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The major trade union at KGHM Polska Miedź SA, the ICEM-affiliated Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers&rsquo; Section of NSZZ Solidarność, announced last week it would protest against the Polish government&rsquo;s draft legislation to impose an unusually high minerals tax on the partially state-owned copper and silver company. 
 
The union, along with one of the smaller unions at KGHM, the ZZ Copper Industry Workers&rsquo; Association (ZZPPM), are now conducting procedural measures among workers at some 30 enterprises, including KGHM&rsquo;s three mines, two refineries and smelters, a rolling mill, wire rod plant, and other workplaces in order to lawfully carry out the protests. Manifestations could come as early as this week. 
 
The actions are in response to the 17 January draft bill put forward by Poland&rsquo;s Finance Ministry to the Parliament to place a high minerals tax on KGHM. The proposed tax, only on copper and silver, would impose a minimum of 0.5% on the average price of copper, up to a maximum of ZL16,000-per-tonne (&euro;4,000). 
 
The government is looking at the tax as a means to patch deficits in the country&rsquo;s budget. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="159" />
J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski
&ldquo;The tax is extremely high compared to taxes in other copper extracting companies,&rdquo; said NSZZ Solidarność in a statement. The union&rsquo;s leader at KGHM, J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski, said the tax would drain the company of its profitability, thus severely restricting investment and development, and ultimately costing jobs. He said the tax could eat away a full 90% of the company&rsquo;s profits. 
 
The unions at KGHM also oppose the fact that the minerals tax is singly aimed at KGHM. Czyzcerski said the Finance Ministry failed to conduct proper public consultations before approving the draft bill and submitting it to Parliament. 
 
KGHM is 32% owned by the Poland&rsquo;s Treasury Ministry and the unions fought bitterly in the recent past as the government gradually reduced its stake in the company. KGHM employs 18,000 workers and is the world&rsquo;s ninth largest copper company and third biggest producer of silver. The company is based in Lubin, Poland, in the country&rsquo;s copper basin of Lower Silesia.

Miners of Polish Solidarność Oppose Minerals Tax on KGHM Copper

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Unilever workers at UK factories are midway through 11 days of strikes, as the world&rsquo;s third largest consumer products company refuses to talk to unions about alternatives to its unacceptable and unilateral decision to close the final salary pension scheme. 
 
Workers organised by three ICEM affiliates, Unite the Union, GMB, and Union of Shop and Distributive Workers (USDAW), calculate that between 20-40% will be slashed from pensions of thousands of staff, at a time when the multinational corporation posted enormous profits of 4.6&euro; billion in 2010, and awarded CEO Paul Polman a 50% salary increase in a single year. 
 
Well known Unilever brands include PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Dove, Comfort, and Surf. 
<img src="" width="214" height="160" alt="" />
Unilever was founded on positive social principles but has aggressively followed a strategy of job cuts and outsourcing of over 100,000 of its global workforce over the last ten years, removing any semblance of social responsibility over work terms in the production of food and household goods. 
 
In closing the UK final salary pension scheme, Unilever management once again prioritises profits over staff, and breaks a promise to protect pensions for long-serving workers. The UK unions are fighting back. The first ever strike ever at Unilever in the UK started on 9 December and moved management to cancel Christmas parties and bonuses for its staff. 
 
This second wave of strike actions started at 06h59 on 18 January, with 11 days of rolling strikes throughout the company&rsquo;s UK production. It runs until midnight, 28 January. 
 
All 7,000 Unilever workers in the UK will see pension earnings hit by this attack as current final scheme members are moved to the inferior Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme from 1 July 2012, and CARE conditions will be decreased across the board. 
 
