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The deadly 19 March methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya coal mine in Russia is still under review, with dozens of possible causes being prematurely suggested. The safety technical inspectorate of Russia will issue a report on the tragedy in April, two weeks after the official on-site inquiry ends. 
 
Meanwhile, the inspectorate, early in April, closed 29 other coal mines in the Kutnetsk coal fields of Kemerovo region, as well as four other collieries in the Rostov region. Several of the mines belong to Yuzhkuzbassugol, owner of the Ulyanovskaya mine and Russia&rsquo;s largest coal producer. Others belong to Sibirsky coal.
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&quot;Danger Zone&quot; (entrance at Ulyanovskaya mine)
&nbsp;The head of the state inspectorate agency ordered work at the 33 mines halted for five days, so the agency could check for compliance of technological documentation per estimated project capacity, as well as safety regulations and changes in project designs. 
 
The Ulyanovskaya mine disaster of 19 March 2007 is Russia and the Soviet Union&rsquo;s worst in decades. It has claimed 110 lives. Recovery efforts have found the bodies of 108 miners, while two others remain deep inside mine shafts. 
 
The Ulyanovskaya mine is recognised as having the most current and sophisticated gas control equipment of any coal mine in Russia. Some 20 senior managers and technicians were inside the mine when the blast occurred, killing all of them. Included among them was a British technician of the company that designed the system, and his interpreter.
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ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
Nearly all of the 1,068 miners employed at Ulyanovskaya are members of ICEM Russian affiliate Independent Coal Miners&rsquo; Union (ROSUGLEPROF). The union&rsquo;s vice president, Ruben Badalov, served on the official investigation team of the Russian state commission at the mine site. He recently returned to Moscow, and the investigative report on the cause of the tragedy is due in the coming weeks.

Cause of Russian Coal Mine Deaths to be Announced Shortly

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ICEM Belgian affiliates CG-FGTB and SETCa-FGTB have warned Japanese-owned Asahi Glaverbel Glass that further restructuring at the AGC Automotive glass plant in Fleurus, Wallonia, or other AGC worksites, can only be done through strict adherence to solutions already put forward by the unions. 
 
On 29 March, Asahi Glaverbel announced possible redundancies of 380 jobs at Fleurus, Zeebrugge, and Lodelinsart in Belgium. This restructuring occurs a short two years after Belgian unions mounted a 105-day strike at the Fleurus plant. That strike, from December 2005 to March 2006, came about because of Asahi&rsquo;s failure to come to meaningful social dialogue over an irrational restructuring plan.
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That restructuring exercise cost some 280 jobs at Fleurus then, and other job losses occurred a year later at Asahi Glaverbel&rsquo;s Zeebrugge flat-glass plant. 
 
&ldquo;In all three plants,&rdquo; said the CG-FGTB in a press release, &ldquo;the workers of Glaverbel have made major efforts in terms of productivity, flexibility, and efficiency. The management of AGC-Fleurus recognises this fact today, and this is also evident by investments&rdquo; made in other Belgian operations of Glaverbel. 
 
&ldquo;The workers of Glaverbel-ACG do not deserve&rdquo; further redundancies, stated CG-FGTB. 
 
The unions did enter social dialogue with the company late in March, and a second meeting was scheduled for 3 April. CG-FGTB and SETCa-FGTB are insistent that they will be thoroughly involved in any business plan put forward this time by the company.
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CG-FGTB and SETCa-FGTB say their first priority will be to save all the jobs, and they will not tolerate outright sackings. If necessary, transfers for workers between Glaverbel worksites, or voluntary and pre-pension arrangements will be put negotiated. 
 
&ldquo;Industrial managers (of Asahi) and the political community made promises in the past,&rdquo; stated the two unions, referring to the negotiated outcome in 2005. &ldquo;Today, they must honour those pacts. They must listen to the solutions that we have proposed, and support the industrial projects at Glaverbel-ACG that are worthy of solid, job-sustaining initiatives.&rdquo;

Belgian Unions Declare Strong Intent to Save Asahi Glass Jobs

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NUPENG in the Forefront for VCT.&nbsp; &nbsp;
ICEM&rsquo;s blue-collar oilworkers&rsquo; affiliate in Nigeria, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has made good use of the ICEM grant for national activities under the LO/TCO-FNV Mondiaal project. 
 
