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Three weeks after suspending a scheduled 12 September strike, 2,000 copper mining and smelting workers in Peru downed tools on 2 October in an indefinite strike. The strike, against Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s Southern Copper Corporation, came after the mining and metals federation &ndash; ICEM affiliate FNTMMSP &ndash; halted strike action after miners voted on 11 September to give government mediated talks a chance to work. 
 
Following the start of last week&rsquo;s strike, the FNTMMSP called on Labour Minister Susana Pinilla to quicken the dialogue in order to find solutions to unresolved issues. FNTMMSP will mobilise toward a national strike across the mining sector on 5 November unless issues get resolved at Southern Copper and other mining enterprises.
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The strike by Peruvian miners at troubled Grupo M&eacute;xico instantly raised copper prices nearly 1% on world markets. The strike occurred at Southern Copper&rsquo;s Toquepala and Cuajure mines, and at its Ilo smelter. Workers are demanding a fair pay package of 11%, while Grupo M&eacute;xico seeks longer shifts and proposes a pay offer of less than half of what the union seeks. The company predicts a strike of any duration will cause 2007 production losses to exceed 10%. Southern Copper produces 370,000 tonnes of copper annually from its Peruvian operations. 
 
Southern Copper&rsquo;s miners took short strike actions in May and June of this year. The company&rsquo;s chief attack has been to file charges with the government claiming the strikes are illegal. 
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Grupo M&eacute;xico is also fighting miners in Mexico. Since 30 July, Mexican mining and metals union, SNTMMRM, has been striking three operations of the company, including the Cananea copper mine in northern Mexico, near the US border. The other two mines are a silver, lead, and zinc mine, near Taxco in Guerrero state, and the San Mart&iacute;n zinc mine in Zacatecas. 
 
Mexican miners are striking over demands for collective agreements, and better health and safety conditions. Grupo M&eacute;xico has responded by announcing mine closures, citing depletion of resources, and seeking to declare the strikes illegal.

Grupo Mexico’s Miners in Peru Strike for Fair Pay

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ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) issued a public letter to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last week warning that a paramilitary group called the &ldquo;Black Eagles&rdquo; has recently threatened leaders of food and beverage union SINALTRAINAL in the area of Bucaramanga, Santander state, with death. 
 
The USW said the group stated they would &ldquo;bury the union members and their families in a mass grave on Christmas Day if they do not cease their union activities and leave the area.&rdquo; The US-based union specifically named SINALTRAINAL leaders Javier Correa, Luis Eduardo Garcia, and Jose Domingo Florez as the recipients of the death threats.
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USW President Leo Gerard
In the USW letter to Uribe, President Leo Gerard writes of a specific incident related to Jose Florez on 27 September. He says the son of the union leader was picked up by armed men, thrown into a van, beaten, and then released with the message they would not stop until Florez&rsquo;s father was dismembered. 
 
Gerard&rsquo;s letter to Uribe reminded the Colombia President that the country leads the world in the number of trade unionists who are ruthlessly killed each year. The South American country, Gerard wrote, &ldquo;represents 54% of all trade union killings world-wide. And so far in 2007, the official Colombian government figure of trade union leaders killed is 23.&rdquo; 
 
Gerard added, &ldquo;We are very concerned about this situation, especially as impunity in Colombia for the slaying of trade unionists remains at over 98%.&rdquo;
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Meanwhile, the USW and the US-based Human Rights Fund have appealed a decision by a US district court in the state of Alabama against Drummond Coal, a company that operates in Colombia and the US. The civil suit is on behalf of surviving family members of trade union leaders of Sintramienerg&eacute;tica. The USW believes these leaders were murdered in 2001 by paramilitary forces, with the complicity of the American coal company. 
 
In July 2007, a federal district court in Alabama denied testimony from relevant witnesses to the murders of three trade union leaders and ruled Drummond not guilty with connection to the killings. The USW and Human Rights Watch have now appealed that ruling to a US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals bench in Atlanta, Georgia. 
 
