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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The president of the Colombian Oil Workers’ Trade Union (USO) was dismissed from his employment at 95% nationally-owned Ecopetrol on 13 December, in an attempt to remove the democratically elected leader of the union and weaken the organisation. The move was based on national legislation blocking individuals holding public office becoming involved in politics, following Vecino’s participation at a speaking event involving a political candidate of the left wing Polo Democrático, the event was held to commemorate the death of Jorge Ortega, Vice President of the CUT. The law should only apply to individuals holding managerial responsibilities inside a company which president Rodolfo Vecino Acevedo does not. It is absurd to attempt to use this legislation against a union leader, who necessarily seeks to affect the politics of a company as well as of the country, in the interest of the workers s/he represents. The vast majority of USO members are supporters of the Polo Democrático. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.USO%20Vecino.jpg" width="163" height="159"/>
USO President Rodolfo Vecino
The blatant attack on union freedom and autonomy follows a long historical trend of intimidation and harassment of ICEM’s militant affiliate USO. In 2011 USO conducted a strong campaign for improved pay and conditions for its members at foreign multinational corporations (MNCs), especially Canadian-based Pacific Rubiales. Many see the Colombian government and authorities repeatedly prioritising the interests of foreign MNCs far above those of Colombian workers. A further pernicious reason for the arbitrary sacking of president Vecino could be the strong opposition from USO to the government attempts at privatising Ecopetrol. It is a core value of USO that oil industry operations in Colombia must be publically owned, instead of foreign companies exporting profits from their oil wealth. 
 
The ruling also blocks president Vecino from holding office for a period of 10 years. 
 
The investigation against Vecino was carried out by Ecopetrol’s Office of Disciplinary Inspection, which is conducting a wide ranging systematic attack on the union, with the clear intention to destroy USO all together. Three other USO officials targeted by the office are General Secretary Edgardo Lozano, Jaime Rodriguez, Head of the pipeline subcommittee, and Joaquín Padilla in Cartegena province. There are over 1,000 investigations by the office on USO activists. 
 
During the Pacific Rubiales campaign at the end of 2011 threats from alleged paramilitaries increased, with USO leaders receiving verbal and written threats of kidnap, torture and death for their role in the strike in the eastern department of Meta. Pacific Rubiales publically condemned the threats. In his 27 years as a trade union activist, president Vecino has suffered the attempted kidnapping of his children, two attacks, and multiple threats. View a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x0W9F-REMNk">video of Vecino</a> describing this here. 
 
The ICEM Congress in Buenos Aires, last November, resolved to support Colombian workers, under vicious attack by employers and many aspects of the state. Write to <a href="mailto:presidencia@ecopetrol.com.co">Ecopetrol President Javier Gutierrez Pemberthy</a> here. See the Belgian <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201%20fgtb%20letter%20to%20ecopetrol.pdf" type="internal">Centrale Generale FGTB’s</a> letter to Pemberthy here. 
 
4,500 trade unionists have been assassinated in Colombia in the last 25 years. The trend of violence has not been stopped by new national president Juan Manuel Santos.

ICEM Affiliates Called on to Support Sacked Colombian USO President Rodolfo Vecino

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Around 35 trade union representatives from various rubber companies, namely Goodyear, MRF, JK Tyres, Birla Tyres, Apollo Tyres, and Ajanta Rubber formed the Indian Rubber Unions National Network in a workshop entitled “ILO/ICEM Workshop on International Labour Standards and Social Dialogue in Indian Rubber Industry.” The forum was held on 14-15 December 2011 in Mumbai with the support of the ILO. 
 
India is becoming one of the world's fastest-growing rubber producing countries due to the emerging automotive industry, as well as availability and closeness of raw materials such as natural rubber. The tyre market attracts global manufacturers due to high growth figures, while India itself has its own multinational companies that also invest elsewhere. 
 
