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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, the HIV/AIDS programmes that ICEM affiliates have been implementing, on the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and on the UNAIDS Outlook Report 2010. 
 
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. 
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, the HIV/AIDS programmes that ICEM affiliates have been implementing, on the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and on the UNAIDS Outlook Report 2010. 
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ICEM Affiliates: Implementation of 2010 Programmes in Full Swing 
 
Midterm reports from ICEM affiliates in sub-Saharan Africa show that the implementation of activities through the ICEM HIV/AIDS project, which is sponsored by the solidarity support organisations SASK of Finland and the Dutch FNV Mondiaal, is according to plan. 
 
In C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, workplace activities on awareness and prevention and advocacy for early testing reached 170 workers in three different companies. In Mauritius, initial training of women delegates and workers provided the basis for awareness campaigns at worksites through which, so far, 375 workers have been reached. A locally produced DVD multiplied the effect of these campaigns. Twenty-one women unionists were trained as peer educators in Nigeria. Some 1,450 workers and community members were mobilised in one VCT campaign alone. Affiliates in Tanzania organised two workshops in preparation for a massive VCT campaign in the mining area around Mwasa in August, which is sponsored by the women&rsquo;s structure of the German ICEM affiliate, IGBCE. In Ghana and Uganda training workshops were organised for shop stewards and negotiators on building capacity for bargaining on HIV/AIDS issues. 
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Labour&rsquo;s Role at the International AIDS Conference 
 
Trade unions and the ILO played an important role at the 18th International AIDS Conference (IAC), which was held in Vienna, Austria, in July. Some 25,000 scientists, health professionals, representatives of governments, and AIDS activists met for this Conference which takes place every two years. 
 
During the Labour Forum, organised by the Global Union AIDS Programme (GUAP) and the &Ouml;GB, the Austrian trade union centre, labour&rsquo;s participants were prepared for their different roles and interventions during the Conference. 
 
ILO/AIDS organised a tripartite Workplace Forum during which Jan Eastman, GUAP Chairperson also spoke. The ILO launched the implementation phase of the newly adopted Recommendation concerning HIV and AIDS and the world of work. Numerous other events included trade union speakers and displays gave examples of union HIV/AIDS materials. 
 
Medical advances in treatment have made great progress since the HI virus was discovered almost 30 years ago. Early treatment can effectively reduce the viral load (see also article below). A precondition for this is early testing. 
 
Behaviour change has also contributed to a reduction in new infections. South African Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe underlined that a change of policies has led to a decline in infections. He, like many others, pleaded that world leaders renew their commitment to universal access for HIV/AIDS treatment, especially in view of the fact that funds have fallen flat during the economic recession. 
 
The ICEM was represented at the IAC by Charlotte Nguessan, HIV/AIDS Coordinator for Francophone countries based in Abidjan. 
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UNAIDS: 10 Million Death, 1 Million New Infections Could be averted 
 
The UNAIDS Outlook Report 2010 outlines a radically simplified HIV treatment platform called Treatment 2.0 that could decrease the number of AIDS-related deaths drastically and could also greatly reduce the number of new HIV infections. 
 
Treatment 2.0 is a new approach to simplify the way HIV treatment is currently provided and to scale up access to life saving medicines. Using a combination of efforts it could bring down treatment costs, make treatment regimens simpler and smarter, reduce the burden on health systems, and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and their families. Modelling suggests that compared with current treatment approaches, Treatment 2.0 could avert an additional ten million deaths by 2025. 
 
In addition, the new approach could also reduce new HIV infections by up to one million annually if countries provide antiretroviral therapy to all people in need, following revised WHO treatment guidelines. Today, only five million of the 15 million people in need are accessing these life-saving medicines. 
 
A supplement to the report also shows that young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution. HIV prevalence among young people has declined by more than 25% in 15 of the 25 countries most affected by AIDS. In eight countries&mdash;C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe&mdash;significant HIV prevalence declines have been accompanied by positive changes in sexual behaviour among young people. 
 
For example, in Kenya there was a 60% decline in HIV prevalence between 2000 and 2005. HIV prevalence dropped from 14.2% to 5.4% in urban areas and from 9.2% to 3.6% in rural areas in the same period. Similarly in Ethiopia, there was a 47% reduction in HIV prevalence among pregnant young women in urban areas and a 29% change in rural areas. 
 
