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Recent administrative and other changes regarding health and safety governance in the UK clearly reflects the policies of the governing Tory, Liberal Democrat coalition. In late March, Employment Minister Chris Grayling announced a shift of emphasis from safety and health monitoring by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in order to ease regulatory burdens on business. 
 
The package of proposed changes includes eliminating unannounced workplace safety inspections and placing more emphasis on high-hazard worksites and those with histories of unsafe conditions. The ruling government will also conduct a review of all existing health and safety regulations with the notion to scrap measures that are not needed and those that place an unnecessary burden on business. 
 
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) disagrees with the new mandate, seen as a means to chop government spending out of the HSE. 
&ldquo;The possibility of an unexpected visit from either the HSE or a local authority safety inspector helps keep employers on their toes,&rdquo; said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. &ldquo;Even now, workplaces can go decades without ever seeing an inspector. 
 
&ldquo;If government cuts to HSE funding do result in fewer safety inspections, unscrupulous employers will simply assume they can get away with taking risks, without fear of ever being prosecuted.&rdquo; 
 
Another change in the UK is a Ministry of Justice proposal for reform of local courts structures regarding who is responsible for legal fees in workplace compensation and other cases. The proposed change, which is under public consultation until June 30, would require plaintiffs that win their cases in courts to carry the burden of paying their own legal fees, regardless of damages. 
 
This &ldquo;no win, no fee&rdquo; proposal is seen as means to reduce the number the number of filings against employers by workers who suffer industrial accidents in order to eliminate a so-called &ldquo;compensation culture&rdquo; in the UK. The Ministry of Justice&rsquo;s aim is also to push more cases out of courtrooms and into mediation. The TUC&rsquo;s Hazards Campaigns sees it as a sham since less than 10% of all workers injured at work receive compensation and, as well, free legal counsel for victims seeking workers&rsquo; compensation has been cancelled by the state. 
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On another note in the UK, this one a milestone, the first company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007, which became effective in April 2008, occurred on February 15, 2011. Cotswold Geotechnical Ltd., a small geological company, was found guilty by a jury of Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire, in the negligent death of 27-year-old Alexander Wright. In 2008, Wright was working alone in an unsupported 12-foot pit. He died from asphyxia when soil from the collapsed pit buried him. The court fined the company &pound;385,000.

Health, Safety Changes Mirror Con-Dem Policies in UK

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In the 2010 special ICEM newsletter on April 28, the ICEM stressed that the key to getting a global ban on asbestos lies in Canada. If Canadian support for the asbestos industry fails, then a global asbestos ban will succeed. Everyone who cares to examine the evidence by now knows that the link between all forms of asbestos (asbestosis, mesothelioma, other cancers) is irrefutable. 
 
An important step forward was taken by the Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) at the union federation&rsquo;s 11 March congress. The congress decided to withdraw the federation&rsquo;s traditional support of the Qu&eacute;bec asbestos industry. This was truly an historic and courageous stand, in a province where the asbestos industry is so closely tied with labour history. 
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Claudette Carbonneau, President of the 300,000 member organization, told the congress: &ldquo;Qu&eacute;bec, like many advanced industrial societies, has been shaken by the use of a resource which sows death. If health and safety conditions do not prevent these deadly illnesses in Qu&eacute;bec, it is difficult to pretend that there can be safe use of asbestos in developing countries.&rdquo; 
 
However, for every step forward, there seems to be at least one step backwards. Just this month, the Qu&eacute;bec government approved a C$52 million economic aid package to expand the Jeffrey asbestos mine, whose products will be exported principally to India, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian countries. Proof, once again, that the industry would not be viable without heavy government subsidies. 
 
Meanwhile, the body which regulates place-names in Qu&eacute;bec has given permission for the regional body known as MRC de L&rsquo;Amiante to delete the Amiante (Asbestos) from its title and rename itself &ldquo;MRC des Appalaches.&rdquo; So, evidently there are people even in the region of Qu&eacute;bec that mines asbestos who are perhaps disgusted by the shameless hypocrisy of politicians and profiteers and would prefer not to be associated with the export of this deadly fibre.

Québec Labour Federation CSN Takes Heroic, Historic Stand on Asbestos

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

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 68, May 2011

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The ICEM Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), announced on 1 May that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), is the 2011 recipient of the Arthur Svensson International Award for Union Rights. 
 
Sae&rsquo;d becomes the second recipient of the Svensson Award. Wellington Chibebe, the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions (ZCTU), won the award in 2010, which comes with a NOK 500,000 (&euro;60,000) cash prize. 
 
