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With the rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners perhaps only two weeks away, early October events at the San José mine near Copiapó in northern Chile centered on activity on the surface and in courtrooms. Relatives of 27 of the 33 miners filed lawsuits last week against both the government and Campañia Minera San Esteban Primera seeking a total of US$12 million while in a separate court case, a Northern Region III prosecutor brought criminal charges against San Esteban’s two owners, plus the mine manager and operations manager over a 5 July rock slide in which a miner lost a leg. 
 
Meanwhile, a group of Chilean trade unions from the mining, metals, and energy sectors, after conducting two days of meetings in Copiapó in late August, issued a terse manifesto holding the government responsible for safety lapses inside the San José mine. That manifesto cites the inherent flaws inside Chile’s diverse workplace safety system, a system that excludes participatory roles for workers and their trade unions on safety matters. 
 
The Chilean trade unions drafting the manifesto also cite a government that is unwilling to engage in tri-partite dialogue to improve mine safety conditions, including refusing initiatives to discuss ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. That manifesto, in Spanish, can be seen <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/MANIFIESTO_DE_COPIAPO.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM today sent a second letter to Chile’s government regarding the San José tragedy, this time to Mining Minister Laurence Golborne calling on the government to revamp its preventative safety practices. That letter can be accessed <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMletters/116.ICEM.Chile.MiningMinister.4Oct.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.chile.mine.rescue.jpg" width="191" height="128"/>
Scene at San José on 5 August
The lawsuit filed 30 September by the relatives of the 27 calls for damages totaling US$10 million against the company, and another US$2 million against the government and a state regulatory agency, the National Geological and Mines Services, for allowing the San José mine to reopen in 2008 following a fatal accident in 2007. 
 
The criminal case by a miner who had his leg amputated from a rock slide in July was brought against San Esteban owners Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemeny, mine manager Pedro Simunovic, and operations manager Carlos Pinilla. The regional public prosecutor of Atacama ordered the four not to leave the country during a 90-day investigation of the incident. 
 
The 33 miners are in relatively good health and trapped 700 metres underground. The rescue by three separate drilling rigs (see prior ICEM dispatch <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4006-Rescue-of-Chilean-Miners-Hits-Stride" type="internal">here</a>) continues with the Schramm T-130 drill advancing to 428 metres over the weekend in the widening of a smaller hole it made two weeks ago. 
 
That drill was idled on Saturday, 2 October, for a change in parts, but continued drilling yesterday. A larger oil drilling rig, called Rig 421, is making a single bore in hopes of coming to an area near where the miners are trapped. But Rig 421 drilling stopped over the weekend so technicians could change the directional course. The smaller mine drilling rig, a Strata 950 Riasebore drill, has been temporarily idled, but is due to restart its mission this week. 
 
Once a hole 66 centimeters across is made that reaches near where the miners are, it will take about eight days to erect a metal framing encasement – from both above and below – for a rescue capsule to fit that will take each miner to the surface. It is expected that all three holes will be fitted in the event a failure occurs in one. 
 
The miners became trapped on 5 August, following an underground explosion that caused mine shafts to collapse. Miraculously, they were discovered alive on 22 August. Thirty-two of the miners are Chileans, while one is a Bolivian national.

Story Line of Chilean Mine Rescue Shifts to the Surface

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The annual Regional Conference for the Eastern Europe/Central Asia Region of the ICEM was conducted in Moscow on 23 September. Participating affiliated trade unions came from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. 
 
The meeting was chaired by ROSUGLEPROF – the Russian Independent Coal Employees’ Union – President and ICEM Vice President Ivan Mokhnachuk. Each delegation briefed participants on today's situation in their respective country and union. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda spoke on the process of building joint structures with the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). The idea of creating a new Global Union Federation was supported by Mikhail Tarasenko, President of the Russian Mining Trade Union, a union invited as a guest to the meeting. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010. EE regional Council meeting.jpg" width="298" height="197"/>
The ICEM’s Regional Contact Person for the Eastern Europe/Central Asia Region and the Central Europe Region, Anatoly Surin, gave a report on the activities in the region since the last regional Council in September 2009, in Kiev, Ukraine. The participants of the meeting adopted a resolution of support to the miners of the enterprise “STRATEX” of Moldova in a struggle for fair wages. 
 
