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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A deadly accident killed four maintenance workers at the Carbones del Cerrejón mine complex in La Guajira department, north-eastern Colombia, on Wednesday, 4 August. The ICEM affiliated trade union at the mine, Sintracarbón, represents 3,500 direct employed workers, and has been fighting to organise many of the 4,000 outsourced at Cerrejón, Latin America’s largest coal mine. 
 
As prior ICEM reports indicated, organising efforts were countered with harassment and persecution by contractors, while Carbones del Cerrejón management refused to intervene. 
 
This latest fatal accident underlines the urgent need for free trade unions among all the contractors of Cerrejón in order to end unsafe working conditions. Carbones del Cerrejón, and its owners Xstrata, AngloAmerican, and BHP Billiton, cannot continue to turn a blind eye to anti-union contractors. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805COLOMBIA3.jpg" width="220" height="185"/>
Wednesday’s accident occurred at 19h50, when a high platform holding 16 workers collapsed and fell. Contract employees of Conconcreto and Ticom were carrying out repair work in one of two coal storage silos in the massive facility’s crushing plant. 
 
Three workers died at the scene. While 12 of the 16 were injured and taken to hospital, one died en-route. The bodies of the three dead workers could not be recovered until late into the night. 
 
Seven of the hospitalized workers have since been discharged, and the others are all in stable condition. 
 
Sintracarbón, as well as communicating shock and sadness, moved quickly to demand a full inquiry into the accident, with a view to fully understanding its causes, and establishing a strict safety policy throughout the Cerrejón operations. The company has responded, with external investigators due to release findings in two weeks. 
 
Production at Cerrejón reached 30.5 million tonnes in 2009, and is expected to reach 40 million tonnes by 2011.

Contract Workers Killed at Colombia’s Cerrejón Mine, Renewing Cry for Unionisation

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A two-year labour dispute in Queensland, Australia, broke into a continuous strike on 27 July when 233 miners of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) downed tools at open-pit coal mines operated by Theiss Contractors, a division of mining contractor Leighton Holdings. 
 
The mine in Collinsville in northern Queensland is owned by the Swiss-Anglo company Xstrata. 
 
CFMEU miners and their families are angry that the contract operator pays workers who fly-in and fly-out of the colliery far more than local residents. Despite efforts by the company to run the mine with scab labour, the 15-day strike has rendered the mine inoperable since emergency response teams are also part of the strike. 
 
On 2 August, some 18 wives and partners of striking miners blocked trains loaded with coal from leaving the Collinsville area, causing the trains to return to the mine. That scene was repeated over the weekend and today, 9 August, resulting in the arrests of four women for railway-related trespassing offenses. The trains are operated by the QR National rail line. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector5.jpg" width="130" height="132"/>
The CFMEU is seeking job security protections from Theiss in a new enterprise bargaining agreement, as well as pay packages that miners in other areas of the Bowen Basin receive. Collinsville miners have lost 24% in wages over the past several years as Theiss continues to stall bargaining. 
 
The contractor has offered a 6% increase this year, and 4% hikes in each of the next two years, but Collinsville miners are seeking increases of 9%, 6%, and 5% to bring them close to parity with other mining enterprises of Queensland. The CFMEU also is seeking super-annuation contributions lifted by 12% on a supplemental pension scheme. 
 
Xstrata Coal owns 55% of the Collinsville mine that produces and exports thermal coal, while Japan’s Itochu Coal Resources and Sumitomo hold 35% and 10% stakes, respectively. 
 
Meanwhile, the 21-month dispute between CFMEU and Xstrata at the Tahmoor colliery in New South Wales continues. The union is seeking solution by an independent arbitrator of Australia’s Fair Work Tribunal in order to retain union work rights at the mine, but the company is resisting. The livelihoods of some 240 miners are at stake.

