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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Danish affiliated union 3F conducted its second Congress, 11-17 September, in the Aalborg Culture and Congress Centre. There were 855 delegates to the Congress, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, who attended as an international guest. 
 
3F is the largest trade union in Denmark, with 352,588 members from the following sectors: Transport, Building & Construction, Manufacturing industries, Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture/Market Gardens, Cleaning, Hotel & Restaurants, Delivery and distribution of newspapers and magazines. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.3f.president.jpg" width="133" height="112" alt=""/>
3F President Poul Erik Christensen
The 3F Congress sets policy and elects the union’s leadership and Executive Committee members. The six sections of 3F held separate conferences to discuss internal affairs of the section and to elect representatives to be put forward for election to the Federation’s Executive Committee. Also elected in the section conferences are the section leaders, and negotiation secretaries. Those six sections are: Industry, Public-Sector, Transport, Construction, Private-Sector Services, and Green. 
 
Among those re-elected at the Congress were President Christensen, and Per Soerensen 3F’s delegate to the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
3F President Poul Erik Christensen proposed the at the union makes large financial backing to enact a change in government of Denmark, his proposal was accepted by Congress. Christensen will spend US$1million, “The question is not whether we can afford to support this, but whether we can afford not to,” stated President Christensen. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addressed an event at the Congress for international guests. Warda praised 3F for its international solidarity work.

Denmark’s 3F Conduct 2nd Congress

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Last week, the ICEM was involved in meetings in Ecuador to get acquainted with unions whose interests coincide with the Global Union Federation. These meetings were unfortunately overshadowed by events on Thursday, 30 September, in which a small band of disgruntled police officers attempted a futile coup. 
 
The Ecuador meetings were sponsored by the FNV, the Dutch trade union national centre, which also supported a study on Chinese investment in Latin America, carried out by social research organisations of the Red Lat network. The study was presented on 28 September, also in the presence of the Chinese ambassador to Ecuador. 
 
China portrays itself as a soft power, a promoter of development, but the harder side of Chinese investment is its quest for natural resources. Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Peru are the countries that are the most attractive to China. Mining, oil, gas, and the accompanying infrastructure are the targets of Chinese investment. 
 
Unfortunately, China concentrates investments in areas that do not generate great employment. And even then, worker participation and decision-making in the production process are not considered. The sectors in which China invests primarily entail greater risks for precarious work, that is, mining and energy. For example, practices in the mining industry in Peru worsened after the arrival of Chinese investors. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.redlat.jpg" width="187" height="76" alt=""/>
One further concern involves Chinese workers who accompany the investments. If there were more Chinese workers, most likely their presence would lead to a serious decline in labor standards. 
 
In general, trade unions expect an employment boost from foreign investment, and if the investment is not followed by greater employment, then the country could be even worse off. 
 
What needs to be considered is the balance between environmental, labor, economic, social, and even gender aspects. The investments must be followed by decent work and decent pay. What has to be prevented is the replication of the bad practices on the part of most European and North American multinationals in connection with labor relations. 
 
Trade unions have learned that they must be involved in the design of industrial policies as well as demanding a commitment to their implementation. Trade unions in Latin America must increase their exchanges in order to track the investments, since effects may prove to be similar. The best way to face the onslaught may be increase regional coordination. What is at stake is ultimately the Latin American model of development which provides for national sovereignty, followed by job creation and social inclusion. 
On 29 September, a study was presented on a Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) commissioned on post-subcontracting. It concerns mining, the oil industry, and electric power, and is the only study to date to deal with the effects of Ecuadorean legislation on the issue. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ecuador.png" width="200" height="92" alt=""/>
Ecuador is the only country to pass a law banning subcontracting. Chile, moreover, has a law from 2006 that intends to regulate subcontracting, and legislation is still pending in Brazil, but Ecuador's law prohibits it. 
 
Trade unions in Ecuador had been suffering from flexibilization of labor, but there had not been any analysis of it, there were no proposals to combat it, and no strikes had been called to fight it. 
 
The mining industry in Ecuador is geographically dispersed with little organizational capacity. Ninety percent of mining in Ecuador is informal. Thus, there is no need to make the miners any more precarious. 
 
Subcontracting has vital effects on health and the environment. 
 