“This is the first time that Indian rubber unions have come together, which is promising for the future,” said Ravindra Ghoshalkar, General Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Chemical Mazdoor Federation (CMFI), the union that inaugurated the ILO/ICEM Workshop in Mumbai. Opening speakers included Pradeep Kokas, Education Secretary of the ICEM affiliate Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF) and Sayeed Ahmed, Secretary of the Maharashtra State of the Indian national labour federation, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.india kemal.JPG" width="276" height="160"/>
The workshop received detailed presentations from keynote speakers. Kemal Özkan, ICEM’s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs, briefed the participants on the global situation of the rubber industry with economic, employment, and trade union angles. 
 
An ILO Industrialist Specialist, Yasuhiko Kamakura, presented core labour standards of the organization as well as instruments of occupational health and safety worldwide. ICEM’s Asia Multinational Companies’ and Social Dialogue Project Coordinator Yoon Hyowon informed the participants about international labour standards, such as the OECD Guidelines and the UN Global Compact, while Ashutosh Bhattacharya, ICEM’s Multinational Indian Project Coordinator, presented the issue of the Right to Information Act and Workers Participation in India. 
 
The workshop participants were divided into various groups to discuss matters affecting the Indian rubber industry, working conditions, and health and safety situations at various workplaces. Following ICEM’s input on union networking in the rubber industry at global and regional levels, Indian rubber workers’ representatives discussed how to improve cooperation, solidarity, and networking inside the country. 
 
In final discussions, the workshop produced concrete actions for the future. This included regular information and experience exchanges between rubber unions, as well as contant solidarity during collective bargaining negotiations or any other dispute. While forming the India National Rubber Industry Network, the workshop also aimed at developing close relations among the unions of the same company. 
 
Indian union represetatives strongly underlined the improtance of international solidarity. In this sense, it was agreed to establish close relations with union representatives outside of the country that represent workers at Indian-based rubber companies such as Apollo and JK Tyres. It was also decided to organize the next network meeting within a year with the participation of more unions.

Indian Rubber Unions Form National Network

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	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, our forst of the New Year, we report on HIV and AIDS activities of ICEM trade union affiliates in Colombia, we reflect on some of the important issues that occurred in 2011 and we report on some reactions to the cancellation of Round 11.

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	Colombia: HIV and AIDS Campaign in 2012 
	 
	During a seminar organised for ICEM affiliates in Colombia in December 2011, participants decided to declare 2012 a year to campaign against HIV and AIDS at the workplace. 
	 
	Although the virus does not yet constitute a big problem in Colombia, it does not mean that this will remain so in the future. Especially in the mining sector, workers are vulnerable to the transmission of the HIV virus. Affiliates in Colombia have therefore decided to give more importance to awareness and prevention at mining sites and in other companies organised by them. 
	 
	The seminar received technical assistance from the François Xavier Bagnoud Foundation and from Carbones del Cerrejón, a Colombian coal mining company jointly owned by Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata, which operates one of the largest coal mines in the world. Carbones del Cerrejón provides HIV and AIDS services in several locations in the Department of Guajira, where the mine is located. 
	 
	Affiliates in Colombia representing all ICEM sectors will participate in the work which, among other things, includes reducing stigma and eliminating discrimination through agreements with employers.

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	HIV and AIDS: Some Big Stories in 2011 
	 
	It was a roller coaster of a year regarding HIV and AIDS in 2011. AIDS turned 30 in 2011 and with new evidence of the effectiveness of HIV treatment as prevention, experts are increasingly talking about "the end of AIDS." At the same time, however, funding for HIV has become ever more uncertain, jeopardizing efforts to put new, life-saving science into action. 
	 
	The first case of HIV was reported in 1981, and 2011 was a year of reflection on the growth of the epidemic and progress made in the fight against it. In 30 years, an estimated 30 million people have died, another 34 million are living with the virus and an estimated 7,000 new infections occur every day. An estimated 6.6 million people were on treatment globally by December 2010, but some nine million people who qualified for antiretrovirals (ARVs) did not receive them. 
	 