Angry CFMEU Miners Strike Contract Operator at Australian Colliery

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
After a sustained campaign by Bangladesh’s garment sector trade unions, the government last week announced an 80% rise to the minimum wage for workers in the sector. The minimum wage rise, from US$24 to US$43 per month falls far short of the US$72 (5,000 taka) figure that trade unions had pushed for. 
 
According to a report released in June by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Bangladeshi garment workers are the "world's most poorly paid" workers. The vast majority, some 80% of the 3.5 million garment workers in Bangladesh are women, earning far less than a living wage, with many working 12-14 hour days, six days a week, under appalling and hazardous conditions. Common practice is for factory owners to not pay overtime, to pay workers late, and to pay less than the minimum wage. 
 
The target figure of US$72 per month, which the Bangladeshi government refused to implement, is approximately half the minimum wage of China. Calculations suggest that a realistic living wage in Bangladesh is around US$150 per month. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Bangladesh.png" width="250" height="115"/>
The government’s decision was described as inadequate by labour leaders in the country, and was met with garment workers protesting in the streets of Dhaka, the nation’s capital. "We have tried our best to meet the demands of the workers," stated Labour Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. The country’s garment exports, mainly to the US and Europe, are worth over US$12 billion per year, nearly 80% of the total export income of Bangladesh. 
 
Affiliates of the International Textile, Garment & Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) responded to the increase with a series of demands for social benefits to supplement the minimum wage. The Bangladesh National Council (BNC) of Textiles Garment and Leather Workers called for provisions on food, housing, healthcare, and childcare if workers’ basic needs are to be met. The BNC has also urged government to implement the wage increase with immediate effect, instead of waiting until November. 
 
The ITGLWF is urging buyers to insist that their suppliers respect workers’ rights to freedom of association and to take account of the cost of paying a decent wage during price negotiations. 
 
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Gap, H&M, Marks & Spencer, and Tesco source much of their production from Bangladesh. While the international buyers are forcing prices to remain low in the so-called race to the bottom, workers are paying for it by receiving poverty-level wages. Minister of Labour Khondker Mosharraf Hossain previously stated, "The problem Bangladesh faces is that giant multinational retailers will not pay for a wage increase. Every year the multinationals slash the prices they are willing to pay per unit, which drives down wages.” 
 
Labour leaders have been forced into hiding, to escape retaliatory beatings and arrests by the Bangladeshi authorities.

Bangladesh Garment Workers Protest Low Wage Increases, Continued Repression

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New England Teamsters Union members, 400 strong including trade unionists of another American union, are effectively blockading 20 cement plants and terminals of Swiss-based Holcim subsidiary Aggregate Industries in the US states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
 
The strike, and subsequent sympathy strikes by other branch Teamster locals and Operating Engineer locals, started 16 August when Holcim’s American and UK subsidiary implemented work terms making drivers and plant operators part-time workers. The ICEM intervened late last week, stating this in a letter to Holcim CEO Markus Akermann: 
 
“ICEM affiliates, together with BWI, represent hundreds of thousands of workers at Holcim and other cement plants throughout the world. We will expose your actions and make this a truly global campaign, starting right here in Switzerland.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMCement.JPG" width="110" height="109"/>
Last week’s strike actions find global justification because Aggregate Industries unilaterally implemented part-time work status at one facility while legally engaged with the union in negotiations at the same time. Truck drivers and operators of Teamsters Local 170 diligently had worked for Aggregate Industries for five months past expiration of a prior labour agreement. Holcim rewarded that loyalty by taking the decision that it could and would reduce work-day time to four hours without negotiating with the union. 
 
Following the walk-out by Local 170 teamsters, supportive trade unionists from Teamsters Locals 25 and 379 in New England downed tools at other Aggregate Industries plants, as did members of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). A few of these local branch unions have upcoming contract expirations with the national cement-products producer, and workers across Holcim’s New England operations clearly recognize that such a one-sided work rule is tantamount to social dumping. The ICEM applauds the actions of cement drivers and workers in New England, and pledges all necessary support. 
 
