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The right wing government of Viktor Orb&aacute;n in Hungary has systematically over the past year and a half dismantled many trade union freedoms and social dialogue relationships. The new Labour Code is not only completely undermining workers&rsquo; ability to fight for just conditions in the workplace, but is now empowering companies to re-open old conflicts and punish trade union activists for actions taken under the previous legislation. 
 
ICEM affiliated unions were shocked to be informed at Congress of Japanese rubber conglomerate Bridgestone&rsquo;s move to initiate a penal procedure against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, president of VDSZ, the Hungarian chemical workers union. The case against the union president is focused on a 2009 report in the union journal &ldquo;Vegyipari Dolgoz&oacute;&rdquo; or &ldquo;Chemical Worker&rdquo; on the treatment of a company employee. 
<img src="" width="128" height="170" alt="" />
VDSZ President Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely
Tibor Skoflek suffered occupational health problems in the spring of 2009 and Bridgestone at the time rejected any responsibility for this. Local management even failed to supply transport to hospital for Tibor Skoflek, and he was taken by a bus driver. 
 
This is the first time in 20 years of Hungarian trade union work that a company initiates a penal procedure against a union leader with absolutely no negotiations or consultation beforehand. 
 
The clear policy of the Orb&aacute;n regime is to create fear among Hungarian workers so that they rescind trade union membership. 
 
The ICEM condemns in the strongest terms this crackdown on fundamental labour rights in Hungary, and specifically in this case against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, and will be exerting pressure at company and government levels.

Bridgestone Hungary forces the President of VDSZ to court

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IG BCE together with Verdi, the service sector union of Germany, reached agreement in bargaining with German energy group RWE on 29 November on a 13 month deal for the company&rsquo;s 25,000 employees in Germany. The new deal provides a 2.7% salary increase from 1 December 2011, and sets out new talks on improving job security and trainee prospects. 
 
European utility provider RWE is the second largest energy producer in Germany. The issue of fair salaries at RWE has caused widespread discontent through the workforce in recent times. In January the ICEM reported on warning strikes of IG BCE members at RWE who were close to full strike action. (See the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4216-German-Power-Workers-Close-to-Full-Dispute-with-RWE">ICEM report</a> here) More strikes were averted in January by a company offer of 3.4% salary improvement. Unions again threatened warning strikes in mid-November in the run up to settlement. This latest deal will see the union negotiating committee push for continued and better salary improvements in the collective agreement for 2013. 
 
A key achievement in this settlement was the binding agreement to open discussions in the second quarter of 2012 on the renewal of the Job Security Agreement, due to expire end of 2012, to safeguard jobs in the group. 
 
The union bargaining committee recommended the deal for adoption by the joint tariff committee.

German IG BCE Secures 2.7% Increase for 25,000 Energy Workers

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Finland&rsquo;s papermaking unions, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro, have new 25-month labour agreements with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) that take effect in March 2012. That was assured one week ago, on 28 November, after the employers&rsquo; association in the transport, ports, and shipping industry signed an accord with AKT, the Transport Drivers&rsquo; and Port Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
Even though the FFIF came to terms with the two ICEM affiliates separately in the pulp and paper sector on 23 November, the FFIF was unwilling to sign off on the agreements until they had a guarantee that strikes would not occur in the transportation and export of pulp and paper products. 
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The agreement in the paper sector follows a framework agreement made between the three national trade union confederations &ndash; SAK, STTK and STTK &ndash; and the Confederation of Finnish Industries on 13 October. 
 
In March 2012, Ammattiliitto Pro members will receive a 1.6% across-the-board wage increase, in addition to an average 0.8% increase that will be negotiated locally and is part of a new salary structure. That amount will reward new work demands, personal skill developments, and greater efficiencies by workers on the local level. 
 
Paperiliitto members will receive a 1.5% increase, with 0.9% to be negotiated locally. 
 
Essentially, this new salary structure was recognized by employers through strike actions taken last spring by Ammattiliitto Pro, Finland&rsquo;s white-collar and clerical workers&rsquo; union, which represents about 4,000 staff at some 50 paper enterprises. 
 