Mandate 8, as the legislation is called, is not likely to have much effect in mining because there are no strong unions to implement the measure. In the oil sector, it is a state enterprise was responsible for subcontracting. Companies have found ways to circumvent the legislation. When they were required to reinstate the regular workers, they were reinstated at lower salaries with no seniority. 
 
The electric power industry was dismantled and many workers left. Very few were left over from the previous regime, others again came back as contract workers, with new and younger workers hired. What is certain is concern on the part of trade union for contract workers. The union also created a branch for contract workers. 
 
What the legislation shows is that it is possible to fight subcontracting successfully. Nevertheless, the effects can be reversed, and the problem may reoccur under another name. That is why strong trade unions are necessary more than ever to monitor and ensure implementation of legislation. 
 
The study will be revised with information from the unions and presented soon to the government.

Coup Attempt in Ecuador Does Not Derail ICEM Project

Meeting in Stavanger, Norway September 6-8, 2010, delegates to the ICEM World Energy Conference were appalled to hear of the latest attacks on trade unions by the present “caretaker” government in Iraq. 
 
Delegates listened to presentations by ICEM Executive Committee member, Hashmeya Muhsin Alsadawe, President General Union of Electricity Workers and Abdulah Muhsin International Representative of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) 
 
There is clearly an extended and concerted attack on trade union organisation. The latest attacks have seen on July 21, police storming the offices of the Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union in Basra on the orders of Electricity Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to shut the union down. As more police arrived, they took the membership records, the files documenting often-atrocious working conditions, the leaflets for demonstrations protesting Basra's agonizing power outages, the computers and the phones. Finally, Muhsin and her coworkers were pushed out and the doors locked. 
 
Shahristani's order prohibits all trade union activity in the plants operated by the ministry, closes union offices, and seizes control of union assets from bank accounts to furniture. The order says the ministry will determine what rights have been given to union officers, and take them all away. Anyone who protests, it says, will be arrested under Iraq's Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005. 
 
Delegates unanimously confirmed the importance of the ICEM EC resolution of May 26-27, 2010 and resolved to intensity their support and solidarity work with our affiliated trade unions in Iraq in their struggle for fundamental trade union and human rights and a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society.

Resolution on Iraq

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The Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) Union last week made a strong statement that it will no longer tolerate employers’ efforts to drive down wages and work terms as a continued response to the economic crisis. Under the banner “Auto Parts Workers United: Enough is Enough!” the union on 27 October held 100 lunch-hour workplace demonstrations at worksites in the province of Ontario. 
 
The Day of Action kicked off a CAW campaign for renewed militancy to resist wage cuts, resist slashing of pensions, reject two-tier wage schemes, and to protest any outsourcing of auto-parts production work. The CAW represents 21,000 auto-parts workers, and last week’s demonstrations made it clear that the 40,000 non-union workers in Canada’s auto-supply sector – workers with no one fighting for them – are welcome to participate in the CAW’s campaign. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.caw.speaker.jpg" width="241" height="160"/>
Angus MacDonald, President of CAW Local 1256, at Oakville Automodular
Accepting “downward pressure to live another day doesn’t work,” CAW President Ken Lewenza told one noon-time rally of 100 workers at Burlington Technologies, a maker of aluminum die castings for the auto industry. “All it is doing is making the race to the bottom a lot quicker.” 
 
The union is pledging to strengthen its defenses by conducting sit-down strikes and plant occupations when plants are endangered, and to create “flying squads” to follow outsourced work, as well as assisting CAW local unions that face contract concessions. In addition, CAW promises that its members will refuse to handle “hot cargo” from plants in which workers are on strike. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.caw.2.JPG" width="217" height="142"/>
Part of the campaign will also be aimed at the provincial government in Ontario. Pressure will be exerted in order to pass fair labour legislation, including the prohibition on use of scabs during strikes and adoption of a law to level the playing field for workers seeking to unionise. “What’s so difficult about putting in a law to allow workers to join a union without reprisal?” asked Lewenza. The union’s out-reach effort to non-union plants will include unorganized workers at giant auto-parts maker Magna. 
 
Some of the plants that witnessed last week’s vocal demonstrations included operations of Lear, Cooper Standard, Ventra Plastics, AG Simpson. Guelph CPK Interiors, Brampton Benteler Automotive, Martinrea Fabco, Ingersoll Autrans, Oakville Automodular, Legatt & Platt, Tora Investments, Reiter Automotive, Woodbridge Foam, Tecumseh Engineering, Integram Seating, and TRW. 
 
