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Press

23 November 2005 
 
His Excellency Dr Thaskin Sinawatra 
Prime Minister 
Kingdom of Thailand 
Government House 
Pitsunalok Road 
Bangkok 10300 
Thailand
Dear Sir, 
 
I write on behalf of the 20-million-member ICEM on a serious labour matter affecting your country. It is the unregulated and unceasing use of contract and agency labour by major employers in Thailand. 
 
In assessing a number of labour disputes in Thailand, some of which are in ICEM sectors such as energy and rubber, others in sectors such as metals and food, covered by other, fraternal Global Union Federations, the issue of extensive use of contract labour is at the forefront. I ask you to consider the harm such labour practices bring to the overall social development in Thailand. 
 
I write this prior to a group of trade unionists&mdash;many of whom are members of trade unions affiliated to the ICEM&mdash;bringing this issue forward in a rally outside the Ministry of Labour, and I implore you to hear their voice as it calls forth the ill-effects brought to workers, their families and entire communities when permanent jobs are replaced by contractors and agencies. 
 
I invite you to meet with these trade unionists, and I invite the Thai Government to initiate discussions on this critical issue affecting workers and the communities in which they live. 
 
The ICEM is leading a global campaign on contract and agency labour. We would be quite willing to join a dialogue between your government and trade unionists in Thailand who are recognising the dangers, and rightfully speak out on this issue. The ICEM realizes that it is not practical to call for a total ban on contract and agency labour. 
 
But what we do seek is that contract and agency labour be properly controlled to avoid the unnecessary displacement of direct workers and when there is a need to utilize contract or agency arrangements, trade union representatives be consulted and dialogue occur prior to contracts being signed. The logic to this in terms of productive enterprises, and well-being of workers, families and the communities in which they live is clearly evident. 
 
The ICEM is promoting such simple and precise language for employers, governments and inter-governmental institutions to adopt. Again, I respectfully request that your government give this labour issue serious attention, and I and the ICEM stand ready to assist in any manner possible. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
 
CC Mr Somsak Thepsuthin, Labour Minister, Thailand

ICEM letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand on Goodyear Contract labour problems

<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="150" />
Just hours before 130 paperworkers of the ICEM affiliate Svenska Pappers were about to strike an ABB Power Technologies paper mill near Oskarshamn, Sweden, on 15 November, a settlement was reached between the union and Swiss-based engineering firm. 
The agreement actually exceeds the standards in place in Sweden's paper sector. It guarantees workers at the paperboard mill the right to health care, education, all benefits and income development, plus ABB will pay Svenska Pappers 1.5% of the total salary cost for follow up and administrative costs during the term of the agreement. 
Pressure to resolve the two-year-long dispute was brought on management when,&nbsp;on 10 November, a Swedish labour court ruled the workers not only had the right to strike, but that sympathy strikes by other unions operating at the mill were lawful. 
The threat of a strike also was heightened when&nbsp;Finnish union Paperiliitto, another ICEM affiliate, announced it would engage in industrial action against ABB if Swedish workers&nbsp;at the ABB's Figeholm mill struck. Svenska Pappers was instrumental last spring and early summer in sympathy actions in support of Paperiliitto during a 7-week lockout of Finland's paper sector, affecting 25,000 paperworkers. 
&quot;We are happy to avoid a strike,&quot; said Svenska Pappers Negotiations Secretary Lennart Olovsson. &quot;But I am more relieved over the fact that we could stand up against ABB and their intention to introduce a completely new and inferior collective agreement into the Swedish paper industry.&quot;

Strike Threat, Finnish Pressure Wins Paper Mill Dispute in Sweden

The ICEM expresses sadness and grief on news of the death of PENGASSAN President Uche Okoro in an airline crash Saturday, 10 December, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Comrade Okoro was one of the 108 passengers killed when a commercial airliner crashed on approach to the Port Harcourt airport. 
 
