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Global Fund Calls for Round 7 Proposals 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its Seventh Call for Proposals. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. Proposals have to reach the Global Fund by 4 July 2007. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 4 July 2007 will be reviewed by the Global Fund&rsquo;s Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will make its decisions at its November board meeting. 
 
 
How does the Global Fund work? 
 
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002 and up to December 2006, the Global Fund has approved 450 programmes in 136 countries with a total commitment of US$7 billion. 
 
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it and proves it &ndash; the Global Fund is performance based. 
 
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In reality, most CCMs are dominated by the public sector. 
 
 
How can unions get involved? 
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is recognised. No workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, the Global Union Federations, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the WHO and UNAIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is keen to build public/private partnerships and to implement co-investment projects. Without the involvement of the private sector, universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), is not possible or will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions as workers&rsquo; representatives. The ICEM has worked with the Global Fund to establish this principle in public/private co-investment projects. 
 
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. They have to attend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs. 
 
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM. 
 
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances &ndash; Creating Knowledge &ndash; Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. 
A lot of USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, the UK and the European Union may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme, ILOAIDS, has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices. 
 
Grants are allocated to a Principal Recipient in a country &ndash; in the majority of cases to a ministry. For a more efficient implementation sub-recipients may be nominated, and it is here where specific workplace programmes can receive funding. 
 
 
What are your next steps? 
 
&bull; Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget. 
 
&bull; Get to know the members of your country&rsquo;s CCM and lobby those potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 6 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
 
&bull; Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS and WHO offices. 
 
&bull; Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility. 
 
&bull; Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA. 
 
&bull; Access the website <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> on which a guide to Round 7 applications is available. 
 
 
How can the ICEM help? 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and inquiries to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. The ICEM has Global Framework Agreements with a dozen multinational companies which should be engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
 
Above all 
 
&bull; Start today if you want to do something. 
 
&bull; Remember that the private sector includes business and unions as the workers&rsquo; representatives. 
 
&bull; Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance. 
 
&bull; Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a> for further information and help.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Special Issue

+ First Ever Strike in a Free Trade Zone in Turkey 
+ Strike Started on 26 September 2006 
+ 98% of 300 Strikers are Women 
+ Petrol-Is successfully organised workers in March 2005 
+ Women subjected to constant insults by managers; they were forced to apply to management if they wished to marry; they were forbidden to talk to one another on the job; and were subjected to breath tests following 2 daily breaks of 15 and 25 minutes for smoking 
+ Management began collective bargaining with Petrol-Is in April 2006 with no intention of arriving at collective agreement 
+ Management threatened to move the plant out of Turkey if workers did not reject the union 
+ Management has retained 50-60 scabs during the strike, a violation of Turkish law

Fact Sheet on Strike at Novamed GmbH (Fresenius Medical Care) in Turkey

On the eve of World AIDS Day, 1 December, the ICEM leadership recommitted to fight the battle to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS through awareness, education, and poverty eradication campaigns. The ICEM&rsquo;s 4th World Congress, held 22-24 November in Bangkok, Thailand, affirmed that commitment. 
 
&ldquo;As the newly-elected leaders, we reaffirm ICEM&rsquo;s commitment to fight HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; said ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Hundreds of union leaders representing 180 affiliates in 75 countries signed the pledge for World AIDS Day at our Congress.&rdquo; 
 
That pledge, signed by not only the 840 trade unions leaders attending the Bangkok Congress, but taken back to national unions for thousands more signatures, commits the trade unionists to take the fight inside the workplace. 
<img height="113" alt="" src="" width="100" />
It commits to outright rejection of all forms of discrimination and victimisation of people living with HIV/AIDS; it recognises that the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS, and promises to fight for equal gender relations and the empowerment of women; and, in maintaining ICEM&rsquo;s continued work in this area, it encourages voluntary counselling and testing of workers and family members, as well as providing support for those who disclose their HIV-positive status. 
 
The pledge also makes demands of employers and governments. It demands that companies negotiate policies with trade union that are in sync with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work; it calls on employers to implement awareness-raising and prevention programmes jointly with trade unions; it call on firms operating in remote geographic areas with little or no health services to take responsibility for providing care and treatment; and it promises to undertake efforts to obtain affordable drugs from pharmaceutical companies and production of high-quality generics for those afflicted with the virus. 
<img height="133" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Regarding governments, the pledge advocates access for all to public health, including free or affordable antiretroviral treatments; it promises to promote legislation on discrimination and social protection; and it promises to lobby donor countries for accelerated financial resources for the global fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM and its affiliates are strategically positioned in our sectors, and in our thousands of workplaces, to play a direct role in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; said Zokwana and Warda. &ldquo;On World AIDS Day 2007, we call on all social partners to intensify campaigns in order to reverse the HIV/AIDS pandemic.&rdquo; 
 
The International Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is a 20-million-member Global Union Federation based in Brussels, Belgium.