The ICEM reiterates its demand that Holcim in Switzerland take responsibility for this labour breach and immediately rescind the unilateral implementation of reduced working hours. To negate social dialogue over an economic issue of this depth is counter to the principles that Holcim supposedly adheres to. 
 
Holcim bought Aggregate Industries, active in several US and UK regional markets, in 2005. Early in 2010, Zurich-based Holcim merged Aggregate Industries US fully with Holcim US to create a single business unit.

American Teamsters Union Strikes Holcim Cement Subsidiary

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Day eight of the strike by 6,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) against four global tyre producers begins today with negotiations continuing. NUMSA and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA) have been locked in a dispute since mid-August over pay, term of agreement, labour brokers and short-term contract workers, and other conditions of work. 
 
The four tyre companies affected include Bridgestone/Firestone, Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop. Bridgestone/Firestone and Continental had served notices of lockout to NUMSA prior to the strike. 
 
The employers’ association is seeking a three-year agreement, while NUMSA prefers a one-year deal. The two sides remain far apart on wages. NUMSA is seeking an 11% initial year increase while bosses have offered 8.5%, with the exception of Bridgestone which is offering 7%. Employers are offering a second-and third-year increase pegged at the consumer price index (CPI) plus 1%, or 5%, whichever is higher. 
 
If it is to agree on a three-year pact, NUMSA is insistent on year two containing either a 12% increase or CPI plus 2%, whichever is greater, and a third year increase of 14% or CPI plus 3%, whichever is higher. 
 
The union seeks consultation over all short-term or temporary employment contracts, as well as abolishment of all labour brokers in the South African tyre industry. It also wants direct temporary workers to be made permanent, full-time staff at six months of service. Other contentious issues include a 70% local content requirement regarding sourcing, premium pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and an adequate training pool and training to occur during work-time hours. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.numsa.jpg" width="189" height="128"/>
(Photo: International Metalworkers' Federation)
NUMSA and the NTMEIA have been negotiating since April 2010 on a renewal agreement to a three-year pact that expired on 30 June. 
 
On 1 September, NUMSA also launched a strike against both the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers’ Association. Carrying out those strikes are 70,000 NUMSA members at garages, auto component shops, petrol stations, and various workshops and retail outlets that make auto components. 
 
Besides a 40-hour work-week, the union is seeking 15% across-the-board increases for notoriously low-paid workers in these areas, while the associations are offering only 6.6%. Already, one auto assembly plant, Volkswagen in Utinhage, has had to shut operations and send workers home due to a shortage of auto components. 
 
On 2 September, the ICEM sent affiliated NUMSA and its General Secretary, Irvin Jim (photo on site), a message of solidarity, stating, “We have learned that your 6,000 members in the tyre industry, overwhelmingly at the multinational companies namely Bridgestone, Continental, Apollo-Dunlop, and Goodyear, as well as 50,000 members in the auto-supplier industries, are now striking following the failure of collective negotiations due to your rightful demands not being accepted by employers. 
 
“On behalf of the whole ICEM family, I cordially salute the heroic strikes engaged by NUMSA and its members in both industries. I am also proud to announce our heartfelt solidarity and support to you. We have already alarmed our affiliated unions in those sectors throughout the world who are shoulder-to-shoulder with you.” 
 
The strikes in all three South African auto-related industries come just two weeks after 31,000 NUMSA auto workers struck seven car makers affiliated to the Automobile Manufacturers Employers’ Association. That strike lasted eight days, until 19 August.

South Africa Tyre Strike Continues into Week Two

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Grupo Mexico reacted with violence to a 20 August worker ballot at the Esqueda smelter in Sonora State, where workers voted to end the protection contract with a company union, and re-join Los Mineros Section 207. The Calderón government again supplied the police units, who moved into the mine, aggressively intimidating workers. 
 