Having the distinction of serving as president of both Nigeria&rsquo;s white-collar oil and gas workers&rsquo; union, PENGASSAN, and the blue-collar union, NUPENG, Okora was a grass-roots organizer and activist who stood for free and democratic trade unions in Nigeria. His life-long dedication to democratic principles and fairness to workers, particularly during the Abacha military regime, proved invaluable in building Nigeria&rsquo;s oil unions, as well as today&rsquo;s Nigerian labour movement.
<img width="120" height="126" src="" alt="" />
He became president of PENGASSAN in 2005. He left the blue-collar ranks of NUPENG when he was promoted to senior staff of the oil company employing him. He was seen as a unifying force between PENGASSAN and NUPENG, as well as all of labour in Nigeria. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, in a letter to PENGASSAN, called Okora a &ldquo;fierce defender of workers&rsquo; interests in Nigeria and all of Africa. I am sure that both (PENGASSAN and NUPENG), and civil society as a whole in Nigeria, will miss Comrade Okora&rsquo;s presence.&rdquo;

ICEM Mourns Tragic Death of PENGASSAN Leader in Nigeria

EPS Trade Union of Serbia-Montenegro elected new officers last week. Elected president was Miroslav Veličković, and elected to serve as vice president was Žikica Đorđević.
<img height="267" alt="" src="" width="200" />
Veličković had been a union vice president who got his start in union matters shortly after EPS Trade Union was founded in 1992. He served as president of the Ni&scaron; branch of the union, and began working in the Electric Power Distribution Co. of Ni&scaron; in 1977. 
He has a background in electrical engineering. Veličković is a founder and acting president of a democratic and free trade union confederation of unions serving public enterprises in the Balkan country.

EPS Trade Union in Serbia Elects New Officers

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
A study commissioned by the Swedish Employment Ministry states that companies with ten or more employees should be limited to hiring only full-time workers.
The study also says that part-time or temporary workers employed for three years should be given the right to demand a full-time job from their employer. At least 200,000 Swedes&mdash;75% of whom are women&mdash;are stuck in part-time jobs but seek full-time employment, according to the study.
&nbsp;

Swedish Government Study Calls for More Full-time Jobs

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The General Confederation of Labour in Greece (GSEE) has called for national strikes this week, on 14 and 15 December, over the conservative government&rsquo;s planned revisions to public sector employment.
One such revision is to phase out permanent jobs for DEKO workers employed at public utilities, and replace them with employees on private-sector contracts. The strikes have been called together with ADEDY, the public sector union of civil servants.
The proposed changes, crafted by the government of Premier Costas Kamanlis, also would affect collective bargaining. This week&rsquo;s strikes will get a prelude today when all public transport will stop between the hours of 11 AM and 4 PM.

Strikes in Greece This Week over Cuts to Permanent Jobs

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
French affiliate FCE-CFDT has grown impatient with progress in wage negotiations in France&rsquo;s chemicals sector. 
The union refused last week to sign a memorandum on the chemicals sector wage policy. FCE-CFDT termed results of a joint committee meeting on 18 November as unacceptable. In 11 months of futile bargaining on the wage issue, FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s agenda and goals have not been realized.
The union expressed dissatisfaction with that in a letter to the chemical employers&rsquo; federation and to the Minister of Employment. FCE-CFDT week is meeting this week with the other French trade unions in the sector to formulate future action.

French FCE-CFDT Union Expresses Chemicals Bargaining Concerns

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
British Gas engineers and technicians, members of ICEM affiliate GMB in the UK, began the first of five 24-hour strikes today at 7 AM on the company&rsquo;s insistence to close the final pension scheme to new employees.
The 6,000 union workers will strike again on 19 and 21 December, and on 6 and 9 January. GMB members will also suspend off-hour service and repair from 8 PM to 8 AM from today to 23 December, and again from 4-10 January.
The union said it would keep service workers available to the utility&rsquo;s most vulnerable customers, and is urging British Gas to supply customers that experience furnace problems with electric heaters. The union asks for British Gas to pay their electric bills as well.