At the end of last year, NUPENG organised, in cooperation with the senior staff oilworkers&rsquo; union PENGASSAN (also an affiliate to the ICEM), a massive &ldquo;Know your Status&rdquo; campaign in petroleum refineries in the Port Harcourt area. In a three-day period, about 4,500 people were counselled, and 2,785 agreed to be tested at a mobile VCT facility. This followed a campaign among petrol tanker drivers, also NUPENG members, earlier in 2006. 
 
NUPENG sourced additional funding at national level from AED/SMARTwork for a follow-up round of voluntary counselling and testing in February 2007. A total of 3,200 people were counselled and 885 agreed to be tested. The average rate of people who tested positive was between 5-6%. That is above the national prevalence rate of 3.9%, among adults aged 15 to 49. 
 
Speaking to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator in Abuja, NUPENG&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Coordinator Olawale Afolabi expressed great concern that post test programmes are almost unavailable. Those tested positive are sent to referral hospitals. One of these hospitals, in Port Harcourt, the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital, is open only one day a week for PLWHA. They are left to wait from dawn to dust in an open space, clearly marked as HIV/AIDS patients section. 
 
There is a complete absence of confidentiality, and a lack of care as medical staff often does not turn up. If they are attended to, they are made to pay exorbitant fees for services which should be free, or only have a nominal fee. 
 
In Afolabi&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;Patients are left to die in instalments. The only way out is suicide or further spread of the disease.&rdquo; 
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Global Union G8 Campaign 
 
As a follow-up to the article in the March issue of ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we give you the links to model letters to be delivered to German embassies before or on 28 April, International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, or Workers Memorial Day. These letters exist in English, French, German, and Spanish. 
Deutsch <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.GE.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.GE.pdf</a>&nbsp; 
English: <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.EN.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.EN.pdf</a> 
Fran&ccedil;ais: <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.FR.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.FR.pdf</a> 
Espa&ntilde;ol: <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.SP.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.SP.pdf</a> 
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C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire on the Right Track 
Following the 4th Regional Workshop in Johannesburg in December 2006, affiliates in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire have lost no time to put the conclusions of the workshop into practical work on the ground. 
 
Under the able guidance of the National Coordinator, Charlotte Nguessan, numerous meetings have been held with potential partners at national level and from international organisations during the first quarter of 2007. 
 
An analysis of the HIV/AIDS situation, based on a questionnaire to companies, is being completed. In cooperation with the newly-formed Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, which is supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft f&uuml;r Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a sustainable development organisation that does work with the German federal government, and the respective ministries, as well as the national Country Coordinating Mechanism, a project is being elaborated. 
The project will focus on workplace interventions with emphasis on awareness, education, voluntary counselling, and testing and treatment. 
 
The progress so far underlines the importance of having a full-time coordinator in focus countries. This was part of the conclusions of the 4th Regional Workshop and is supported by the LO/TCO-FNV Mondiaal project in 2007-2008. 
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EU Presidency Conference on HIV/AIDS 
Responsibility and Partnership &ndash; Together Against HIV/AIDS was the theme of the EU Presidency Conference on HIV/AIDS in Bremen, 12-13 March 2007. 
 
The German Government has chosen HIV/AIDS as the main health policy topic for the German EC Presidency. Angela Merkel gave the keynote speech. HIV/AIDS is &ldquo;Chefsache,&rdquo; meaning a topic at the highest level. 
 
The Conference brought together health ministers and health ministry officials from EU countries as well as NGOs and the private sector &ndash; notably Daimler Chrysler South Africa &ndash; and major pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck and Gilead) as well as the ILO, the Global Fund, and other international organisations. As happens so often, trade unionists were not invited. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator was the only active trade unionist among more than 600 participants. 
 
Important (and understandable because of the German double presidency) was the repeated reference to the G8 Summit. The Chancellor has put HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the Summit. &ldquo;We will make headway in Heiligendamm,&rdquo; Merkel promised. A press release from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) stated that, under the German G8 Presidency, the first ever report on the efforts of the G8 countries in connection with the global fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria will be elaborated. 
 