In April 2013, the wage increase for Ammattillio Pro will be 1.3%, with a 0.6% award won on the new locally-negotiated salary structure. Paperiliitto's 2013 increase will be 1.2%, with 0.7% awarded locally. 
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Two other important aspects of the pulp and paper agreement include extra protection for workers when mills close. In effect, employers take on more responsibility for re-training and skill development, as well as workers given the flexibility to take new work in another enterprise and still qualify for redundancy benefits. 
Also, shop stewards and safety representatives who receive slightly higher pay for their responsibilities will get a 10% supplement on top of that higher pay. The two unions also won a universal three-day paid leave annually for vocational training and education. 
 
Both Petri Vanhala, President of Paperiliitto, and Markku Palokangas, Pro&rsquo;s Vice President for the Industrial Sector, expressed satisfaction with the 25-month agreement, especially with the gains made through the national framework agreement. Paperiliitto represents some 19,000 blue-collar workers across Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry.

Paper Unions in Finland Make Gains in 2012-2014 National Labour Accord

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The ICEM Brazilian affiliate, Federac&atilde;o &Uacute;nica dos Petroleiros (FUP), or Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified Federation, carved important new safety protections for deepwater oil platform workers in a new collective agreement recently approved. 
 
The union twice came to the edge of beginning strike actions, but postponed walkouts when the Brazilian state company agreed to better pay and more FUP and worker involvement in safety matters on the platforms in the Campos and Esp&iacute;rito Santo Basins, as well as across the company nationally. 
 
Following the FUP General Board accepting a revised company proposal that spells out specific safety requirements on 22 November, the contract won favour from 35,000 oil workers in local meetings, many coming on 26 November. 
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The new contract stipulates mandatory union representation of 150 safety specialists on platforms in the Campos Basin, for instance, and it requires three annual inspections per rig. Petrobras is underway with a US$225 billion investment in downstream and upstream projects, including exploration and development of 19 new wells next year in the deepwater Campos Basin off S&atilde;o Paulo state. 
 
FUP leaders throughout seven rounds of bargaining called for the same safety criteria that Norwegian state company Statoil has with ICEM affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Since the 2001 killing of 11 workers in the explosions and subsequent sinking of its P36 platform in the Roncador offshore fields, Petrobras has seen some 80 workplace fatalities, including one in September from a fire on a diesel fuel tanker. 
 
The FUP in 2010 forced suspensions on both Platforms 33 and 35 off Brazil, and the company itself shut operations on different vessels in both January and February this year over safety concerns. 
 
Worker safeguards in the agreement came only after FUP set a second strike deadline of 16 November. Following a first strike threat some weeks before, Petrobras agreed to improve health and pension fund benefits for workers. 
 
The pay package, another key issue throughout talks, will see Petrobras oil workers get a 10.71% pay rise, which represents 3.4% in real wages when factoring in Brazil&rsquo;s inflation rate.

Strike Threat Gets FUP Major Safety Protections for Brazil’s Petrobras Workers

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Workers throughout Britain are scrambling to fight to protect their pensions, as companies follow the government&rsquo;s tactics of attacking pension schemes. Last week members of three joint affiliates of ICEM and the International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) at the food and cosmetics manufacturing multinational Unilever voted to strike. 
 
Unilever is attempting to unilaterally scrap the final salary pension scheme for existing members and replace it with a career-average scheme that would cut as much as 40% of the expected retirement benefits of long serving employees. 
 
The company already blocked the final salary scheme to new entrants in 2008, but this plan to move 5,000 existing members has caused outrage, especially as part of the justification for the 2008 move was to preserve the benefits of existing members. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="90" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="175" height="70" />
If the company does not act swiftly to avert the strikes, it will be the largest strike action it has faced in its 80 year history, and the first time a FTSE 100 company has faced a strike purely on the issue of pensions. 
 