The CAW says that 21,000 auto-parts jobs were lost in Canada between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009.

Canadian Auto Parts Workers Hold Day of Action

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Austerity cuts in the UK will hit the poorest families many times harder than the richest, as the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition government makes the poor pay for the financial downturn. 
 
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s emergency budget of June was found to cut the country’s poorest families’ average income by 21.7%, six times more than the richest. 
 
The Institute of Fiscal Studies’ analysis of the Cameron government’s regressive cuts in social spending conclude clearly that the tax and benefit changes increase the gap between rich and poor in the UK. 
The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) last week criticized the OECD for backing the public spending cuts, and found that backing to be inconsistent with the Organisation’s stated objective of prioritizing job growth coming out of the crisis. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.austerity.lead.art.jpg" width="120" height="158"/>
TUAC points to estimates that the cuts will create one million job losses over the next five years, half in the public sector, and a further half-million jobs in the private sector through knock-on effects. 
 
Massive cuts to public spending can only create high unemployment, increase pressure on the poor, damage the economy, and risk a “double-dip” recession. 
 
Trade unions around the world are outraged by this trend, especially in Europe, of austerity cuts which make the poor pay for the economic crisis. The cuts are completely against the position of the Pittsburgh G20 a year ago, where world leaders pledged to develop action for economic recovery with placed “quality employment at the heart of the recovery.” 
 
At the same time as working people in the UK are being hit hard by Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity cuts, figures were released last week indicating that the average boardroom executive has seen their salary rise 55% over the last year. The top chief executives in Britain earned £4.9million last year, 200 times the average wage. The third highest-paid CEO of a UK company was Mick Davis of mining giant Xstrata, earning £26.9million last year. Total earnings of the top 100 UK companies fell by 1.5% during the first half of the crisis. 
 
“These mega-pay rises blow away any claim that we are all in this together,” stated TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber.

Tory Cuts in UK to Hit Poor the Hardest

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Immediately following a 99.9% contract rejection and intent-to-strike vote on 27 October, the union representing copper miners at Chile’s Doña Ines de Collahuasi and management called for a five-day government mediation period. If unsuccessful, a strike by 1,550 permanent workers at Collahuasi in northern Chile’s Region I could begin late this week. 
 
The 535,000-tonne copper mine, the world’s third largest, is 44% owned by Xstrata and 44% by AngloAmerican, with the remaining 12% held by a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsui & Co. Collahuasi miners ended a three-year contract just days ago, a contract that came into place after a four-day strike in 2007. 
 
Miners are seeking a 10% wage increase, and a bonus comparable to the one awarded by BHP Billiton (57.5%) and Rio Tinto (30%) at its joint venture Escondida mine in Region II last year. That bonus was US$28,000. Collahuasi management is offering a wage increase of two-to-three percent less than the union’s demand, and a bonus of US$19,000. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector2.JPG" width="120" height="115"/>
An industry representative involved in the 2007 talks told Reuters there is no question that the company can pay what miners are demanding. A strike could prove costly for mining giants Xstrata and AngloAmerican with the price of copper at record levels. The mine posted net earnings of US$1.56 billion last year. 
 
The strength of a strike by workers represented by Chile’s national private-sector miners’ union federation will largely depend on whether or not contract workers at Collahuasi honour strike lines. They are quite likely to do so, after staging their own week-long blockade of roads in May 2010 that caused the company to declare force majeure. There are some 4,000 contract workers employed by scores of sub-contractors at Collahuasi, which is just finishing the first phase of a US$750 million expansion project. 
 
A strike could also set the template for other unions representing copper miners in Chile, most notably at state-run Codelco’s Radomiro Tomic mine in Region II. It is part of the company’s largest and most profitable operation – Codelco Norte – and the 760 miners at Radomiro Tomic already rejected an inferior offer in September. The collective agreement expires at the end of November. 
 
Radomiro Tomic contributed 23% of Codelco Norte’s first-half 2010 net earnings of US$1.28 billion. The Codelco Norte division also includes the Churquicamata and Mina Sur mines, and the three mines produced 440,000 tonnes of copper in the first half of 2010, up from 391,000 tonnes in the same period of 2009.

