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ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers (USW) in the US is fighting to keep pension and healthcare benefits for 125 highly skilled mould repairmen at Owens-Illinois, and 175 at Ross International. US-based glass packaging manufacturers Owens-Illinois and Ross International are attempting to discriminate against younger workers by providing inferior retirement benefits to new staff. 
Also under attack in current negotiations are healthcare benefits contained in the two-tier proposals. The ICEM condemns this draconian stance of Owens-Illinois and Ross International in their collective negotiations. 
 
As reported by ICEM in July this year, Owens-Illinois has been attempting to squeeze more profit out of its operations elsewhere in the world by cutting workers&rsquo; benefits. In Colombia, ICEM-affiliated Sintravidricol members were forced to work dangerously long periods after restructuring at the plants in Envigado, Cogua, and Soacha. The company filled gaps by outsourcing work unilaterally, ignoring Sintravidricol&rsquo;s pleas for dialogue. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="161" />
Tim Tuttle
Ross International also has a record of bitter disputes with ICEM affiliates. However, Sintravidricol in Colombia did achieve recognition and a collective agreement from the company following a 23-day strike in 2007. 
 
Both companies are now targeting USW members&rsquo; social benefits and those of future generations. These workers repair the moulds used to manufacture containers in the beer, wine, spirits, and food sectors of glass and other packaging. 
 
Tim Tuttle, Chairman of USW&rsquo;s Glass Industry Conference, reports that a further meeting with management is scheduled for Wednesday, 31 August, the same day the current agreement expires. Additional dates in September will be sought to continue discussions. 
 
In a letter to Owens-Illinois CEO, Albert Stroucken, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda condemned the company&rsquo;s stance against a fair contract for employees. &ldquo;This is an attempt by Owens-Illinois to bolster its bottom line on the backs of vulnerable retirees. It also appears to be a cynical attempt by Owens-Illinois to undermine the union by sewing divisions within it between current workers and newly hired workers,&rdquo; stated Warda. 
 
As Warda warned the CEOs of both glass packaging manufacturers, the ICEM will mobilise international support if managements fail to alter their regressive stance in North American bargaining.

USW Resists Concessions in Owens-Illinois, Ross International Bargaining

In its decision of May 2011, the Mexican Tribunal for Freedom of Association reported grave violations by the Mexican government of workers&rsquo; freedom to organize unions, and denounced the intensifying climate of violence against union members. 
 
In August, under false premises the Mexican government ordered the detention of General Secretary Martin Esparza Flores and other leaders of the Mexican Electricians&rsquo; Union (SME). The employees of the Workers&rsquo; Support Center (CAT), an organization which supported the unionization of Johnson Controls in Puebla, Mexico, have been publicly charged with destabilizing the situation in that state. 
 
In addition, no just solution has yet been achieved to the conflict of the SNTMMSRM, which is led by Napoleon Gomez and affiliated with the IMF and the ICEM. August marked the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the strikes in Sonora, Taxco, and Sombrerete, with no response from the authorities: collective contracts are not recognized and the independence of the union is not respected. 
 
The IMF, ICEM, ITF, and UNI, together with the Tri-National Union Alliance and the ITUC, stand together with the Mexican unions in their struggle, as was shown by action of unions around the world during the action week of February 2011, as well as by international union participation in the 1 May event in Mexico. 
 
Also in May, the IMF organized a planning workshop attended by representatives of the international union federations and democratic unions of Mexico to jointly design union-building programs. With regard to international solidarity, it was agreed to concentrate work on opposing the PRI-PAN bill on the regressive Labor Reform and the bill on National Security, both of which are on the agenda for the September session of the Mexican Congress. If these reforms are passed, precarious employment will be legalized, employer protection contracts will be strengthened and it will be even more difficult to organize genuine workers&rsquo; unions. 
 
