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World AIDS Day 2005 - Keep the Promise 
 
The global theme of World AIDS Day, 1 December 2005, was Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise. This refers in particular to the commitments made by Heads of State at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001. 
Global unions appealed to their affiliates and the millions of members organised by them to take &ldquo;3 Minutes of Their Time&rdquo; to make their promise. Governments and political leaders must be reminded of their forgotten promises and efforts must be reinvigorated to keep them.
At UNGASS, four years ago, 189 countries made the most significant AIDS promises and agreed, among other things, to stop mother-to-child transmission and to provide treatment to all those who need it. In most countries the targets will not be met. 
At Gleneagles, in July 2005, the G8 leaders pledged &ldquo;to develop and implement a package of HIV prevention, treatment and care, with the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010.&rdquo; This must not remain a rhetorical statement. Action must follow so that the promise is not broken. 
 
Organisations and individuals are urged to make their own promise at <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.net/community">www.worldaidscampaign.net/community</a>. Make your promise now! 
 
At the main ILO event in Geneva, which the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator attended and at which the ICEM leaflet was distributed, the ILO Director General, Juan Somavia, said that the workplace must play a strategic role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. &ldquo;It is a fight not only against the ravages of the disease but also against discrimination, intolerance, misconception and fear&rdquo;. 
 
 
C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire Workers and Management Fight the HIV/AIDS Epidemic 
 
Charlotte Nguessan, the President of the Shell C.I. HIV/AIDS committee and the ICEM National HIV/AIDS Coordinator, reports on initiatives within this company. Most of the people infected with HIV virus are between 15 and 49 &ndash; the economically active population. As a response Shell set up a joint committee with the union to fight HIV/AIDS by heightening awareness among workers, their families and the communities. 
 
This takes place at all levels of the company and reaches out into the community. Examples include campaigns for the families of Shell employees, campaigns for petrol attendants and Shell shops throughout the country, for other partners such as fuel and gas contractors, campaigns for religious communities and the establishment of the Yamoussoukro Shell Institute to promote awareness primarily among youth. Recognising the specific vulnerability of women, a conference for Shell&rsquo;s Women Workers was organised with the theme &ldquo;Women and HIV: we are more vulnerable&rdquo;. 
 
The campaign consistently targets its constituencies through posters, leaflets, and flyers in canteen trays. It utilises mail message and video screening. Condoms are distributed in pay-slips and public toilets. The message is reinforced through bags and tee shirts distributed at the annual party. 
 
 
Global Unions&rsquo; Action Against HIV/AIDS in 2006 
 
On World AIDS Day, the global trade union movement announced a series of initiatives for 2006 in the fight against HIV/AIDS, ranging from campaigns and mobilisation action to activities in workplaces and lobbying of governments to get them to implement pledges they have made. Trade unions will focus on a series of global gatherings in 2006, including the G8, WHO, UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the UN General Assembly. 
 
2006 will see the rollout of a series of workplace initiatives in countries, which are severely hit by the pandemic, following agreements with the International Employers&rsquo; Organisation and the WHO. A new leaflet &ldquo;HIV/AIDS is a Human Rights Issue, Human Rights are Trade Union Issues&rdquo; was launched on World AIDS Day and is available at <a href="http://www.global-unions.org">www.global-unions.org</a>. 
 
 
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Calls on Companies to Contribute 
 
In a statement issued on World AIDS Day, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, called on companies to contribute 0.7% of pre-tax profits annually to the Global Fund. He said that big multinational companies that have exacted such huge wealth from Africa&rsquo;s mineral, diamond, gold, oil and other resources over decades and the pharmaceutical industry, which resisted the lowering of drug prices for an unconscionable length of time, should be targeted first.
He also addressed his call to the more than 200 companies that are members of the Global Business Coalition. Many of these companies provide antiretroviral drugs and make in-kind contributions or investments in research and training centres but the true expression of corporate social responsibility would be a 0.7% contribution to the Global Fund. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 53, 11 December 2005 &ndash; <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/gfo">www.aidspan.org/gfo</a>) 
Stephen Lewis is also the author of the book Race Against Time. 
 
 
Global Fund &ndash; Continuation of Services 
 
In its December meeting the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to develop a policy to ensure continued funding for treatment-based grants when they are denied Phase 2 funding or they are approaching the end of their term. (Global Fund grants are approved for five years but can be suspended on the basis of a review after two years). 
Concern had earlier been raised over the fate of the people on treatment when a grant is suspended. Comment: While this is an overdue commitment it has to be seen whether funds are available to implement such a policy. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 54, 18 December 2005 &ndash; <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/gfo">www.aidspan.org/gfo</a>) 
 
 
COSATU Joins TAC to Push for Treatment 
 
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joined activist group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to push for a new approach to AIDS in the country worst hit by the worldwide pandemic. In a joint statement with TAC and the South African Council of Churches COSATU said, &ldquo;We lament the continued refusal of our national government to declare the seriousness of the epidemic and to mobilise a response on the scale that is needed&rdquo;.
The new campaign, which was launched on World AIDS Day, is designed to more deeply involve unions, employers and churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organisations demand that by the end of 2006 at least 200,000 AIDS patients are enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment &ndash; currently the figure is just over 70,000 people who receive treatment at government health facilities. 
 