The Bremen Declaration is available at <a href="http://www.bmg.bund.de/EN/">www.bmg.bund.de/EN/</a>. It does make reference to trade unions in the last article: &ldquo;We invite the employers and trade unions to ensure non-discriminatory policies for people living with HIV/AIDS and vulnerable groups in the workplace and to reduce fears of infection, stigma and discrimination among staff by providing objective, evidence-based information, and access to prevention, testing, treatment and care according to the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work&rdquo;. 
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Global Union Programme in Abuja 
Some 20 unionists from Ghana and Nigeria took part in a sub-regional Workshop in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, from 19-21 March. The workshop was organised by the Global Union Coordinator, Clementine Dehwe and the HIV/AIDS Coordinator of the national centre NLC, Maureen Onyia. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator participated on behalf of the GU Steering Committee. 
 
Emphasis in the programme was on group work. Mixed groups discussed activities presented in country reports and the impact of elements of global programme at national level. 
 
Following a presentation by the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator on resources and funding, country groups debated country initiatives in place (Global Fund, UNAIDS, WHO, ILO, etc.) and key country programmes by National AIDS Commissions, NGOs, faith-based organisations, and others. These working groups also assessed the role of potential partners and obstacles to work with them. 
 
On the third day, country working groups discussed establishing national coordinating committees and their terms of reference and programmes and initiatives with a plan of action. 
 
Together with the outcome of previous sub-regional workshops organised by the Global Union programme, and the African Consultative and Planning Workshop in Johannesburg, the results and conclusions of the working groups in Abuja have to be analysed, and key elements pulled together and shaped into country programmes for future funding. 
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South Africa Unveils New 5-Year Plan to Fight HIV/AIDS 
 
South Africa unveiled a new five-year plan on 14 March to fight HIV/AIDS, hoping to turn the tide against the disease that affects some 5.5 million of the country&rsquo;s 47 million people. 
 
The plan will be implemented by the South African National AIDS Council under the leadership of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. 
 
The plan aims, among others, at reducing new infections by 50% and bringing treatment, care and support to 80% of all HIV-positive people and their families. Availability and uptake of voluntary testing and counselling services is to be increased massively and anti-discrimination and stigma-reduction efforts are to be strengthened. 
 
A report, published in February by the University of South Africa and the market research institute Markinor, showed some unexpected results. The epidemic is not spreading fastest among the poor and the youth, but among the 30- to 34- year-olds of the well-educated middle and upper classes. New wealth, carelessness to practice safe sex, and misguided statements by the government have contributed to this development. 
 
(Source: Reuters World Report, 14 March 2007 and NZZ Switzerland, 1 February 2007) 
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India: Government proposes five fold Increase in HIV/AIDS Funding 
 
According to a recent report in the Hindustan Times, India&rsquo;s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed a more than fivefold increase in funding for HIV/AIDS programmes in the country. The proposed $2.6 billion in funding will be administered by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) under the third phase of the country's National AIDS Control Programme. The money will be allocated over the next five years for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, support, and treatment. 
 
The large increase is made possible by massive funding from the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. 
 
About one-third of the $2.6 billion in proposed funding will be allocated for HIV/AIDS care, treatment, and support, while the remaining funds will be allocated for awareness about the disease. Some HIV/AIDS advocates said that although they welcome the increase in funding for HIV/AIDS awareness, the funding allocated for HIV/AIDS treatment is inadequate. The HIV/AIDS control programme's third phase will focus on six states with high HIV prevalence: Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, and Nagaland, although district level allocations will be modified to ensure that other states receive adequate funding as well. 
 
(Source: Article adapted from the ITF HIV/AIDS Update 17, 15 March 2007) 
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News from Global Union Federations 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) has published the first edition of Agenda, an annual publication on HIV/AIDS and transport workers entitled, &ldquo;How unions can help close the door on HIV.&rdquo; The objective of the publication is to help affiliates and other relevant stakeholders to develop a trade union perspective of the epidemic. 
 
The publication can be accessed at <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>. 
 