Given that prospect, and added to it the fact that the Government Secretariat intends to remove by 15 September the sit-in protest which the SME Union has been holding on the Zocalo for the last seven months, the unions have been intensifying their action and alliances to confront the new wave of repression. 
 
On 1 September, the fourth anniversary of the Felipe Calderon administration, a &ldquo;National Day of Outrage&rdquo; was held to denounce the disastrous results of his administration for the working class. More than 100 unions and 40,000 people participated in the day; a rally was held in front of the Chamber of Deputies, and later moved to the Zocalo. It demanded an end to the persecution of independent unions and reiterated the importance of building a sustainable and inclusive social model with fairness, justice and democracy.

Greater Unity of Democratic Unions in Mexico against Repression

In Chile, a recent strike by union members of Sindicato No. 1 Escondida of Chile&rsquo;s Federation of Miners (FMC) at the world&rsquo;s largest copper mine galvanized mining unions across the South American country like never before. In unprecedented solidarity, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of the private-sector FMC and those at state-run Codelco, the Federation of Workers of Cobre (FTC), are uniting to lay claim to a bigger portion of the world&rsquo;s copper profits for all Chileans. 
 
Recent joint meetings of the federations have discussed how companies circumvent labour laws and collective agreement conventions at the expense of mineworkers, and how natural resources are exploited to the detriment of Chile&rsquo;s national character. Unions are also united &ndash; at the private-sector multinationals to the Cobres at Codelco &ndash; resist privatisation of Codelco. 
 
Another testament to FMC and FTC unity is at a time when Chile&rsquo;s ministries are eager to meet with them, the federations insist that such meetings will not happen until leaders of the federations meet first. 
 
The labour-management match in Chile happens at a time of soaring demand and high prices for Chile&rsquo;s main export, copper. The same demand and volatile pricing of the red metal worldwide has created a &ldquo;Together We Can&rdquo; cry that says Chile&rsquo;s mineworkers believe unified action can affect the country for the better. 
 
Much was made of the fact that on a single day &ndash; 30 July &ndash; 10% of the world&rsquo;s copper production stopped when FMC miners at Do&ntilde;a In&eacute;s Collahuasi (AngloAmerican and Xstrata) joined a strike by Sindicato No. 1 at Minera Escondida Ltd. (BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto) in a display of simple unity. Although grievances reflected separate sets of negligent circumstances at the two mining complexes, the unity of purpose was clear. 
 
FMC President Cristi&aacute;n Arancibia said that workers are hearing a national calling, that unions of his federation feel a responsibility to the people and communities of mining regions. He said agreement has been reached with the FTC that mineworkers will not be &ldquo;accomplices to Chile&rsquo;s resources sold away for foreign investment.&rdquo; 
 
This very specifically is FMC recognition that Codelco is chipping away at FTC&rsquo;s membership in order to partially privatise the world&rsquo;s largest copper company. 
 
On 30 July, union branches of the FTC supported the symbolic strike of the two FMC branches. Now with common understanding that tripartite dialogue will occur over Chile&rsquo;s export revenues, the unity, decisiveness, and single voice of FMC and FTC will ensure that all Chileans have a stake in copper.

Chile: Mineworkers’ Unity in Times of High Mineral Prices

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The ICEM today expressed sadness and anger at the deaths of two members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, on Wednesday night, 8 June. The two miners died 900 metres underground at Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine when an overflow of broken rock, sediment, and water &ndash; known as muck &ndash; buried them. 
 
The miners were identified yesterday as Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. The two men were operating a scooptram at the No. 7 ore pass inside Stobie. An ore pass is a junction where ore is dropped from one level to the next. Sixty miners were working in the mine on the night shift when the fatalities occurred. 
 