ICEM Reconfirms Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS Pandemic

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) concluded its 4th World Congress today, 24 November, in Bangkok, Thailand, with sharply worded motions calling for economic sanctions against the military regime in Burma, and on establishment of trade union rights in Iraq. The Iraq resolution also called for the earliest possible withdrawal of occupational military forces from the Middle Eastern country. 
 
A total of 840 trade union leaders from 176 global ICEM affiliates, representing 75 countries, attended the three-day Congress. 
 
The final day was marked by impassioned speeches from the General Secretary of the exiled Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) and from central leaders of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), a collection of ten oil workers&rsquo; union in southern Iraq, and from the Kurdistan General Workers&rsquo; Syndicate of Unions (KGWSU). 
<img height="285" alt="" src="" width="380" />
FTUB General Secretary Maung Maung at the ICEM Congress
Opening the last day&rsquo;s session was Maung Maung, General Secretary of the FTUB. He said the recent street protests in Burma are not over and Burmese people will carry their struggle for liberation and national democracy to the end. &ldquo;Economic sanctions and international pressure do hurt this regime,&rdquo; Maung said, urging as much international pressure as possible because &ldquo;the regime is cracking.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s motion calls on all global unions to &ldquo;exert their influence&rdquo; and &ldquo;to approach their governments so that the international community can jointly pressurize the military regime to restore democracy.&rdquo; 
 
Two key speakers from the oil and gas sector rose to support the motion. Gary Beevers, a Vice President and Oil Bargaining Chairman for the United Steelworkers in the United States, said his union has taken action against US-based Chevron for its gas dealings with the regime. 
 
And Marc Blanc, of the French trade union FCE-CFDT, announced that his union federation &ndash; together with four other French trade unions &ndash; will host the FTUB in Paris on December 20. The meeting will center on Total&rsquo;s activities in Burma, and will occur in conjunction with the Executive Committee of Total&rsquo;s European Works Council. 
 
On the Iraq motion, Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad al Assadi of the IFTU told delegates the US administration of George Bush came to Iraq with a Hydrocarbons Law that &ldquo;would steal our oil reserves.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The Iraqi people are the only ones who should decide and control their oil wealth,&rdquo; he said. He also called upon the current Iraqi government and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to expedite legislation inside Iraq called the Labour and Social Security Law, which would secure legitimate labour rights for all Iraqi workers. 
 
Siddeeq Ramadhan of the KGWSU told delegates that Kurdistan is a &ldquo;devoted part of Iraq&rdquo; with a desire to live in peace with Iraq&rsquo;s neighbours. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s final session also passed a motion on installing more safety measures in the mining secure, and called for governments to pass ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines. The ICEM also passed a motion support the International Trade Union Confederation&rsquo;s (ITUC) Decent Work Initiative.

ICEM Congress Closes with Strong Motions on Burma, Iraq

The 4th World Congress of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) opened today, 22 November, in Bangkok, Thailand, with a full slate of speakers, as well as pointed discussion on the future course of the 20-million-member Global Union Federation (GUF). Some 840 trade union leaders from 176 national trade unions in 75 countries are attending the three-day Congress at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. 
 
Global union leaders also addressed the risks to workers of asset-stripping private equity firms, and delegates heard recent examples of job losses caused by such speculative financial tools. The quadrennial Congress, gathered under the banner &lsquo;Global Unity &ndash; Global Equality,&rsquo; continues on Friday, 23 November, with an address by Maung Maung, head of the exiled Burmese labour federation FTUB. 
 

<img height="253" alt="" src="" width="380" />
Italo Rodomonti and Manfred Warda signing ICEM-WFIW integration agreement
The Congress will also consider a host of motions, including one on Burma, labour disputes occurring in the host country, Thailand, a location change of the labour federation from Brussels, Belgium, to Geneva, Switzerland, and one on creating closer cooperation with other GUFs. The election of ICEM General Secretary and President will also occur on 23 November. 
 