	Regarding ARVs as prevention, the little pills that turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic condition could now help us prevent new HIV infections. In May, a large, randomized controlled trial found that earlier initiation of HIV treatment led to a 96% reduction in HIV transmission to the HIV-uninfected partner. 
	 
	Regarding funding, in November, poor funding forced the Global Fund to cancel its 11th round of funding (see ICEM e-bulletin 75, December 2011). The international financing mechanism is responsible for about 70% of HIV treatment in developing countries. Earlier in the year, a report showed that funding fell from US$7.6 billion in 2009 to US$6.9 billion in 2010 - the first time funding has dropped in more than a decade of tracking HIV/AIDS spending. Between 2002 and 2008, spending rose more than six-fold before levelling off in 2009. 
	 
	In April, stemming the virus experienced disappointing prevention trials when a three-country study, known as FEM-PrEP, was halted after daily doses of the ARV Truvada, used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), failed to prevent HIV infection in the women participating. 
	 
	The year 2011 also saw threats to generic ARVs. According to activists, the European Union (EU) last year continued to push for tougher intellectual property rules in its negotiations with India over the terms of a free trade agreement. India, known as the “pharmacy of the developing world,” produces the vast majority of generic ARVs used in developing countries. 
	 
	In July, Gilead Sciences became the first pharmaceutical company to sign a licensing agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool. The patent pool was established in 2010 by the international health financing mechanism, UNITAID, and aims to stimulate innovation and improve access to HIV medicines through the negotiation of voluntary licences on medicine patents that enable generic competition and facilitate the development of new formulations. The agreement allows for the production of several of Gilead's HIV medicines (see the piece below on Johnson & Johnson). 
	 
	The UN also set new target levels last year. "Zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths" was the bold new goal set during the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June. The meeting concluded with the adoption of a declaration that seeks, by 2015, to double the number of people on ARVs to 15 million, end mother-to-child transmission of HIV, halve tuberculosis-related deaths in people living with HIV, and increase preventive measures for the "most vulnerable populations." 
	 
	(Source: Plus News, Nairobi/Johannesburg, 29 December 2011) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	Reactions to the Global Fund Cancelling Round 11 
	 
	The Global Fund’s decision to do away with Round 11 is “short-sighted” because it comes at a time when science had shown that the end of HIV/AIDS is “within our grasp.” This was the view expressed by the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in the days after the Global Fund Board moved to cancel Round 11 and announce tough new rules for grant renewals. 
	 
	In a statement released on 23 November, Health GAP referred to “game changing” new scientific findings that HIV treatment not only saves lives, it reduces the risk of sexual transmission of HIV transmission by 96%. Further funding would have enabled scale-up of lifesaving treatment and prevention services for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria to millions of poor people in developing countries. 
	 
	MSF said that on the ground in hard-hit countries where it works, the devastating effects of the overall funding crunch are becoming apparent. For example, MSF said, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is already severely capping the number of people able to start on ARVs, and other countries are facing a shortage of ARVs. MSF pointed out the shocking incongruence between both the new HIV science and political promises on one hand, and the funding reality that is now hitting the ground on the other. 
	 
	ITPC said that the lack of political and financial commitment to the AIDS response is “deeply worrisome.” It said that “the millions of people living with and fighting against these deadly diseases will pay an enormous price. Rather than building on the new evidence that AIDS treatment saves lives and prevents new infections, and ramping up treatment programmes to try to end this epidemic, donor governments are now implicitly supporting a policy of triage, determining who lives and who dies. ITPC said that the shortfall in funding for the Global Fund is “an insignificant amount in comparison to the bank bailouts made by the U.S. and European governments.” 
	 
	The International HIV/AIDS Alliance said news that the Global Fund Board had decided to cancel Round 11 has devastated civil society organisations across the Alliance’s global partnership. 
	 