The ICEM’s Regional Conference in 2011 will take place in Uzbekistan.

ICEM Holds Eastern Europe/Central Asia Regional Conference

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the great success of a project by the German IGBCE women in Tanzania, on the South African government’s failure to provide promised female condoms at the World Cup games, and on the mining house AngloAmerican’s ongoing campaign to stem the spread of the HIV virus in South Africa. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information 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. 
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IGBCE Women Sponsor Successful VCT campaign in Tanzania 
 
The second leg of the campaign for voluntary counselling and testing took place in Mwasa, the second largest town in Tanzania, in August. The campaign was sponsored with donations from the women unionists of the German ICEM affiliate, IGBCE. The African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) gave technical assistance. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.hiv.JPG" width="278" height="202" alt=""/>
A total of 875 people were tested, among them 800 workers, members of the ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO in Tanzania. Four percent tested positive, with a marked difference between men (3.1 percent) and women (6.9 percent). All who tested positive were referred to the government hospital in Mwasa. 
 
A dancing troupe of people living with HIV and AIDS provided entertainment, and members of the group also gave testimonies to encourage workers and members of the public to get tested. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Female Condoms Missing During World Cup 
 
Female condoms have been widely celebrated as an answer to putting reproductive health and HIV protection in the hands of women. Yet, the South African government fell far short of its promise of distributing 7.5 million female condoms during the World Cup games in June, with only one million finding their way into the hands of consumers. On the other hand, male condoms were available in high numbers - 565 million - though even these were 20% fewer than expected. 
 
Many women’s organisations, who had pressed for the condoms, expressed disappointment that the female versions were largely missing in action, thus offering women less choice of how to protect themselves. Tian Johnson of Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Trust is frustrated at the situation, referring to messages communicated by the organisation to 2010 visitors, “Coming to South Africa soon? Bring your own condoms; we certainly don’t have enough to share!” 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.genderlinks.org.za">www.genderlinks.org.za</a>, as reported in Pambazuka, 23 July) 
 
Note by the Editor: The Coordinator of the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project is campaigning for wider access to female condoms. During the Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Women’s Workshop in May, she found that female condoms were not commonly available. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
World AIDS Day 2010: Universal Access and Human RIghts 
 
First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day (WAD) on 1 December has served to raise awareness about the epidemic, focus attention on issues that are key to a successful response, and to inspire positive action. The WAD theme for 2009-2010 is “Universal Access and Human Rights.” 
 
In cooperation with the World AIDS Campaign and other organisations, this year UNAIDS is organising a global “Lights for Rights Commemoration” in 100 cities. This campaign aims to highlight the linkages between HIV vulnerability and Human Rights around the world, especially of people living with HIV, women and girls, men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and transgender people. 
 
The “Lights for Rights” campaign began on 1 December 2009 in the US, when the lights were turned off and later turned back on, illuminating New York City landmarks. The darkness represents how stigma, discrimination, and criminalization forces people to die alone in fear and shame, while switching the lights on symbolizes the human rights of all people, which allows one to walk in the light of information, treatment, care, and health. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.uniaidstoday.org">www.uniaidstoday.org</a>. UNAIDS has produced a toolkit which can be accessed on this site 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Zimbabwe: Patients Forced to Pay for ARVs 
 
Rampant corruption in the provision of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other HIV services is threatening Zimbabwe's national AIDS response, according to a recently released report by a local human rights group. 
 
Commissioned by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in March 2010, the report - Corruption Burns Universal Access to Treatment - found that 73% of HIV-positive respondents had been asked to pay bribes by health workers. Most of those unwilling or unable to pay were turned away or given inadequate services. 
 
The findings were based on interviews with 1,024 people living with HIV in the provinces of Masvingo, Harare, Bulawayo, and Manicaland. Most of the respondents lived in urban areas and 89% had a family income of less than US$100 a month. 
 
HIV patients were often asked to pay for services that were supposed to be free. About a third of the respondents who were asked for bribes refused to pay them, mainly because of poverty; as a consequence, 63% were denied the service and had to pay for drugs or diagnostic tests in the private sector, or on the black market, or go without. 
 
(Sources: Plus News, Harare, 5 October) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Kenya: Minister Condemned for Promoting Gay Inclusion 
 
A Kenyan minister who expressed her opinion in support for HIV and Aids mitigation programmes for gays and lesbians has come under sharp criticism from church and Muslim leaders who said her remarks were “satanic” and contrary to “African culture.” 
 