Xstrata, AngloAmerican Chilean Copper Mine on Verge of Strike

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Workers at a DuPont chemical plant in the northern Brazilian state of Bahia staged a plant-gate protest on Thursday, 9 December, against the American company’s planned redundancies, job cuts that could seriously jeopardize the safety of workers and residents living in the city of Camaçari. The workers and their union, ICEM affiliate CNG-CUT Químicos/Petroleiros, were calling attention to safety concerns to public authorities at the protest. 
 
DuPont proposes to cut up to 45% of the 130 jobs at the agricultural chemical and herbicide plant, which makes the chemical diuron. The ICEM is not convinced local management completed the necessary consultative process with the union in order to limit the redundancies and potential safety hazards. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.DuPont.jpg" width="262" height="146"/>
Manifestation on 9 December at DuPont’s Camaçari, Brazil, plant
The ICEM expressed its support to the CNQ-CUT branch in Bahia state in its protest. That letter, in English, can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/150.ICEM.DuPont%20Brazil.10Dec.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.  
 
DuPont prematurely said it would halt two lines of production and speculation is it would shift work to India. The union stated that DuPont intends to cease production of diuron and import it to Brazil. 
 
José Dias de Miranda, who heads the union in Bahia state and is employed at DuPont, said that even at current employment levels, the plant has experienced fiery chemical explosions that have seen three workers die and two others severely burned.

Brazilian Chemical Workers Reject Deep Job Cuts at DuPont in Bahia State

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
GSHNER Nezavisnost, the Serbian Trade Union of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy, and Mining Workers, held its Fourth Congress in Begrade yesterday, 12 December, under the banner “With New Supply in a New Future.” 
 
A total of 120 delegates from various branches attended as did numerous state officials, management representatives, colleagues from unions of UGS Nezavisnost, and European and global trade unions, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.Serbia KONGRES WARDA.jpg" width="180" height="135" alt=""/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addresses Congress
Manfred delivered a speech in which he praised the previous work of the ICEM affiliate in Central Europe and the tremendous reform that the union has undertaken. 
 
He called on all unions in the Balkan countries to join in unity and solidarity, and to form new joint approaches to the valuable work they do for industrial workers. Only through uniting and restructuring, Warda said, can unions respond to the growing challenges ahead of them. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.Serbia KONGRES.jpg" width="193" height="129" alt=""/>
Other guests and speakers at the Congress included Lief Sande, President pf IndustiEnergi (IE) of Norway; Peter Sokkers of FNV Bondgenoten, Ntherlands; Michael Wolters, IGBCE, Germany; Didier Baur, CGT-FNME, France; Kata Iveljić, President of the Independent Trade union of Chemical and Mon-Metal Workers, Bosnia-Bercegovina; Ivan Tomac, President, and Daniel Spiček, Secretary, of the Autonomous Trade union in Power Industries, Chemical, and Non-Metal (EKN), Croatia; Tomaž Kumer, President, and Sonja Kos, Secretary, of the Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber (KNG) Union of Slovenia; and Mato Malić, ICEM’s South-East European Project Coordinator.

Nezavisnost Holds Fourth Congress in Belgrade

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the HIV/AIDS workshop in India, on the new and ambitious targets of the Global Fund, and on two cases of job-related discrimination on the basis of HIV-positive status in South Africa. 
 
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"/>
HIV/AIDS Workshop in India 
 
Some 30 participants and resource persons attended a three-day HIV/AIDS workshop in Kolkata, India, in February. Participants came from the ICEM affiliate, the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF), as well as from the chemical, cement, and diamond sectors. 
 
The workshop was sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) as part of the HIV/AIDS Project in India. It was organised by the project’s coordinator, BK Das, who is also the General Secretary of INMF and a member of the ICEM Executive Committee. The workshop was facilitated by the HIV/AIDS Programme Officer of the ILO office in New Delhi, Ms. P. Joshila. Representatives from employers and government agencies and an organisation of people living with HIV were also involved in the workshop. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/company logo/boehringer ingelheim.gif" width="125" height="38" alt=""/>
Emphasis in this workshop was on workplace policies. The ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant, Hans Schwass, gave a presentation on elements of an HIV/AIDS workplace policy and introduced the ICEM Training Manual for Negotiating on HIV/AIDS. Participants also split in groups to establish work plans for their respective companies and regions to the end of 2011 when the BI sponsorship ends. 
 