The police attack occurred on the morning of 31 August, when over 1,000 heavily armed federal and state units occupied the smelter and surrounding area. 
 
The company union was imposed on Esqueda’s workers three years ago through the use of firings, threats, and repression. Roheri Cruz Sanchez, leader of Section 207, reports that the company union systematically ignored workers’ concerns, signed a ‘protection’ collective agreement without consulting workers, and never even revealed the terms of the collective agreement to workers. 
 
Grupo Mexico has already begun sacking all of the workers involved in resisting the police siege. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.mexico.mineros.png" width="180" height="121"/>
“This blatant act of repression clearly puts Grupo Mexico’s anti-union vendetta ahead of the company’s interest in having stable labor relations,” declared Leo W. Gerard, USW international president. 
 
Following the international outcry over the violent police attack on Cananea’s striking miners in February this year, the Calderón government and Grupo Mexico’s continuation of its brutal repression of workers’ rights is extremely concerning. 
 
As continuing efforts to free the trapped miners in Northern Chile have received special attention from the country’s president Sebastian Piñera, Los Mineros renewed calls for a full governmental inquiry into the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster, 19 February 2006, which killed 65 miners. The decision to reissue the demand for justice for the 65 killed miners was taken by the National Executive Committee of the National Union of Mineworkers, known as Los Mineros, on 24 August. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0907.mex.conchos.JPG" width="160" height="138"/>
Pasta de Conchos Widow
There has never been a criminal conviction over the Pasta de Conchos disaster, described by Los Mineros General Secretary Napoleón Gomez as “industrial homicide”. The parallels between the aftermath of the Chile mine collapse and that of Pasta de Conchos are striking, while national and local government came to the San Esteban Primera mine to support rescue efforts, Mexican presidents Fox and Calderón have never appeared at Pasta de Conchos, neither has Germán Larrea CEO of Grupo Mexico. 
 
The most poignant difference in rescue efforts for Los Mineros and the families of the 65 dead miners at Pasta de Conchos, is that at the Chile mine accident the trapped workers were found seventeen days after the collapse of the mine shaft, while rescue efforts were halted after five days in Mexico, when families were only a few metres away from their trapped loved ones. As Grupo Mexico and the Mexican government halted rescue efforts, and disconnected the electricity making any continuation of the search impossible, they made it impossible to carry out a proper investigation into the cause of the mine collapse, believed by many to be illegal safety conditions in the mine. 
 
Sixty-three of the 65 mineworkers killed at Pasta de Conchos are still buried in the mine. Their widows and families have never been properly compensated.

ICEM Condemns Repression of Workers by Mexican Government, Grupo Mexico

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Successful bargaining between the ICEM affiliated Argentine Trade Union of Tyre Workers (SUTNA), Argentina’s Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Labour culminated in agreement on 23 August, in Buenos Aires. A new collective agreement for the sector, covering the period July 2010 to June 2011, provides a salary increase of 27.5 percent, plus improved conditions and a lump sum for members. 
 
The agreement lays out a reclassification of jobs in the sector which improves social benefits by an average of 12 percent. All workers will also receive a lump sum of 1,000 pesos (US$250) and a further payment of 500 pesos in January. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0811PedroWasiejkoArgenSutna.jpg" width="149" height="164"/>
SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko
Of the 27.5 percent pay rise, 22.2 percent will be retroactive to 1 July 2010, with the remaining 5.3 percent increase coming on 1 January 2011. SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko commended the corporate commitment to negotiate in good faith, with talks to reopen in the first half of 2011, “there will be further improvements to these gains” stated Wasiejko. 
 
The collective agreement was accepted by 75.5 percent of workers balloted, with a turnout of over 80 percent. 
 
The ICEM salutes SUTNA and its General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko for achieving such significant advances for its members. 
 
Argentina was hard hit by the global economic crisis.