The report was launched in Geneva ahead of the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna. It is available on the UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>. 
 
(Sources: UNAIDS Press Statement, Geneva, 13 July) 
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Knowing Your HIV Status through Workplace Initiative 
 
A Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centre opened at the Primary Health Clinic at Jikwoy in Abuja, Nigeria, on 5 July 2010 under the Building Workplace Capacity to Combat HIV/AIDS in Nigeria Project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The new Clinic will cater to the needs of workers willing to know their HIV/AIDS status in the area and is part of the Project launched in July 2009 by the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) in partnership with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). 
 
The workplace initiative in Nigeria implemented by TUC Aid is designed to contribute to a reduction in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, better protection and promotion of employment and human rights of workers infected with or affected by HIV and AIDS, and to the elimination of stigma and discrimination against them. Six affiliates of the NLC in the Education and Health Sectors are taking part in it. It is hoped that the establishment of the VCT Centre will enable workers and their families to know their status and seek counselling, treatment, and care at an early stage. 
 
In many parts of the world, trade unions combating HIV/AIDS through workplace action have played a decisive role in overcoming the initial reluctance of workers to come forward for testing. The current VCT initiative in Abuja follows the successful completion of a pilot project in 2009 funded by TUC Aid in the Ashanti Region, Ghana, in collaboration with the Timber and Woodworkers' Union (TWU). 
 
(Source: TUC Briefing Document issued 12 July)
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Glaxo, Pfizer Joint Venture Opens HIV Pipeline to Generic Companies 
 
ViiV Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer's joint venture company for AIDS drugs, is opening its entire product line-up to generic drug makers working in the world's poorest countries. 
 
The announcement, on the eve of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, means generic companies will be able to obtain royalty-free voluntary licences for all current ViiV products, as well as products still in development. 
 
The move would help drive down the cost of second-line treatments for HIV, which will be needed increasingly as more people in poor countries develop resistance to cheaper first-line drugs. 
 
The ViiV offer is open to 69 countries, including all least-developed countries, all low-income countries and the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. ViiV, which was launched last November, pools the two drug makers' HIV/AIDS businesses into a new company, owned 85% by Glaxo and 15% by Pfizer. 
 
(Sources: Reuters, 16 July as reported in Pambazuka News 490) 
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South Africa: Counsellors to Give &lsquo;The Prick&rsquo; 
 
Lay counsellors in South Africa can now legally perform HIV tests, but delays in paying them and shortages of test kits are threatening a national campaign to scale up voluntary HIV testing and counselling (VCT). 
 
Before new regulations came into effect in May 2010, only nurses were allowed to administer finger-prick HIV tests, but AIDS activists had long argued that this not only added to an already heavy work load and could also hamstring the VCT campaign aiming to test 15 million South Africans by 2011. 
 
South Africa's public health system is struggling to cope with one of the world's worst HIV epidemics, as well as a shortage of doctors and nurses. The South African Nursing Council estimates that the country has about one registered nurse for every 440 patients. 
 
South Africa's new legislation requires counsellors to undergo three hours of training before being added to a database of healthcare providers allowed to perform &quot;the prick&quot;. 
 
Malawi and Zambia, faced with even worse health worker shortages, have put HIV testing in the hands of trained lay counsellors, a strategy known as &quot;task-shifting.&quot; 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 9 July) 
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Global Fund: OIG Identifies Shortcomings in Rounds-Based Grant Application Process 
 
The Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a wide-ranging, 107-page audit report in April 2010, &quot;The OIG Review of the Global Fund Grant Application Process.&quot; 
 
The report made six key observations: 1. The way that calls for proposals in the rounds-based channel are structured is inconsistent with the Global Fund principle of supporting country-driven programmes; 2. While a good proposal may be fitted into the Global Fund's proposal form, it is by no means clear that a proposal would be significantly shaped and improved by following the form; 3. There is little scope for the Board to provide assurance on the financial soundness of proposals; 4. After seven years of activity, the Global Fund's relationship with its partners remains poorly defined and even, in some ways, uncomfortable; 5. The present obscurity of the deliberations of the Technical Review Panel (TRP) represents something of a contrast to the rest of the Global Fund's business model; and 6. The current grant application process impairs the ability of the Global Fund Board to set policy and strategy. 
 