	In an article that appeared in the newswire service Reuters, a coalition of AIDS activist organisations said that southern African countries, hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, are likely to be most affected by the situation at the Global Fund. The coalition said that countries that rely heavily on Global Fund aid, including Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, are expected to see increasing fatalities and infections as a result of funding shortfalls. 
	 
	Organisations and individuals are being urged to sign a Call for Action demanding that the Global Fund and its Board mobilise the necessary resources to create a new funding opportunity in 2012 in the amount of US$2 billion. The Call to Action is being organised by a number of concerned civil society activists. Organisations and individuals can indicate their support for the Call by writing to Jacqueline Wittebrood of International Civil Society Support, at <a href="mailto:jw@icssupport.org">jw@icssupport.org</a>. The Call to Action demands that the Global Fund hold an emergency donor conference and issue a new call for proposals before the International AIDS Conference in July 2012. 
	 
	Elsewhere, Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and former United Nations’ special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, gave an excellent speech at Yale University in the US regarding the Global Fund’s cancellation. That speech, presented 28 November 2011, can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.Stephen_Lewis_Aids_Free_World.pdf" type="internal">here and it is well worth reading</a>. 
	 
	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 169 of 5 December. 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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	Laos: Looming Threat of Increase in HIV Prevalence 
	 
	Out of a total population of 6.3 million, the national prevalence in Laos of 0.2% among 15-49-year-olds puts the 8,500 reported HIV/AIDS cases there nearly a decade behind that of its neighbours. Thailand's HIV prevalence is at 1.3%, or more than half a million people living with HIV; Cambodia’s is estimated at 0.6%, translating to nearly 70,000 people living with HIV. 
	 
	There are 1,600 people on ARV treatment in Laos and the number is expected to jump to 7,000 by 2015, according to the government. As the country increasingly opens its borders, health workers are bracing for a potential concentrated and catastrophic outbreak in a country where HIV prevention is not yet a priority. 
	 
	The concern is an emerging epidemic among at-risk populations. Among men who have sex with men and sex workers in concentrated areas like Vientiane, the reported prevalence is above 5%. Nationwide, there are at least 11,000 high-frequency sex workers, 50,000 men who have sex with men and 40,000 amphetamine-type stimulant users, including 1,600 injecting drug users. 
	 
	The global recession has left health workers wondering what will happen to the country's US$43 million Global Fund HIV/AIDS grant, $24 million of which has been disbursed since 2003 to the government. The HIV grant in Laos is up for review in June 2012. Because of its financial problems, the Global Fund will finance only essential services of ongoing programmes that end before 2014. 
	 
	(Source: Plus News, Vientiane, 2 December 2011) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	Swaziland: Activism over Failing Health Care System 
	 
	Swaziland’s deepening financial crisis is taking a toll on service delivery and the country is experiencing an unprecedented number of protests. A new wave of activism is rising in Swaziland as people living with HIV take to the streets in protest, many of them for the first time in their lives, over continued shortages of antiretroviral treatment. 
	 
	More than a quarter of adult Swazis are living with HIV and about 47,000 people nationwide were on ARVs at the end of 2009, according to UNAIDS, while an estimated 90,000 are in need of treatment. 
	 
	In 2010, the Swazi government announced that it would take over funding for all ARVs from the Global Fund but lack of money, partly due to reduced revenues from the Southern Africa Customs Union and also attributable to the extravagant spending of the royal household, led to the 2011 shortages. The country is calling on donors to come to its aid. In August 2011, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) gave the country US$7 million in emergency funding, but this was only for first-line ARVs. 
	 
	(Source: IRIN/Plus News, Mbabane, 13 December) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	Johnson & Johnson Refuses to Licence Drug Patents 
	 
	Despite continuing to earn record profits and a company credo that calls for putting patients first, on 19 December, the American pharmaceutical and health products giant Johnson & Johnson continued to turn its back on people living with HIV/AIDS in many developing countries by telling the Medicines Patent Pool it refuses to license its patents on the three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs – rilpivirine, darunavir and etravirine. 
	 
	Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been urging Johnson & Johnson, and other companies holding HIV drug patents, to take this critical step of joining the Pool. The Pool would license patents on HIV drugs to other manufacturers and the resulting competition would dramatically reduce prices, making them much more affordable in the developing world and allow new combination medicines. 
	 
	In refusing to join the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson & Johnson says there is no urgency for making these drugs widely available in developing countries. That is simply not true. MSF now provides treatment to more than 180,000 people living with HIV worldwide, and is beginning to witness the inevitable, natural phenomenon of treatment failure, whereby people develop resistance to the drugs they are taking and need to graduate to newer medicines. 
	 
	Furthermore, rilpivirine, darunavir and etravirine were identified among the key drug formulations needed for HIV treatment by the Medicines Patent Pool, UNITAID and the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department. Although Johnson & Johnson is already engaging in voluntary licensing with some generic companies, the company decided against taking the extra step of joining the Pool to improve access for people living with HIV. In saying no to the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson & Johnson has made a conscious, wilful decision to turn its back on people living with HIV in the developing world. 
	 
	There are now more than six million people receiving lifesaving HIV treatment worldwide. This did not happen because individual companies lowered their prices for specific countries or worked out exclusive deals with certain generic companies, which is what Johnson & Johnson is doing with their newest HIV medicines. Antiretroviral treatment was made more accessible because of competition among many generic companies which helped bring prices down by 99%, from US$10,000 per patient per year to roughly US$150 per patient per year. 
	 
	(Source: Website of the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" />

	News from Global Unions 
	 
	The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>), dedicates the entire issue its latest HIV/AIDS update 117 of 15 December to the feedback they received from affiliates of activities on World AIDS Day.

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	Five Years Ago: From the January 2007 Issue (No. 16) 
	 
	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 January 2007 issue of the ICEM e-bulletin, we reported on the Regional Workshop in Johannesburg in December 2006. The workshop was the fourth in a series of workshops held in the framework of the HIV/AIDS projects for the African region during the 2005-2006 project cycle. It followed two workshops for national coordinators in 2005 (on initiation and strategies and developing the collective bargaining manual) and one earlier in 2006 on peer education. 
	 
	The objectives of the workshop were: to identify immediate targets for fundraising, to build arguments on co-investment, to develop own workplace programmes and to write HIV/AIDS projects. The workshop was based on website research and project identification and project writing in small groups. 
	 
	On fundraising for HIV/AIDS activities, it was stressed that funding sources are decentralised. Partnerships have to be built at national and international level and “friendly technicians” have to be found to help in the development of proposals as unions lack the capacity to work with non-traditional methods and arguments (public/private partnerships, co-investment). The working of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was explained. The need to have unions on the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) was emphasised. 
	 
	We also informed on a report, Strengthening Resistance: Confronting Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS. Women in both the global South and North face not only staggering rates of HIV infection, but also unabated levels of violence, whether at the hands of male partners, police, or community members. When women are, or are even perceived to be HIV positive, they are at risk of violence, discrimination and other human rights violations. And when women are sexually assaulted, whether in conflict situations or in their homes, they are at risk of contracting HIV. UNAIDS estimated at the time that there were 17.7 million women living with HIV.

	<img alt="" height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="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. 76, January 2012

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
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 " type="internal">Caterpillar Inc.’s hardened lockout</a> of 650 members of the Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) union. Fair estimates placed the number of people attending the CAW and Ontario Federation of Labour’s (OFL) Day of Action at 15,000. 
 
Caterpillar’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’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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.caterpillar crowd.jpg" 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’s Something’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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.ken lewenza.jpg" width="156" height="159"/>
Ken Lewenza
“This struggle started three weeks ago,” said Lewenza. “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.” 
 
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 “Caterpillar has a history of beating down workers and getting away with it. 
 
“Not this time!” 
 