GMB Members at British Gas Launch Strike Actions

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In Nepal, on International Human Rights Day this past Saturday, police used water canons and unnecessary force to arrest 130 activists, trade union leaders and academics who tried to conduct a protest in Kathmandu&rsquo;s Ratna Park.
The protest, led by a multi-NGO coalition called Citizens&rsquo; Movement for Democracy and Peace, was to focus attention on continued restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly imposed by King Gyanendra&rsquo;s suspension of the government and his imposition of authoritarian rule last February. Ratna Park in Kathmandu&rsquo;s city centre is declared a restricted area by Nepalese authorities.
The head of the UN&rsquo;s Human Rights office in Nepal, Ian Martin, on the occasion of the 10 December observance of the UN&rsquo;s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said that the number of torture cases by security forces in the Himalayan country has shown no sign of letting up over the past several months.

Security Forces Crush Human Rights Day Demonstration in Nepal

This third issue of the ICEM e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS coincides with World AIDS Day, 1 December. On this day, the ICEM launches its leaflet on HIV/AIDS. You can find this leaflet on the ICEM website <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/AIDS.pdf">here</a>&nbsp;or by visiting the ICEM homepage and clicking on HIV/AIDS (<a href="/index.php?id=72">/index.php?id=72</a>). 
You can also order copies of the leaflet from the ICEM Head Office. 
 
We hope that affiliates follow the ICEM&rsquo;s call and use World AIDS Day to intensify their activities and campaigns to reverse the pandemic. Please let us know about your activities by sending information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>&nbsp;so that we can include an item in the next e-bulletin. 
 
We have also included a new link on the <a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;doc=1253">ICEM HIV-AIDS web pages</a> to the German GTZ programme &ldquo;AIDS Control in Companies in Africa&rdquo;: <a href="http://www.acca-toolbox.org">www.acca-toolbox.org</a>. You can register on the website to get information on workplace interventions. 
 
 
Collective Bargaining Workshop on &lsquo;Fighting for our rights&rsquo;: Right to information, right not to suffer discrimination, right to treatment and care 
 
The ICEM AFRICA HIV/AIDS Project held its second National Workshop in Johannesburg in November 2005. 
 
Previous workshops had shown that we need to use our collective bargaining skills to prevent the spread of the epidemic, to defend our members&rsquo; rights at the workplace and to ensure that workers, their families and communities have access to treatment, support and care. 
 
Ten countries participated in the workshop and exchanged experiences in taking up HIV/AIDS issues at the workplace. Trade unionists identified key issues to assist negotiators in taking forward these issues at all levels: from the local workplace to the company, sector, national, regional and international levels. 
 
The workshop noted that discrimination, stigmatisation and lack of job security led to some workers not wanting to know their status. Greater awareness and knowledge about the epidemic and its treatment is essential to create an environment where more and more workers participate in voluntary counselling and testing. 
The workshop concluded that, in order to be successful, prevention strategies had to go hand in hand with treatment, including ART (Antiretroviral treatment). Another conclusion was that our policies and collective bargaining agreements have to ensure that workers&rsquo; human rights are safeguarded and strengthened. 
 
 
UNICEF/UNAIDS and Children 
&ldquo;The face of AIDS now is becoming the face of a child&rdquo; 
 
Participants at the ICEM AFRICA HIV/AIDS workshops have consistently raised concerns about the welfare of children either orphaned or infected with HIV/AIDS. UNICEF and UNAIDS have now launched a campaign focusing on the plight of children. A recent study by UNICEF highlights these difficulties for children, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
The study reveals that girls are 5 to 6 times more likely to contract the disease than boys. Also, less than 5% of HIV positive children have access to life preserving drugs. Most children get HIV/AIDS through mother to child transmission (MTCT). The majority of child deaths from AIDS occurs in sub-Saharan Africa: 450,000 of the 510,000 children who died in 2004. HIV/AIDS is made worse by poverty &ndash; in high income countries less than 300 children died in 2004. 
 