The report further comments on the high rejection rate of proposals; the lack of Global Fund presence in-country; the limitations of the screening process; the timing of principal recipient assessments; and the lack of investment in forging and maintaining more effective relations with partners as well as the roles of the Fund's Country Programs staff and the TRP. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 127 of 24 June. 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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Not the Universal Access We Are Campaigning For 
 
Authorities in the Arusha region of Tanzania are investigating the case of a hospital which is alleged to distribute expired medicines to HIV patients. Apparently the anti-retroviral drugs at the faith-based hospital were imported as donations not going through the Medical Supplies Department of the Tanzanian government. 
 
One of the patients who were given expired antiretroviral drugs has started suffering contraindicative complications including rashes, blisters, and periodical fever. There is fear that the expired drugs could be harmful to other patients in the region without them knowing, and officials suspect that other private hospitals could be still issuing them. 
 
The ARVs had an expiry date of December 2009 and were still given out in the first half of 2010. 
 
(Source: Daily News, Dar Es Salaam, 8 July) 
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News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 90 of 15 July on its HIV/AIDS work with civil aviation workers in Ecuador. It also gives a preview of HIV/AIDS workshops to be held at the ITF Congress in Mexico City in August. 
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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. 59/60, August/September 2010

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At the 26th Constitutional Convention of the US&rsquo;s largest national labour center last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, delegates elected Richard Trumka as president. Trumka, a member of ICEM-affiliated United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA), had been serving as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO since 1995. 
 
A third generation miner from western Pennsylvania, Trumka pledged to reinvigorate the American labour movement by recruiting more young people into the ranks of organised labour. In his acceptance speech, Trumka promised to build &ldquo;a new kind of labour movement &ndash; one shaped to meet the needs of Americans in a changing economy.&rdquo; 
 
Trumka succeeds John Sweeney of the Office, Professional Workers&rsquo; Union, who retired after three terms as head of the AFL-CIO. A labour attorney by training, Trumka worked in the Legal Department of the UMWA starting in 1974. In 1982, he was elected as president of the UMWA, a position he held until joining Sweeney as part of a new AFL-CIO leadership team in 1995.
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Arlene Holt-Baker, Richard Trumka, and Liz Shuler&nbsp; 
 

Elected last week to replace Trumka as secretary-treasurer of the 56-union, ten-million-member federation was Liz Shuler, a member of the Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union (IBEW) from the state of Oregon. She served most recently as executive assistant to the president of the IBEW. Elected as executive vice president was Arlene Holt-Baker. A member of the public employees&rsquo; union, AFSCME, she has held that position since 2007 after being appointed by the AFL-CIO Executive Council . 
 
Among some 70 resolutions passed, two dealt with Iraq. One called on US President Barack Obama&rsquo;s administration to use its influence on the Iraqi government to adopt internationally-accepted work rights, including passage of an ILO-written labour law that assures the legitimacy of trade unions in Iraq. The other calls on the US government to end its military occupation and bring a speedy withdrawal home of both troops and US armed contractors from the Middle Eastern country. 
 
Another resolution calls on the US to sanction the military regime in Honduras by withdrawing the US ambassador, freezing assets of those responsible for the June 2009 coup, and for the US government to seriously consider suspending all trade with Honduras until Manuel Zeleya is restored as President of a democratic Honduras.

US Mineworker, Richard Trumka, Elected Head of AFL-CIO

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ICEM French affiliate F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie-Energie (FCE-CFDT) denounced market reforms that the government of France recently announced and has planned for EDF, the state-run electricity provider. In a statement issued 17 September, FCE-CFDT said reforms proposed by the government would put at risk the entire enterprise if it had to share revenues from nuclear generation with competitors.
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Electricity market reform in France, with a proposed effective date of 1 July 2010, would destabilize the company, FCE-CFDT warns, with competitors able to buy power at rates far below EDF&rsquo;s production costs. The union said such reforms would also prevent the competition from engaging in their own investments, and calls for a plan that would mandate all electricity providers to make investments. 
 