Esther Murugi, the special programmes minister in the Kenyan government, while addressing a Gays and Commercial Sex Workers HIV and Aids Symposium held at the Kenya Coastal City of Mombasa, challenged the government, in which she serves to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community efforts in war against the scourge. 
 
The seminar, titled “Most – At-Risk Populations (MARPs),” was targeted at Men having Sex with Men (MSM), sex workers, and Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), believed to be at the greatest risk of HIV infection. 
 
Politicians attacked the minister over her remarks and called on Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to dismiss her for advocating for the recognition of gays and lesbians. The symposium was partly sponsored by the National Aids Control Council (NACC) which is the government national agency that designs and implements policies on the fight against HIV and AIDS. 
 
(Source: BTM correspondent, 6 October) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Global Fund: Donor Governments Pledge Record Amounts 
 
Donors are expected to give the Global Fund about US$11.7 billion over the three-year period, 2011-2013. This is 20% more than was pledged three years ago for the 2008-2010 period; but it is still less than the Global Fund says that it needs. 
 
More than 40 countries, together with the European Commission, faith-based organizations, private foundations and corporations attended a pledging session in New York on 5 October chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. 
 
The Fund says that its total needs over the three years 2011-13 will be between US$13 billion and US$20 billion. Over the past few months, donor government studied the Fund's needs and effectiveness and deliberated over how much each would commit to for the three years in question. They then came to New York to announce their decisions. 
 
The four countries that pledged the most for 2011-13 are the US, US$4 billion, 40% more than its pledge for the previous three years; France, US$1.48 billion, a 20% increase over the previous three years; Germany, US$822 million, no change; and Japan, US$800 million, a 28% increase. The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) are Norway and France (0.018% each) and Canada (0.013%). 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 131 of 8 October. 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 alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
AngloAmerican’s Campaign against HIV/AIDS 
 
AngloAmerican is the largest private sector employer in South Africa and the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have ravaged its business. However, over the years the situation has become more manageable. By its own estimates, approximately 12,000 of its 71,000-workforce in South Africa are HIV-positive. 
 
The group’s medical consultant, Dr Brian Brink, who is also the Global Fund Board member for the private sector, says that the big turning point came when treatment became available and effective. In negotiations with the union, the company agreed to pay for antiretroviral treatment (ART), but the real obstacle to getting things done was the stigma, fear, and distrust surrounding the disease. Agreement with the union also included guarantees that the jobs of HIV-positive workers were safe. 
 
From the economic point of view, giving out ART free of charge also makes sense. The fully-accounted cost for treatment is US$126 per HIV-positive worker per month. Against this, the total savings from reduced absenteeism and declining health care costs, as well as reduced staff turnover and benefits payments are US$219. 
 
(Sources: Daily Telegraph London, 2 August, with additions from the editor) 
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News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme 
 
The Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) is a joint initiative by the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers’ Union (IF Metall), an affiliate of the ICEM. 
 
In the latest newsletter of SWHAP, there is a report on the Swedish programme’s Sub-regional Conference in Zimbabwe related to the development of its South Africa Peer Educators Network and new HIV/AIDS workplace programmes in cooperation with unions and Swedish companies in Southern and East Africa. The SWHAP programme in Namibia has commenced with the adoption of workplace policies by Auto Sueco, Atlas Copco, and ABB, and the training of peer educators. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter August 2010) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>, reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 93 of 1 October on its HIV/AIDS capacity-building workshop for the Asian region and the publication of a new seafarers directory that includes information on practising safer sex and advocacy of condom use. 
 
The August Newsletter of PSUFASA (Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa) reports on the projects activities in Zimbabwe. The project, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development, is in its last year of the three-year project cycle. The project is coordinated by Tsitsi Mariwo from the PSI Southern Africa office in Johannesburg. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Five Years Ago: ICEM’s HIV/AIDS e-Bulletin was Born 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In future issues, we will refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In October 2005, we reported on the Global Fund replenishment meeting in London in September 2005. Governments then pledged US$3.7 billion, which was short of expectations as the total needs of the Fund had been estimated at US$7 billion. As the article on the replenishment meeting in New York above shows, the amounts pledged have trebled but so have the needs to cover all approved grants and sustain service delivery. 
 