Another speaker was President Bruce Klipple of the ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers’ of America (UE), whose union also represents workers in family-supporting jobs at an EMD competitor in the US – 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="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UE Klipple.jpg" 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 major trade union at KGHM Polska Miedź SA, the ICEM-affiliated Miners’ and Energy Workers’ Section of NSZZ Solidarność, announced last week it would protest against the Polish government’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’ Association (ZZPPM), are now conducting procedural measures among workers at some 30 enterprises, including KGHM’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’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 (€4,000). 
 
The government is looking at the tax as a means to patch deficits in the country’s budget. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.Poland Josef Czy.jpg" width="160" height="159"/>
Jósef Czyzcerski
“The tax is extremely high compared to taxes in other copper extracting companies,” said NSZZ Solidarność in a statement. The union’s leader at KGHM, Jósef 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’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’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’s ninth largest copper company and third biggest producer of silver. The company is based in Lubin, Poland, in the country’s copper basin of Lower Silesia.

Miners of Polish Solidarność Oppose Minerals Tax on KGHM Copper

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="110" height="54"/>
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) condemns the cold-blooded assassination of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home at 16h on 26 September in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
 
“This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO’s call that Colombia’s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.” 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia’s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children. 
 
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.

Contract Workers’ Leader at Ecopetrol in Colombia Assassinated

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On 6 October, leaders of Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), officially extended a 30-day strike at the world’s largest gold and third largest copper mine one more month – until 15 November – because of mine management’s absence at a provincial forum to address issues in the dispute. 
 
Community leaders also formed a committee and visited different locations of the vast mining complex in order to assess the number of outside workers recruited to break the strike. The committee visits were fired upon, with reports today that one protestor was shot dead. 
 
The Grasberg mine in Papua Province, New Guinea Island, is 91% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU is in dispute with its subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia, over unwillingness to meet the salary demands of 10,000 miners. 
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A two-year labour agreement expired on 1 October. The company is offering only an 11% increase in each year of a new two-year agreement, below that recommended by Indonesian government mediation last month. 

Last week, government officials of West Papua Province, leaders of the province’s Parliament, the Papua Peoples’ Council of seven indigenous groups, a human rights committee, and the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU waited patiently for mine managers to show up to address issues. None did. 
 
This came a week after the ICEM intervened with Freeport-McMoRan’s chairman asking him to personally step in to resolve the dispute, which threatens global copper and gold supplies. The ICEM received a response from a senior vice president of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold stating the executive had full confidence in managers of PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The response stated, “The union maintains its unrealistic demands for compensation, which are grossly inconsistent with Indonesian wage levels and, substantially in excess of the wages of mining workers in other countries performing similar duties.” 
Freeport-McMoRan posted a net profit of US$1.37 billion in the second quarter of 2011 and the person ICEM and the CEMWU is trying engage to resolve the dispute, James Moffet, took in a total compensation package in 2010 of US$21.5 million. 
 
The community forum meeting in West Papua took a decision to write PT Freeport Indonesia managers to halt the threats and intimidation of workers in attempting to get them to quit the strike. They also sent a statement to the US embassy in Jakarta encouraging a diplomatic initiative to get Moffet to resolve the bitter strike. 
 
PT Freeport Indonesia managers have broken global labour norms by pressuring strikers to sign statements that they will quit the strike. And they have also removed the job duties of 138 shop stewards, as well as isolating union leaders from workers by posting security guards around them. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU in the union’s fight for justice, dignity, and a fair 2011-2012 wage package.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Miners Extend Freeport-McMoRan Strike, One Shot Dead

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The Sixth Ordinary Congress of the Norwegian union Fellesforbundet is underway in Oslo with 465 delegates attending. The quadrennial Congress began on 7 October under the banner “Organising for Welfare and Wealth Creation,” and concludes with votes on a host of resolutions on 12 October. 
 
On the opening day, delegates approved a transfer of 7.5 million kroner (€1 million) to the youth wing of Norway’s Labour Party to rebuild Utøya Island. 
 