Following a welcome by Kyoshi Ochiai of Japanese labour federation UI Zensen, chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Region, delegates heard from Rawi Pupaga, head of ICEM&rsquo;s Thai umbrella of labour unions. He delivered news that a negotiated settlement is near at hand with Thailand&rsquo;s Health Ministry to halt the interim government&rsquo;s plan to privatise the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation. 
Today&rsquo;s session included formal integration of the World Federation of Industrial Workers into the ICEM, a Christian-based network of trade unions. 
 
Featured speaker in the opening session was Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the 168-million-member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Ryder&rsquo;s comments centered on the shifting and real sentiment inside global trade unions of consolidation and closer cooperation. He spoke on the founding in January 2007 of the Global Unions Councils, an action-oriented structure to link the work of the world&rsquo;s 11 GUFs, as well as the ITUC and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of the OECD. 
<img height="285" alt="" src="" width="380" />
ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana
&ldquo;This will not be a dead piece of administration bureaucracy,&rdquo; Ryder promised. &ldquo;We now have the opportunity to work together to identify common priorities, and to design and fund work plans which will benefit from our combined talents, expertise, and strength. 
 
In a keynote speech delivered by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa, he addressed growing trade union concern on the increasing number of deaths occurring in the mining industry. &ldquo;How many more deaths, anguish, and sorrow must be visited upon innocent mineworkers, their families, and the communities in which they live before we can say enough is enough?&rdquo; he asked. 
 
The Congress opened to the sad news that 100 coal miners had perished in a methane gas explosion in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. And Zokwana&rsquo;s own union, the NUM, has now planned a one-day strike for 4 December across the entire mining sector of South Africa to protest the lack of regard for health and safety by mining houses operating in the mineral-rich nation. It will mark the first total shutdown of all mines in South Africa in 20 years. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda presented the GUF&rsquo;s Secretariat Report, and cited several examples on where union action or voter power has changed the agenda for capital markets. &ldquo;We should never agree with any government&rsquo;s argument that they cannot control the so-called invincible forces of globalisation,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Warda highlighted the ICEM&rsquo;s work on helping to stop the spread of the HIV/AIDS around worksites of the extractive industries, as well as giving instances in which engagement with multinational companies on meaningful social dialogue has produced tangible results. 
 
Henk Van Der Kolk, president of the national union FNV Bondgenoten in The Netherlands, addressed the issue of private equity, and how the rapid movement of capital has undermined workers&rsquo; rights and created mass job losses. He challenged the ICEM to examine how private equity funds are violating the code of conduct of the OECD, as well as rules of the WTO. He also suggested the time might be ripe for the ICEM, or the ITUC, to seek Global Framework Agreements with private equity concerns in order to bring a social dimension to such capital funds. 
 
The Bangkok Congress of the ICEM is featuring speeches and appearances by seven Iraqi trade unionists coming from the oil sector as well as the electric power sector.

ICEM Congress Opens with Cry of Better Mine Safety, Curbs to Capital Markets

Throughout a one-day, 21 November, ICEM conference on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), taking place prior to the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, speaker after speaker confirmed that the trend of industry subcontracting is rapidly increasing throughout the world. 
 
Predominant is the continuing trend of subcontracting in developing nations. With few exceptions, the 300 trade unionists attending cited specific problems with agency, temporary, short-term contract, or self-employment labour, relating directly to the lack of a (decent) employment relationship. 
 
For many of the world&rsquo;s workers, affecting most industries, a prior, normal relationship has been reduced to one of much lesser quality. For others, the relationship has changed to a mere commercial one, with workers&rsquo; taking the job security risks, and an erosion of social benefits affecting both workers and society. 
<img height="113" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM conference produced several examples in which subcontracting is becoming rampant on several continents. In the mining and diamond sector of India, virtually all miners are contract labourers. In Thailand and Korea, examples were cited where CAL work is omnipresent. 
 
Africa was described as globalisation&rsquo;s play ground. In the mining sector of sub-Saharan Africa, many problems are created by investors who think anything in the employment realm is possible. Other examples came from a wide variety of countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, United States, Japan, Tanzania, Peru, and the UK. 
 
A special contribution came from Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The conference also delivered, however, case studies in which unions and trade unionists have succeeded in rolling back the trend. One such example came from Brazil. At the oil firm Petrobras four years ago, there were three contract workers for each permanent worker. Today, after sound bargaining by trade unions, the ratio is one permanent worker to every one-and-a-half contract worker. 
 
Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, Macedonia, and Croatia were also quoted as countries where progress has been made, both legislatively and at the collective bargaining table. 
<img height="333" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Given the difficult situation in many countries, and the need by many to hear how others deal with temporary or agency labour, the ICEM was called upon to continue and intensify its three-year-old campaign on this employment issue. 
 
A key ingredient of this work is the need to guarantee that all CAL workers - everywhere - are entitled to the same wages, benefits, and work rights as the permanent workers. 
 
Also stressed was the importance of legislation efforts in regard to contract and agency labour, preferably at nation-wide level. The principles of the ILO Recommendation 198, the Employment Relationship Recommendation, will be an important tool in this. 
 
Finally, it was agreed that unions need to reach out to short-term contract or temporary workers. In too many countries, such workers have faced resentment from trade union members. Setting up unions, or union divisions, for CAL workers, or &ndash; by many, the preferred option &ndash; simply bringing CAL workers into existing union structures, is seen as an important and needed accomplishment.&nbsp;

Contract and Agency Labour - a Global and Negative Phenomenon

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Calling South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry &ldquo;the killing fields within our economy,&rdquo; the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) submitted a report on mine safety 14 November to the National Parliament&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy. 
 
The NUM listed eight recommendations needed to reduce the number of accidents and deaths occurring in South African mines. They include obtaining better detection technology on seismic geological events; legislation that will provide steeper fines on mining houses, up to imprisonment for executives when tragedies do occur; enabling legislation to nationalise mines when mining companies are found negligent in death-related accidents; and a mandatory review and heightened training of safety representatives by companies and the government, which must include risk assessment criteria enabling miners to detect and report hazardous conditions. 
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
The report cited the number of deaths and injuries per million hours worked in South Africa&rsquo;s mines since the year 2000. And it specifically highlighted the fact that, even though the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 sets forth a procedure for legal prosecution in mine safety negligence, no such prosecution has occurred dating back to the year 2000. 
 
&ldquo;Given the gravity of this situation and the need to send a clear message to employers that profit maximisation must not be pursued at the cost of our members&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; the NUM report concludes, we have no alternative but &ldquo;to embark on a National Strike.&rdquo; 
 
In mid-October, the NUM filed for certification for such a strike with the Commission on Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). That governmental agency, along with the NUM and the Chamber of Mines, is currently in the consultation process that is mandatory before any legal strike can occur.

NUM Recommends Broad Mine Safety Changes to South Africa’s Parliament

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) is giving support to a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill put forward by an MP that would give labour agency workers the right to be covered by a collective agreement. 
 
Labour MP Darien Fenton has submitted the legislation to New Zealand&rsquo;s Parliament, saying contract labourers and agency workers are often placed in a workplace to do the same job that full-time workers perform. But, he added, they are paid less and have fewer rights. 
 
The proposed legislative change is called the Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill. 
<img height="50" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Fenton saw first-hand the unfairness faced by temporary workers. He recently visited a worksite where temporary workers from an agency are employed. &ldquo;Entitlements are few and far between,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are no entitlements to breaks apart from lunch. There are no shift payments, no overtime rates, no weekend rates or other allowances, even though directly-employed workers receive these things. 
 
&ldquo;Under my bill, workers like these will be able to join the collective agreement in force at the workplace, thus ensuring they have the same pay and rights as directly-employed workers.&rdquo; 
 
Since Fenton&rsquo;s bill is a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill, in New Zealand it means that it will have to wait to be drawn from the ballot before it is brought before Parliament.

Private Member’s Bill Surfaces in New Zealand on Agency Labour

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
French rubber workers at the Goodyear-Dunlop twin plants in Amiens rejected a company restructuring plan that would increase work hours. With a 65% vote, the two factories, totalling 2,700 workers, said &lsquo;no&rsquo; to the American company&rsquo;s plan to reduce weekly rotation teams from five to four, and cut weekend pay for each worker by 10%. 
<img height="150" alt="" src="" width="115" />
All the primary French unions at the plants, including ICEM affiliate CFDT, recommended that workers reject the plan, and following the vote, they urged a quick return to dialogue to re-shape the restructuring plan. 
 
Goodyear&rsquo;s plan would also eliminate 450 jobs over three years through attrition. The company is seeking reorganisation of the plants in northern France in order to implement a &euro;52 million modernisation plan to produce high-performance tyres. But the reorganisation would increase work time by rotation of shifts every eight days. Weekend work would also have increased from 28 to 35 hours, had workers accepted the plan.