In selecting Sae&rsquo;d and the Palestinian national labour centre, IE said, &ldquo;PGTU fights for better understanding of the importance of union rights in the Palestinian self-government administration. They also work for Israel to stop the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the illegal settlements.&rdquo; 
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Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the PGFTU
Some 30 individuals and organisation were nominated for the award in 2011, which will be presented at a dinner and ceremony in Oslo on 16 June. The award is named after Arthur Svensson, a leader of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged in 2006 with the Petroleum and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF) to create IE. 
 
Svensson died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted global peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
Noting the fact that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d has been imprisoned a number of times, and his own safety and that of his family have been at risk several times, the selection committee said Sae&rsquo;d &ldquo;has shown outstanding leadership of the Palestinian trade union movement, while the political and financial framework has made this work especially difficult. 
 
&ldquo;The Palestinian people have fought against occupation, as well as an independent state for over 60 years. Under the leadership of Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, PGFTU has shown a will for dialogue and has refused to isolate any Palestinian groups, including Hamas. He has been open to a dialogue and cooperation with Histadrut, the organisation of trade unions in Israel.&rdquo;

Palestine’s Shaher Sae’d Winner of Norwegian Arthur Svensson Union Rights Award

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Fifteen United Steelworkers (USW) branches in 11 US states last week ratified a new master agreement with International Paper (IP) by a 73% vote count, the union announced. The four-year agreement covers 6,800 workers at 15 pulp and paper mills, and it now builds on a first master agreement covering multiple workplaces of IP that was achieved in August 2007. 
 
The agreement, to take effect in August, includes wage increases of 1% in 2011, 2% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% effective on 31 August 2014. It also includes improvements in a defined benefit pension plan, and lump sum payments into an existing employee savings plan of US$1,000 each in 2012 and 2014. 
<img src="" width="369" height="151" alt="" />
USW Bargaining Committee
In addition, the agreement spells out stabilisation over health care costs, and provides job security, mainly through a &ldquo;successorship clause.&rdquo; That means that if IP sells any of the 15 mills, the new owner must retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective agreement. 
USW Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads collective bargaining for the union in the pulp and paper sector, said the IP agreement continues a historic achievement. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;our locals bargained site by site, even though most companies approach bargaining as part of a national strategy.&rdquo; 
 
Geenen added: &ldquo;The success of our local unions here sets a precedent for bargaining in the rest of the industry.&rdquo;
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USW VP Jon Geenen
The agreement came together in late March and early April after nearly a year of planning and strategic meetings. It culminated in face-to-face discussions in New Orleans, Louisiana, early last month in which an 80-person USW bargaining committee participated. &ldquo;One of the main benefits of all the locals bargaining together at the same time is that everyone gets a voice in shaping the package,&rdquo; said Geenen. 
 
The USW has a similar master accord with IP in the paper converting industry, covering 2,800 workers at 32 paper-converting plants of the company in 18 US states. The first master agreement in converting came into effect in 2008 and expires in 2012.

Steelworkers Renew Master Labour Pact with International Paper in US

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The ICEM Secretariat was stricken with grief on 4 April upon learning of the death of Liv Undheim, former Vice President of Norwegian trade union affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Liv Undheim died at 07h00 that morning in an Oslo hospital after a period of illness. She was 61. 
 
She was an ICEM Vice President, representing the Nordic region, and had served on ICEM statutory bodies for the past 20 years, dating to her tenure as an officer of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association. She was the driving force inside ICEM in the development of gender equality and women&rsquo;s activities. 
 
In a letter to IE President Leif Sande, General Secretary Manfred Warda said her advocacy in this regard made the ICEM a leading Global Union Federation on gender issues. 
 
She began working in an industrial setting in the late 1960s at Figgjo AS, a ceramics and pottery manufacturer near Stavanger. She then became a federal secretary of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and served in that capacity for nine years before being elected organisation secretary of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO). In that capacity in 1997, she also became deputy minister with responsibility for energy issues. 
 
In 2001, she became Vice President of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and in 2006, upon the merger of that union with the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemicals Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF), she was elected Vice President of IE. She retired in October 2010 but retained the exemplary role she always performed as IE&rsquo;s head of international affairs. 
<img alt="" src="" width="112" height="150" />
She also had served on a number of boards and public bodies, including the research institute FAFO, Norway&rsquo;s Labour Directorate, the Labour Inspection Authority, and many others. 
 