One of the most pressing problems is that the needs of children are not highlighted in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. In addition, antiretroviral drugs for children cost 4 to 8 times as much as those for adults. Getting the right drugs and administering the correct dose is difficult with children. 
 
Children do sometimes not even receive cheaper medications that can save lives (such as antibacterial agents which prevent infections like pneumonia), even though this could halve the number of children dying from AIDS-related diseases. 
 
(Source: Star 26 October 2005, Johannesburg) 
 
<a href="http://www.unicef.org/uniteforchildren/index.html">http://www.unicef.org/uniteforchildren/index.html</a>
 
UNAIDS/WHO: Global Number of PLWHA Continues to Rise 
 
Despite decreases in the rate of infection in certain countries, the overall number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has continued to rise in all regions of the world except the Caribbean. There are an additional five million new infections in 2005. The number globally has reached its highest level as a result, going up to an estimated 40.3 million people. More than three million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005; of these, over 500,000 were children. 
 
These latest findings were published in AIDS Epidemic Update 2005, the joint report of UNAIDS and the WHO, which was released on 21 November 2005. According to the report, the steepest increases in HIV infections have occurred in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (a 2003 to 2005 increase of 33% from 1.2 to 1.6 million people) and in East Asia (20% increase to 870,000). Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the most affected globally &ndash; with 64% of new infections (over three million people) occurring here. 
 
The report stresses that the changes in people&rsquo;s behaviour to prevent infection - such as an increased use of condoms, the delaying of the first sexual experience and having fewer sexual partners &ndash; have played a key part in the decline of infections in some countries. 
The 2005 report emphasises that a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS requires the simultaneous acceleration of treatment and prevention efforts, with the ultimate goal of universal access to prevention, treatment and care. 
 
The full report can be accessed on the UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS/WHO Press Release, 21 November 2005) 
 
 
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll keep on Fighting&rdquo; - Ugandan Woman Gets Human Rights Award 
 
Beatrice Were was honoured by Human Rights Watch with the Human Rights Defender Award for her campaign to help women like herself who carry HIV and the often heavy stigma that comes with it. 
 
Uganda was once hailed as a model for Africa because of its approach to fighting HIV/AIDS. There used to be an aggressive campaign, led by political, religious and community leaders, credited with significantly lowering the infection rate. But experts fear that those gains could be lost because of what they see as an increasing emphasis on abstinence, encouraged in part by the United States, a major donor. 
 
&ldquo;Political leaders and religious people are now campaigning against the use of condoms and preach abstinence as if AIDS was a moral and not a health issue&rdquo;, said Were. Were discovered she was HIV-positive in 1991 when she was 37 years old. Her husband had died of AIDS in the early 1980s. In 1995, she founded the national community of women living with HIV and AIDS, which has grown to 40,000 members today. 
 
 
Madagascan Mine Brings AIDS Threat 
 
QMM, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, the world&rsquo;s largest international mining company, has responded to environmental concerns around the ilmenite (a mineral) mine, which it is building in the south of Madagascar. With many problems already solved, one problem remains, towering over the others: the threat of HIV/AIDS. 
 
So far the country has a low rate of infection, estimated at under 2%. But QMM has to bring in specialised workers from abroad, most likely from Rio Tinto&rsquo;s old ilmenite mine in Richard&rsquo;s Bay in South Africa, where the rate of HIV infection is almost ten times as high. The mining area and the community surrounding it have been made a priority zone for the national HIV/AIDS plan to prevent it from becoming a Trojan horse for the disease. 
 
(Source: BBC Radio 4, 3 November 2005) 
 
 
Country Profiles 
 
You can access your country&rsquo;s HIV and AIDS estimates by going to the UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.unaids.org/en/geographical+area/by+country.asp">http://www.unaids.org/en/geographical+area/ 
by+country.asp</a>. Here you will also find the names and contact details of the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, as well as the name for the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in your country. For a more detailed profile, click on UN Epidemiological Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections on the individual country pages. 
 
 
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
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. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a>&nbsp;and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: <a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1539">/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1539</a>

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 3

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