Since 1994, the Education International (EI) has recognised the urgency for a broad and strong response to HIV/AIDS through schools. It has worked with its affiliates and international organisations to prevent the further spread of the disease. For information on EI&rsquo;s activities, including its regular bulletin, please visit the website <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>. 
 
Two other Global Union Federations with websites and regular newsletters on HIV/AIDS include the ITF&rsquo;s (see above) and the ICEM&rsquo;s at <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 19

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A report issued by the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), an employers grouping, says that reversing the Howard government&rsquo;s WorkChoices law related to individual work agreements will reduce mining productivity, and cost Australia A$6 billion in exports. 
 
But labour unions contest that assertion, claiming mining employers are &ldquo;scaremongering&rdquo; while anticipating that a victory by the Labour Party in federal elections this year will reverse Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s radical changes to industrial relations law. The worst of those changes, called the Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), or individual work pacts that replace enterprise agreements, took effect a year ago. 
 
The erroneous report, issued at the AMMA&rsquo;s resources conference in Perth last week, states that 80% of all workers in the resource sector are on AWAs. It also falsely claims that AWAs have not been detrimental to workers&rsquo; employment conditions.
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ACTU Sec. Greg Combet
&ldquo;The AMMA&rsquo;s arguments don&rsquo;t stack up,&rdquo; said Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Greg Combet. &ldquo;The suggestion that getting rid of AWAs will hurt the economy is scaremongering, and all that we&rsquo;re seeing is big business getting between the Howard&rsquo;s government&rsquo;s industrial relations laws.&rdquo; 
 
Combet refuted the AMMA study by stating that the coal sector, which is overwhelmingly comprised of enterprise or collective labour agreements, has far outpaced productivity in metals mining over the past ten years. 
 
&ldquo;We are opposed to AWAs for a very good reason,&rdquo; said Combet. &ldquo;They have been used to exclude people being represented by a union.&rdquo;

Mining Bosses ‘Scaremongering’ to Preserve Australian Individual Work Agreements

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Miners of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada are on strike at the Iron Ore Co. of Canada for better workplace protections and reductions to subcontracting. The strike, by 1,300 USW members at a mine and pellet plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland, and an export water facility at Sept-Iles, Quebec, also involves wages and benefits. 
 
Major mining house Rio Tinto owns 59% of Iron Ore Co. of Canada.
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USW members in Labrador City, over 1,000 strong, walked out on 8 March, while port workers of another USW branch union joined the strike last week. The two sides have not held talks since the strikes began. 
 
Management forced the strike with an inadequate pay package, and refusal to address the contractors&rsquo; issue, a matter that has brought hundreds of grievances by maintenance staff and production workers alike. 
 
&ldquo;The tipping point in this dispute included such fundamental issues as seniority rights,&rdquo; stated USW District 6 Director Wayne Fraser. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about corporate control. Workers deserve to have their most basic rights respected.&rdquo;
<img height="141" src="" width="140" alt="" />
USW Disrtict 6 Director Wayne Fraser
Just minutes after the strike deadline on 8 March, management slid a revised offer under the office door of the branch unions&rsquo; bargaining committee. The company did move some on wages, and dropped its unfettered right to contract out any job at the mine site and pellet plant. But it was too little to stop the strike. 
 
The two USW unions in Labrador City, Locals 5795 and 6731, have 500 grievances pending for arbitration. Many of these grievances involve work being performed by contractors, work that could be done by USW miners. Despite movement on the wage and benefit package, the company&rsquo;s 8 March offer still falls short of what other mining companies in eastern Canada pay. 
 
&ldquo;This fight is about recognizing the intrinsic value our members bring to this operation,&rdquo; stated USW Local 5795 President George Kean. The year &ldquo;2006 broke all production records and our members gave the company the biggest profit in its history.&rdquo; 
 
Kean said employee morale is at an all-time low, citing a company survey of workers revealed that 87% of them felt they were not treated with respect and dignity. Management has turned a deaf ear to the survey. 
 
USW Locals 5795 and 6731, on 1 March, voted by 98% to strike. The 250 port and dock workers at Sept-Iles, represented by USW Local 9344, voted to strike on 14 March, also with a 98% ballot. 
 
The grievances and subcontracting issues date to 2004, when workers at the two locations undertook a 12-week strike to win a renewal labour agreement.