In a letter today to USW President Leo Gerard, himself a former mineworker in Sudbury, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann, and USW Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda stated: &ldquo;It is a terrible tragedy and makes clear the inherent dangers for workers whose livelihoods are dependent on the mining industry. Please convey the sympathies of the entire ICEM global family of unions to the families of the two miners, as well as to all union members of Local 6500.&rdquo; (See the full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/54.ICEM.USW.Sudbury%20Deaths.Canada.10June.pdf">ICEM letter</a> here.) 

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Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine
The ICEM also noted that USW&rsquo;s expert team of safety and health investigators will probe the tragic circumstances to uncover what went wrong and to ensure a similar tragedy does not happen again. The ICEM stated the sad irony of the 8 June is that only eight days before the miners&rsquo; deaths, Vale was honoured with an award by the Canadian Institute of Mining as having the safest two metal mines in Canada. 
 
Although the mines receiving the award were at Vale&rsquo;s nickel operations in Thompson, Manitoba, mines from Sudbury won the same award consecutively from 2006 to 2009. 
 
In a statement, Local 6500 President Bertrand said, &ldquo;The Steelworkers will be involved in this investigation every step of the way. Once the investigation is complete we will work hard for the workplace to be restored to safe condition before it starts up again.&rdquo; 
 
The Stobie mine in Sudbury consists of two adjoining mines, an open cast one and an underground one where the tragedy occurred. Canada has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

ICEM Saddened by Mine Deaths of Two Steelworkers at Vale in Sudbury, Canada

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Suez Environnement, a subsidiary of French-based GDF SUEZ, was hit with an OECD petition pursuant to the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises yesterday by ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). The petition was for alleged environmental failures and unfair labour practice complaints issued by the US government against United Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suez Environnement. 
 
GDF SUEZ is signatory to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with three Global Union Federations (GUFs), including ICEM and Public Services International (PSI). Both ICEM and PSI have jointly criticised the parent company for the insolent social conduct of it&rsquo;s subsidiary in the US Suez Environnement is 35% held by GDF SUEZ. 
 
The US National Labour Relations Board authorised unfair labour practice complaints against United Water at two separate locations where the UWUA represents workers and is now negotiating with United Water over renewal agreements. The US agency&rsquo;s charge against management involves failure to provide relevant information to the union related to bargaining. 
 
United Water is demanding steep cuts in employee retirement benefits. Failure to adequately exchange information related to bargaining clearly violates Article 7 of the GDF SUEZ GFA, &ldquo;Respect for Trade Union Rights,&rdquo; which references transparency in labour-management forums. The agreement also refers to the OECD Guidelines and the ILO Tripartite Principles, both of which have clear language regarding exchange of information for &ldquo;meaningful negotiations&rdquo; in social partnerships. 
 
The GFA, signed in November 2010, covers all of the group&rsquo;s businesses, even ones in which the company holds a minority stake. In a letter last month to GDF SUEZ CEO G&eacute;rard Mestralett, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and PSI General Secretary Peter Waldorff said, &ldquo;The ICEM and PSI are angry and disappointed with the callousness, indifference, and negative conduct of United Water management in relation to the Global Framework Agreement and abidance to GDF SUEZ&rsquo;s core social principles.&rdquo;
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UWUA President Michael Langford&nbsp; 

The alleged environmental infractions also saw the GUFs take issue with United Water. In December 2010, the US government issued a criminal indictment charging that United Water intentionally manipulated E.coli bacteria monitoring tests at a wastewater treatment plant outside of Chicago. The indictment alleges that United Water engaged in a scheme in which it increased chlorine levels when government-mandated E.coli inspections took place, and then lowered input levels after as a costs-savings measure. The allegations, if proven true, stand as an obvious menace to public health. United Water has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4208-US-Affiliate-UWUA-Challenges-GDF-SUEZ-Inside-Global-Agreement">ICEM report</a> on that here.) 
 