Deeded to the youth wing by Norwegian national labour centre LO in the 1980s, Utøya is the fateful place where on 22 July a racially motivated person killed 69 mostly young progressive Norwegians. In 2010, Fellesforbundet sold two summer camps in the Nordic nation and delegates moved to donate the proceeds from that to rebuild Utøya. LO Norway is trying to raise at least 15 million kroner to remake the island to reflect the inclusiveness of traditional Norwegian values. 
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Arve Bakke, left, with Jyrki Raina, Finn Erik Thoreson, and Liv Tørres following ‘Trade Unions and the World’ forum
The Congress is taking up a number of structural changes, including statutory ones. One that was passed is another major step in the evolution of the 23-year-old union from a collection of work-based sectors to a unified and cohesive trade union federation. 
 
Instead of a 12-member executive body of five leading officers and seven federal secretaries heading around work sectors, delegates eliminated the specific occupation sectors and formed a seven-member executive. Early today, Arve Bakke was re-elected President of Fellesforbundet, or the United Federation of Norwegian Workers. 
 
Another statutory change that has been debated and will be voted on this week is returning a greater portion of the union’s return on equity to local branches. A major policy change also up for a vote is revising the collective bargaining structure to a vertical system in order to strive for a single collective agreement across an entire company covering workers of all unions within a company. 
 
Delegates are expected to turn down a resolution asking the Norwegian government to adopt the European Union’s directive on temporary work. Norway is not a member of the EU, but has adopted many of its directives. 
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Photo: Morten M. Løberg
On Sunday, 9 October, the Congress conducted a session “Trade Unions and the World” that featured the importance of work in the developing world. The session served as a precursor for a resolution in support of creation of a Palestinian state. It included Norwegian Peoples’ Aid leaders Liv Tørres and Finn Erik Thoresen, and the International Metalworkers’ Federation’s Jyrki Raina. 
 
Tomorrow, 11 October, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will spend a half day with delegates, addressing the Congress and then fielding questions and listening to debate. 
 
In his opening comments to the Congress, Arve Bakke said the 153,000-member union has taken in 73,000 new members in the past four-year Congress period, but is 7,000 less members than it was in 2007 mostly due to the effects of the global financial crisis. One positive note, he reported, is that 23% of active members are under the age of 30. 
 
Fellesforbundet was born in 1988 as an amalgamation of trade unions from the paper, wood, forestry, building construction, textile, and metal sectors. In 2005, unions from inside the printing and hotel and restaurant industries joined.

Fellesforbundet Takes Meaningful Action to Rebuild Norway’s Utøya Island

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An agreement was reached 29 September between Lafarge and the French Central Works Council regarding the Frangey cement plant in the L’Yonne province of Burgundy. The compromise agreement ended a ten-day hunger strike at Lafarge offices in the Paris suburbs by 12 workers plus the mayor of the nearest town to the plant, Lézinnes. 
 
Mayor Jean-Claude Galaud joined protesting workers in the hunger strike on 19 September. Workers and community members alike were fighting to reverse Lafarge’s decision from last May to entirely close the 74-worker cement plant. In social dialogue on 29 September, Frangey workers submitted three proposals through the Works Council to group management while hunger strikers were visible outside Lafarge headquarters in Saint-Cloud. 
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In the days before, French trade unions CFDT and CGT were also conducting stop-work actions at 14 Lafarge cement plants in support of Frangey’s 74 workers. 
 
The proposal that was agreed to includes extending the life of the plant from November 2011 to 31 March 2012, and then maintaining it as a grinding operation thereafter with an employment level of 40. That will include 35 workers plus five others who are within a few years of retirement. 
 
Lafarge will then seek to sell the grinding operation to another company for continued production. The workers who will be made redundant next year will be offered severance packages and jobs at other Lafarge plants in France. 
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The hunger strikers were treated as heroes when they returned to Lézinnes by bus in the early morning hours of 30 September. Fellow workers and towns-people greeted them with celebratory hugs and kisses. The hunger strikers lost on average between seven and ten kilos, but their day-to-day protests captured the attention of French politicians and many citizens. 
 