Further, FCE-CFDT states that although there are supposed safeguards in the reform plan, nothing in the plan would protect consumers from electricity price hikes. The union is calling for the French energy regulatory body, the Commission Champsaur, to re-work its proposals, giving redress to economic development issues, social cohesion, and climate change challenges.

FCE-CFDT Issues Caution Against French Electric Reform Concerning EDF

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The profitable electrical and gas distributor National Grid Plc. has provoked industrial actions in the UK with plans to outsource service work to India. British trade unions GMB and Unison, representing some 2,500 workers, are planning further strike actions in company operations in the near future. 
 
The first such strike, a 24-hour one, occurred on 11 September when workers at a service center in Newcastle walked off jobs and manifested at a public square. Some 181 invoicing, procurement, and other jobs could be lost in Newcastle if National Grid gets its way to offshore jobs. Hundreds of other jobs are at risk in the company fulfills its planned agenda.
<img src="" width="140" height="139" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
Further job actions likely will occur in Warwick and Newcastle. National Grid is the major owner and operator of electric grid distribution and gas distribution in England and Wales, serving 52 million customers. It also controls lucrative electric and gas distribution networks through its private enterprises in the US. 
 
GMB National Secretary Gary Smith says it is &ldquo;absolutely immoral&rdquo; that the company would consider turning its back on UK workers and transferring work to India. &ldquo;It is a shameful example of corporate greed that a hugely profitable UK business is threatening to sack loyal and dedicated staff.&rdquo; 
 
National Grid posted profits of &pound;3 billion in 2008 and the company and workers have identified &pound;3 million in cost savings. Yet, National Grid has already narrowed a search to two contract companies that would outsource the service work to India. 
 
GMB and Unison are getting strong support from North American ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). In a recent trip to the US, Smith met with UWUA-represented workers employed by National Grid subsidiaries in the state of Massachusetts, and engaged first-hand with the UWUA in is first contract battle with waste-to-energy company Covanta. ICEM-affiliated GMB, as well as other UK unions, have assisted the UWUA in bringing to light Covanta&rsquo;s derisive anti-worker practices in the US just as the company attempts to expand into the UK.
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In a letter to GMB&rsquo;s Commercial Services Section, UWUA President Michael Langford called National Grid &ldquo;one of the most profitable, privatised monopolies in the world.&rdquo; He added, &ldquo;In our view, it is unacceptable (for the company) to turn its back on the employees who have sacrificed so much to make National Grid a success.&rdquo; 
 
On 7 September, GMB and Unison counted ballots, revealing a 97% vote for industrial action. Those strikes likely will occur in the coming weeks if the electric/gas distributor does not retreat from its outsourcing plans.

UK Unions GMB, Unison Begin Industrial Actions Against National Grid

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The ICEM extends its condolences to the families of miners killed and injured in a deadly Polish mine explosion on Friday, 18 September, as well as to all mining unions representing workers at the Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW) company. 
 
A methane gas explosion followed by a fire at KHW&rsquo;s Wujek-Slask mine in the coal-dominated Silesa region of southwestern Poland killed 13, and seriously injured 18 other miners with severe burns. A total of 40 miners were hospitalized following the explosion. 
 
The deadly blast and fire, Poland&rsquo;s second worst in recent years, ripped through mine shafts 1,050 metres underground at mid-morning on Friday near the town of Ruda Slaska. 
 
The Polish government has declared today and Tuesday, 22 September, a two-day national period of mourning due to the horrible workplace tragedy.
<img src="" width="120" height="120" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
 
A Polish website, Pracownik, reported that a miner at the Wujek-Slask colliery made a video last April, showing methane measurements over four times the levels that are considered safe from such an accident occurring. The video was aired on a Polish TV station late Friday. 
 
Mine-safety activists in Poland hinted that any investigation must centre on whether or not methane reading instruments inside shafts had been tampered with in order to boost production. 
 
