, a dedicated trade union organiser of the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). He was among a group of 15 civilians who were randomly gunned down in an open marketplace in southern Baghdad near his home. Hameed had been out on a walk when he was caught in a hail of gunfire.
<img height="142" alt="" src="" width="134" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="143" alt="" src="" width="120" />
&nbsp;Manfred Warda&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Falah Alwan&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&ldquo;It hurts tremendously when a trade unionist is killed in a situation like this,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;Brother Hameed was a person who had the vision and fortitude to help build a just and decent civil society inside Iraq.&rdquo; Hameed, who was in his 30s, scored several advances last summer for oil industry workers in the Baghdad area, who constantly attempt to escape poverty conditions in the strife-ridden area. 
 
He is survived by his wife, who is an active trade unionist herself inside the service sector side of the&nbsp;FWCUI, and two children. 
 
The second incident occurred five days earlier, when militia gunmen abducted eight engineers of the Iraqi Oil Ministry as they were travelling in a vehicle to a FWCUI press conference on fuel price increases. Four of the kidnapped victims were released. One engineer, Abdukareem Mahdi, was later found dead, after being tortured. The other three, Nazar Fattah, Adil Yahia and Ahmed Maulood, remain missing and are presumed dead.
&ldquo;We are disappointed with the response from the government and the lack of information given us by the authorities on these heinous crimes,&rdquo; said Falah Alwan, the president of FWCUI. &ldquo;The Iraqi government must take responsibility for the lawlessness that has become so prevalent in the oil industry, as well as for the obvious security deficiencies that has allowed ordinary workers to be killed every day.&rdquo;
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM also calls on the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to fully investigate the abductions and killings on 11 January, and to make serious efforts to apprehend the drive-by gunmen responsible for the random killings on 16 January.

ICEM Condemns Killings Within Iraq’s Oil Industry

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Last month, North American ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) negotiated the biggest pay and benefit increase in the US coal industry since 1974, winning a 32% wage and pension increase over a five-year period. The union negotiated the agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), which will establish the pattern for several US coal operators in the coming months. 
 
UMWA membership of some 20,000 miners ratified the contract with 80% approval on 21 December. The contract took effect for 3,200 actives miners and 10,000 retirees in six US states at Consol Energy Inc. on 1 January. It includes a 20% across-the-board wage increase over the five-year period, and a future retiree benefit hike of $10-per-month for every year of service. In addition, UMWA&rsquo;s members at Consol received a US$1,000 bonus at the first of the year. 
 
&ldquo;There are no concessions, no givebacks in this agreement,&rdquo; stated UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;There are only gains for current members, retirees, and their families.&rdquo; 
<img height="98" alt="" src="" width="150" />
&ldquo;This is the largest wage increase we&rsquo;ve negotiated since 1974. Over the life of the agreement, a miner working at the top rate will see over US$32,000 more in his paycheck for just working straight time,&rdquo; said Roberts in a statement. A mineworker represented by the UMWA had been averaging US$20.42-per-hour prior to this contract taking effect. 
 
Coupled with funds guaranteed through the US government&rsquo;s renewal of the federal Abandoned Mine Land Fund, the new contract assures that health care coverage, with all benefits included, will be maintained with no cost increases to workers for co-payments. Roberts said that other coal companies will be bound to the new BCOA contract&rsquo;s pension provisions, since they are part of the UMWA&rsquo;s 1974 Pension Fund.

UMWA in US Negotiates Highest Gains with Coal Companies since 1994

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
A 4 January pipeline leak of some 4.5 tonnes of the chemical hexamethylene diamine (HMDA) at a BASF nylon intermediates plant near Bellingham, Teesside UK, was termed a &ldquo;major incident,&rdquo; causing injuries to 37 workers, including one worker still in serious condition at a North-East UK hospital. 
 