Argentina’s Rubber Workers Achieve Significant Wage Gains

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we continue the G8 campaign for universal access and inform about critical issues concerning prevention of mother-to-child transmission. We also cover a novel Grandmothers to Grandmothers summit between African and Canadian relatives of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic, an undertaking by the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Support for G8 Campaign for Universal Access 
 
Initiated by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), click <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3703-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-55-April-2010" type="internal">here</a> for details from last e-bulletin, support for lobbying the G8 Summit has extended beyond Africa. Unions all over the world have now sent petitions. 
 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, has written to the Canadian Mission in Geneva urging the G8 to put forward an action plan to achieve Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support. The ICEM has also called on its affiliates to join the petition and letter writing campaign from their own countries. 
 
Show your support for Universal Access: 
Follow the links below to sign a petition that will be delivered to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and world leaders attending the G8 meetings in June. 
English: <a href="http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids">http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids</a>  
Français: <a href="http://scfp.ca/action/sida">http://scfp.ca/action/sida</a>  
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
New ICEM HIV/AIDS Leaflet 
 
The ICEM has produced a new leaflet, “The ICEM responds to HIV/AIDS.” The leaflet is available in English and French on the ICEM website <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/2010-AIDSLeaflet.2.pdf" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM%20Leaflet%20FR.b.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. Hardcopies can also be ordered from the ICEM Head Office, by writing <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Shortage of Funding Threatens AIDS Prevention for Pregnant Women 
 
Reports from Kenya and Malawi suggest that new WHO guidelines, which recommend an earlier start of anti-retroviral treatment, cannot be met because of shortages in funding. 
 
The WHO recommended to raise the CD4 count (measure of immunity to ascertain when HIV positive persons should begin treatment) from 200 to 350 and called for HIV-positive mothers to begin treatment at 14 weeks of pregnancy, up from the previous 28 weeks. 
 
In Kenya, rejection of Global Fund Round 9 and 10 proposals means that the country will be seriously short of funds and that around 300,000 people in need of life-saving antiretroviral drugs and pregnant mothers are not sure of continued access to medication. The Global Fund denied approval because of the duplication of roles of the ministries of medical services and public health and because of the huge unjustified and unsustainable workforce in implementing agencies. 
 
In Malawi, services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) are gaining ground but the country continues to battle drug shortages. Pregnant women and mothers and their infants also often do not turn up for follow-up treatment. 
 
In 2005, only 3% of HIV-positive women in Malawi were using PMTCT services and mother-to-child transmission accounted for 30% of all new infections. Today, 45% of HIV-positive women are accessing PMTCT services. More than 95% of pregnant women opt for an HIV test. 
 
But last year’s change from single-dose nevirapine to a combination therapy, which is more effective and less likely to lead to drug resistance, also means that more funds are required and that clinics, especially in rural areas, run out of drugs or can only administer a single-dose therapy. 
 
(Sources: IPS, Nairobi 1 April, and IRIN PlusNews, Lilongwe, 7 May) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
AIDS Activists Ousted during World Economic Forum 
 
The Tanzanian government has deported several AIDS activists and banned a demonstration to protest decreasing funding for HIV and AIDS at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa meeting in Dar es Salaam. 
 
Shortly after a small number of activists from different African countries gave a memorandum to be presented to leaders attending the WEF to South African singer and AIDS activist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, they were arrested. The group had the support of Christoph Benn, director of external affairs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Among those detained was Michael O’Connor also of the Global Fund. 
 
In a statement, the activists condemned the Tanzanian authorities’ “complete disregard for the right of freedom of expression in respect of the conveyance of a message as critical as this.” 
 
Activists from several African countries said that their government-run antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programmes were turning patients away because of cuts in both domestic and external funding. They declared that the groundwork for achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care has been laid and now is not the time to backtrack on funding commitments and undermine the gains which have been made. 
 