The UWUA symbolically filed the OECD petition yesterday, along with the American NGO Food and Water Watch, at the French embassy in Washington, DC, as well as to the US government&rsquo;s National Contact Point. UWUA Local 1-2 in New York City also distributed informational leaflets on United Water&rsquo;s detrimental conduct outside the French mission to the UN. Under the OECD complaint process, both the US and French governments are obligated to forward the submission to the French parent company and to the US subsidiary for a formal reply. 
 
UWUA President Michael Langford said, &ldquo;Utility workers have been astonished at the bad faith conduct of United Water in labour negotiations in the US.&rdquo;

US Utility Workers File OECD Complaint Against Suez Environnement

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Addressing the Plenary sitting of the 100th session of the International Labour Conference today, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda called for action on precarious work, workers' health and safety in the mining industry, and attention to the violation of rights of Holcim employees in India, as well as on abuses to glass workers in Mexico. 
 
Warda condemned the shocking attempt by Swiss-based cement multinational Holcim to crush the union representing its employees in India, with unsubstantiated claims leading to the 19 May arrest of union leaders engaged during a legal battle for the reinstatement of 80 members illegally sacked at the Holcim-ACC unit at Jamul.
Referring to the recent attempt of those outsourced workers to voice their concerns to the authorities, Warda continued, &ldquo;It is deplorable that Mr. Chandrashekhar Sahu, the Labor Minister of the State of Chhattisgarth of India, attending this Conference, refused to meet 250 Holcim workers who had walked long distances to appeal to him for observation of basic trade union rights.&rdquo; 
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Warda called on governments and employers to move towards ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 176 and its associated Recommendation 183, on safety and health in mines. With Ukraine soon to become the 25th country to ratify the Convention, this represents far too few adoptions, while miners are continuing to be killed and injured every day around the world. 
 
Finally, Warda focussed on the ILO complaint&nbsp;No. 2774 by Mexican affiliated union SUTEIVP. The complaint is being fully supported by the ICEM, following a 2008 mass dismissal of hundreds of workers at Industria Vidriera del Potosi S.A., a manufacturer of glass bottles used by Corona beer. The sacked workers were covered by a collective bargaining agreement and included the executive committee of the SUTEIVP at the plant. A protection contract was then established by the employer. 
 
See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM_Manfred_Warda_ILC_Plenary_Speech%20_8_June%20FINAL.pdf">full text of the speech</a> here.

ICEM General Secretary Addresses International Labour Conference

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ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro advanced more strikes in Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry to respond to strike-breaking and illegal coercion to a lawful overtime ban by industry management. The escalation by Pro comes after government mediation again failed on Tuesday, 10 May, to resolve the two-month-old bitter dispute. 
 
Seventy-five percent of 4,000 white-collar, technical, and clerical workers in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector are now on strike. Strikes have been extended at UPM, the Mets&auml;liitto companies (Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue), and Stora Enso and its contracting company Efora. A strike by Sappi workers at the Kirkniemi mill in southern Finland started a day early this week because of brazen management moves to break it. 
 
The dispute is grounded in principle that reduced workforces must not take on increased workloads without fair compensation. Because of redundancies and speed-ups across Finnish pulp and paper, Pro members have been asked to do more without pay and without recognition of higher job competencies. The dispute sees the employers&rsquo; grouping, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF), refusing to agree on a national across-the-board fair wage increase. 
 
But that&rsquo;s hardly the worst of their conduct. Employers have used threats, bullying tactics, and abuse to break the strike. (See <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens-Strike-Expands">earlier ICEM report</a> here.)&nbsp;At Sappi Kirkniemi prior to this week&rsquo;s walkout, Pro members were pressured to train summer job workers, presumably to train a scab workforce. Ammattiliitto Pro believes UPM will bring workers from Central Europe to Finland to do financial and purchase chain administration. Mets&auml;liitto also is looking at its outsourcing options. 
 
The Pro strike in Finland needs support and attention. The blatant and illegal tactics managers are using to break the strike are unfit for Finland, and unfit in any social economy.