State-run KHW had merged the Wujek and Slash collieries in 2004 into a single enterprise in order to save costs. In November 2006, 23 miners perished in another Ruda Slaska mine called Halemba, owned by the state-operated Kampania Weglowa (KW). This was the worst Polish mine tragedy in three decades. The Halemba mine had been idled for eight months then, and the company had sent workers 1,000 metres below the surface to retrieve equipment when the blast occurred.

13 Perish in Poland’s Worst Coal Mine Disaster Since 2006

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Upwards of 30,000 trade unionists manifested in the streets of Switzerland&rsquo;s capital, Bern, Saturday, 19 September, in what the national general workers&rsquo; union, Unia, billed as a day in which workers declare, &ldquo;We Will Not Pay for the Crisis. The manifestation, sponsored by all Swiss trade unions, was intended to serve notice to a Parliament that it must adopt new policies to secure work, wages, and pensions in the face of the global economic crisis. 
 
The manifestation, in terms of sheer numbers, exceeded the expectations of Unia organisers. The union made plans for 20,000 demonstrators. Marches began in three different locations in Berne, and then converged at the Parliament House.
<img alt="" src="" width="330" height="220" />
&copy;Thierry Porchot&nbsp; 

The battle cry heard throughout the afternoon was the Swiss working class will not double-pay on a crisis it did not cause; meaning job reductions and the dismantling of social safety nets will not be tolerated. Speaker after speaker said the economic crisis was caused by greed and a blind faith that markets could regulate themselves. Speakers called for an end to erosion of social security systems and instead called on the government to restore safety nets to all people living in Switzerland. 
 
We are against a policy in which CHF 68 billion in government money is invested in UBS,&rdquo; said Paul Rechsteiner, President of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation (SGB), adding that the bank last week refused to implement effective measures against the crisis. 
 
The unemployment rate in Switzerland has now climbed over the 4% mark, which is considered high by Swiss standards.
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="173" />
&nbsp;&copy;Thierry Porchot
Now is the time, asserts Unia, that effective measures must be undertaken to inject money into jobs and training, including programmes on youth employment, and extending options for shortened work hours at full pay. Unia also calls for adequate wage increases across Switzerland in 2010 in order to spur purchasing power. 
 
The manifestation culminated a week of action aimed at instituting a Swiss social order that focuses on people, not profits and greed. On Monday, 14 September, Rechsteiner told a press conference that Swiss workers demand decent wages and decent conditions of work, as well as a functioning system of social security.

30,000 Take to Streets in Bern Demanding Fairness in Economic Crisis

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Some 3,000 people crowded into the Sudbury, Ontario, ice hockey arena on 19 September and enthusiastically greeted global trade union leaders in what was billed as an &ldquo;International and Community Rally in Support of Sudbury&rsquo;s Strikers.&rdquo; 
 
International union leaders, including ICEM&rsquo;s Manfred Warda, Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina, Sharan Burrow, President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, joined others to tell striking miners of the United Steelworkers (USW) that their nine-week strike against Vale has gained worldwide attention, and brought trade union pressure on Vale in all its global operations. 
 
&ldquo;Your struggle has now got the support and attention of the entire global union movement,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s Warda. &ldquo;This conflict now has a global dimension, from nickel miners in Indonesia to mining communities in Africa and, of course, to miners and metalworkers in Brazil, this fight is now our fight, and we will assist in every way possible for a sustainable future for you and your families here in northern Ontario.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="320" height="240" />
USW Local 6500 President John Fera, with rally speakers behind him&nbsp;
The strike started on 13 July after USW Locals 6500 in Sudbury and Local 6200 in Port Colborne, joined in a common labour contract, gave the world&rsquo;s number two nickel producer a ten-week extension back in May. But instead of reaching agreement, based on Vale&rsquo;s vast profit margins despite the global downturn, managers of nickel entity Vale-Inco pressed ahead with concession-ridden proposals that would deflate the livelihoods of 3,500 workers and their families in Sudbury and in Port Colborne, 400 kilometres south on Lake Erie. 
 
Those concessionary proposals, still on the table, include retirement reductions, a two-tiered pension scheme, steep downgrades to a production bonus, and loss of value in cost-of-living adjustments. As well, Vale-Inco is seeking greater flexibility on outsourcing, standing as a serious affront to job security. 
 