In the October 2005 issue we wrote: “The relatively low level of support raises questions about the G8 commitment (at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005) to place on antiretroviral treatment by 2010 all HIV patients who need it.” 
 
That sadly has become true. As the year 2010 comes close to ending, various estimates say that only half of the HIV positive population who needs treatment still has not access to it. 
 
(The source of the article in October 2005: Global Fund Observer, Issue 50 of 7 September 2005) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – 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 “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 61, October 2010

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The Council of Global Unions (CGU) sponsored the ‘Quality Public Services’ Conference in Geneva 12-14 October, bringing together leaders of trade unions, municipal governments, and civil society, to take a strong stand in unity against further cuts to public services. 
 
Public services are under threat throughout the world as many governments look to cut spending and follow austerity measures encouraged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The members of the CGU, who represent 176 million working men and women, reject this and last week pledged to work together with civil society to promote investment in quality public services as the key solution to the global economic crisis. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/globalunions.gif" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
The 400 conference delegates announced a global campaign, guided by a charter and action plan. 
 
CGU chair Aidan White said, “This is a call to the trade union movement to advance its historic responsibility to work in broad social coalitions and act as a force for social change that improves the quality of life for all citizens. We don’t have time to lose.” 
 
Susan Hopgood, president of Education International, said, “We are conveying a powerful message in uniting as advocates for strong schools, decent health services and social services, clean water and proper sanitation, effective fire and security services, affordable housing and utilities, accessible communications and transport, public media and culture, and good public administration and municipal services. Quality public services provide the foundation for sustainable growth, equitable redistribution of wealth, and the means for justice, good governance, and the exercise of democracy.” 
 
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International and council member of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, called for “a new activism” to back demands for quality public services as the foundation for social justice policies. 
 
Visit <a href="http://www.RadioLabour.org">www.RadioLabour.org</a> for audio links to daily and summary reports of the conference.

Quality Public Services Conference Offers Alternative to Austerity

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While the world’s euphoria was centered on the successful rescue of 33 Chilean miners, 26 Chinese miners were killed and another 11 remain missing today following a gas rush that suffocated miners just metres beneath the surface through a massive coal dust cloud. The accident happened on 16 October at the Henan mine of Pingyu Coal and Electric Co. in Yuzhou, Henan province. 
 
The tragedy occurred when a hole was being drilled to release pressure caused by a methane gas build-up. The miners were buried when an estimated 173,000 cubic metres of gas rushed out, resulting in miners’ being buried in a coal dust concentration totaling 2,500 tonnes. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/04miningsafety.jpg" width="180" height="132"/>
Rescue attempts were still ongoing early today for the missing 11, but hopes that they were alive were slim. They were only 50 metres beneath the surface. Some 239 miners did escape. 
 
The gas level inside the mine was detected at 40% just prior to the accident, far above normal levels that average one percent. 
 
Pingyu Coal and Electric Co. is owned by a consortium of four enterprises, including the China Power Investment Corp. and Zhong Ping Energy Chemical Group. In 2008, 23 miners perished in the same colliery from a methane gas explosion. 
 
On 15 October, a day before the Chinese tragedy and less than 30 hours after the last of the 33 Chilean miners were pulled to the surface, three of four miners died following a tunnel collapse inside the Casa Negra gold and silver mine of Minesadco in El Oro province, Ecuador. The mine employs 100 workers and the accident happened when workers were digging a short distance from where the collapse occurred. Rescue efforts continued today to local the fourth miner, believed either trapped deeper inside the mine or killed by the rock collapse.

37 Chinese Coal Miners Feared Dead in Henan Province Coal Dust Tragedy

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Negotiations between the United Steelworkers Local 7-669 and Honeywell Inc. failed 11-12 October to resolve a company-imposed lockout on 228 union members at a uranium conversion plant in the US. The failure to resolve the 17-week lockout in Metropolis, Illinois, means scab workers will continue to mix dangerous chemicals in a process that mills yellow-cake uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), and then is sold to nuclear enrichment facilities. 
 
The talks last week were the third set of bi-lateral negotiations since the lockout began on 28 June. Progress was made on the first day on one of the major issues – health coverage and retiree medical insurance – but talks broke down on 12 October over retirement benefits and Honeywell’s demand to create a two-tier pension scheme. Talks could re-start within the next few weeks. 
 