The case was filed on behalf of family members of Valmore Lacarno, Victor Oracasita, and Gustavo Soler. The case falls under the US Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreign citizens to file financial damage lawsuits in US courtrooms against American companies in crimes committed outside the US. The ICEM is aiding the USW in bringing the correct and necessary testimony to this set of grizzly killings in Colombia to the US justice system.

Steelworkers Issue Immediate and Specific Warning to Colombia on Death Threats to Union Leaders

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This week, on 10-11 October, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, RENGO, will hold its Congress in Tokyo, and high on the agenda is an action plan featuring the strengthening of wages, benefits, and rights for non-regular workers. This plan means both RENGO and Japanese trade union federation UI Zensen have now prioritised that part-time and limited-term workers receive equal treatment in Japan&rsquo;s social-work agenda.
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Rengo is highlighting attention for temporary employees, part-time staff, and contract and agency workers in two-year action policies on both Equality and Work-Life Balance. The improvement of working conditions for such workers is listed as a major goal, and this comes from RENGO&rsquo;s already existing Joint Actions with Part-Time Workers Committee.
The federation will issue a Declaration on Reforming Working Patterns and follow that statement up with a multi-faceted campaign. That campaign will ensure, among other things, a liveable wage for temporary and part-time workers. As one of three focal points for work in the 2008-2009 period, &ldquo;RENGO will give top priority to strengthening support for and collaboration with non-regular workers and employees at smaller companies, and will work with affiliates and local RENGOs to reform working patterns with a view to guaranteeing the rights of all workers and improving their working conditions.&rdquo; 
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In the other two focal points, RENGO&rsquo;s action policies state that the confederation and its affiliates at unionised enterprises will resist unreasonable &ldquo;factors of society, and demand social responsibility&rdquo; from companies and employers&rsquo; associations; and that Rengo will engage in total efforts to promote campaigns that are rooted in local communities, which will vitalise these communities and build greater trust by local people of the trade union movement.
In the year 2001&rsquo;s set of national bargaining, RENGO first started including hourly wage increases for temporary and part-time workers, and last year the union engaged in joint shunto negotiations with part-time workers. The confederation reports that 251 affiliated labour unions realised hourly wage gains for part-time workers last year.
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The action plan for 2008-2009 includes establishment of a labour consultation centre at RENGO headquarters, in which pay-raise negotiations for non-regular workers will be coordinated, and the centre will fully cooperate with unions that represent non-regular workers employed under temporary or fixed-term contracts. The centre will also actively utilise the internet as a mutual aid service for non-regular workers, and will open consultation channels for foreign workers employed in Japan. 
 
Japanese unions are acutely aware that the number of workers recruited for full-time employment has decreased, while recruitment of temp staff and part-time workers has dramatically increased. That has been a major reason why, last year, the average annual income of company employees declined for the ninth consecutive year in Japan.

RENGO Prioritises Increased Rights for Temporary Workers in Japan

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Even though none of the 3,200 miners trapped for up to 38 hours last week at Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Elandsrand mine died, the near catastrophe re-emphasises the need for beefed up safety measures in the world&rsquo;s mining industry. 
 
The miners, members of ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), became trapped after a 15-metre piece of steel pipe from a compressed air chamber exploded, and dropped 2.2 kilometres down an elevator shaft. The steel pipe severed electrical cables and shattered steelwork connected to the mine&rsquo;s main elevator.
Rescue commenced through a smaller ventilation shaft that is also used to lift rock and waste from the mine. Rescue teams placed a cage in that shaft and it was able to free 75 miners each half-hour. NUM dispatched shop stewards into the deep shafts in order to calm miners and to bring them bread and water. 
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But the accident again underscores the necessity for better mine safety techniques at a time of climbing prices and rapid extraction practices of natural resources. Harmony purchased the 30-year-old Elandsrand mine and an adjoining gold mine from AngloGold Ashanti in 2001, at a time when production had dropped. Harmony saw the potential to mine even deep into the earth, and planned a new mine under the existing one that the company expects to complete by 2011. 
 