The past five years have witnessed a ten-fold increase in the number of people on life-saving ARVs; an estimated 3 million Africans were on ARVs at the end of 2008, according to the WHO. But some 3.7 million Africans who need ARVs have still no access to them. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 7 May, and Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, 6 May) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Ethiopia: In Search of made-to-measure HIV Prevention 
 
With more than half of all Ethiopian adults tested for HIV in the past five years and a campaign for behaviour change in place, specialists are now calling for a more targeted approach. 
 
Most-at-risk populations (MARPs) have to be targeted through better understanding of how the epidemic is affecting them and in turn, to develop a more specific response. "The government has launched a vigorous campaign to fight HIV, but now it is important to ... target specific groups among whom the epidemic is raging," said Desmond Johns, UNAIDS country director for Ethiopia. "High testing numbers mean little unless you are testing people at risk, such as commercial sex workers." 
 
High-risk groups in Ethiopia include sex workers, uniformed forces and migrant workers, street children, students and discordant couples. Men who have sex with men have, for the first time, been included in the national strategic plan for the next five years, which still is in draft form. 
 
A more focused response means that regional branches of HAPCO, the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, will need to draw up specific plans for prevention in their regions, where the risks and prevalence differ widely. 
 
According to HAPCO, the provisional national HIV prevalence in 2010 is 2.3%, but big cities such as Addis Ababa have an average HIV prevalence of about 7%, while rural areas – home to 85% of the population - have an average prevalence of 0.9%. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 3 May) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Ukraine: Outcomes of HIV Global Fund Grant 
 
As of 31 March 2008, a recently completed Round 1 Global Fund grant in Ukraine had provided prevention services to 214,103 people who inject drugs. By the end of September 2008, 6,070 people, including 911 children, had received antiretroviral therapy (ART). And, in 2008, 80% of pregnant women living with HIV had received treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission, up from 35% in 2003. The grant exceeded the majority of its targets. 
 
This information was contained in a report released in September 2009 by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. The grant, which cost US$98 million over five years, supported programmes that involved the rapid scale-up of ART, a comprehensive package of care, support and prevention services for most-at-risk populations, and the roll-out of substitution maintenance therapy. 
 
The Global Fund grant formed the major part of the national response to HIV and AIDS in the Ukraine. During the period of the grant, the number of new HIV cases per 100,000 tests decreased from 632.8 in 2006 to 590.2 in 2008; and the AIDS mortality growth rate dropped from 38% to 8% (between 2004 and 2008). 
 
The report, “Civil Society Leads National Response – Final Report: Overcoming the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Ukraine, Funded by the Global Fund (2004-2009),” also describes the experiences of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance as principal recipient (PR) of the grant, and outlines the lessons learned from the experience. According to the report, one of the Alliance’s major contributions to the grant was to strengthen civil society. 
 
The report is available on the website of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance at <a href="http://www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx">www.aidsalliance.org/publication-search.aspx</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 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>) 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Opportunity to Re-programme Grants to Improve PMTCT Treatment 
 
The Global Fund Secretariat is working with 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assess the possibility of re-programming existing Global Fund grants to allow for a switch from the use of single dose nevirapine to more effective dual or triple ARV therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). 
 
The countries are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. (Other countries may be added later; a similar initiative is already underway in India.) 
 
There are several factors that have to be considered to determine whether re-programming is feasible. These include the ability to free up some money in other parts of the grant budgets (e.g., if a particular area is under spent), and whether there already is a PMTCT-related service delivery area in the existing programmes. 
 
The Global Fund projects that the call for the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission by 2015 is within reach. This is contained in the <a href="http://data.unaids.org/pub/ExternalDocument/2010/20100308_gf_progressreport_en.pdf">Global Fund 2010 Results Report</a> which was released recently. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 120 of 16 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>) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Grandmothers Gather for AIDS Summit 
 
This is a remarkable initiative. Grandmothers from all over Africa have joined hands with grandmothers in Canada to call for greater support and recognition of their role in caring for grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. 
 