Two other workers had been hospitalised up until late last week. One of the two underwent plastic surgery for burns to the face. Hexamethylene diamine is a component in the manufacture of synthetic material nylons, and is a corrosive substance which causes chemical burns when contact with the skin and eyes is made. It also causes damage if breathed into the lungs. 
 
The incident injured both BASF staff and contract workers employed at the chemical plant. 
<img height="90" alt="" src="" width="90" />
ICEM UK affiliate GMB, which represents some workers at the plant, said it will involve itself fully in investigations now underway by the UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive and the Environmental Agency. &ldquo;When there is an accident of this nature, we always have questions about safety and why it happened,&rdquo; GMB Regional Secretary Tom Brennan told a local newspaper, the Northern Echo. &ldquo;I can assure you, there will be questions raised over safety procedures, equipment, and machinery. There will be a complete review.&rdquo; 
 
Twenty of the workers were decontaminated at the worksite, but 17 others were rushed to hospitals. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
BASF, the world&rsquo;s largest chemical concern, has had two other serious health and safety occurrences in recent years at this operational site. The German company&rsquo;s previous site, in Wilton, a town close to Bellingham, was struck by a massive fire in 1995. And four years later, a worker who inhaled cyanide fumes died. BASF was fined ₤20,000 in 2002 for that workplace death. 
 
BASF bought the nylon intermediate plant on Seal Sands Road in Bellingham in 1985.

Chemical Leak at BASF in UK Injures 37, One Seriously

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Nigeria&rsquo;s two oil workers&rsquo; unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, expressed dismay that no representative from either state or federal government institutions attended last month&rsquo;s funeral of PENGASSAN trade union leader Nelson Ujeya. Ujeya, who was murdered on 20 August 2006, when government forces engaged in a shootout with militants at the time he was to be released, was buried on 16 December in his home town of Uhgelli, Delta State. 
 
Comrade Ujeya was abducted by youth militia on 8 August 2006 in Letugnene, Bayelsa State, and while in the company of senior state authorities. A community liaison officer of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Ujeya and the state officials were inspecting a community development project in Letugnene at the time. 
The circumstances of the kidnapping and murder remain clouded. These circumstances were just one issue in a strike by NUPENG and PENGASSAN last September, a strike that was suspended after two days when, among other promises, the government pledged to conduct a full inquiry into Ujeya&rsquo;s kidnapping and murder. Such an investigation has not yet commenced. 
<img height="115" src="" width="113" alt="" />
PENGASSAN President Peter Esele
&ldquo;We are very sad there were no representatives from the government, especially the Bayelsa State government, at the burial,&rdquo; said PENGASSAN President Peter Esele in a published report. &ldquo;It confirms our long-held argument that our government does not care about us, the ordinary citizens.&rdquo; 
 
Esele added that leaders of the two unions were surprised that not a single representative from either the petroleum or labour ministry paid their respects to Comrade Ujeya. Such absence, Esele continued, reflects the true feelings of top-level governmental officials regarding the promises made to end the September strike. 
Esele did recognise the respect given by SPDC during the aftermath of the murder, in which 10 others were killed, as well as at the funeral. &ldquo;SPDC has provided a lot of assistance, financially, morally, and otherwise to the family to ensure that things are all right,&rdquo; Esele said. &ldquo;So, to SPDC, we appreciate what they have done, but to the government of Bayelsa in whose delegation he was with when abducted and eventually killed, we are very disappointed.&rdquo; 
<img height="101" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Esele delivered a moving eulogy at Comrade Ujeya&rsquo;s funeral: &ldquo;You were, indeed, courageous both in your official duties as a Shell staff member and as a vibrant PENGASSAN activist. Who will ever forget your contributions to the contract staff unionisation and benefits enhancement struggle? Under thick and thin, and under unfriendly and hostile elements, you stood firm with other comrades in 2001 at the height of the contract staff struggle until success was achieved. Today, the lives of contract staff have been improved as a result of the struggle for which you stood firm.&rdquo; 
 
Comrade Ujeye was a Pengassan committee member during a six-week strike that began on 10 May 2001. The strike gave contract staff for SPDC regularised employment with full and vested benefits.