NUM members were trapped some 2,200 metres below the ground. Gold mines in South Africa are particular deep, and gold mining in the country is labour intensive. As higher commodity prices take hold, mining companies forge deeper underground, making the technical challenges greater and the safety costs higher. The deeper the mines go, the greater the likelihood of seismic activity. This puts miners at tremendous risk. 
 
The NUM is convinced that lack of maintenance, coupled with the continuous, 24-hour mining operations now being implemented across South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry, is to blame for this equipment failure at Elandsrand.
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NUM President Senzeni Zokwana&nbsp; 

&ldquo;We suspect negligence. Because of continuous operations there is not time to make adequate checks,&rdquo; said NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, who also is President of the ICEM. &ldquo;Our members are dying, and will continue to die, until we change the culture of mining.&rdquo; 
 
The lesson from last week&rsquo;s Elandsrand mine, Zokwana told an American broadcast network, &ldquo;is that we need to put safety number one in planning, and make sure that at all times people can be saved quickly.&rdquo; Following the early morning accident on 3 October that trapped 3,000 men and 200 women at Elandsrand, Harmony Gold at first predicted rescue efforts would be completed by late that afternoon. It was not until 8 PM on 4 October when the last of the 3,200 came up the emergency shaft. 
 
&ldquo;We are very much concerned,&rdquo; said Zokwana. &ldquo;We believe that this should be a call to the industry that secondary exits underground be mandated.&rdquo; 
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NUM&rsquo;s chairperson of Health and Safety, Peter Bailey, repeated the need for mining houses to changes focus. &ldquo;When it comes to production targets, the companies make no mistakes in meeting them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But when it comes to safety, we hear rhetoric and philosophy.&rdquo; 
 
In a 5 October Wall Street Journal article on the Elandsrand near disaster, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a rush into the investment of mining in general,&rdquo; adding that quick development is difficult to manage, even for companies and countries with good safety records. 
 
In South Africa, the world&rsquo;s biggest producer of precious minerals, mining deaths so far in 2007 far outpace those of preceding years. The current death toll makes a 2003 promise by the industry of achieving zero workplace deaths by 2013 ring hollow. 
 
Only five days before Harmony&rsquo;s accident, four miners of AngloGold were killed due to a rock fall caused by seismic activity in the depths of the Mponeng mine, which is near the Elandsrand mine. And just yesterday, 7 October, the bodies of 23 miners, who were illegally mining a closed Harmony Gold shaft inside the Helena mine in Free State province, were pulled from deep underground. They perished after a fire ignited on 18 September. Harmony had been mining other shafts of the Helena mine. 
 
This past summer, the NUM called for an urgent tripartite meeting to resuscitate South Africa&rsquo;s Mining Health and Safety Summit in order to address the many current deficiencies in mine safety. Then, the NUM said mining houses must begin to &ldquo;walk the talk&rdquo; when it comes to implementing safe practices. In South Africa, following last week&rsquo;s Elandsrand accident near Carletonville along the country&rsquo;s gold belt, the time for action with a new culture, backed by capital improvements to health and safety techniques, has now fully risen to the surface.

Near Disaster at Harmony’s Elandsrand Gold Mine in South Africa Repeats Safety Call

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This is the 25th Issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin. 
 
There is no Time to Celebrate! 
For more than two years we have tried to give practical, timely and accurate information from a number of relevant sources. Too little feedback has reached us from our affiliates. Many of them are engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. If we do not know about their activities, we cannot report on them and others cannot benefit from new initiatives and ideas. 
 