Finnish Paper: Walkouts Intensify Because of Strike-Breaking

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on how the HIV/AIDS project in India includes women, on ART adherence in Ethiopia, and reflect on the UN&rsquo;s efforts to match commitment and declarations with concrete results. 
 
Indian Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation Involves Women 
 
In the framework of the HIV/AIDS project in India, which is sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) organised a training programme for women peer educators and counsellors in Kolkata. Twenty-one participants from five different coal companies, most of them para-medical staff from company clinics, attended the two-day course. 
 
Participants discussed the basics of HIV and AIDS, voluntary counselling and testing services, perspectives of people living with HIV and AIDS and behaviour change. The ILO Delhi office sent a resource person to talk about the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work and the new Recommendation No. 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. Participants also elaborated an action plan for activities in their workplaces and communities. 
 
On International Women&rsquo;s Day, 8 March, two one-day programmes on HIV/AIDS and the workplace were organised in Dhanbad and Asansole. A total of 63 women attended the programmes which were organised by two master trainers who had received training in earlier stages of the project. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
US Confirms Pledge to Global Fund, Other Donors Backtrack 
 
The US Congress agreed on 15 April that the US will give US$1.05 billion to the Global Fund during the fiscal year that ends on 30 September 2011. This is the same amount that the US committed for the previous year. 
 
After Republicans took control of the House, they moved to cut this to US$0.6 billion. Eventually, after much backroom negotiation, agreement was reached on the US$1.05 billion figure. Congress passed the legislation, and President Barack Obama signed it. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="53" />
However, one standard aspect of such legislation is that the US will give no more than 33% of the total given by all countries to the Global Fund. Thus, if all other donors do not give twice as much as the US commits, the US contribution will be reduced. 
 
It is not yet known whether other donors will give twice as much as the US has promised. One problem is that a new trend has emerged whereby a few donors do not live up to their commitments. The most notable example of this is Italy, which has not paid any part of its 2009 and 2010 pledges of US$ 183 million per year. In addition, Spain has only paid US$134 million of the US$250 million it pledged for 2010, and Ireland has only paid US$11 million of the $48 million it pledged for 2010. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 144 of 20 April. 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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Ethiopia to Boost ART Adherence 
 
Patients taking their antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs irregularly risk developing drug-resistant strains of the virus. A three-month campaign by Addis Ababa's health bureau hopes to boost adherence to ARVs in the Ethiopian capital by improving communication between patients and health service providers. 
 
A 2009 study by the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) found that on average, 72.3% of patients on ARVs were still on first-line medication one year after starting treatment. The remaining people are lost. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
Insufficient food, high transport costs to drug collection points, and stigma-related issues such as fear of disclosure are some of the main reasons why HIV-positive Ethiopians fail to stick to ARVs. Such failure can hasten progress from HIV to AIDS; patients taking their drugs irregularly also run the risk of developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, requiring significantly more costly second- and third-line ARVs. 
 
Addis Ababa's health bureau is partnering with the national AIDS Resource Centre (ARC) on the three-month campaign, launched in March and funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Through a mass-media campaign and the use of toll-free telephone HIV/AIDS information services, it seeks to promote &quot;astewai&quot; (responsible patients), and &quot;tagash&quot; (tolerant service providers) as part of its efforts to improve adherence. 
 
Some 26 state-run health centre, five state-run hospitals and 13 private facilities that provide ART in Addis Ababa will participate in the campaign, with a plan to roll it out to the rest of the country should it prove successful. 
 
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Addis Ababa, 13 April) 
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Global Fund Selects Co-Chairs for Expert Panel on Corruption 
 
The Global Fund has selected two prominent people to co-chair the panel of experts that will be conducting an independent review of the Fund&rsquo;s financial safeguards. They are former President of Botswana, Festus Mogae, and former US Health and Human Services Secretary, Michael O. Leavitt. 
 