Nigerian Government Ignores Funeral of Nelson Ujeya

<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Global Framework Agreement with SCA Includes HIV/AIDS Clause
During a review meeting in Stockholm in January with the Swedish paper multinational Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), the ICEM and the Swedish paperworkers&rsquo; union, Svenska Pappers, proposed to include a clause on HIV/AIDS in the updated Global Framework Agreement, which SCA accepted. The company agreed to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. 
Note to ICEM affiliates 
If a company agrees to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, this opens a whole range of possibilities for negotiations and activities for the unions organising in a Global Agreement company. The ten key principles of the Code of Practice include non-discrimination, gender equality, confidentiality, prevention, care and support. You can obtain the Code of Practice from any ILO office or download it at <a href="http://www.ilo.org">www.ilo.org</a>. It exists in more than 30 languages. 
 
Please note that a Global Agreement applies to all operations of a company worldwide. Often, local management is not familiar with a Global Agreement signed by their head office. Insist on implementation and compliance! 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s other Global Agreements which include an HIV/AIDS clause are Lukoil, Statoil, and Lafarge. The latter company signed one jointly with the Building Workers&rsquo; International. In reviews of existing Global Agreements or in drafting new ones, the ICEM will insist on the inclusion of an HIV/AIDS clause referring to the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Global Fund Chooses new Executive Director 
 
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has chosen Michel Kazatchkine, a physician and global health expert, as the next Executive Director of the Global Fund. He replaces Sir Richard Feachem, the founding Executive Director, who steps down at the end of his five-year term on 31 March. 
 
Professor Kazatchkine is a physician who has treated people with AIDS for more than 20 years, and led the world&rsquo;s second-largest AIDS research agency. He currently serves as France's Ambassador for HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases. Professor Kazatchkine is a former Vice Chair of the Global Fund Board and first Chair of the Global Fund&rsquo;s Technical Review Panel, which assesses the quality of grant proposals. 
 
In just five years, the Global Fund has become a leading force in the fight against the three diseases. It provides two-thirds of international funding for the fight against malaria and TB, and 20% of the global funding to fight AIDS. 
 
The Global Fund has approved grants for 450 programs in 136 countries with a total commitment of US$7 billion. As of December 2006, 770,000 people have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Global Fund-supported programmes and nearly 18 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed to prevent malaria. In addition, tuberculosis programmes have detected and treated two million TB cases under DOTS, the internationally-approved TB control strategy. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Press Release, 8 February 2007)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Global Unions Continue G8 HIV/AIDS Campaign 
 
Global Unions continue their campaign for the creation of a high-level Working Group on HIV/AIDS by calling on unions to make representation to German embassies. Such actions are hoped to convince the Heads of State attending the G8 summit this June in Germany to agree to such a Working Group. 
 
The G8 summit in St. Petersburg last year agreed on a tangible process for surveillance of infectious diseases like AIDS. But the G8 has not identified how this process would become a reality and so this has remained an undelivered promise. 
 
The Global Union HIV/AIDS Programme calls on unions to organise special events to deliver letters to the German Embassy in their country on 28 April, the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. 
 
The German embassy action is twined with lobbying at international meetings of environment, health, and labour ministers at the annual meeting of the United Nations Environmental Programme, the World Health Assembly, and the International Labour Conference. 
 
(Source: Global Unions press release, 23 February) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Some 71,000 people in Ghana are HIV-positive 
Out of 71,000 people living with HIV/AIDS throughout Ghana who need drugs, only 6,000 are receiving anti-retroviral drugs from 32 health facilities. 
 
The director-general of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, said by July this year, 50% of all district hospitals will be prepared to administer the drugs. 
 