Again, we make an appeal to send information on new agreements, campaigns and educational activities to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
There is certainly no time to celebrate: according to UNAIDS, each day still more than 8,000 people die of AIDS; almost 12,000 get newly infected with the deadly virus, many of them young people, in some regions more than half of them girls and women. Each day, 1,800 children become infected &ndash; the vast majority of them as newborns through mother-to-child transmission. 
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World AIDS Day, 1 December 
 
Leadership is the theme for World AIDS Day 2007. The ongoing campaign slogan of the World AIDS Campaign is &ldquo;Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise&rdquo;. 
 
Unions can demonstrate leadership at every level &ndash; in the workplace, in their own governing bodies, in women&rsquo;s committees, in health and safety committees, in negotiations with companies, in the community and at the national policy level. 
 
Any union member, shop steward, union official, committee member, gender representative who takes action on HIV/AIDS is a leader in the fight against the deadly disease. 
ICEM calls on its affiliates to take the lead in campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
Before the end of October, affiliates will receive campaign material. 
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ICEM Affiliates in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire and Namibia 
 
The HIV/AIDS Coordinator for the three affiliates in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Charlotte Nguessan, is particularly active. In addition to training workplace representatives, she has coordinated the writing of a proposal on HIV/AIDS workplace interventions, which was submitted to Partners against AIDS in August. 
 
Charlotte was also appointed to the working group for the Round 7 proposal to the Global Fund. 
 
In Namibia, the first two courses (out of three) for the training of VCT counsellors were completed in the Oranjemund region and at Okorusu Flourspar mining. The Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Namibia makes sure the funds go a long way: instead of the usual 5 to 8 unionists, as in most&nbsp;other countries, it aims to train more than 20. 
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Global Fund: Record Amount in New Grants Recommended for Round 7 
 
Round 7 applicants to the Global Fund submitted fewer, but bigger and better, proposals than applicants in all previous rounds. 
 
The Global Fund's Technical Review Panel (TRP) has reviewed the 150 eligible Round 7 proposals that were submitted to the Fund, and has recommended that the board approve 73 of them. The grants recommended for approval will cost a total of $1,112 million over two years. 
This is a record amount: in the six previous rounds, the two-year value of approved grants ranged from $571 million to $968 million. (The full duration of a grant is five years. After the first two years, a review takes place to decide about the continuation of a grant). 
 
The percentage of proposals recommended for approval was also a record &ndash; 49%, up from an average of 38% over the previous rounds. On the other hand, the number of eligible proposals submitted in R7, at 150, was the lowest ever. 
 
The TRP's recommendations regarding Round 7 will be reviewed and voted on by the Board of the Global Fund at its next meeting on November 12-13. (In previous rounds, the board has always followed the TRP's advice regarding which proposals to approve.) 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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Global Fund: Donor Governments Pledge Record Amounts 
 
Donors are expected to give the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at least $9.7 billion over the next three years, 57% more than they gave over the past three years. The pledges made at the Global Fund Replenishment Meeting in Berlin constituted the largest single financing exercise for a&nbsp;health issue that has ever taken place. 
 
Some highlights of the pledges: 
 
&bull; The three countries that pledged the most for 2008-10 were USA (USD 2,172 million), France (USD 1,274 million) and the UK (USD 729 million). 
&bull; The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) were Norway (0.087%), Ireland (0.076%) and Sweden (0.075%). 
&bull; The country that pledged the largest amount per capita was the Netherlands. 
&bull; The three developed countries that pledged the smallest percentage of their GNI were Japan, Finland and Switzerland (0.004% each). 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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ICAAP Held in Colombo 
 
&ldquo;Waves of Change - Waves of Hope&rdquo; was the theme of the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 19 to 23 August, 2007. The conference brought together 2,500 delegates from 70 countries including politicians, officials, community workers, medical professionals, academics, journalists, trade union leaders and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) to share knowledge and devise new strategies to deal with the disease. 
 
The HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific remains diverse. A number of countries have taken decisive action to deliver effective and comprehensive AIDS programmes. However, the overall response in the region is still not keeping up with the pace and expanding reach of the epidemic. Leadership at various levels is still not adequately aware of the consequences of an escalating pandemic and its impact, not only on public health, but also on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of the region. 
 
(Source: adapted from the ITF HIV/AIDS Update 28, 1 September) 
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Cambodia: Prevalence Rate Down 
 
Three international donors have decided to reduce aid for AIDS prevention to Cambodia as the country has reportedly achieved satisfactory progress. 
 
The Global Fund, DFID and USAID will cut funds targeted at reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS in the country as nationwide infection rates have declined from 3.3% in the 1990s to 0.9% in 2006. 
 
The reduction of aid does not mean the end of prevention activities. It is a recognition of the fact that the Government of Cambodia has enough capacity to carry on the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. For example, the number of voluntary confidential counselling and testing centres increased from 150 in 2005 to 190 this year. 
 
(Source: xinhuanet, 20 September) 
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India: Case Studies on Corporate Response to HIV/AIDS 
 
A recent World Bank paper discusses the role of business in the fight against HIV/AIDS in India, with particular focus on the private sector. The report highlights interventions by five Indian companies (Reliance Industries Ltd, Transport Corporation of India Ltd, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, DCM Shiram Consolidated Ltd and Hindustan Lever Ltd) ranging from advocacy and education to prevention and treatment. 
 
The report argues that because a large share of the country&rsquo;s HIV-positive population are employed by Indian industry, businesses can gain from early and decisive action to prevent HIV and AIDS. The paper also shows the advantages businesses bring to the fight against the pandemic and how the Indian government supports companies involved in HIV/AIDS interventions. 
 
(Source: Eldis Corporate Responsibility Reporter, 6 September <a href="http://www.eldis.org/csr">www.eldis.org/csr</a>. Eldis is a service of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex)
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South Africa: Setback for New AIDS Policy 
 
The new AIDS policy in South Africa suffered a severe setback when the Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was forced to resign in August. 
During the long sick leave of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Deputy Minister had worked for a turn-around in the government&rsquo;s AIDS policy, advocating a massive increase in antiretroviral treatment. This had been delayed for years by the Health Minister who encouraged people living with HIV/AIDS to treat it with garlic, beetroot and olive oil. 
 
(Source: various newspaper reports) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
 
The ICEM is represented on the Steering Committee of the Global Union AIDS Programme. The last meeting took place in Geneva on 3 October. Among other, the meeting discussed a closer engagement of Global Unions with the Global Fund and an initiative to cooperate with the World Bank. A meeting will take place in Washington in December involving the mining, transport, health and education sectors. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (nos. 26, 27, 28 and 29 of 1 and 15 August and 1 and 15 September) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports, among other, on an agreement between the union and the employers on an HIV/AIDS policy for the railway industry in Zimbabwe; how low levels of awareness and prevalent social stigma contribute to the spread of the disease in Pakistan. 
The Nigerian Government has approved a policy providing guidelines that aim to assist in the establishment of workplace HIV/AIDS policies in the formal sectors, as well as in the informal economy.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

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A planned protest inside Finland&rsquo;s Stora Enso pulp and paper mills for 6 February was cancelled, following a Labour Court ruling that saw the demonstration as a collective bargaining act. The case was brought to the court by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, on behalf of Stora Enso. 
 
The work-time protest, decided a week earlier by Stora Enso workers, was aimed at the Finnish government, which holds 16% of Stora Enso&rsquo;s shares, and controls 34% of the company. On 29 January, at a public meeting in Helsinki attended by 500 people and sponsored by Finnish unions Paperiliitto and Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni, three government ministers declined to intervene to halt Stora&rsquo;s mill and paper machine shutdowns.
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="200" />
Two days later, workers themselves decided to do on-the-job protests against the Finnish government. This was quickly met by employers rushing to Finland&rsquo;s Labour Court and getting an expedited ruling forbidding the protests. The unions and Finnish employers officially opened industry-wide talks on 5 February for 25,000 workers employed by multiple pulp and paper companies. 
 