On 1 August, 450 workers of USW Local 9508 in Voiseys Bay, Labrador, struck. Miners and smelter workers there, employed at Vale&rsquo;s nickel, copper, and cobalt mines and a processing enterprise, are under a separate labour agreement than the one in Ontario, but Vale&rsquo;s income-wrecking proposals are the same. 
 
Saturday&rsquo;s rally by the USW was meant to show strikers &ndash; as well as the rest of Canada and the world&rsquo;s mining industry &ndash; that global labour will stand together to prevent a prosperous mining house from boosting its profit sheet at the expense of workers.
<img alt="" src="" width="340" height="255" />
From left: USW's Leo Gerard; Carolyn Kazdin, USW rep in Brazil; Eduardo Fernando Jardim Pinto (STEFEM-Brazil); and Ken Neumann, USW Canadian Director&nbsp;and ICEM Vice President&nbsp; 

Those attending the rally were energized and excited to hear speakers from across the globe come to northern Ontario to address their issues. 
 
USW President Leo Gerard, who opened the rally, said the Brazilian company picked the wrong group of workers to start a fight with. &ldquo;This strike will determine what kind of future we&rsquo;ll have, and what kind of future our kids and grandkids will have,&rdquo; said Gerard, a native of Sudbury and a member of USW Local 6500. 
 
Following Gerard, Burrow, who also heads the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), told those assembled, &ldquo;You are standing up to the biggest corporate bully in the world. Congratulations &hellip; you are standing up for yourselves, for your children, and for your community.&rdquo; 
 
Another trade union leader, Artur Henrique da Silva Santos, President of Brazil&rsquo;s Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT), said Vale is not living up to the &ldquo;big deal it makes about corporate social responsibilities&rdquo; by its assault on workers in Canada, and vowed that Brazilian workers will stand with the USW throughout and beyond this fight.
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="195" />
Jack Layton, national leader of the Canadian NDP party, brought striking steelworkers and their families to their feet when he said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to win this battle, my friends.&rdquo; This company &ldquo;cannot take away what working people have built over generations in this country and this town.&rdquo; 
 
Other speakers included General Secretary Jorge Campos of the Brazilian mining union Sindimina-RJ (CNTSM), who is secretary of the Vale Union Network of Workers, and Paul Talbot, Assistant General Secretary of Unite the Union from the Amicus Section in the UK. 
 
USW National Canadian Director Ken Neumann said, &ldquo;We recognise that the only way we&rsquo;re going to win this strike is we&rsquo;re going to need the support from our allies around the world.&rdquo; With Saturday&rsquo;s showing of international union leaders, there is little question that global support for the Canadian strikers is alive, with trade union pressure worldwide beginning to mount against Vale. 
 
More coverage on the strike can be found at <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a>.

Canadian Nickel Strikers Receive Global Union Leaders in Sudbury, Ontario

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Ugandan trade unions have brought to light de-humanising work conditions imposed by foreign investors in some of the country&rsquo;s workplaces. In a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni in Entebbe on 1 September, leaders of the Central Organisation of Free Trade Unions (COFTU) said abuse of workers and mistreatment is increasingly on the rise in private businesses controlled by outside investors. 
 
Although COFTU did not name employers, the worst of the abusive practices were by small businesses. Dr Sam Lyomoki, COTFU&rsquo;s General Secretary and a member of the Uganda Parliament, presented a petition to the President that outlined general shortcomings in pay and work conditions, as well as failure by some employers to remit income tax and social security deductions to the government. 
 
But the biggest shock came when labour leaders told of denigrating practices imposed by bosses on workers. Specific incidents were cited. One involved a small-business owner who forced an employee to mop an office floor with her tongue. Another boss in a food and detergent manufacturing plant locked a female worker in a toilet in retaliation for her using the toilet before a scheduled break. 
 
Reports said Museveni was visibly shaken upon hearing such accounts. He ordered the Labour Ministry to immediately investigate the abuses. He also told the trade union federation that he would support establishment of labour institutes within the country that would monitor employer misconduct, as well as safeguard workers&rsquo; health and safety. 