On 10 January, Unite dispatched its Battle Bus (see <a href="http://union-news.co.uk/2012/01/video-unions-load-up-battlebus-for-unilever-strikes/">Union News video</a>), taking protesting workers from Unite headquarters in Holborn to Unilever&rsquo;s London office on Victoria Embankment. 
<img src="" width="221" height="159" alt="" />
ICEM joined the noisy Battle Bus and protest on the front steps of the firm&rsquo;s London offices, with the company keeping union leaders from entering. Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey told demonstrators, &ldquo;How dare a company that generates massive profits attack your pensions, which you have saved for. We are not prepared to stand back and do nothing.&rdquo; 
 
The current strike action is hitting the following UK plants, with the products they produce: 
&bull; Purfleet &ndash; Hellmann&rsquo;s mayonnaise, Flora 
&bull; Trafford Park &ndash; PG Tips tea 
&bull; Burton &ndash; Marmite 
&bull; Norwich &ndash; Coleman&rsquo;s mustard and sauces 
&bull; Crumlin, Wales &ndash; Pot Noodle 
&bull; Leeds &ndash; Dove Deodorant, Lynx, Sure 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; fabric &ndash; Comfort, Persil 
&bull; Warrington &ndash; Persil, Omo 
&bull; Gloucester &ndash; Wall&rsquo;s Ice Cream 
 
The other sites involved in strike action &ndash; Unilever UK (Central Resources) Ltd are: 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; R&amp;D site 
&bull; St David&rsquo;s Park (Near Ewloe in Wales) &ndash; IT site 
&bull; Colworth, Bedford &ndash; R&amp;D site 
<img src="" width="251" height="159" alt="" />
Unite National Officer, Jennie Formby said, &ldquo;Unilever needs to clean up its act, get back to the table before it ruins its business&rsquo; reputation for good.&rdquo; 
 
The unions have calculated alternative business options for Unilever to make the same savings without cutting pensions. For more information on the campaign and to <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/unilever_-_hands_off_our_pensi.aspx">send a message</a> to Unilever CEO Paul Polman, go to the Unite website here.&nbsp; 
 
Watch Unite&rsquo;s excellent three minute film &ldquo;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Theeovq1c&amp;feature=youtu.be">Unilever &ndash; not as clean as it claims</a>&rdquo; here.&nbsp;

UK Strikes at Unilever Continue; Company Refuses Talks

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The ICEM has responded with anger and outrage over the latest cold-blooded murder of a trade unionist in Colombia. Mauricio Redondo, 36, and his wife, Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez Carlosama, were murdered in their home in the village of Tetey&eacute;, in the southern department of Putumayo, on 17 January at 19h30 by two gunmen. 
 
Mauricio Redondo was a provincial leader of ICEM Colombia affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) and both he and his wife were activists in a community group that advocated for better working conditions, environmental stewardship, and labour and human rights in the booming oil and natural gas fields of the Putumayo basin in southwest Colombia. 
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In fact, four days before the killings at a meeting in the municipality of Orito, at a forum called Primer Foro Petrolero por el Derecho al Trabajo, la Reivindicaci&oacute;n Social y Econ&oacute;mica de Orito, Redondo was an active speaker in talks to open public protests over these issues. According to initial reports, the two gunmen were wearing work uniforms of the local oil contracting company Empresa de Energ&iacute;a del Bajo Putumayo, EEEP (Energy Company of Lower Putumayo) and fired multiple gunshots into the couple. Redondo and Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez are survived by five young children. 
 
&ldquo;Once again we witness the price that dedicated trade unionists in Colombia pay when they attempt to stand up for a dignified way of life,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda, who was in Colombia when the murders happened. 
 
&ldquo;Along with USO, we mourn the grisly deaths of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez and we call on Colombia&rsquo;s federal and provincial prosecution teams to extend all efforts in apprehending and bringing to justice those responsible.&rdquo; 
 
Mauricio Redondo was employed by Medellin-based P.E.I. Energy, an upstream oil and gas drilling company. He was a leader of the 220-member USO committee in Orito, in which 40% are employees of Ecopetrol and 60% employed by contract companies of the state-held energy company. 
 
The deaths of the couple came just days after three other USO Orito leaders &ndash; Manuel Coronado, Jos&eacute; Socimo Erazo and Julio Vargas &ndash; were threatened by calls made to their mobile telephones. It also came after a bomb threat was directed at the USO regional office in Orito. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="105" />
Said Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) Human Rights Director Alberto Vanegas, the worst aspect of the 17 January heinous crimes are that &ldquo;five children were left as orphans. This is what we leave with such murders: orphans and widows throughout the country.&rdquo; 
 
The killings of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez mark the first murders of trade unionists in Colombia in 2012. In 2011, at least 29 trade union leaders were killed in calculated and cold-blooded political assassinations.