Work Issues, Subcontracting Cause Mining Strike at Canadian Rio Tinto Subsidiary

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On Saturday, 24 March, ICEM Peruvian affiliate Federaci&oacute;n Nacional Unitaria de Los Trabajadores Petroleros, Energ&eacute;ticos y Conexos (FENUPETROL) conducted manifestations in the northern region of Talara against trade union abuses by multinational enterprises. The protests drew thousands of workers. 
 
In a mobilisation statement, FENUPETROL said the provincial protests are against abuses of trade union freedom, and for fair collective bargaining and real corporate social responsibility. The union added that it wanted the world to know that it would not tolerate the &ldquo;violations and laws that are not being respected by transnational companies in our sectors.&rdquo;
<img height="122" src="" width="120" alt="" />
It cited seven major companies and five contracting employers for the abuses: Petrotech, Peruana S.A., Petrobras, PlusPetrol, SAPET, Gra&ntilde;a y Montero, and Mercantil, among major employers; and Skanska del Peru, Ini del Peru SAC, Petrex, Cosmos, and Energy Service, among service providers. 
 
FENUPETROL said proof of corporate disregard for workers&rsquo; rights lies in the &ldquo;denunciations&rdquo; made in administrative and judicial proceedings of government.
<img height="83" src="" width="120" alt="" />
FENUPETROL said such abuses occur in freedom of association, collective bargaining, punishment and disciplinary measures, non-payment for overtime work, working time issues, and arbitrary dismissals. &ldquo;What may be the worse,&rdquo; read the union&rsquo;s statement, &ldquo;is the very frequent use of contract work, which forces workers to accept inadequate conditions, and without receiving social benefits.&rdquo; 
 
The 24 March manifestation had the support of provincial Mayor Jose Vitonera Infante, who FENUPETROL describes as someone extremely &ldquo;supportive of our struggle.&rdquo; The union said Saturday&rsquo;s protest follows the example set by union martyrs such as Alejandro Taboada, Mart&iacute;n Chomo, Sinforos Benites, and others.

Peruvian Affiliate Leads Protests Against Trade Union Abuses

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The ICEM&rsquo;s Goodyear Global Union Network convened in Akron, Ohio, on 19-20 March, and 50 trade union leaders from 12 countries attended. The Network expanded its steering committee, and pledged greater communication and exchange of data between workers at all of Goodyear&rsquo;s global operations. 
 
The Goodyear Network is coordinated by the United Steelworkers (USW), based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
<img height="146" alt="" src="" width="360" />
Trade Unionists at Goodyear
The union Network meetings, held in the US city of Goodyear&rsquo;s global headquarters, produced a statement, which included a call for management to begin discussions on a global agreement, starting with talks on occupational health, safety, and environmental issues.&rdquo; 
 
The statement also said: &ldquo;Given Goodyear&rsquo;s increasing size and global scope, it is important that unions participating in the Goodyear Global Union Network recommit their efforts to secure and promote the rights for all workers worldwide at Goodyear. As part of those efforts, we pledge to increase the effective functioning of the Network steering committee and to expand and improve Network communications.&rdquo; 
 
Reports on the recent 86-day strike in North America were heard, and labour situations in which Goodyear has displayed disagreeable human conduct were also reported. Updates were presented on bargaining scheduled to begin in South Africa and Turkey.
<img height="112" alt="" src="" width="160" />
&nbsp;Anan Pol-ung and ICEM Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath of Thailand
Trade unionists also heard longstanding problems that exist in Goodyear&rsquo;s Bangkok tyre factory. They heard of Thai management&rsquo;s continuing waste of resources to fight the legitimate rights of contract workers inside Thai courts, and unionists met and heard from Anan Pol-ung, former president of the factory-level union in Bangkok, who was fired last year. 
 
The Network voiced strong support for him, and called on the company to properly restore him to his job at Goodyear in Thailand. Anan first drew the ire of Goodyear&rsquo;s Thai management over two years ago when he made a stand with over 20 contract workers, many of whom had been working in the warehouse and rubber stock department of Goodyear&rsquo;s Bangkok factory for up to 10 years under single-year individual contracts. 
 