&nbsp;

Degrading Work Abuses Brought Forward in Uganda

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Women of Steel, the women&rsquo;s organization of ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), has called on the US government to take stronger action against the Honduran military, following the 28 June coup of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya. 
 
The union&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s group pointed to at least 19 cases of rape by police officers since the coup began, and cited a report by Feministas de Honduras en Resistencia that said police are using rape and other forms of sexual assault against women leaders of the resistance to blunt a return to democracy. 
 
In a 31 August letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Women of Steel Director Ann Flener said, &ldquo;We call upon you and President Obama to denounce the repression and basic human rights violations being carried out by the current illegitimate government and to take all necessary steps to restore President Zelaya, including the withdrawal of the US Ambassador to Honduras; the end of all economic assistance to the coup regime, including monies granted by the Millennium Challenge Corp., and to freeze all assets of the coup leaders. 
 
&ldquo;As women, we ask you to speak out and stand up against this violence against women &hellip;&rdquo; The letter also asked Secretary of State Clinton to denounce the gender violence in Honduras, similar to her denouncement of violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
<img src="" width="300" height="130" alt="" />
Some of USW's Women of Steel&nbsp;
The letter was copied to President Barack Obama, US First Lady Michelle Obama, 17 women members of the US Senate, and several other US government officials. 
 
While the US government has verbally called for the return to power of Zelaya, it has officially refrained from terming the overthrow a coup, which would legally require it to suspend all economic and military aid. The US is Honduras&rsquo;s chief trade partner. 
 
Most European Union governments have withdrawn their ambassadors, and EU countries in total have suspended US$90 million in aid to the Central American country. 
 
On 30 July, Carlos Reyes, General Secretary of International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers&rsquo; (IUF) affiliated STIBYS, was brutally attacked by Honduran police squads while he was peacefully protesting the military coup in the northern city of Tegucigalpa. Reyes, an IUF Executive Committee member, suffered a severely broken arm and other serious injuries. 

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USW Women call on US Government to Take Definitive Action in Honduras

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A summer-long Korean labour dispute that spiraled into a 25 August lockout by Kumho Tire Co. at three manufacturing plants was resolved Saturday, 5 September, when South Korea&rsquo;s second largest tyre maker and the Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union of the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU) reached a compromise settlement. 
 
That compromise will preserve 733 of 4,000 jobs that Kumho had proposed be cut. The union, in turn, will extend a 2008 wage freeze through 2009. The Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union also agreed to forego scheduled 2008 bonuses, with talks over 2009 bonus schemes to be held in the first quarter of 2010. 
 
The dispute began in June when management demanded another wage freeze, non-payment of bonuses, a job-sharing plan that would cut work hours, thus reducing salaries between 20-to-30%, and the redundancies, totaling 18% of the entire workforce. The union then began a series of industrial actions, and was prepared to escalate job actions after Kumho reported its restructuring plan to the Ministry of Labour on 24 August.
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Instead, the company imposed lockouts at tyre facilities in Gwangju, Gwanngju province, Gokseong, South Jeolla province, and Pyeonggtaek, Gyeonggi province. When Kumho lifted the lockouts some ten days later, workers embarked on sit-in strike actions. Those ended at the weekend with the negotiated compromise. 
 
The union also retreated on a &ldquo;no work/no pay&rdquo; demand by Kumho for the strike days, and salaries will not be paid during periods of strike. The dispute mirrored some of the negative results from the recent Ssangyong Motor struggle. 
 
Kumho Tire is part of the conglomerate Kumho Asiana Group, a holding company that took on massive debt in 2006 with the purchase of Daewoo Engineering &amp; Construction Co. The group&rsquo;s debt-to-equity ratio rose five-fold and Kumho has tried to reduce debt by reducing labour costs. 
 
Kumho Tire has severed its workforce by 130 each year since ill-advised purchase of Daewoo, but last year, in July, a four-day strike by the Kumho Tire Workers&rsquo; Union convinced the company to withdraw 431 announced redundancies. In the past year, however, Kumho opened its second plant in China, a truck and bus tyre facility in the city of Nanjing. 
 
The Tire Workers&rsquo; Union, through the KMWU, is affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). 

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Korean Tyre Dispute at Kumho Ends in Compromise

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