The panel is part of a broader set of measures that the Global Fund is implementing to strengthen the Fund&rsquo;s financial and risk management systems. Some of these measures, including the panel, were in response to the recent media coverage of corruption in the administration of Global Fund grants in a few sub-Saharan African countries, and to the reaction of some donors to the corruption revelations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="128" height="169" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="136" height="169" />
Festus Mogae,&nbsp;Michael O. Leavitt
The co-chairs will select a small group of eminent persons and experts to join the panel. The Global Fund says that the panel will assess the Fund&rsquo;s current practices in financial oversight, and will make recommendations to help strengthen the Global Fund&rsquo;s fiscal controls and anti-corruption measures. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 142 of 17 March. 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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Burundi: &lsquo;Die-in&rsquo; Protest over Lack of HIV Care 
 
NGOs fear the erratic drug supply could lead to the deaths of people living with HIV. Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV/AIDS recently staged a demonstration in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a lack of treatment. 
 
Men, women, and children lay on the ground for 10 minutes to &quot;show the government that if nothing is done rapidly - this week, this month &ndash; we will all die,&quot; said Jeanne Gapiya, a leading Burundian HIV activist. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Premi&egrave;re Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people &ndash; about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. 
 
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Premi&egrave;re Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people &ndash; about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. According to Gapiya, despite funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2010, organizations caring for HIV-positive people had not signed agreements with the National Council for HIV/AIDS Control (CNLS) to access the cash. 
 
The Global Fund approved about US$35 million to fight HIV in Burundi under its eighth round of grants. An estimated 150,000 Burundians are living with HIV; the pandemic has left more than 20,000 orphans in the central African country. 
 
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Bujumbura, 4 April) 
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News from Global Unions 
 
The <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation</a> (ITF) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 104 and 105 in April, reports on HIV training courses for Burmese migrant workers, mainly fishermen, in Thailand and on a Southern Africa workshop on HIV/AIDS and TB in the transport sector, organised in cooperation with the ILO and UNAIDS. 
 
Dr Syed Asif Altaf, the ITF Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator has published, together with Robert Lovelace, Senior Fellow for the Trade Union Sustainable Development Unit, an article in the upcoming issue of the UN Chronicle on Labour, HIV and the Workplace &ndash; <a href="http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/">Working to Get the Job Done</a>.&nbsp; 
 
The EFAIDS (Education for All and HIV and AIDS Education) project of the Education International (EI) is ending after five successful years. Life saving skills training has been implemented by 80 member organisations in 48 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. An independent evaluation of the five-year programme is being conducted and the findings will be shared at the EFAIDS closing conference in mid-May. 
 
The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) reports that its affiliate in Zambia reached out to hundreds of workers through HIV/AIDS workplace education. During the educational activities, workers were trained in the usage of condoms and care and support while at the same time linking the training to health and safety. 
 
The latest issue of the SWHAP (The Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme) Newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>. The website also gives useful links to a Peer Educators&rsquo; Monitoring Booklet and How to Start a Workplace Programme. SWHAP is a joint programme of the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (IF Metall). It is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Five Years Ago: From the May 2006 Issue (No. 8) 
 
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 May 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the comprehensive review the UN General Assembly undertook on the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). UNGASS adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. This Declaration provides a comprehensive framework to halt and reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2010 and includes specific and measurable milestones for 2003, 2005, and 2010. Few of the targets have been met. 
 
Interestingly enough, the Declaration says in chapter 49: &ldquo;By 2005, strengthen the response to HIV/AIDS in the world of work by establishing and implementing prevention and care programmes in public, private and informal work sectors, and take measures to provide a supportive workplace environment for people living with HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; 
 
The General Assembly in 2006 adopted a Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, without setting new targets but reaffirming the targets of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment. The Millennium Development Goals still stand. They say in Article 6.A: &ldquo;Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS&rdquo; and 6.B: &ldquo;Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.&rdquo; As stated in various UN and UNAIDS documents, targets for &ldquo;universal access&rdquo; do not necessarily require 100% coverage. 
 