ICEM Condemns Assassinations of USO Leader, His Wife in Colombia

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Some 80 buses and numerous car caravans converged on London, Ontario, Saturday, 21 January, in boisterous disagreement to <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division ">Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s hardened lockout</a> of 650 members of the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. Fair estimates placed the number of people attending the CAW and Ontario Federation of Labour&rsquo;s (OFL) Day of Action at 15,000. 
 
Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of its Progress Rail Services Corp., makers of train locomotives, locked out members of CAW Local 27 on New Year&rsquo;s Day in an egregious exhibition of corporate might and spite to wrest C$30 million from a single workforce in collective negotiations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="160" />
The Day of Action at Victoria Park across from the town of the south-western Ontario saw the OFL distribute red scarves to the throng as a symbol of resistance. A rock group warmed up the protestors with Buffalo Springfield&rsquo;s Something&rsquo;s Happening Here and following a dozen or so speeches, a good portion of those assembled marched to factory gates in east London to join picketers. 
 
CAW President Ken Lewenza concluded the speeches with an impassioned oratory on the current state of collective negotiations in Canada, where multinationals hide behind a Conservative government and gouge working families of their livelihoods to booster profit sheets. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;This struggle started three weeks ago,&rdquo; said Lewenza. &ldquo;But in the last five years, 450,000 manufacturing workers in Canada were asked to go home and say to their young children they lost their jobs through no fault of their own.&rdquo; 
 
He demanded that EMD quit the lockout and return to the bargaining table, something the company has refused to do so far in the cold of this Canadian winter. CAW Local 27 President Tim Carrie reminded those protesting that &ldquo;Caterpillar has a history of beating down workers and getting away with it. 
 
&ldquo;Not this time!&rdquo; 
 
Another speaker was President Bruce Klipple of the ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers&rsquo; of America (UE), whose union also represents workers in family-supporting jobs at an EMD competitor in the US &ndash; General Electric. He said the obvious; that a downward swing in wages and benefits in electric diesel manufacturing in London cannot and will not be tolerated. 
<img alt="" src="" width="178" height="159" />
Bruce Klipple
Other speakers included Sid Ryan, OFL President, Ken Georgetti, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President, and CAW Local 27 Chairman of the EMD bargaining unit, Bob Scott. London Mayor Joe Fontana had sharp words for Canadian Premier Stephen Harper, who used the diesel locomotive factory as a backdrop to tout jobs and investment when Caterpillar/EMD bought it in 2010 but has been silent and absent since the lockout began. 
 
In bargaining that began in May 2011 and carried through a seven-month contract extension, the vile American company did not move once from its stand of reducing average wages of C$35-an-hour to C$16.50, and cutting all benefits by 50%.

15,000 Manifests for Canadian Auto Workers in Lockout By Caterpillar

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The Northern Cypriot state electric company, KIB-TEK, has begun importing workers from the Turkey-based energy company AKSA to break the civil disobedience actions of members of ICEM affiliate EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. That started on 20 January, just hours after EL-SEN had abided by a Council of Ministers decree to halt a day-long strike. 
 
But utility workers then reverted to a stay-at-home strategy as a democratic sign of civil disobedience. 
 
The workers from AKSA, nonetheless, were given a police escort as they arrived in the northern part of the island and were taken to the main Teknecik power plant near the village of Klepini. EL-SEN undertook strike action in the morning of 19 January and the government&rsquo;s decree banning the strike came late that evening. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
The strike and subsequent protest are over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). EL-SEN and its members strongly believe that the government has failed to consult the union and other stakeholders before pushing forth the draft legislation. The union will also conduct a mass rally in Nicosia on 30 January. 
 
The ICEM has stepped in to support EL-SEN and opposes the rush to privatisation. In an <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4846-ICEM-Protests-Northern-Cyprus-Strike-Ban-in-Energy-Sector ">ICEM news release</a> issued on 20 January, the Global Union Federation said it disagreed with the government of Northern Cyprus&rsquo;s decree, stating Northern Cypriot law to ban a strike runs counter to internationally recognised standards regarding the right to strike. 
 