&ldquo;We are disappointed that the government did not take action to stop the closures, at least until further study and other remedies could be found,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We also find it unusual that in a country such as Finland, a Labour Court would be used to block a legitimate workers&rsquo; protest.&rdquo; 
If the 7,000 Stora Enso workers had defied the ruling, Finnish trade unions would have been subjected to a compensatory fine, payable to the employer. There is no procedure for appeal of the Labour Court ruling.
<img height="57" src="" width="100" border="1" alt="" />
At the 29 January public meeting, Finnish Defence Minister Jyri H&auml;k&auml;mies, who heads the government&rsquo;s enterprise ownership oversight, as well as Labour Minister Tarja Cromberg and Economic Affairs Minister Mauri Pekkarinen, gave no pledge that the government could or would intervene on Stora Enso&rsquo;s latest restructuring plan. 
 
The following day, 30 January, Stora Enso permanently idled one paper machine at its Summa, Finland, newsprint and book papers mill in Kymenlaakso, while it shut the mill&rsquo;s second paper machine on 31 January. A total of 450 jobs were lost. An equal number also will be eliminated when the Kemij&auml;rvi pulp mill shuts in April 2008, and a paper machine at the Anjala mill ceases production in November. 
 
The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) is also critical of Stora Enso&rsquo;s unwillingness to grow jobs rather than destroy them at the company&rsquo;s Norrsundet, Sweden, mill. There, 350 jobs are expected to be made redundant when Stora closes the bleached softwood kraft pulp mill late this year rather than sell it to a perspective buyer. 
 
In Finland, industry-wide social talks did begin on 5 February with the unions and Finnish Forest Industries Federation exchanging initial proposals. The existing three-year contract for Finland&rsquo;s number one industrial sector expires on 31 May 2008.

Finnish Paper Industry Uses Court Order to Block Government Protest

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Global Unions Meet Global Fund
In conjunction with the meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Global Unions AIDS Programme in Geneva, consultations were held with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). Ezekiel Dyke, General Secretary of the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Sierra Leone, participated on behalf of the ICEM, together with the Global Coordinator who gave a presentation on the ICEM&rsquo;s engagement with the Global Fund. 
 
While a few Global Union Federations had interactions with the GFATM &ndash; the ICEM even had a joint mission to Ghana in May 2006 &ndash; this was the first comprehensive meeting to boost trade union involvement in the structures and programmes of the GFATM. 
 
The Global Fund is an independent public-private partnership to raise and disburse new funds to combat the three diseases. As it operates as a financial instrument and not an implementing agency, it does not have regional or country representation. Since its formation almost six years ago, it has an ever-growing secretariat in Geneva. 
 
At national level, Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) submit proposals which, if a proposal is approved, are implemented through Principal Recipients. 
 
By the end of 2007, grants in 136 countries with a total of US$14.5 billion had been approved, with grant agreements signed for US$8 billion and more than the US$5 billion disbursed. About 50% of funding goes towards HIV/AIDS services. 
 
The international labour movement seeks representation on the global structures of the GFATM, and for its affiliates at national level involvement in the CCMs. Workplace programmes to fight the diseases &ndash; especially HIV/AIDS &ndash; need advocates so that such programmes are included in proposals. The ILO, which signed a letter of agreement with the GFATM in 2003, has been working on the inclusion of world of work components in country proposals. 
 
In its publication &ldquo;An Evolving Partnership: The Global Fund and Civil Society,&rdquo; the GFATM clearly considers unions as vital members of civil society. There are, however, a lot of characteristics which distinguish unions from civil society organisations. 
In his opening remarks, Michel Kazatchkine, the GFATM Executive Director, acknowledged that the private sector, for which the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the focal point, is mainly represented by management and not by representatives of the workforce. In its dealings with the GFATM, the ICEM has said that the private sector is business and unions. 
 