In June 2011, the General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realising the Declaration of Commitment and the Political Declaration in High Level Meeting (UNGA-HLM, see e-bulletin 67, April 2011).
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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. 68, May 2011

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The ICEM Thai Committee and the Thai Electronics Automobile Metalworkers (TEAM), the structure for IMF affiliates in the Southeast Asian country, joined hands and chanted for labour rights on May Day in Bangkok. They were a major part of a 1 May manifestation at Parliament and march along Ratchademnoen road to Democracy Monument. It drew 5,000 workers. 
It was one of two May Day protests in Bangkok and both demanded attention from the government on some of the same issues. The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee and the State Enterprises Relations Confederation (SERC) joined the ICEM-TEAM work forces. 
Both demonstrations demanded that the government ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the core labour standards, and rescind Thailand&rsquo;s 1999 privatisation laws. The two manifestations also called for Social Secrurity reform in terms of better protections made in administrative reform and tax exemptions on workers&rsquo; final payment schemes.
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="150" />
The ICEM-TEAM protest made other, worthy demands including protection for informal sector workers and migrant workers, creation of a specific government agency on job-related health and safety, revocation of the Public Assembly Bill, and allowing workers to vote in areas where they work rather than in their hometowns. 
Many that marched along Ratchademnoen road to Democracy Monument chanted political slogans and criticisms of the current government as the time draws for national elections in Thailand.

TEAM, ICEM Thai Committee March Together on May Day

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Respect for freedom of association, decent work and the payment of a living wage were high on the list of demands for over 3,000 Cambodian workers who marched in Phnom Penh on the occasion of May Day. 
 
The issues raised by the nine participating union organisations were a reflection of the pressure garment workers come under in attempting to defend their rights. Demands included the reinstatement of workers sacked or suspended for joining a strike for fair pay, the release of an unfairly detained union leader, and an end to efforts to curtail trade union rights through a proposed new Trade Union Law, as well as an end to the use of short-term contracts. 
 
Last September, some 200,000 supporters of ITGLWF affiliate C.CAWDU went on strike in protest at the increase in the minimum wage to 61 dollars, a wage which fails to cover basic living expenses and does not meet living wage standards. The strike led to mass dismissals of union supporters and dozens of legal cases filed against union leaders. 
 
Earlier this year, C.CAWDU signed an agreement with the Goldfame company regarding outstanding issues following the strike. The deal, aimed at promoting workplace cooperation and industrial relations, includes the reinstatement of 161 dismissed union leaders and members. The agreement was witnessed by the ITGLWF, the ILO and two buyers at the factory, Inditex and H&amp;M. 
 
In May ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert will return to Cambodia for talks with 13 factories which in spite of national and international pressure have not yet reinstated dismissed strikers. 
 
Although the September strike did not succeed in increasing the minimum wage it did result in an agreement to discuss benefits. As a result, the unions were able to negotiate a US$10 a month increase in bonuses for attendance, seniority and overtime. 
 
The May Day union demands also included the immediate release of Sous Chantha, a union leader at the United garment factory who was arrested six months ago on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking in retaliation for changing his union&rsquo;s affiliation. Sous Chantha&rsquo;s case has had a chilling effect on workers, with employers telling them that the same thing could happen to them if they step out of line. 
 
Meanwhile, the unions are continuing to campaign to prevent a proposed new trade union law from weakening unions and making them highly vulnerable to interference from government and employers. In addition, they continue to oppose the widespread use of short-term contracts which deprive workers of benefits and discourage them from joining or supporting trade unions for fear of dismissal. 
 
The ITGLWF is supporting the union demands through pressure on the government, the employers and the brands sourcing from Cambodia.

Cambodian Garment Workers Demand Fair Pay, Right to Unionise

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