&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 
 
Under Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend a strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu said the move to import replacement workers was the wrong one. In a news report on 21 January, he said, &ldquo;Our fight is a worthy one; our community&rsquo;s survival depends on it. They think they can resolve this by bringing people in from abroad. It might work in the short term, but in the long term it will fail.&rdquo;

Northern Cyprus Imports Scabs to Break Electric Utility Work Stoppage

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union were locked out at the New Year by Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) in a callous display of corporate might that could lead to corporate flight from Canada. The 650 CAW members in London, Ontario, voted by 98% on 30 December for strike action and 24 hours later &ndash; just as they were returning to jobs on New Year&rsquo;s Eve following a holiday shutdown &ndash; they were locked out. 

The lockout indignation comes on the heels of deeper indignation: Caterpillar&rsquo;s EMD &ndash; run as part of the US company&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services Corp. &ndash; attempt to extract unreasonable wage and benefit concessions from Canadian union members as excuse to shift production of electric-powered diesel engines and associated railroad components to a start-up and lower wage plant in Muncie, US state of Indiana. 

EMD began operations in Muncie in October 2011. Until Saturday night&rsquo;s lockout, CAW and EMD had bargained under a seven-month contract extension, something the two sides agreed to in May 2011. However, EMD never once wavered from an initial, hostile and family-wrecking proposal demanding wage cuts from C$35-per hour to C$16.50, health benefits cut in half, and elimination of a pension scheme. 

At the same time, EMD was advertising for a Human Resources manager in Muncie with the stipulation that he/she have &ldquo;experience with providing union-free culture and union avoidance.&rdquo; 

EMD is paying average salaries between US$12-16-per hour in Muncie. Caterpillar and its wholly-owned Progress Rail Services is seeking to dislodge General Electric&rsquo;s (GE) Transportation Division as the US&rsquo;s premiere supplier of train locomotives at a time of government stimulus funding for infrastructure and transport needs. GE operates three major rail division plants that are unionised and pay average salaries of US$30-per hour or more. 

EMD&rsquo;s London, Ontario, plant was purchased by Caterpillar in August 2010 for US$820 million from Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners. The two capital companies in turn bought the manufacturing plant in 2005 for a quarter of that amount from General Motors when GM was shedding its non-auto making businesses.
<img src="" width="130" height="188" alt="" />
CAW President Ken Lewenza&nbsp; 

Then, Caterpillar was interested in buying the southwestern Ontario plant but CAW opposed the deal because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s horrid labour relations record in the US. Now, with Caterpillar in control and deploying obvious whipsawing of CAW members against non-union Muncie workers that will number 650 this year, CAW Local 27 is forced to blockade the London plant to prevent equipment from leaving for the Indiana city 350 miles to the south. 

On Saturday, CAW President Ken Lewenza called the lockout &ldquo;a serious attack on working people, their families and the greater community of London. 

&ldquo;If (Caterpillar) is not going to do business in Canada, this wage cut is designed as a mechanism to blame workers,&rdquo; Lewenza said in a published report, referring to production flight and a possible plant closing. In mid-December, the CAW lodged a formal complaint with the government over Caterpillar&rsquo;s violation of the Investment Canada Act. 

EMD has other railroad manufacturing facilities in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and Sahag&uacute;n, Hidalgo state, Mexico, a facility it operates jointly with Bombardier. EMD sells locomotives, replacement parts, and diesel powered engines for marine propulsion, oil drilling and power generation in 130 countries, and currently has major contracts with companies providing equipment for state railways in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. 

Caterpillar&rsquo;s deep contract concession proposals, the lockout, matched with lucrative incentives from Indiana&rsquo;s anti-union state government for the Muncie start-up are a cause of great concern, particularly for two countries that each lack socially-minded industrial policies in the wake of a financial crisis.

CAW Members Victimized in Lockout by Caterpillar’s Rail Division

<img alt="" src="" width="320" height="38" />
The ICEM today vehemently condemned the deepening trade union repression occurring in Iraq. In recent days, a youth leader of the Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) and three others were rounded up and presumably jailed, and Jamal Abdul-Jabbar, President of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of the GFIW in Kirkuk was forcibly transferred from his job at Northern Oil Company to a remote location due to his union activities. 
 
On 27 May, plainclothes Iraqi security police in a civilian ambulance grabbed the four young activists as they were on their way to demonstrate in Tahrir Square, the central Baghdad flashpoint this year for protests. Taken away were Jihad Jalil, 27, a worker and Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union activist; Ahmed Alaa al Baghdaddi, 19; Moyaid Fasil al Taib, 29; and Ali Abdul-Khaliq, 24. 
 