She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and in February 2011 was stricken and hospitalised with pneumonia, which prevented cancer treatment. The ICEM&rsquo;s Warda said she always delivered a great deal of energy and passion to global trade union work, and &ldquo;we held hope that this same energy and passion would allow her to overcome this illness.&rdquo; 
 
He added: &ldquo;Her passing at the age of 61 is a sad moment for us here. The extraordinary work she performed for the ICEM &ndash; and for all trade unions &ndash; will carry on in her honour. We pledge to re-dedicate the many workers&rsquo; issues that she championed in her memory.&rdquo; 
 
In a statement this week from Oslo, IE President Sande said, &ldquo;Following her long and devoted service to the labour union movement we all felt with all our hearts that Liv had deserved a long and pleasant retirement together with her dear Elisabeth. The holiday to Thailand was booked and she was looking forward to spending her time reading, travelling and generally enjoying life. Instead she was struck down with cancer, having to spend her last days in a hospital. It seems so unfair. She will be deeply missed.&rdquo; 
 
Liv Undheim's funeral will be 14 April in Oslo. Following, a memorial and commemoration of her life will be held at IE's offices there.

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

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An international campaign for the reinstatement of 50 Mexican rubber workers employed by German-based Continental AG, was successful after 22 months. The illegal dismissals on 18 May 2009 were made under the guise of the global financial crisis. The ICEM-affiliated National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTGTM), led by General Secretary Alberto Espinosa Rocha, launched a full mobilisation of the union for their reinstatement and&nbsp;to&nbsp;support each sacked worker who chose to fight for re-employment. 
 
The struggle, termed to&nbsp;&ldquo;Resist One More Day than Continental,&rdquo; supported especially the reinstatement of union activists Juan Pablo Hern&aacute;ndez Lara and Alfredo Calder&oacute;n and was won one year, ten months, and ten days after the sackings,&nbsp;when 50 colleagues returned to work at the factory in San Luis Potos&iacute;, 430 kilometres&nbsp;north of Mexico City. 
<img alt="" src="" width="199" height="182" />
SNTGTM Secretary-General Alberto Espinosa Rocha
The members of SNTGTM, through the decision of the union's&nbsp;Congress to wage the fight, supported every worker contesting&nbsp;dismissal, and the union&nbsp;paid them the minimum wage for a worker in the sector throughout the&nbsp;legal process. That income is low, but the faith and support from fellow members was vital. 
 
The SNTGTM and reinstated workers gave special thanks to the ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF),&nbsp;the United Steelworkers (USW), and the&nbsp;AFL-CIO, for their solidarity and support internationally. The SNTGTM singled out the IGBCE and European Works Council for their important assistance in forcing the struggle onto the agenda of Conti's management meetings. 
 
In recent months, the union has recovered hundreds of jobs and established conditions for increased factory production in Mexico. The&nbsp;SNTGTM is&nbsp;now fighting&nbsp;the proposed regressive labour law in Mexico, which, if enacted, would&nbsp;jeopardize their hard-won achievements.

Victory for Mexican Rubber Workers, 50 Reinstated

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A strike by the ICEM affiliate, Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries, and the Chemical Industry (POEPDHV), was extended another week until 19 April. The strike began at Hellenic Petroleum&rsquo;s (ELPE) flagship refinery in Aspropyrgos on 3 April, and then spread to Hellenic&rsquo;s two other refineries at Elfsina and Thessaloniki after a judge declared the walkout legal. 
 
Greek oil workers are striking over inadequate staffing levels and safety issues at ELPE&rsquo;s new refinery units at Elfsina and Thessaloniki, as well as resistance to company plans to curb pay gains and link pay with productivity. The strikes, originally of 10-day durations, came with orderly shutdowns to ensure operational integrity of the refineries is maintained, and with assurances that full safety compliance is followed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="166" />
On Thursday, 7 April, POEPDHV announced another week of strike action, due to occur 12-19 April. Three days earlier, a judge denied ELPE&rsquo;s request for injunctive relief in an effort&nbsp;to declare the strike illegal. POEPDHV President Nikos Orfanos said the extension is in full support of the workers&rsquo; struggle and on demand from refinery workers. Further bargaining between the union and ELPE is scheduled for 13 April. 
 
ELPE operates three of Greece&rsquo;s four refineries and controls 50% of the country&rsquo;s downstream market. The company is 35.5% owned by the Greek government. 
 
The ICEM fully support its Greek trade union affiliate and calls on the company to adequately staff its new refining units for safety reasons, as well as to justly compensate oil refinery workers.

Greek Petrochemical Union Extends Refinery Strikes until 19 April

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Bahrain&rsquo;s authorities and business leaders are retaliating to a general strike led by the national trade union centre General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved. 
 