Other issues separating USW and Honeywell are the transnational’s insistence on gaining broad contracting-out rights, a weakening of workers’ seniority rights, and hours of work. The company is offering a 3% wage increase, but its other demands are so detrimental to workers’ interests that the union has countered with a wage freeze and continuance of the current entitlement terms. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.usw.superman.jpg" width="128" height="192"/>
Metropolis, the fictional home of Superman, is now a US nuclear safety risk 
Honeywell, together with subcontracting agent the Shaw Group, has used US political leverage to gain certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), allowing the use of 200 replacement workers to perform dangerous tasks inside the nuclear supply chain. 
 
After initially signaling to USW Local 7-669 that it would not operate the plant during the lockout, Honeywell in July began staffing the conversion plant with scabs provided by the Shaw Group, and moved Honeywell supervisors from other areas to Metropolis. On 3 September, the NRC granted approval to Honeywell to re-start the final two steps of a four-step converting process. 
 
On 5 September, the town of Metropolis in southern Illinois along the Ohio River was shook by a loud boom that could be heard two kilometers away. Inside the plant, accumulated hydrogen reacted with fluorine gas during a venting process, causing the boom. NRC inspectors were on site at the time, and local police came to the scene. A NRC spokesman said the accident occurred in a non-regulated area of operation, meaning away from the handling of yellow cake uranium. Honeywell and the NRC jointly stated no damage to assets occurred and no one was injured. 
 
The Honeywell plant in Metropolis is the only such uranium conversion plant in the US and takes yellow cake uranium from Canada, Russia, and Australia and transforms it into UF6 through the four-stage process. That process includes ore preparation, through green salt preparation, to fluorination and distillation, before frozen and shipped to nuclear enrichment sites in US sites of Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Kentucky, as well as to plants in Russia and some Asian countries. 
 
A previous ICEM report on this US lockout is <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3977-Lockout-of-USW-represented-Uranium-Processing-Plant-in-US-Continues " type="internal">here</a>.

Talks Fail Between USW, Honeywell in US Uranium Lockout

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM was saddened to hear of the death on 10 September of Mahjoub Ben Seddik, the Secretary-General of the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT), who died in Paris at the age of 88. He was buried in the “cimitiere des chouhadas,” the martyrs cemetery in Casablanca, Morocco. 
 
In attendance at the funeral were the entire political class of Morocco, encompassing leaders of political parties, past and present government ministers, trade union centres, as well as numerous Moroccan intellectuals and wider civil society. All had gathered to pay homage to a great trade union leader who had been of massive importance in the trade union world, and the Moroccan struggle for independence. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.Mahjoub Ben Seddik.JPG" width="130" height="160"/>
Mahjoub Ben Seddik, the late Secretary-General of the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) 
In a message of condolences, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, echoed the words of UMT national official, Milourdi Moukharik, in stating: “Moroccan workers, their trade union movement, as well as the Arab trade union world, and indeed the international trade union movement, have lost a great leader and fighter for trade union independence and struggle. 
 
“He founded and continued to lead a vibrant and independent trade union structure firmly grounded in the workplace. The ICEM and the whole international trade union movement have lost a good friend and colleague. His passing really seems to be the end of an era.” 
 
Mahjoub Ben Seddik spent his entire life defending the interests of the Moroccan workers. He never deviated from his conviction that the trade union movement should be independent of political parties, but at the same time was immensely political. He played a major role in the struggle for Moroccan independence and was imprisoned for two years in 1952 and again in 1954 before independence was achieved in 1956. 
 
He remained an active leader of UMT until his death and was a key supporter of wider international trade union, and the work of the ICEM in particular. UMT has been an active ICEM member for many years and has played an important role in the Global Union Federation’s recent increased activities throughout the Middle East/North Africa Region (MENA), with Abdesalam Mansour being the MENA member of the ICEM Executive Committee.

ICEM Mourns Moroccan Trade Union Leader Mahjoub Ben Seddik

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A third meeting recently was held among trade unions and community groups of the Fako District of Cameroon in Buea to promote trade union cohesion. Cameroon Regional Delegate of Labour and Social Security Marie Catherine Kalati Lobe has been chairing the sessions, first started in June, and the forums are aggressively tackling issues regarding transportation, agriculture, and education, as well as a current labour issue at the state-run Société Nationale de Raffinage (SONARA) oil refinery at Cape Lembeh Limbe. 
 