"We are the backbone of our communities; with our love and commitment we protect and nurture our orphaned children. Africa cannot survive without us," declared a manifesto released to coincide with the first African Grandmothers' Gathering held in Swaziland. 
 
Eunice Simelane, who has supported and cared for five grandchildren since her son and daughter-in-law succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses, read the manifesto at the meeting attended by 200 grandmothers from Swaziland, 232 from African nations, and 42 Canadian grandmothers, representing 7,000 others who have formed groups in Canada to raise funds and awareness to help elderly African women struggling to raise AIDS orphans. 
 
The first Grandmothers' Gathering took place in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, and was the brainchild of former United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, whose foundation has been channelling funds to community-led AIDS organizations that support grandmothers in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. 
 
Swaziland's AIDS epidemic is among the worst in the world - around 160,000 children are classified as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in a population of less than one million - and was a natural choice to host the first Grandmothers' Gathering held in Africa. 
 
The delegates compiled a list of demands to their governments, including financial assistance and sustainable projects, created with their involvement. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Manzinin, 11 May) 

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News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) 
 
SWHAP reports that during 2009 companies that have reached the end of their three years of co-funding continued to implement and invest in their HIV/AIDS programmes. This shows the viability of HIV and AIDS workplace programmes. It also indicates the effectiveness of the strategy – SWHAP supported programmes achieve results and create sustainability. This achievement is even better considering the adverse economic situation in 2009. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter April 2010, <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>) 

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News from Global Unions 
 
The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) reports that BWI affiliates in East Africa are increasingly mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues in their activities. HIV issues are integrated in study circles, child labour training, para-legal courses, and industrial relations programmes. A sub-regional HIV/AIDS seminar at the end of March also called on the East African Community to include rights for people living with HIV and AIDS in the East African protocols. 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update on a new navigation tool for truck drivers to help them find healthcare centres along major transport corridors in Africa. Most of these centres also provide HIV/AIDS testing. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 56, May 2010

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Pulp and paper mill staff belonging to the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada saved their pensions at AbitibiBowater, but more importantly, they assured a future for the world’s largest newsprint producer. 
 
And in the US, the United Steelworkers (USW) did its part to keep AbitibiBowater solvent and operating. USW members ratified a four-year agreement that grants the company immediate financial relief, but aligns four US mills into a first-time master labour contract and gives workers future job and union security, as well as preserving some of the best terms in the American paper industry. 
 
CEP members at 12 AbitibiBowater mills in eastern Canada ratified a five-year agreement in recent days with a 63.5% vote that grants cost reductions to AbitibiBowater, currently in creditor protection proceedings both in Canada and the US, but preserving pensions for both current and future retirees. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/canadacep.gif" width="130" height="108"/>    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUSW.jpg" width="185" height="102"/>
A full year after pulp and paper collective agreements expired in Canada’s east, the CEP declared at its Eastern Pulp and Paper Caucus on 14 May that the AbitibiBowater contract – covering 3,500 workers – is “extraordinary” because the Montreal-based firm is in Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA). But the contract terms and future wage increases negotiated a month earlier with AbitibiBowater will set the standard for the eastern pulp and paper industry. 
 
“CEP members remain committed to pattern bargaining and this declaration of our pattern for the industry is our best effort to negotiate a fair and balanced standard for the industry,” said President Dave Coles. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0610DaveColes.JPG" width="110" height="145"/>
CEP President, Dave Coles
Provincial finance ministries in both Ontario and Quebec must still approve the company’s restructuring under CCAA before the CEP agreement goes into effect. The agreement, dating back to April 2009 and extending until April 2014, calls on AbitibiBowater to contribute C$500 million into a union-operated pension fund over the next ten years. 
 