 
News from other Global Union Federations 
 
The Education International (EI) marked World AIDS Day with an information session for the staff at its Brussels Head Office. EI affiliates all over the world organised events on issues of education and HIV/AIDS. Demands included a greater commitment of governments to distribute antiretrovirals. 
(Source: EI AIDS Newsletter &ndash; <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/aids">www.ei-ie.org/aids</a>) 
 
The UNI Global Union graphical sector in southern and East Africa will use collective bargaining to tackle HIV/AIDS. Unions agreed to include a clause in future negotiations to establish a joint worker-employer response to improve education and prevention, to end discrimination and to upscale access to treatment. Access to treatment at work has also been negotiated by unions with employers in several other sectors in Burkina Faso, Guinea and C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire. 
(Source: UNI Global Union &ndash; <a href="http://www.uniglobalunion.org">www.uniglobalunion.org</a>&nbsp;- eBulletin December 2005) 
 
 
Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Stories &ndash; Faces of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic 
 
In collaboration with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Christian AID, the WHO has released on its HIV/AIDS website <a href="http://www.who.int/hiv">www.who.int/hiv</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;Voices of Hope&rdquo; - photo stories of communities affected by HIV/AIDS. The photo stories of people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America represent some of the real faces of the epidemic that, by the end of 2005, had infected an estimated 40.3 million people. 
 
 
Update from ILOAIDS 
 
There are two new titles (the last two) in the series of workplace action menus that the ILO has produced with UNAIDS and the World Economic Forum's Global Health Initiative. To complement Africa (in English and French) and Asia <a href="http://www.unaids.org/en/about+unaids/partnerships/partnership+menus.asp">http://www.unaids.org/en/about+unaids/ 
partnerships/partnership+menus.asp</a>), ILOAIDS now has Action against AIDS in the workplace for Latin America and the Caribbean (shortly also in Spanish), and a final global version with an overview of all regions, including North America and Europe. 
 
 
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1578">/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1578</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 4

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The ICEM is fully supportive of French affiliates Filpac-CGT and FCE-CFDT, and the French paper workers, in their manifestation Saturday, 17 December, in Lille, France. The unions are protesting against the actions of several multinational paper companies, who are firing workers and closing mill and paper converters, or have plans to do so, in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais area of northern France. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" />
According to Filpac-CGT, paper companies are creating &ldquo;a genuine social earthquake&rdquo; with job losses and closures in the region. 
Paper companies Stora Enso of Sweden and Finland, International Paper of the US, Cascades of Canada and Smurfit-Kappa of Ireland and The Netherlands have all announced harmful restructurings in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais area. Over 1,000 jobs might be lost in total. 
Companies are ignoring their social responsibilities and cite external causes, such as surplus capacity, the overall economic situation or global energy costs. 
 
According to the unions, however, the real reasons lie elsewhere. Stora Enso is pursuing its Profit 2007 initiative aimed at adding another &euro;300 million to its annual pre-tax profit in 2007. FCE-CFDT reminds us that Stora Enso, as part of this initiative,&nbsp;intends to&nbsp;get rid of 2,500 work places world-wide, with 500 of them in France,&nbsp;for the sole purpose of making more profit.&nbsp;
Cascades is equally seeking improved profitability of its boxboard unit, while pointing to capacity build-up in China and the pressures of Asian exports as the reason for the possible closure. 
International Paper (IP) first refused to sell its Maresquel mill to a potential buyer earlier in the year and then gave local managers just two months to find investors, demonstrating that it is more interested in closing this operation than having to live with a potential competitor. Lastly, the closure of a paper converter in Gravelines, along with another converting plant in Cevennes, was announced by a Smurfit subsidiary immediately after the merger between Smurfit and Kappa Packaging. 

The manifestation on 17 December begins at 9h00. For more information, visit Filpac-CGT&rsquo;s website at <a href="http://www.filpac.cgt.fr">http://www.filpac.cgt.fr</a>&nbsp;or FCE-CFDT's site: <a href="http://www.fce.cfdt.fr/n1/2005/12/bra%5Fpacart%5F97.doc">http://www.fce.cfdt.fr/n1/2005/12/bra%5Fpacart%5F97.doc</a>.

Paper Multinationals plan to eliminate jobs in France

The ICEM expresses sadness and grief on news of the death of PENGASSAN President Uche Okoro in an airline crash Saturday, 10 December, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Comrade Okoro was one of the 108 passengers killed when a commercial airliner crashed on approach to the Port Harcourt airport. 
 