They were on their way into Tahrir Square near the Green Zone to manifest for trade union rights, jobs, basic services, political reform, and an end to corruption when police apprehended them for merely attempting to express their internationally recognised human rights, as well as rights under the Iraqi constitution. 
 
In Iraq&rsquo;s north, Jamal Abdul-Jabbar was forcibly transferred from his position at major Northern Oil installations in Kirkuk to a remote and isolated company site. He had led a walk-out in defence of contract workers at Kirkuk about a month ago. The transfer of elected union leaders away from any mass concentration of workers has been commonplace in Iraq over the past several years. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM is angry that the Al-Maliki government is escalating trade union repression,&rdquo; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said in a letter to the government. &ldquo;Rather than persecuting Iraqi citizens for engaging in their fundamental human rights, the government must institutionalise free and independent trade unions in a modern labour law for peace and prosperity of all Iraqis.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM expressed disheartenment that Iraq&rsquo;s government is moving away from democratic reforms. It noted the implementation of Cabinet Decrees 95 and 96 in mid-April, which in part stripped away recognition of the GFIW and replaced it with a committee of non-elected and politically-biased officials from the Sadrist Party. The GFIW is affiliated to the ICEM. 
 
Eight years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, his regime&rsquo;s prohibition against trade unions not officially connected to the Baathist regime continues, only with a different political covering. &ldquo;By restricting trade unions and the right of workers to freely engage in democratic assemblies that will benefit their work lives, and Iraqi society as a whole, your government appears to be stepping back in time,&rdquo; wrote the ICEM to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. 
 
The ICEM also notes that last week&rsquo;s apprehension of a Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union leader is not something new. On 27 March 2007, the union&rsquo;s leader, Najim Abd-Jasem, was abducted from his home and three days later his body was found with clear signs he had been tortured before his murder. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

ICEM Demands Release of Iraq Mechanics’ Union Leader

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM African Workshop on the ILO Decent Work Agenda and HIV and AIDS, on the work in Nigeria, on the UNAIDS report &ldquo;AIDS at 30: Nations at the Crossroads&rdquo; and a new ILO tool kit that is available for trade unions.
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
ICEM African Workshop on ILO Decent Work Agenda and HIV and AIDS 
 
In the framework of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project, sponsored by FNV Modiaal of the Netherlands and the Finnish SASK, an African Regional Workshop was organised in Johannesburg from 24-26 May. National coordinators and union activists from 11 countries participated in this workshop. The workshop was organised by the HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator, Paula Ndessomin, with technical assistance from Shirley Miller. 
 
The objectives of the workshop were to identify key elements of the Decent Work Agenda and understand how HIV and AIDS affect decent work and how, in turn, workplace action against the pandemic must be part of pursuing decent work. 
 
In an excellent presentation, the HIV/AIDS Focal Person of the ILO Pretoria office, Simphiwe Mabhele, linked decent work and HIV/AIDS in a rights-based approach using ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. The ICEM HIV/AIDS consultant focused on the ILO Global Action to promote the implementation of Recommendation 200 and global and national union action to this effect. 
 
In group work, participants explored challenges with respect to the Decent Work Agenda and fighting HIV and AIDS and discussed the difficulties of achieving decent work in the current worldwide economic crisis, including the difficulties of organising as more and more workers are forced into the ranks of the unemployed. They also identified workplace policies and collective bargaining agreements as tools to implement the Decent Work Agenda and eliminate stigma and discrimination. 
 
The workshop also gave an opportunity to Kettie Tembo from the British union Unite and Tsitsi Mariwo from the Public Services International (PSI) to present their HIV/AIDS projects and exchange information with participants. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
HIV and AIDS Project in Nigeria Sponsored by the Canadian CEP 
 
For several years now, the Humanity Fund of the Canadian ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy and Paperworkers&rsquo; (CEP) Union, has sponsored an HIV and AIDS project in Nigeria in cooperation with the ICEM HIV/AIDS project and the ICEM affiliates in Nigeria, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN. 
 