5,000 workers producing well-known products such as Persil detergent and Marmite voted resoundingly in favour of the strike ballot. 85% of Unite members, and 75% of GMB members, and a large majority of USDAW members all voted on 28 November in support of the strike which will probably be conducted at 12 factories in December. 
 
&quot;The vote also shows that ordinary workers will not stand idly by to watch profitable employers like Unilever jumping on the pensions robbery bandwagon,&quot; stated Allan Black, national officer at GMB and ICEM Executive Committee member. 
 
Union negotiators offered the company alternatives to reduce the risk of the final salary scheme and cap benefits, but were frozen out of discussions by the talks by management. 
 
This month Unilever CEO Paul Polman received shares worth &pound;1,069,986. 
 
Unilever also just announced 600 redundancies in closing the Alberto Culver plant in Melrose Park near Chicago, Illinois in 2013. Workers at the 50 year old factory are members of United Steelworkers Local 9777, most of whom are very long-serving employees. The factory produces well known products VO5, TRESemme and Nexxus shampoos and conditioners, and St. Ives lotions and body wash.

UK Unilever Workers Vote to Strike to Protect Pensions

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A day-long strike on 30 November in the UK brought a standstill to public services and a stark reminder that the Tory-led coalition government&rsquo;s proposed rollbacks to public-sector pensions is intolerable and will be met by street resistance. An estimated two million British workers conducted strikes at over 1,000 separate manifestations and it marked the country&rsquo;s largest mass actions since the &ldquo;Winter of Discontent&rdquo; strikes in 1979. 
 
Dubbed &ldquo;Pensions Justice Day of Action,&rdquo; 30 unions in the UK held strike votes in the months before 30 November against a government trying to impose austerity measures that include making public-sector employees work longer and pay more into what will result in smaller pension benefits. 
<img alt="" src="" width="269" height="161" />
Photo: Mac Urata
The rallying cry on 30 November was that it was bankers and lack of government oversight that caused revenue shortfalls, so why should the men and women who make Britain&rsquo;s public services work pay the price with lower pensions and more working years? 
 
The 30 November strikes brought 75% of all schools to a close, with teachers protesting more work through larger class sizes and less pay and pension money. Work stoppages brought reduced services inside hospitals, to National Health Service agencies, to public transport, in the courts, and throughout government departments and agencies. 
 
Perhaps the shrillest message against the Cameron/Osborne government&rsquo;s austerity plan came from civil servants at the Tax Ministry. A full 90% of them abandoned their jobs and took part in the day of protest last week. 
 
A group from Occupy London used the day to protest against global mining company Xstrata and its CEO Mick Davis. Activists were arrested at a sit-in inside Xstrata&rsquo;s London headquarters near Piccadilly Circus. They were protesting Davis&rsquo;s &pound;18 million compensation packaging, the largest among executives of the FTSE 100. 
 
Mass demonstrations shut down the city centre of Manchester, brought picket lines to government buildings and a 25,000 march through Liverpool, made 150,000 court workers leave their jobs, delaying and postponing court dockets, and saw the largest strike in Northern Ireland history where 10,000 civil servants rallied at city hall in Belfast. 
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NGWF, ITGLWF lead Bangladesh solidarity march for UK strikers
The UK strikes were felt globally as well. The ICEM was informed that the National Garment Workers&rsquo; Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh held a sympathy strike for British workers in Dhaka at mid-day on 30 November that included addresses by NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin and International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation Education Secretary Steve Grinter. 
 
The Tory coalition government&rsquo;s public-sector austerity plan calls for an increase in the pension age from 60 to 66 in the year 2020, and then to 67 in 2026. It seeks increased pension contributions to come out of the pockets of workers, and a pension formula based on average lifetime earnings rather than the current end-of-career pay. 
 
And a day before the 30 November strikes, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne further fueled worker discontent by announcing that when the current public-sector pay freeze expires in 2012, the government will insist on a 1% cap to salary increases over the following two years.

2 Million Strike in Resistance to UK’s Public-Sector Cuts

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The Indonesian national government and Papua province Manpower officials will both participate in bargaining today in Timika, Papua, in further attempts to resolve the wage and benefit issues behind an 11-week strike. The strike is against US-based Freeport-McMoRan by the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU), or SP KEP SPSI. 
 