Awuku Amoa was speaking at a workshop for some selected people from the private sector and FM stations in Accra. More than 50 participants from all over the country attended. 
 
Awuku Amoa also said this year a lot of attention will be given to the youth, women and girls as they are more vulnerable. He therefore urged the media to champion the course of the crusade. 
 
The monitoring and evaluation coordinator at the AIDS Commission, Emmanuel Larbi, urged the participants to develop and implement workplace programmes such as condom distribution to reduce the spread of the disease. Topics treated included the National HIV and AIDS Research Agenda, and Ghana HIV Stigma Reduction campaign. 
 
(Source: Radio Ghana, Accra, 7 Feb 07 as supplied by the BBC Monitoring Service) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
NUM Protest against Impala Platinum&rsquo;s Hospital Care 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa gave Impala Platinum a seven-day ultimatum to respond to demands to improve health care services at the Impala Mine Hospital near Rustenberg, North West State. 
 
The ultimatum was given when miners staged a march on 23 January. NUM was protesting unfair and inferior treatment of workers at the facility. The union also accused the mine management, doctors and hospital administrators of denying antiretroviral drugs for treatment of HIV/AIDS. 
 
The subsequent strike ended on 18 February after management agreed to address the grievances presented to them. 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
China: Workplace Programme to Help AIDS Prevention 
At the end of January, China launched a national program on HIV/AIDS prevention and care in the workplace. 
 
The $3.5 million HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Program, funded by the United States Department of Labor, will be overseen by the International Labour Organization (ILO), and implemented in the provinces of Anhui, Guangdong, and Yunnan. 
 
&quot;China is now at a critical stage in fighting HIV/AIDS,&quot; said Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister of Labor and Social Security, during the launching of the programme in Beijing. &quot;We should try our best to prevent the spread of the disease from high-risk groups to the general public.&quot; Hu believed the 39-month programme would be a good model to promote China's anti-AIDS education policy and implementation. 
 
Hu said another five-year education program, jointly launched by 12 ministries in 2005, had set a target of making 85% of the nation's rural migrant workers knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS prevention by 2010. 
 
The Regulation on AIDS Prevention and Control stipulated that no employer or individual should discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS or their relatives. The regulation protects their rights of marriage, employment, medical care, and education. 
 
The goal is that all workers with HIV/AIDS are well protected; that they can get jobs, keep jobs and have access to AIDS prevention services, such as education, treatment, and voluntary testing and counselling, 
 
Statistics by the ministry shows in some of the provinces, working-age HIV/AIDS people account for 90% of the total infected population and a majority of them are under age 35 years. 
 
(Source: chinadaily.com.ch 27 January 2007) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Global Fund Round 7: Aidspan Releases Documents to Help Applicants 
With the Call for Proposals for Round 7 due on 1 March, Aidspan has published three documents providing guidance for applicants considering applying in this round. The three documents are: 
 
1. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Apply for a Round 7 Global Fund Grant.&rdquo; 
2. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Submit a Non-CCM Proposal for Round 7.&rdquo; 
3. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Submit a Regional Proposal for Round 7.&rdquo; 
 
All three documents are available at <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a>. 
 
The text of each document has been extracted from a forthcoming guide, entitled &ldquo;The Aidspan Guide to Round 7 Applications to the Global Fund,&rdquo; which will be released shortly after 1 March 2007, the expected date for the release of the Call for Proposals. 
 
Already available on the same web page, is &ldquo;An Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Proposals Submitted to the Global Fund in Rounds 3-6 &ndash; Based on Comments of the Technical Review Panel,&rdquo; which is another excerpt from the forthcoming Round 7 guide. 
 
When &ldquo;The Aidspan Guide to Round 7 Applications to the Global Fund&rdquo; is released, it will contain, in addition to the above-mention extracts, a step-by-step guide to filling out the Round 7 Proposal Form. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 70, 5 February 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>.) To receive GFO (if you haven't already subscribed), send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 18

Archive