Goodyear sacked the contract workers when they sought freedom of association rights. They were seeking to join with full-time employees at the 500-worker factory in organising with ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Federation of Thailand. 
 
The expanded Goodyear Network elected Tom Conway, USW Vice President, as chairman. Other trade union leaders elected to join the steering committee include Carlos Antonio de Silva of Brazil and Werner Staniewski of Germany. Besides representatives from unions in Brazil, Germany, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and US attending, delegates also came from Canada, Chile, France, Peru, Poland, and UK.

Goodyear Global Rubber Unions Meet in Akron, US

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Global Framework Agreement with SCA Includes HIV/AIDS Clause
During a review meeting in Stockholm in January with the Swedish paper multinational Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), the ICEM and the Swedish paperworkers&rsquo; union, Svenska Pappers, proposed to include a clause on HIV/AIDS in the updated Global Framework Agreement, which SCA accepted. The company agreed to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. 
Note to ICEM affiliates 
If a company agrees to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, this opens a whole range of possibilities for negotiations and activities for the unions organising in a Global Agreement company. The ten key principles of the Code of Practice include non-discrimination, gender equality, confidentiality, prevention, care and support. You can obtain the Code of Practice from any ILO office or download it at <a href="http://www.ilo.org">www.ilo.org</a>. It exists in more than 30 languages. 
 
Please note that a Global Agreement applies to all operations of a company worldwide. Often, local management is not familiar with a Global Agreement signed by their head office. Insist on implementation and compliance! 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s other Global Agreements which include an HIV/AIDS clause are Lukoil, Statoil, and Lafarge. The latter company signed one jointly with the Building Workers&rsquo; International. In reviews of existing Global Agreements or in drafting new ones, the ICEM will insist on the inclusion of an HIV/AIDS clause referring to the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.
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Global Fund Chooses new Executive Director 
 
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has chosen Michel Kazatchkine, a physician and global health expert, as the next Executive Director of the Global Fund. He replaces Sir Richard Feachem, the founding Executive Director, who steps down at the end of his five-year term on 31 March. 
 
Professor Kazatchkine is a physician who has treated people with AIDS for more than 20 years, and led the world&rsquo;s second-largest AIDS research agency. He currently serves as France's Ambassador for HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases. Professor Kazatchkine is a former Vice Chair of the Global Fund Board and first Chair of the Global Fund&rsquo;s Technical Review Panel, which assesses the quality of grant proposals. 
 
In just five years, the Global Fund has become a leading force in the fight against the three diseases. It provides two-thirds of international funding for the fight against malaria and TB, and 20% of the global funding to fight AIDS. 
 
The Global Fund has approved grants for 450 programs in 136 countries with a total commitment of US$7 billion. As of December 2006, 770,000 people have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Global Fund-supported programmes and nearly 18 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed to prevent malaria. In addition, tuberculosis programmes have detected and treated two million TB cases under DOTS, the internationally-approved TB control strategy. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Press Release, 8 February 2007)
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Global Unions Continue G8 HIV/AIDS Campaign 
 
Global Unions continue their campaign for the creation of a high-level Working Group on HIV/AIDS by calling on unions to make representation to German embassies. Such actions are hoped to convince the Heads of State attending the G8 summit this June in Germany to agree to such a Working Group. 
 
The G8 summit in St. Petersburg last year agreed on a tangible process for surveillance of infectious diseases like AIDS. But the G8 has not identified how this process would become a reality and so this has remained an undelivered promise. 
 
The Global Union HIV/AIDS Programme calls on unions to organise special events to deliver letters to the German Embassy in their country on 28 April, the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. 
 
The German embassy action is twined with lobbying at international meetings of environment, health, and labour ministers at the annual meeting of the United Nations Environmental Programme, the World Health Assembly, and the International Labour Conference. 
 
(Source: Global Unions press release, 23 February) 
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Some 71,000 people in Ghana are HIV-positive 
Out of 71,000 people living with HIV/AIDS throughout Ghana who need drugs, only 6,000 are receiving anti-retroviral drugs from 32 health facilities. 
 
The director-general of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, said by July this year, 50% of all district hospitals will be prepared to administer the drugs. 
 