Meanwhile, as talks continue into the fifth straight week with little progress to report, the union this week is making plans to issue another official notice to extend the strike a fourth time, again a 30-day extension that will continue the stoppage from 15 December to 15 January 2012. Some 10,000 mineworkers have blocked all production from Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Grasberg mines, the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits, since the first 30-day strike began on 15 September. 
 
In a report on bargaining to the ICEM late last week, leaders of PT Freeport Workers&rsquo; Union said management has not moved off an average 35% wage offer over two years. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4784-Indonesian-Miners-Resume-Talks-Again-Today-with-Freeport-McMoRan">ICEM report</a>.)&nbsp; 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
The union is seeking uniform wage increases for all workers, with a goal of US$7.50 per hour for non-staff workers in the second year. Workers earned a wage of between US$2.13 per hour and US$3.54 at the start of the strike. 
 
The union is seeking a fixed metal bonus scheme, while the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) subsidiary is insisting on a bonus tied to the company&rsquo;s variable costs. The company has rejected the union&rsquo;s demand for monthly Housing, Education, and Risk Allowance Work benefits of two million rupiah each (&euro;165, US$222) and a daily premium for shift work of 100,000 rupiah (&euro;8.26, US$11). The union met with Indonesia&rsquo;s National Wage Council on Friday over the company&rsquo;s effort to impose a wage deal through the government&rsquo;s mediation process. 
 
The ICEM believes Freeport-McMoRan must do better in its wage and benefits offer to Grasberg miners, many of whom work 12-hour shifts in 4,200- metre altitudes and have an excruciating roster schedule in which they work five days on, two days off, followed by six days on and one day off, and then four days on, three days off. 
 
But if the company wants a return to production and an end to Indonesia&rsquo;s longest work stoppage, it must break from pressures being exerted by other extractive industry employers to hold down wage and benefit offers so their workers do not follow the example set by the PT Freeport Workers&rsquo; Union. Again, PTFI must make a more conciliatory contract offer and the company should take note on how Newmont Mining and Sumitoma Corp. two weeks ago ended a four-day strike at their 49% copper and gold holdings called Batu Hijau on Indonesia&rsquo;s Sumbawa Island. They acceded to workers&rsquo; demands for adequate compensation on overtime work.

Indonesian Mine Talks Continue Today; Union Ready with Another 30-day Strike Notice

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A joint Executive Committee meeting of three European trade union federations on 31 January put the final touches on statutes, a political programme, and nominated candidates for leadership in what is to become a united eight-million-member industrial workers&rsquo; federation. The meeting, held near Mechelen, Belgium, was attended by 150 national union leaders from 25 nations. 
 
The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and the European Trade Union Federation for textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (ETUF-TCL) are now geared to formally merge on 16 May 2012 in Brussels, with dissolution Congresses coming a day earlier. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="74" />
The joint Executive decreed that the new federation will strive to become a fighting force for a dynamic economic framework that allows industry to thrive as the motor for jobs and sustainable growth across Europe. The three current federations vowed that &ldquo;social progress and the European social model cannot be sacrificed at the altar of ultra-liberal dogma.&rdquo; 
 
Although the new grouping has yet to formally adopt a name, its temporary moniker is the European Industrial Workers&rsquo; Federation (EIWF). 
 
Michael Vassiliadis, President of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE, was nominated to serve as President, while current EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann was nominated to be General Secretary. Anders Ferbe of IF Metall, Sweden, Renzo Ambrosetti, UNIA, Switzerland, and Valeria Fedeli, CGIL FILCTEM, Italy, were nominated as Vice Presidents, while Sylvain Lefebvre, EMCEF, Bart Samyn, EMF, and Luc Triangle, ETUF-TCL, were nominated as Deputy General Secretaries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="165" height="140" />
Michael Vassiliadis
The new federation will consist of four policy committees &ndash; Collective Bargaining and Social Policy, Company Policy Committee, Industrial Policy Committee, and Social Dialogue Policy Committee. It will also be composed of eight regions: South, Benelux, Central, South-East, Eastern, British, Nordic/Baltic, and South-West.