Much has been achieved in the HIV/AIDS work in India of the ICEM with its affiliates and sponsorship from BI. More than 50 master trainers are available to continue the work with peer educators of whom more than 600 have been trained. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Global Fund: Bold New Targets Set at Board Retreat 
 
The Global Fund Board says that the Fund’s new strategic plan should have “bold, ambitious and measurable objectives,” including tripling the number of lives saved and the number of infections averted between 2011 and 2016. This information is contained in a report prepared by Dr. Tedros A. Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, Chair of the Board, on the board’s recent retreat, which was held prior to its regular meeting in December 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria. 
 
In addition to the objectives related to lives saved and infections averted, the board said that the Global Fund needs to do more to leverage the impact of its investments, particularly with respect to health gains for women and children; to increase efforts to maximise value for money; to increase efforts to ensure protection of human rights and access to prevention, treatment, care, and support for all, including the poorest and most marginalised populations; and to increase efforts to ensure the sustainability of programmes to which the Global Fund is currently contributing. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Global%20Fund%20logo.gif" width="250" height="53"/>
One area where the board failed to reach a consensus at the retreat concerns the mandate of the Global Fund. There were divergent perspectives on whether the objectives related to the number of lives saved and infections averted should be phrased in a way that will allow the Global Fund to progressively expand its mandate. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 140 of 3 February. 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"/>
Decline in HIV Rates in Zimbabwe Driven by Fear of Infection 
 
The big drop in the numbers of people infected with HIV in Zimbabwe is because of mass social change, driven by fear of infection, according to an international study by the journal PLoS Medicine. 
 
A major investigation of the reasons why HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe has fallen from 29% in 1997 to 16% in 2007 was carried out by epidemiologists at Imperial College, London, and Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the UN Population Fund, and UNIADS. 
 
The research included extensive analysis of epidemiological data, together with focus groups and key informant interviews, to test the different explanations of the dramatic decline of prevalence. Although HIV prevalence remains high, the fall in HIV prevalence that has taken place in Zimbabwe is the largest see anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
(Source: as reported by World AIDS Campaign, Cape Town, 16 February) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
South Africa: Xstrata Coal Accused of Sacking HIV-positive Miners 
 
A dispute has arisen in South Africa between ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Xstrata Coal over the apparent discharge of 12 HIV-positive miners. The miners were first sacked last fall from their jobs at the Tweefontein collieries in Mpumalanga province, but the NUM interceded on their behalf before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) and won reinstatement to their jobs. 
 
But in mid-February, Xstrata Coal South Africa informed the NUM that it would re-sack the 12 and appeal the CCMA’s decision to a labour court. At issue is whether or not Xstrata knew of their HIV status through a joint NUM-Xstrata Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programme that is strictly confidential. Hundreds of Tweefontein miners were tested through the programme in October and November 2010. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.num paris mashego.jpg" width="225" height="169" alt=""/>
NUM Highveld Regional Secretary Paris Mashego, left 
It is uncertain if Xstrata Coal gained access to results of the screenings, but the NUM alleges that the company does know the results. A private service provider was contracted to do the screenings and results are supposed to be shared only with the individual. 
 
NUM Highveld Regional Secretary Paris Mashego accused the company of dragging backward the campaign to test for the pandemic and said the NUM will continue to press for the real motive behind Xstrata’s reversal. 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.iol.co.za">www.iol.co.za</a>, 23 February and ICEM InBrief, 28 February)
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
South African Labour Court Affirms Rights of HIV+ Workers, Citing ILO Recommendation No. 200 
 
On 16 February 2011, in the case of Gary Shane Allpass v. Mooikloof Estates (Pty.) Ltd., (Case No. JS178/09), the Johannesburg Labour Court awarded the complainant compensatory damages for unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of his HIV status. The decision examines issues of discrimination in employment on the grounds of HIV status and unfair dismissal, as well as discriminatory screening and forced disclosure of HIV status. 
 