Working groups identified shared goals between the Global Unions and the Global Fund and they made suggestions on how to overcome obstacles and barriers, such as building capacity in the unions. One condition to make progress in future is the recognition of labour as a separate entity in the global and national structures of the GFATM. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
World AIDS Day 2007
On the occasion of World AIDS Day on 1 December, the Bangladesh Chemical Workers&rsquo; Federation organised a seminar to increase awareness among its members. The union&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s committee published a poster based on the campaign posters of the World AIDS Campaign, which were sent out by the ICEM. 
 
In Namibia, officials, and members of the Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Namibia attended the national event in Keetmanshoop. and activities organised by the Namibia Business Coalition on AIDS in Windhoek. 
 
During the 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok, hundreds of union leaders reconfirmed their commitment by signing the pledge &ldquo;Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise&rdquo;. See that story <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/2487-ICEM-Reconfirms-Commitment-to-Fight-HIV-AIDS-Pandemic">here</a>. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Global Fund Round 8 Proposals
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is scheduled to issue its call for proposals for Round 8 on 1 March 2008. From that date, applicants will have 120 days to prepare and submit their proposals. 
 
Although this seems a fair amount of time, the demanding proposal form and complicated procedures may require more time. There is no reason not to start the process now. For unions, that means getting membership on CCM in order to ensure that workplace projects are included in proposals to the Global Fund. At the consultations between Global Unions and the Global Fund (see &quot;Global Unions Meet&quot;, above), an adaptation of the proposal form and of the GFATM Guidelines for Round 8 to include workers organisations as eligible organisations was discussed. 
 
Aidspan, the publisher of the Global Fund Observer, has released, Volume 1: &ldquo;Getting a Head Start.&rdquo; its guide for Round 8 applications to the Global Fund. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 84, 29 January 2008. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Business Coalitions Tackling AIDS
On the occasion of the annual meeting in January of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Forum&rsquo;s Global Health Initiative published an in-depth study of the activities of business coalitions on AIDS, entitled, &ldquo;Business Coalitions Tackle AIDS: A Worldwide Review.&rdquo; 
 
By the end of 2007, four regional and 47 national business coalitions were in existence with a further ten to be established in 2008. They have emerged as an effective platform for the private sector response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
 
Business Coalitions provide private sector companies with the tools and training to address HIV and AIDS at the workplace. Too often, however, they do not include unions in the design and implementation of workplace programmes which address the workforce of a company. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS and WEF website) 
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Haiti: Poverty and Injustice the Biggest Hurdle 
Years of political turmoil and deep poverty have allowed HIV and AIDS to flourish in Haiti, which has the highest prevalence rate in the world outside sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS is the leading cause of death in Haitian women aged between 15 and 49. 
 
Progressio&rsquo;s latest report argues that HIV and AIDS cannot be tackled without addressing the endemic poverty and injustice that exists in Haiti. The government is failing to take the situation seriously, but must tackle the increase in sexual assaults and rape which put women at risk of infection. 
 
(Souce: <a href="http://www.ciir.org">Progressio</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;Progressio is an international organisation working for the eradication of poverty) 
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Peru: Companies are Fined 
New Peruvian labour inspection regulations provide fines on companies which dismiss workers solely for their HIV/AIDS status. Workers can submit complaints to Peru&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour and appeal to the courts for reinstatement. 
 
Peru has a relatively low infection rate; in the last 20 years, about 20,000 people have died of AIDS and some 30,000 are presently infected. 
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Soccer and Condoms 
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has launched a condom-distribution programme for the African Cup of Nations, currently taking place in Ghana. 
 
With the support from the UN Fund for Population Activities, the commission distributes condoms at no cost to hotels in Ghana to help reduce the spread of HIV during the tournament. More than one million people are expected to visit the country. 
 