Awuku Amoa was speaking at a workshop for some selected people from the private sector and FM stations in Accra. More than 50 participants from all over the country attended. 
 
Awuku Amoa also said this year a lot of attention will be given to the youth, women and girls as they are more vulnerable. He therefore urged the media to champion the course of the crusade. 
 
The monitoring and evaluation coordinator at the AIDS Commission, Emmanuel Larbi, urged the participants to develop and implement workplace programmes such as condom distribution to reduce the spread of the disease. Topics treated included the National HIV and AIDS Research Agenda, and Ghana HIV Stigma Reduction campaign. 
 
(Source: Radio Ghana, Accra, 7 Feb 07 as supplied by the BBC Monitoring Service) 
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NUM Protest against Impala Platinum&rsquo;s Hospital Care 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa gave Impala Platinum a seven-day ultimatum to respond to demands to improve health care services at the Impala Mine Hospital near Rustenberg, North West State. 
 
The ultimatum was given when miners staged a march on 23 January. NUM was protesting unfair and inferior treatment of workers at the facility. The union also accused the mine management, doctors and hospital administrators of denying antiretroviral drugs for treatment of HIV/AIDS. 
 
The subsequent strike ended on 18 February after management agreed to address the grievances presented to them. 
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China: Workplace Programme to Help AIDS Prevention 
At the end of January, China launched a national program on HIV/AIDS prevention and care in the workplace. 
 
The $3.5 million HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Program, funded by the United States Department of Labor, will be overseen by the International Labour Organization (ILO), and implemented in the provinces of Anhui, Guangdong, and Yunnan. 
 
&quot;China is now at a critical stage in fighting HIV/AIDS,&quot; said Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister of Labor and Social Security, during the launching of the programme in Beijing. &quot;We should try our best to prevent the spread of the disease from high-risk groups to the general public.&quot; Hu believed the 39-month programme would be a good model to promote China's anti-AIDS education policy and implementation. 
 
Hu said another five-year education program, jointly launched by 12 ministries in 2005, had set a target of making 85% of the nation's rural migrant workers knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS prevention by 2010. 
 
The Regulation on AIDS Prevention and Control stipulated that no employer or individual should discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS or their relatives. The regulation protects their rights of marriage, employment, medical care, and education. 
 
The goal is that all workers with HIV/AIDS are well protected; that they can get jobs, keep jobs and have access to AIDS prevention services, such as education, treatment, and voluntary testing and counselling, 
 
Statistics by the ministry shows in some of the provinces, working-age HIV/AIDS people account for 90% of the total infected population and a majority of them are under age 35 years. 
 
(Source: chinadaily.com.ch 27 January 2007) 
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Global Fund Round 7: Aidspan Releases Documents to Help Applicants 
With the Call for Proposals for Round 7 due on 1 March, Aidspan has published three documents providing guidance for applicants considering applying in this round. The three documents are: 
 
1. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Apply for a Round 7 Global Fund Grant.&rdquo; 
2. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Submit a Non-CCM Proposal for Round 7.&rdquo; 
3. &ldquo;Deciding Whether to Submit a Regional Proposal for Round 7.&rdquo; 
 
All three documents are available at <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a>. 
 
The text of each document has been extracted from a forthcoming guide, entitled &ldquo;The Aidspan Guide to Round 7 Applications to the Global Fund,&rdquo; which will be released shortly after 1 March 2007, the expected date for the release of the Call for Proposals. 
 
Already available on the same web page, is &ldquo;An Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Proposals Submitted to the Global Fund in Rounds 3-6 &ndash; Based on Comments of the Technical Review Panel,&rdquo; which is another excerpt from the forthcoming Round 7 guide. 
 