Trade Union Industrial Federation Takes Shape for Europe

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Stefan L&ouml;fven, President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, IF Metall, was elected today by the Presidium of the Social Democratic Party as Chairman of the resurgent political party. L&ouml;fven was nominated yesterday, 26 January, by the party&rsquo;s Executive Committee to replace H&aring;kan Juholt, who resigned last weekend. 

In a congratulatory note sent by General Secretary Manfred Warda yesterday, the ICEM said, &ldquo;We cannot think of a better, more effective and progressive leader for Sweden.&rdquo; The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf">full ICEM letter</a> can be found here. 

L&ouml;fven has been President of 355,000-member IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall). Previously, he served as Vice President of Metall from 2002. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by that union since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 

&ldquo;With his very long and solid background in the trade union movement, Stefan will be an excellent leader of the Social Democratic Party,&rdquo; said IF Metall and ICEM Vice President Anders Ferbe. &ldquo;He has the power that can give stability and strength to our party.&rdquo; 

The Social Democratic Party had long been the dominant political party in Sweden, establishing the Nordic nation as a model of social fairness and justice both inside Sweden and throughout the world. But in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010, the leftish party was dethroned and a center-right ruling coalition government took control. 

Warda, in his letter, pledged that the ICEM &ldquo;will stand with you in order that the Social Democratic Party once again not only leads Sweden, but continues to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="140" height="45" alt="" />
L&ouml;fven was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He served as shop steward, sector president and branch president. 

Before his nomination was publicly announced by the Social Democrats&rsquo; Executive yesterday afternoon, he addressed staff of IF Metall, and said, &ldquo;I will keep my roots and my ideas about working life and social welfare for the benefit of all workers, not least of all the members of IF Metall.&rdquo;

IF Metall’s Löfven Takes Reigns of Sweden’s Social Democratic Party

<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, our forst of the New Year,&nbsp;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="" 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 Fran&ccedil;ois Xavier Bagnoud Foundation and from Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, 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 Cerrej&oacute;n 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="" 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 &quot;the end of AIDS.&quot; 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 &ldquo;pharmacy of the developing world,&rdquo; 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&#039;s HIV medicines (see the piece below on Johnson &amp; Johnson). 
	 
	The UN also set new target levels last year. &quot;Zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths&quot; 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 &quot;most vulnerable populations.&quot; 
	 
	(Source: Plus News, Nairobi/Johannesburg, 29 December 2011) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	Reactions to the Global Fund Cancelling Round 11 
	 
	The Global Fund&rsquo;s decision to do away with Round 11 is &ldquo;short-sighted&rdquo; because it comes at a time when science had shown that the end of HIV/AIDS is &ldquo;within our grasp.&rdquo; This was the view expressed by the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (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 &ldquo;game changing&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;deeply worrisome.&rdquo; It said that &ldquo;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 &ldquo;an insignificant amount in comparison to the bank bailouts made by the U.S. and European governments.&rdquo; 
	 
	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&rsquo;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&rsquo; special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, gave an excellent speech at Yale University in the US regarding the Global Fund&rsquo;s cancellation. That speech, presented 28 November 2011, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1201.Stephen_Lewis_Aids_Free_World.pdf">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>) 

	<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	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&#039;s HIV prevalence is at 1.3%, or more than half a million people living with HIV; Cambodia&rsquo;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&#039;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) 

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	Swaziland: Activism over Failing Health Care System 
	 
	Swaziland&rsquo;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&rsquo;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) 

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	Johnson &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &ndash; rilpivirine, darunavir and etravirine. 
	 
	Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF) has been urging Johnson &amp; 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 &amp; 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&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Department. Although Johnson &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; 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/M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF) 

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	News from Global Unions 
	 
	The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <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 &ldquo;friendly technicians&rdquo; 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.

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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. 76, January 2012

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