French Goodyear Workers Reject Reorganisation that would Increase Work Hours

Changes to Germany's industrial democracy laws took effect this Saturday. 
 
The new measures update the &quot;workplace constitution&quot;, a pillar of Germany's co-determination system (Mitbestimmung). The reforms will strengthen the country's works councils by bringing them more into line with present-day industrial realities. The changes, which had faced stiff opposition from employers at various stages, have been largely welcomed by the unions. 
 
The updated law is &quot;an important step towards more co-determination, even though not all of the unions' wishes were fulfilled,&quot; said Hubertus Schmoldt. He is the President of the German mining, chemical and energy union IG BCE. Co-determination has helped to ensure &quot;social peace and economic success&quot; in Germany, he pointed out. It has thus become &quot;a substantial advantage for the Federal Republic as an industrial location.&quot; 
 
Works councillors, who are elected by all employees of a workplace, are one of two complementary types of worker representative in Germany. The other is the union reps, who are elected by union members only. The trade unions conclude regional collective agreements for each industry and decide on any industrial action. The works councils have strong information and co-determination rights within each enterprise. This means that their agreement is needed for a range of important decisions. They are responsible for supervising the implementation of the unions' collective agreements in the workplace. This can cover various issues, such as the way in which worktime cuts are applied, or the payment of certain bonuses. Unions put up their own lists of candidates for the works councils. In practice, most works councillors have been, or are, union reps. Once elected, they remain in close touch with the union. 
 
The legislation on works councils dates back to 1972. In the meantime, German industry has seen a number of far-reaching changes. New technologies have altered working patterns, and the number of &quot;white-collar&quot; employees now exceeds the &quot;blue-collars&quot;. Mergers, hive-offs and outsourcing have drastically altered the structures of many big German firms. Globalisation and European integration have changed the context in which German industry operates. For all these reasons, workplace-level co-determination was being eroded and the legislation needed an overhaul. In fact, some of the legal changes reflect what was already happening in practice in the better workplaces. 
 
The main changes under the new law are: 
 
- More scope for negotiating the creation of works councils at the level where decisions are actually taken. According to circumstances, works councils can be company-wide, or based on a company subdisiary or product division. 
 
- Provisions to ensure that, when firms merge or demerge, the works councils based on the old company structure can continue to function, for a maximum of six months, until new ones are elected. 
 
- Removal of various bureaucratic hindrances to the creation of works councils. 
 
- Involvement of temporary or subcontracted workers in the election and running of works councils. 
 
- More works councillors. The number of works councillors entitled to paid full-time or part-time leave to carry out their duties depends on the number of employees in the firm. The new law lowers many of the thresholds. For instance, a firm with 500 employees was previously required to have 9 works councillors. Now, it will have 11. 
 
- Improved information and decision-making rights for the works councils on employment protection and skills formation. Works councils will have the right to propose employment promotion measures. 
 
- Tighter obligations on employers to place experts at the works councils' disposal for information purposes. 
 
- Stronger job security for works councillors. To dismiss a works councillor, an employer already needed the permission of the works council. Similar provisions now apply to the transfer of employees who are works councillors. 
 
- Environmental protection at the workplace level is now included in the list of tasks for works councils. This implies wide-ranging rights of information and consultation on a firm's environmental policies. 
 
- Greater sexual equality. From now on, whichever sex is in the minority in the workplace must legally have a proportion of works councillors at least equal to the percentage of workers of that gender within the workforce. This rule is expected to increase the number of women works councillors, and measures are being taken to reduce the out-of-hours work commitments required of works councillors. Works councils have now also been given the right to propose career promotion plans for women and to have these incorporated into companies' personnel policies. 
 
- More involvement of young workers and apprentices in works councils. From now on, works councils can apply for apprentices to be given full employment contracts. 
 
- Combating racism and xenophobia in the workplace is added to works councils' tasks. They receive the right to oppose the hiring or transfer of employees who incite race hatred, and to apply for the removal of employees who engage in such activities. 
 
&quot;Globalisation makes it all the more necessary to strengthen co-determination,&quot; IG BCE President Hubertus Schmoldt pointed out. He is also Vice-President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The globalisation process offers great opportunities,&quot; Schmoldt said. &quot;But structural disruption has to be cushioned and overcome in a socially acceptable way. For this, co-determination is a vital prerequisite.&quot;

German Works Councils Strengthened

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