When &ldquo;The Aidspan Guide to Round 7 Applications to the Global Fund&rdquo; is released, it will contain, in addition to the above-mention extracts, a step-by-step guide to filling out the Round 7 Proposal Form. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 70, 5 February 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>.) To receive GFO (if you haven't already subscribed), send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 18

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Some 300 French glass sector workers from four different unions protested in front of Saint-Gobain corporate offices in Paris on 20 February. The manifestation by workers of four Saint-Gobain Desjonqu&egrave;res (SGD) glass factories was over the company&rsquo;s intention to reduce the workforce at a perfume and pharmaceutical bottle plant in Mers, as well as the possible sale or joint-venture spin-off of the Desjonqu&egrave;res glass business.&nbsp;
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The unions, CFDT, FO, CGT, and CFTC, gained a meeting with senior managers during the protest, in which Saint-Gobain delivered a declaration that no workers would be sacked for economic reasons, and that any downsizings would occur through voluntary retirements and attrition. 
The declaration also included a guarantee that investment would be made to keep open the No. 7 furnace at Mers if demand is sufficient. In a statement last month, Saint-Gobain Desjonqu&egrave;res said it would shutter that furnace in 2008, cutting 125 jobs at the 1,245-worker factory. 
 
The unions also pressed management to take into account that some 400 temporary workers are employed at Mers. Workers from Saint-Gobain factories from Mers, Verreries de la Somme at Abbeville, Verreries de l&rsquo;Orne at Argentan, and SGD Sucy-Enbrie took part in the manifestation. 
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On the day following the protest, the unions obtained a salary increase from Saint-Gobain of 2.5%, with a minimum wage hike of &euro;55-per-month. They also won a &euro;12-a-month increase in employer-paid health insurance, and a one-off bonus of &euro;400. The unions credited the protest the day before with the substantial gains. 
 
The four unions, as well as a supervisors&rsquo; union, CFE-CGC, vowed to continue manifestations throughout the year in order to gain future job security guarantees from Saint-Gobain. Regarding a sale or spin-off of the glass business, the unions point to the fact that the Desjonqu&egrave;res business has enlarged the company four-fold in recent years. Outgoing CEO Jean-Louis Beffa has told market analysts that Saint-Gobain intends to exit the glass business, and to focus on building materials enterprises. 
 
Saint-Gobain bought the glass business of Henri Desjonqu&egrave;res in 1972 and operates ten glass factories around the world.

Saint-Gobain Protest Assures Fairness in Glass Business

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A ballot taken by UK&rsquo;s Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) among Imerys workers in the South West has failed to gain the necessary majority. But the country&rsquo;s second largest private sector union has vowed to continue to press the French multinational for a fair redundancy package for 600 former English China Clay workers in Cornwall. 
 
TGWU represents nearly 1,000 of the 2,100 Imerys kaolin mining and processing workers in the region. The industrial ballot, over the company&rsquo;s inferior severance package for workers to be made redundant late this year, was sent out on 7 February and counted late last week. 
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&ldquo;Our members have decided not to take any industrial action,&rdquo; stated TGWU National Secretary Jennie Formby. &ldquo;There were significant numbers of people who voted for action short of strike and for strike action. 
 
&ldquo;While we&rsquo;re aware that those who wanted to fight back will be very disappointed, we understand the huge pressure members have been under after the misinformation and propaganda campaign (Imerys) has been waging over the course of the ballot. Members are also under great pressure as they face the loss of their jobs. 
 
&ldquo;We will continue to do everything we can at home and internationally to ensure workers get a fair deal from this immensely wealthy company.&rdquo; 
 
Formby commended trade unions in the US and Europe for lending support and aid to the TGWU in its campaign against Imerys. She particularly singled out Serge Gonzales from the French trade union F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Force Ouvri&egrave;re (FO) Mat&eacute;riaux, C&eacute;ramique et Thermique, who is also secretary of Imerys&rsquo; European Works Council. &ldquo;He took every opportunity to put pressure on the company, and for this we are truly thankful,&rdquo; Formby said. 
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French FO's Serge Gonzales
&ldquo;We know this is not the end of the struggle against Imerys, both in the UK and everywhere it operates,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;We will, of course, do all we can to continue to support our members in Imerys UK in our efforts to get fairness.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM maintains that Imerys could and should do much better in the redundancy packages offered to the 600 workers who face joblessness later this year. Imerys, one of the world&rsquo;s biggest and most profitable building materials companies, will fail in its social obligations to the people of the South West, ICEM believes, unless it improves the severance packages.

Imerys Strike Ballot in UK Fails; TGWU will Press for Bigger Redundancy Packages

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