In May, the ICEM HIV/AIDS consultant, who was accompanied by the national coordinator, Olawale Afolabi, visited Lagos and surrounding locations to assess the impact of the project. After having trained 210 peer educators cum counsellors and 120 community mobilisation agents, the unions focused on campaigns for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at workplaces. Leaflets and handbills were produced for mass distribution. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="133" />
Prevention campaigns were mounted in some 40 workplaces across the country and about 20,000 individuals were reached with awareness and prevention messages. VCT was carried out at 20 sites with close to 10,000 individuals tested. 
 
During his visit, the consultant had discussions with the unions&rsquo; leadership, observed a VCT campaign, spoke to peer educators about their work, and met with the staff of the NUPENG HIV/AIDS Prevention Office. Over the years, the national coordinator has managed to access resources at national level. For example, the testing in May was facilitated by the Nigeria Business Coalition against AIDS (NIBUCAA) free of charge. The prevention office has been sponsored by SmartWork, the HIV/AIDS workplace programme of the US Academy for Educational Development. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
30 Years of HIV and AIDS 
 
As the world marks 30 years of HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS estimates that 34 million people are living with the HI-virus and nearly 30 million people have died of AIDS-related causes since the first case of AIDS was reported on 5 June 1981. An estimated 7,000 new infections occur every day (editor&rsquo;s note: these figures do not tally with those in the following article, according to which the new infection rate would be about 6,000). 
 
Although about 6.6 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2010, which in itself is a great achievement, an estimated nine million people who would qualify for ARVs did not receive them. 

<img alt="" src="" width="125" height="137" />
Access to treatment will transform the AIDS response. According to UNAIDS, accelerating access and finding new treatment options not only stops people from dying but also prevents transmission of the virus. 
 
However, prevention efforts are still a priority and they are showing results: between 2001 and 2009, new HIV infections declined by nearly 25%. In India, the rate of new infections fell by more than 50% and in South Africa by more than 35%. India and South Africa are the two countries that have the largest absolute number of HIV-positive people. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, New York/Nairobi, 3 June, on the report &ldquo;AIDS at 30: Nations at the Crossroads&rdquo;) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
UNICEF: Two Million Teenagers HIV-positive 
 
According to a recent report by UNICEF, jointly published with ILO, WHO, UNESCO, and The World Bank, worldwide two million teenagers in the age group to 19 years are infected with the HI-virus, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Young people in developing and newly-industrialised countries have an especially high risk of infection. 
 
Daily, some 2,500 adolescents in the age group 15 to 24 years get infected. That means that 41% of every new infection is in this age group. Girls and young women have the highest risk. UNICEF demands better access to awareness and prevention for young people. 
 
(Source: UNICEF website) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Global Fund Suspends Disbursement of China Grants 
 
Citing concerns about insufficient participation of civil society organisations in programme implementation, inadequate financial management and possible misuse of grant funds, the Global Fund Secretariat has temporarily suspended disbursements for all active Global Fund grants in China. 
 
Several articles about the suspensions have appeared in the mainstream press. The Global Fund has not made any public announcement concerning the suspensions, but it has responded to questions from journalists. 
 
According to the Global Fund website, China has four active grants: two for malaria, and one each for HIV and TB. China has been awarded 14 grants by the Global Fund, but in 2010 China went through an elaborate process of grant consolidation. The sole principal recipient (PR) for all of China&rsquo;s grants is and has been the (China) Center for Disease Control (CDC), a government entity. 
 
The suspensions appear rooted in a collision between the Fund&rsquo;s conviction that grass-roots organizations must be intrinsically involved in the fight to control diseases like AIDS, and the Chinese government&rsquo;s growing suspicion of any civil-society groups that are not directly under its control. They follow complaints by some AIDS activists that Chinese officials have sought to suppress their public-health activities, have shunted grant money to groups under government control, and have failed to account for how some funds were spent.&rdquo; 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 148 of 2 June. GFO is a free service of <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">Aidspan</a>; to receive GFO send an <a href="http://receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">email</a> here) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
ILO ACTRAV Tool Kit on HIV and AIDS 
 
In April, the ILO Bureau for Workers&rsquo; Activities (ACTRAV) published a tool kit to guide trade union responses to HIV and AIDS. The tool kit contains six factual booklets, collected learning exercises, case studies and information resources and a CD-Rom with key ILO publications on HIV and AIDS and the world of work. as well the DVD &ldquo;Workplaces in Africa respond to HIV and AIDS.&rdquo; 
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Booklet 1 deals with Core Information on HIV and AIDS, the Impact and Global Response. Booklet 2 focuses on Respect for Rights: The Key to Labour and Workplace Responses. Booklet 3 has information on Workplace Action on HIV and AIDS: Contributing to Universal Access. Booklet 4 deals with Trade Union Education and Training on HIV and AIDS. Booklet 5 contains information on Mobilising Resources for Trade Union Action. Booklet 6 gives an overview on Project Development and Proposal Writing. All this is accompanied by a Guide to the tool kit. 
 