The complainant was employed by the respondent as a horse riding instructor and stable manager on 1 November 2008. At the time of his recruitment, he had been living with HIV for almost 20 years. Prior to being hired, the complainant underwent an interview, during which he informed the respondent that he was “in good health.” Shortly after his hiring, the complainant — along with other employees — was asked to complete a form requiring him to disclose whether he was taking any “chronic medication.” The complainant complied and disclosed that he was taking, among other things, daily medication to manage his HIV condition. Upon learning of his HIV-positive status, the respondent immediately terminated the complainant on the grounds that he had fraudulently misrepresented his condition and that he was, in fact, “severely ill”. 
 
The Labour Court found that the complainant had been discriminated against and unfairly dismissed due to his HIV status and awarded him twelve months’ remuneration in compensatory damages and costs. Apart from considering that the dismissal violated the South African Constitution, the Labour Relations Act, and the Employment Equity Act, the Labour Court also cited the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and the Recommendation concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, 2010 (No. 200). 
 
(Source: ILO/AIDS website) 
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International Cricketing Council Launches Campaign: ‘Get the Facts, Protect Yourself’ 
 
The World Cup 2011, organised by the International Cricketing Council (ICC), is being held jointly in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Before this event, the ICC in partnership with UNAIDS and UNICEF launched a new campaign, “Get the Facts, Protect Yourself.” A number of star players feature in a public service announcement which is available to all broadcasters across the globe that encourages young people to inform themselves about HIV, take appropriate action to prevent HIV infection, and stand together against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. 
 
They may be rivals on the field of play, but international cricketing stars Virender Sehwag and Kumar Sangakkara have joined together to support a new “Think Wise” campaign ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. “The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 provides an opportunity to use our status as cricketers to deliver important social messages to the millions of supporters who will be watching the tournament across the world,” said India’s Virender Sehwag. “I hope this public service announcement can encourage young people to get the facts and protect themselves from HIV.” 
 
Other cricketing stars in the partnership include Graeme Smith (South Africa), Shakib-Al-Hasan (Bangladesh) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies). “It is important that young people around the world have access to the right information to help them make informed decisions and break down stigma and discrimination,” said Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara. “Through this public service announcement, I want to help stop the spread of HIV.” 
 
(Source: ITF HIV/AIDS update 100, 1 February) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 99, 100, and 101 of 15 January, 1 February, and 15 February, respectively, reports on a training programme organised in cooperation with the Mongolian Transport, Communication, and Petroleum Workers’ Union; on a national campaign organised by the National Transport Workers’ Union of Columbia to raise awareness of HIV and to promote safer sex practices among bus workers, van, taxi, and truck drivers; and reports, as well, on passengers and on developing and implementing workplace programmes with its affiliates in Mexico. 
 
The February Newsletter of PSUFASA (Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa) reports on several in-country seminars, notably in South Africa and Swaziland, and on the ongoing evaluation of the project for which sponsorship from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) will come to an end in March 2011. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Five Years Ago: From the March 2006 Issue 
 
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 March 2006 issue of the e-bulletin, we reported on the integration of HIV/AIDS in the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. On 28 April, the trade union movement remembers over two million workers who die and millions more who are injured or who fall sick each year due to unsafe, unhealthy, or unsustainable work and workplaces. The slogan for 2006 was Union Workplaces – Safe Workplaces and the selected themes are: The Global Union Ban Asbestos Campaign, HIV/AIDS – workplace aspects and implementation of programme response and ILO Conventions and Instruments that relate to Occupational Health and Safety. 
 
We also reported on the Product Red initiative. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, U2 rock musician Bono announced Product RED, an economic initiative designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). Leading brands made a commitment to channel a portion of profits from sales of specially-designed RED products to the GFATM to support AIDS programmes in Africa with a focus on women and children. The GFATM welcomed this new initiative. Through RED and other initiatives, it hoped to increase the private sector share of income from less than 1% in 2005 to 10% or more in the long term. 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 66, March 2011 

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A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation’s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa. 
 
The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case. 
 
The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa’s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (€1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold’s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995. 
 
The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi’s claim of R2.6 million (€271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa’s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa. 
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NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 
But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court “had erred in concluding” the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent. 
 
“If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi’s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position … would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,” Khampepe wrote, adding, “Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country’s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.” 
 
Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, “AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.” 
 
Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children. 
 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court’s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. “For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,” said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain “at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.”

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

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