The general strike was called on 13 March, and ended 22 March, in support of pro-democracy protests in the Persian Gulf island-state. The agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
Estimates suggest over 1,000 workers will be laid-off during the crackdown, including staff at Alba Aluminum Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services, and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. All sackings were due to worker absence during the strike. 
<img height="169" width="140" src="" alt="" />
BAPCO Union President Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain
The president of the union at Bahrain Petroleum (BAPCO), Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, has been fired for his absence during the strike and also for &ldquo;inciting workers to strike.&rdquo; The company has begun legal prosecution of Hussain. BAPCO also fired nine other workers, and is investigating the cases of&nbsp;230 workers&nbsp;who participated in the strike. 
 
BAPCO union President Hussain was central in the creation of the GBFTU. All employees at BAPCO are now fearful of losing their jobs in the coming days. Absenteeism of BAPCO employees on 16-17 March was 60%. 
 
(See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/27.ICEM.Bahrain.6April.pdf ">ICEM's letter to the King of Bahrain</a>.) 
 
Last week, security forces&nbsp;closed down the GBFTU headquarters and are expected to soon call the organisation&rsquo;s president, Salman Mahfooz, in for questioning. Roads leading to the union office were closed and workers were blocked from reaching the headquarters. Most of those workers had been seeking guidance from their union following their sacking. 
 
The GBFTU website has been shut down. Parliament is calling on the government to immediately refer trade union leaders involved in the strike to the public prosecutor&rsquo;s office. 
 
All members of the GBFTU executive, spanning all industries, have been suspended from work pending investigations. On top of this cynical multi-faceted attack on Bahrain&rsquo;s independent trade unions, companies are now planning legal cases against the unions in a further attempt to permanently end their activities. 
 
Over 300 activists have been arrested with many missing and at least 20 killed since protesters took to the streets in February, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The violent suppression of the Bahraini people&rsquo;s reform protest has been facilitated by armed forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. 
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ILO Director-General Juan Somavia
This disgraceful attack on core human and trade union rights of the Bahraini people must end immediately, global trade unions say. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia issued a statement on 6 April calling&nbsp;repercussions to the strike &ldquo;extremely alarming, in particular as the GFBTU had called on workers to return to work and had been given assurances by State officials that they will not face any punitive measures for their participation in strikes.&rdquo;

Kingdom of Bahrain Retaliates Against Trade Unions for General Strike

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The European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and Areva, the Paris-based nuclear power and nuclear service provider, signed a protocol agreement on 1 April intended to facilitate career enhancement and employee competencies within the 13 European countries that Areva operates in. 
 
Entitled &ldquo;Memorandum of Agreement on Professions and Competences Forecast,&rdquo; the protocol framework is the second that EMF and Areva have adopted, the first being a 2006 Equal Opportunities pact that a European Commission (EC) project now oversees. 
 
The new agreement is intended to forecast and manage career development of Areva staff by providing training, work-life balance, mobility, transfer of knowledge throughout the company, as well as giving a positive work environment across a person&rsquo;s entire employment career with Areva. 
 
(See the <a href="http://www.emf-fem.org/Areas-of-work/Company-Policy/News/EMF-and-Areva-sign-important-agreement ">EMF announcement and the 12-page agreement</a>.) 
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The three-year agreement will be tracked under a separate EC project called Forecasting and Anticipating Competencies in Europe through Social Dialogue (FACES). The protocol calls for an annual appraisal that will &ldquo;articulate the positioning of the employee in such a way that their qualifications and their payment is in relation to their level of competencies and performance.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement states that such assessments will not conflict with existing national collective bargaining agreements. 
 
It commits the company to develop a training policy in step with the needs of workers &ldquo;to both preserve and renew competencies in order to have the best possible career evolution.&rdquo; Each of Areva&rsquo;s 35,000 workers in Europe will have access to 30 hours of training per annum, which can be allotted over three years. 
 
The agreement&rsquo;s overall monitoring device is a committee of Areva management and the European Works Council Select Committee, which will evaluate and present the results yearly to the EMF. 
 
Areva is a ten-year-old company that was formed through a three-way merger between CEA-Industrie, COGEMA, and Framatome to combine the French Government's interests in several nuclear power and information technology businesses. CEA-Industrie, (Commissariat &agrave; l'&Eacute;nergie Atomique or French Atomic Energy Commission) owns about 80% of Areva. The company globally operates in 43 countries and employs 48,000 staff. 
 
Areva designs and builds nuclear reactors and components for nuclear power plants, and it also supplies nuclear fuel, engineering, maintenance, and inspection of nuclear facilities.

EMF, French Nuclear Group Areva Sign Worker Training, Evolution Accord

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