Mayor Galaud described the ordeal as a tough battle, but to keep industrial work at the Frangey plant at some level was a victory. “This action created strong bonds between the (hunger strikers),” said Galaud. “I made 12 friends and it was an incredible life lesson.” 
 
CFDT union leader Laurent Carrilero said the actions across France, as well as the hunger strike made it possible to guarantee substantial severance deals for workers who will be laid off next year. Previous ICEM coverage of this story can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4676-Hunger-Strikers-Protest-Lafarge-s-French-Cement-Plant-Closing" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4466-French-Unions-Conduct-4-Hour-Strike-at-Lafarge-Today " type="internal">here</a>.

Lafarge Closure Deal Reached for French Workers at Frangey

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The latest meeting of the ICEM Repsol – YPF Network took place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 26-28 September, 2011. Set up in 2005, the Repsol Network brings together unions organising workers within the Spanish energy multinational Repsol from Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain. In attendance at the latest meeting, together with our Spanish affiliates, FITEQA-CCOO and FITAG-UGT, were trade unions from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru as well as from the host country Bolivia. ICEM Vice-President for the Latin American and Caribbean Region, Sergio Novais, represented ICEM together with Energy Officer Jim Catterson. 
 
The meeting followed a well-established pattern with the first day a union-only gathering to update each other on the latest situation in the respective countries as well as to prepare interventions for the following day where management from both the Madrid Headquarters and the Bolivian operations of the company were in attendance. The final day was again restricted to trade union delegates for discussion on the previous day’s business and plans for the future. A protocol agreement signed in November 2008 provides management recognition of the Network. Management of the Madrid-based oil and gas company agreed to recognise the workers’ network as a collective body to represent the trade unions in the countries where both Repsol and its majority owned subsidiary, YPF, operate. 
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Also on the first day Sergio Novais updated participants on the latest situation regarding the forthcoming ICEM World Congress to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 24-26, 2011 and Jim Catterson gave a presentation on ICEM work priorities in the Oil and Gas Industry, following the 2010 World Energy Conference in Stavanger as well as an update on the industry globally and in Latin America in particular. Both presentations led to lively discussions and comparisions with their own situations. It was agreed that interventions would be made the following day expressing concerns at the company’s increasing use of temporary and contract and agency workers, Occupational Safety and Health, and the need to recognise and facilitate trade union organising in all operations. Participants also agreed to request the company to open discussions about reaching a Global Framework Agreement with ICEM. 
 
The second day of discussions opened with detailed presentations by the company representatives covering their global operations, planned expansions and the operations in Bolivia in particular. There were then detailed discussions following question and answer sessions. The discussions focused on many of the issues raised by the unions on the first day and the company representatives gave detailed replies and made commitments to recognise trade unions in their operations. 
 
During the course of the meeting union participants were shocked and appalled to hear of the vicious murder of an activist of USO in Colombia. A strong condemnation of the assassination was agreed and sincere condolences sent to the family of the deceased. 
 
The final day decided that the network needed to prioritise Contract and Agency labour work and participants were interested to hear of the ICEM global campaign on the subject. Occupational Safety and Health continued to be an area of key concern and participants agreed it was important to press for a Global Framework Agreement with the company. It was also important to improve outreach to other trade unions, in particular Trinidad and Cuba where the company had important investments. 
 
Finally it was agreed that the next meeting of the steering committee of the network would take place in Spain, probably Barcelona, in 2012 with a follow up meeting of the full network planned for Ecuador in 2013. 
 
More information on the meeting, including conclusions in Spanish are available <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Santa%20Cruz%202011%20-%20Borrador%20para%20las%20Conclusiones.doc" type="internal">here</a>.

Repsol Workers’ Network Meets in Bolivia

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