GAC Director General, Prof S.A. Amoa, said that more than 300,000 cases of HIV/AIDS are recorded in the country. While more than 30,000 people need treatment, only some 12,000 presently receive it. 
 
(Source: Vanguard, 10 January) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions
In its most recent newsletter of 21 January on Education For All and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) reported on the launch of its new initiative, called &ldquo;One Hour on AIDS.&rdquo; Learners around the world benefited from lessons on HIV and AIDS on the same day, 30 November. EI has put together a kit specially designed for teachers - <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

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The ICEM encourages trade unionists to apply early for the Winter 2008-2009 Global Labour University&rsquo;s masters degree programmes, to be held in Brazil, Germany, India, and South Africa. The degree and curriculum is called Labour and Globalisation. Deadline for application is 1 April 2008 for the classes in Germany and India, 15 September 2008 for South Africa, and 1 October for the programme in Brazil. 
 
Courses are offered in English. Prospective students can choose one or two locations. 
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The programme offered at University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics in Germany concentrates on global governance and macroeconomics; the programme at the University of Witwaterstrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, centers on the politics of development; the programme at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), S&atilde;o Paulo State, centers on analyzing transnational companies; and the programme at the Tata Institute, Mumbai, India, deals with the informal economy.
ACTRAV, the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities, offers study-related internships which help to bridge the gap between the academic world and trade union reality. Guest instructors from partner universities and international organisations complement the course offerings at the individual school. 
 
Further information and details about the application process, as well as possible scholarships, can be obtaining by clicking <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org">here</a>.&nbsp;

Applications Open for Global Labour University’s 2008 Programmes in Brazil, Germany, India, South Af

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The three-day Coal Conference for global trade unions, held in Calcutta, India, 14-16 December 2007, produced a report presenting an overview of the current, unprecedented growth rates in coal consumption and production, and how that relates to safety and health and trade unionism. That report can be found <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;doc=2552&amp;la=EN">here</a>. 
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The ICEM is grateful to its affiliated trade union, the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF), as well as to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), for hosting the conference, and to the ILO for its generous support.

Report Available from December’s Coal Conference in India

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A fresh report entitled &ldquo;Can Transnational Corporations Legally Apply Conditions to Companies That Supply Contract and Agency Labour?&rdquo; is now available on the ICEM web-site. The report, written as part of ICEM&rsquo;s ongoing campaign on Contract and Agency Labour, is a research effort that originated from the question whether or not a multinational company can impose social standards on its suppliers. 
 
The first of the three sections of the document deals with the international legal framework, examining existing language in labour law, commercial, trade and contract law. Issues dealt with include ILO Convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies and the ILO Recommendation 198, on the Employment Relationship. Other topics include the link between labour standards and global and regional trade agreements, and between contract law and labour standards. 
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The second section deals with corporate codes of conduct. The third section looks at national legal frameworks, both in labour and commercial law. Prominently focused in this last section is the question: what criteria determine the real employment relationship between a company and a worker, regardless of the contractual terms between them? 
 
Different countries are looked at in this respect, with examples, citing case law, from Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, the Philippines, UK, France, and US. The full report can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0801BMCALreport.pdf">here</a>.

Transnationals and Agency Labour: ICEM Research Report Available

Archive

Grupo Mexico’s Miners in Peru Strike for Fair Pay

Steelworkers Issue Immediate and Specific Warning to Colombia on Death Threats to Union Leaders

RENGO Prioritises Increased Rights for Temporary Workers in Japan

Near Disaster at Harmony’s Elandsrand Gold Mine in South Africa Repeats Safety Call

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

Finnish Paper Industry Uses Court Order to Block Government Protest

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

Applications Open for Global Labour University’s 2008 Programmes in Brazil, Germany, India, South Af

Report Available from December’s Coal Conference in India

Transnationals and Agency Labour: ICEM Research Report Available

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