(Source: ILO/AIDS website &ndash; for the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids/publications/lang--en/index.htm ">toolkit</a>&nbsp;click here&nbsp;or go to the ICEM website, see below) 
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New Resources on the ICEM Website 
 
The <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS">ICEM HIV/AIDS website</a> has been updated to include ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, as well as the Global Action Plan to promote and implement the Recommendation. The latter was adopted by the ILO Governing Body in March 2011. You can also find the brand new tool kit on HIV and AIDS, developed by the ILO Bureau for Workers&rsquo; Activities (ACTRAV) &ndash; see article in this e-bulletin. 
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News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">ITF</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 107 of 15 May, reports on the on the High Level Meeting (HLM) of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which takes place in New York from 8-10 June. The meeting will adopt an outcome document (a new UNGA Declaration) that will aim at recommitting governments on universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support. Thanks to trade union advocacy, the zero draft of the HLM outcome document does feature reference to the role of trade unions and ILO Recommendation 200 on HIV and AIDS and the world of work. It is, however, not certain whether this reference will survive in negotiations between governments for the final draft. 
 
The May <a href="void(0);/*1307697779467*/">Newsletter</a> of PSUFASA (Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa) gives a first preliminary survey of the findings of the evaluation of the project and reports on two regional seminars in February and March, the latter on collective bargaining and HIV and AIDS. 
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Five Years Ago: From the June 2006 Issue (No. 9) 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In the June 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the mission to Ghana together with representatives of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This was the first joint mission of a Global Union with the Global Fund. In 2011 we can say that it probably was also the last. 
 
Although the ICEM concept to target clinics operated by companies for HIV and AIDS services for workers and the surrounding communities with the involvement of unions had found recognition, little concrete follow-up activities resulted from this mission. Companies did engage in public/private partnerships and the Global Fund promoted co-investment projects but the ICEM&rsquo;s claim that the private sector includes business and unions went unheard. 
 
On the positive side, it should be mentioned that roll-out of antiretroviral drugs accelerated considerably and that major mining companies provided prevention, care and support services to their workers and dependents. 
 
We also referred to the report by FNV Mondiaal, &ldquo;Trade union support in the struggle against HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; which cited the ICEM project as a good example of integrating HIV/AIDS issues in collective bargaining and global framework agreements and gave credit to our efforts to build partnerships. 

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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
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.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 69, July 2011

ICEM Women’s Bulletin: Will and Conquests

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The ICEM Presidium on 23 May endorsed the appointment of Kemal &Ouml;zkan as new Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs effective 1 June. He picks up the new role in addition to his current duties of Chemical and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, a position he has held since coming to the ICEM early in 2007. 
 
As an engineer with a master&rsquo;s degree in economics and business administration, &Ouml;zkan worked at ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish affiliate Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union for some 15 years before joining the ICEM. Coming from a family of trade unionists, &Ouml;zkan&rsquo;s father was imprisoned for four years for union activity during the military coup d&rsquo;&eacute;tat in Turkey in 1980. 
 
&ldquo;I am honoured to be named as new Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs of ICEM,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;It gives me more responsibility to ensure the success of our organization. I will continue to do my best efforts to reinforce ICEM activities in the sectors and in industrial relations.&rdquo; 
 
Added General Secretary Manfred Warda, &ldquo;Kemal &Ouml;zkan is a worthy person for this position with his knowledge, success, and activism. He has always shown his preparedness for taking further responsibility at the ICEM. I am sure with his new assignment he will again demonstrate his readiness to carry our flag into the future.&rdquo; 
 
&Ouml;zkan is 42 years old and married to Selma Basak.

Özkan Named ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs

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