Sector unions numbering about 12, some affiliated with the Confederation of Cameroon Trade Unions (CCTU), the General Federation of Free Workers of Cameroon (CGTTLC), and the Confederation of Cameroon Autonomous Trade Unions (CCATU), attended the most recent workshop in early October. They moved forward an agenda on the development of a common sense of purpose to enhance workers’ welfare and to improve the social climate. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Cameroon.png" width="150" height="69"/>
Issues raised included consistent judicial delays on labour cases, the requisite standards for inclusion in a re-written labour code, and employer resistance in allowing union representation inside workplaces. Specifically at this month’s meetings, grievances were heard over the low wages and long hours of agricultural workers in banana plantations, lack of paid leave for support staff of the University of Buea, in contrast to the teaching staff, and the influx of clandestine transportation modes in Fako District, most notably by police and law enforcement. 
 
Discussion also centered on the lack of movement in negotiations between management and the union – the Fako Petroleum Workers’ Union – at the country’s only refinery, the 37,000 barrel-per-day Limbe refinery that processes light crude imported from neighbouring Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. The state refinery, started with the assistance of Elf and later Total, is currently undergoing a large capitalisation project.

Cameroon Trade Unions in Fako Meet to Improve Social Climate

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The ICEM affiliate, Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers’ Trade Union (EL-SEN), conducted its General Assembly on 10 July 2010. The assembly was convened under the banner of anti-privatisation in the capital city Nicosia in central Cyprus. 
 
President Tuluy Kalyoncu was re-elected to continue as head of the trade union, with 171 votes, while a second candidate received 24 votes. 
 
The only candidate for General Secretary of EL-SEN, Huseyin Sonmezoglu, was re-elected to that position. The newly elected Executive Board will consist of Turgut Evlat, Ozan Alciner, Subhi Ozpasa, Ercan Koseoglu, Orhan Gurgoze, Ozgur Uzuner, Caglayan Cesurer, Toprak Altay, and Kamil Ozinal. 
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Bulent Erzeybek was elected as Assistant Secretary General, while Suphi Ozpasa was elected Financial Secretary, Ercan Koseoglu Education Secretary, Saffet Asiksoy Foreign Relations Secretary, Huseyin Korkmaz Organizing Secretary, Ozgur Uzuner Social Affairs Secretary, and Serhan Kayar was elected as Secretary of Propaganda. 
 
The General Assembly adopted four resolutions. Delegates resolved to struggle for peace and a solution to the Cyprus problem. Also prioritised was the need to continue education programmes for members. 
 
Delegates adopted a strong resolution against the government’s moves toward privatisation of the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus (KIB-TEK). Congress accused the government of misleading the public on the financial condition of the company. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote to congratulate EL-SEN on its successful Congress.

Turkish-Cypriot Electricity Workers’ Take Stand Against Privatisation

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A diamond-mining strike in Namibia was averted two weeks ago after eleventh hour negotiations by ICEM affiliate Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN), the country’s trade union centre, National Union of Namibian Workers, the government, and Namdeb, the joint venture between DeBeers and the Namibian government, proved successful on 9 July. 
 
Some 2,800 miners of the Oranjemund branch of the MUN were poised to strike on 12 July over failure to grant salary increases during the financial crisis, while managers were given salary adjustments. In contract reopener talks that began in April, the MUN branch also sought housing allowances, remote allowance, and annual leave. 
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The two-year contract that was agreed to calls for a 2010 10% wage increase, retroactive to 1 April 2010, and a housing allowance increase of 9%. A remote allowance increase of 10% is pegged to the midpoint of salary scales, and next year’s wage increase will equal the consumer price index. 
 
The ICEM commends the national leadership of the MUN for achieving such excellent terms. Namdeb is a 50/50 joint venture between the government and DeBeers and once was part of the Oppenheimer family’s Consolidated Diamonds Mines, founded in colonial times in 1920. The mines, both onshore and now off, are located in the southwestern Namib Desert near the coast and by the Orange River.

Miners in Namibia, Namdeb Agree to Contract Terms at Diamond Operation

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