Coles said a newly-established defined benefit pension plan guarantees that “never again” will AbitibiBowater workers have their pension savings jeopardized. The agreement also includes a 10% wage cut, with wage increases to resume in 2012 and 2013. 
 
“Our feeling is that you can always get wages back, but retrieving lost benefits, particularly on pensions is something else,” stated Coles. 
 
In the US, USW-represented workers will take an immediate 3% wage cut, but will also recoup those cuts in 2012 and 2013. The master labour agreement, covering four mills in the US southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, will have mill-level expiration dates within months of each other in 2014. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/Jon.geenen.USW.jpg" width="125" height="165"/>
USW VP Jon Geenen
It also contains a “successorship” clause, meaning in the event a plant is sold, union representation remains, and neutrality language guaranteeing AbitibiBowater’s non-interference when USW attempts to recruit workers at non-union worksites. International Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads USW’s pulp and paper sector, said that although negotiations were difficult due to the company being in bankruptcy, the new agreement gives the USW important bargaining table leverage for the future.

CEP, USW Rescue AbitibiBowater from Liquidation in North American Paper Talks

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The ICEM affiliated Kuwaiti union, the Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers’ Confederation, vehemently opposed a Privatisation Bill that passed through the Persian Gulf country’s Parliament, especially the inclusion of the oil industry of the country. 
 
The ICEM had closely monitored the situation since the legislation received strong backing in Parliament, on Thursday 15 April. Thirty-three MPs backed it, including the entire cabinet. This backing moved processing of the Bill to the Financial and Economic Committee of Parliament, where significant opposition moved the Committee’s secretary, MP Yusif Zalzlah, to announce on 3 May that the panel advised against the inclusion of the oil and natural gas sectors in the legislation. 
 
The ICEM will remain alert to the threat of this legislation returning in the future, as MP Zalzlah stated that the government will remain “very flexible” on the issue in the future. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil4.JPG.JPG" width="120" height="120"/>
The Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers’ Confederation opposed privatisation of the oil sector, seeing it as a transfer of government assets into the hands of a small number of wealthy individuals. The confederation, which serves as the umbrella organisation for six unions representing Kuwaiti workers in the sector, pointed to the recent privatisation of petrol stations in Kuwait, which saw high levels of job losses. 
 
A total of 94% of Kuwait’s revenues come from oil. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, in a letter to members of the Kuwaiti Parliament, stated, “Kuwait’s system of cradle-to-grave welfare is an example to all around the world; we believe strongly that the handing over of your oil assets would seriously jeopardise this welfare system.” See the full letter <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/39.ICEM.Kuwait.Parliament.Oil.10May.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The Privatisation Bill was passed by Kuwait’s Parliament on 5 May, but did exclude oil and gas production, as well as health and education. The bill angers Kuwaiti trade unionists, especially in sectors that were privatised. One trade union leader was forcibly removed from the public gallery during the parliamentary debate, for shouting slogans against the law. 
 
The new law will be effective in six months time and opens up public services to private ownership. A “Higher Privatisation Council” will be created, to be headed by the Prime Minister, and this council will oversee sale of public assets. 
 
There will be some regulation, with the law ensuring that when a public company is sold, 40% of its shares must first be offered for sale to Kuwaiti citizens, followed by 20% to be held by government, and 5% to Kuwaiti employees. The remaining 35% will be sold at auction to a local or foreign investor. 
 
In Kuwait’s oil sector, striking workers at the Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery returned to work 14 May after a five-day strike was resolved. Workers at the utility unit, employed by the Kuwait National Petroleum Co., were protesting a cut in the workforce. Mohammad al-Hamlan, deputy president of the workers' union, reported that management had agreed to the union’s demands, ending the strike. The utility unit workers had been joined in solidarity by the facility’s tank farm workers since 11 May. The refinery is the country’s largest, with production of 460,000 barrels per day.

Kuwaiti Oil Workers Succeed in Damping Sector from Privatisation

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