Having the distinction of serving as president of both Nigeria&rsquo;s white-collar oil and gas workers&rsquo; union, PENGASSAN, and the blue-collar union, NUPENG, Okora was a grass-roots organizer and activist who stood for free and democratic trade unions in Nigeria. His life-long dedication to democratic principles and fairness to workers, particularly during the Abacha military regime, proved invaluable in building Nigeria&rsquo;s oil unions, as well as today&rsquo;s Nigerian labour movement.
<img width="120" height="126" src="" alt="" />
He became president of PENGASSAN in 2005. He left the blue-collar ranks of NUPENG when he was promoted to senior staff of the oil company employing him. He was seen as a unifying force between PENGASSAN and NUPENG, as well as all of labour in Nigeria. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, in a letter to PENGASSAN, called Okora a &ldquo;fierce defender of workers&rsquo; interests in Nigeria and all of Africa. I am sure that both (PENGASSAN and NUPENG), and civil society as a whole in Nigeria, will miss Comrade Okora&rsquo;s presence.&rdquo;

ICEM Mourns Tragic Death of PENGASSAN Leader in Nigeria

EPS Trade Union of Serbia-Montenegro elected new officers last week. Elected president was Miroslav Veličković, and elected to serve as vice president was Žikica Đorđević.
<img height="267" alt="" src="" width="200" />
Veličković had been a union vice president who got his start in union matters shortly after EPS Trade Union was founded in 1992. He served as president of the Ni&scaron; branch of the union, and began working in the Electric Power Distribution Co. of Ni&scaron; in 1977. 
He has a background in electrical engineering. Veličković is a founder and acting president of a democratic and free trade union confederation of unions serving public enterprises in the Balkan country.

EPS Trade Union in Serbia Elects New Officers

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A study commissioned by the Swedish Employment Ministry states that companies with ten or more employees should be limited to hiring only full-time workers.
The study also says that part-time or temporary workers employed for three years should be given the right to demand a full-time job from their employer. At least 200,000 Swedes&mdash;75% of whom are women&mdash;are stuck in part-time jobs but seek full-time employment, according to the study.
&nbsp;

Swedish Government Study Calls for More Full-time Jobs

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The General Confederation of Labour in Greece (GSEE) has called for national strikes this week, on 14 and 15 December, over the conservative government&rsquo;s planned revisions to public sector employment.
One such revision is to phase out permanent jobs for DEKO workers employed at public utilities, and replace them with employees on private-sector contracts. The strikes have been called together with ADEDY, the public sector union of civil servants.
The proposed changes, crafted by the government of Premier Costas Kamanlis, also would affect collective bargaining. This week&rsquo;s strikes will get a prelude today when all public transport will stop between the hours of 11 AM and 4 PM.

Strikes in Greece This Week over Cuts to Permanent Jobs

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French affiliate FCE-CFDT has grown impatient with progress in wage negotiations in France&rsquo;s chemicals sector. 
The union refused last week to sign a memorandum on the chemicals sector wage policy. FCE-CFDT termed results of a joint committee meeting on 18 November as unacceptable. In 11 months of futile bargaining on the wage issue, FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s agenda and goals have not been realized.
The union expressed dissatisfaction with that in a letter to the chemical employers&rsquo; federation and to the Minister of Employment. FCE-CFDT week is meeting this week with the other French trade unions in the sector to formulate future action.

French FCE-CFDT Union Expresses Chemicals Bargaining Concerns

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A 12-day hunger strike by five members of Colombian oil workers&rsquo; union Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petroleo (USO) ended 3 November. 
The hunger strikers ended their fast after winning assurances from the archbishop of Cartagena and the governor of Boliv&aacute;r state that they would present a public proposition to the national government to prohibit privatisation of state-run Ecopetrol&rsquo;s oil refinery in Cartagena. Archbishop Jorge Enrique Gim&eacute;nez and Gov. Libardo Simancas have committed to present the plan within 30 days. 
The Uribe government has plans to sell 51% of Colombia&rsquo;s second largest oil refinery. The hunger strikers of USO, which solely represents Ecopetrol workers in Colombia, included Rodolfo Vecino, Hernando Meneses, Rafael Cabarcas, &Eacute;dgar Mojica, and Jorge Ortega.

Hunger Strike in Colombia Over Refinery Privatisation Ends

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US-based glassmaker Owens Illinois has discriminated against union members by sacking workers inside a Peldar glass plant in Peru. 
Early in October the company made redundant 11 workers from the factory but later that month recalled five of the workers. The six who were not recalled included representatives - two of whom were past general secretaries - of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Owens Illinois Per&uacute;. 
The ICEM, in lodging a protest with the American company, cited the firm with a clear violation of trade union rights. The trade union discrimination matter has also been taken up by Peruvian national labour centre CGTP, and is before the country&rsquo;s labour courts.

Owens Illinois Discriminating Against Union Officers in Peru

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Members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU) of New Zealand staged a two-day strike on 7-8 November at Carter Holt Harvey&rsquo;s (CHH) Kinleith pulp and paper mill. 
The strike by the mill&rsquo;s 270 production workers was over CHH&rsquo;s refusal to meet the country&rsquo;s recognised wage standard this year of 5%, and a demand by the company to cut annual leave time for shift workers. EPMU and CHH were scheduled to resume talks this week. 
CHH is now 70% owned by Graeme Hart&rsquo;s Rank Group Investments, an Auckland-based trader that has a NZ$3.3 billion hostile bid in play for the company. US-based International Paper Co. has divested its 50.3% stake in CHH to Hart.

New Zealand Workers Strike Carter Holt Harvey’s Kinleith Mill

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