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Calling the work-lives of temporary and agency workers in the UK the &ldquo;dark underbelly&rdquo; of British society, Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber gave the issue of contract and agency labour prominence on the opening day of the TUC Congress, 9 September, in Brighton. 
 
Setting out specific instances of temporary or contract worker abuse in the UK, Barber called for new labour rights to be given to such workers in Britain. And in his keynote address to Congress, just prior to Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaking, Barber called on his government to quit the stalling, and endorse the EU Directive on Temporary and Agency Workers. 
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TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
&ldquo;Since we launched the commission on vulnerable employment,&rdquo; Barber said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve met so many victims of unfair, systematic exploitation. 
 
&ldquo;There are so many issues to tackle in this dark underbelly of British life,&rdquo; stated Barber. &ldquo;I urge the government to deliver the promised European directive to give agency workers justice and dignity,&rdquo; he said. 
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In 2004, the Warwick agreement was made in the UK, which was aimed at providing equal employment rights for temporary and agency workers, and to support the EU Directive. Even though the Blair government pledged to do so, it never did. The TUC has now called on the Brown government to not only support the directive, but also to pass UK laws giving temporary and agency workers full employment rights.

UK’s TUC Congress Calls on Government to Adopt EU Directive

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One year ago, New Zealand&rsquo;s labour unions, led by its national centre, the Council of Trade Union (NZCTU), successfully prevented a regressive bill from becoming law. The so-called Probationary Employment Amendment Bill would have made it easy for employers to hire and then sack temporary workers during their first 90 days of employment. 
 
The unions did it with mass demonstrations and outreach to many groupings that effectively generated mass support among New Zealanders. 
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Now labour unions and the CTU are pushing for passage of legislation that would aid contract workers. The Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill is now before the Parliament, and the measure has a good change of passing. The proposed law would assure that people doing work under individual contracts are at least paid New Zealand&rsquo;s minimum wage. 
 
Currently, many of the people that are economically dependent on the sale of their labour are not defined by the law as employees, thus not afforded protections under the country&rsquo;s minimum wage law. 
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&ldquo;Most contractors in New Zealand are remunerated well above the minimum wage,&rdquo; stated CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont. &ldquo;But this bill would help certain groups of workers who are being unfairly disadvantaged by contracting relationships, and are being paid below the minimum wage.&rdquo; 
 
Added Beaumont, &ldquo;The minimum wage marks a minimum standard in New Zealand that is considered acceptable for anyone being paid for their efforts. That standard deserves to be extended to everyone.&rdquo; 
 
The bill was introduced in July and received its first reading late in August. It could pass NZ&rsquo;s Parliament next month.

New Zealand Labour Pushing Law to Protect Contract Workers

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A Youth Action Day by German affiliate IGBCE, on 19 September, produced a commitment by the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia to create 205 training positions, funded at &euro;10,000 each, to offset lost employment opportunities from the recent agreement in the coal industry. 
 
The commitment came after youth leaders of the IGBCE met with North-Rhine/Westphalia Employment Minister Karl Josef Laumann. 
 
Some 2,000 students and young workers of IGBCE&rsquo;s Youth Network protested in D&uuml;sseldorf on that day. They came from youth committees from several German companies, including BASF and Evonik Industries. Evonik is the new publicly-traded company created from state coal company RAG. It comprises RAG&rsquo;s power stations, chemicals, and real estate businesses, and was formed in discussions on the future of Germany&rsquo;s coal industry. 
&nbsp;<img height="133" src="" width="100" alt="" />
IGBCE's Michael Vassiliadis
&ldquo;The actions of the young workers of our union have made this a success,&rdquo; said Michael Vassiliadis, head of IGBCE&rsquo;s Youth Activities. &ldquo;Now we will undertake all efforts so that the 205 young persons will be afforded the opportunity to start their work lives with the necessary training.&rdquo; 
 
The IGBCE stressed that the &euro;10,000-per-job commitment from the state will fund only part of the training. Funds have been set aside for this purpose from the hard-coal agreement, and the union said social partners from the employer side must step forward to provide additional training funds.

IGBCE Youth Action Network Wins Training Positions

The ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers in the Mining and Energy sectors, has expressed deep concern over the mine tragedy in the central Donbass region of the Ukraine that occurred yesterday. The Geneva-based federation of trade unions understands the Karl Marx mine near Yenakiyevo to be a low producer of coal and questions whether necessary safety and methane-detection equipment were in place at the time of the blast. 
 
The ICEM has reached out to one of its mining union affilates in the country, the Coal Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), whose members work this particularly mine. The mine produces a low-yield tonnage of coal each day and has a steep gradient of coal veins, which could enhance safety risks if proper safeguards are not met. 
 
&ldquo;We understand this particular mine is barely economically viable, and we question why this mine was even operating,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Certainly any mining operation that produces coal in Ukraine should and must have proper methane detection devices and other modern safety equipment in place,&rdquo; he added.
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This is the second major mine tragedy to have occurred in the Ukraine in the past seven months, and the ICEM calls on the government of the country to take immediate steps toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
In the ICEM letter to PRUPU today, the Global Union Federation expressed condolences to the families of miners who have died and extended &ldquo;our greatest hope that rescue efforts will succeed for those who might still be alive inside the mine. 
 
&ldquo;The 20-million-member ICEM stands behind PRUPU in calling on the new Minister of Coal and other Ukrainian authorities to conduct a full investigation of this tragedy.&rdquo; 
 
The Geneva-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) represents, on a global level, 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, including some 125 national unions in the mining sector.

ICEM Expresses Concern over Latest Ukrainian Coal Mine Blast

In this issue the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin gives information on the procedure leading to the ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. It also takes up the International AIDS Conference, to be held in Mexico City in August.
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The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already 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 hiv.aids@icem.org. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome.
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ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work 
 
In March 2007, the Governing Body of the ILO decided to place on the agenda of the International Labour Conferences for 2009 and 2010 an item intended for &ldquo;the development of an autonomous Recommendation on HIV and AIDS in the world of work.&rdquo; 
 
The ILO has begun work towards the adoption of a Recommendation in 2010. Under the Constitution and Standing Orders, five reports have to be prepared within specific time limits, with each report to contain specific information. The first report, called a &ldquo;Law and Practice Report,&rdquo; provides an overview of national and international measures taken with respect to HIV/AIDS. This report was published and sent to governments in January 2008. 
 
The Law and Practice Report, which is available at <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>, also contains a questionnaire to which governments, in consultation with employers&rsquo; and workers&rsquo; organisations, are to provide replies to the ILO by the end of July 2008. Consultation usually occurs through national trade union centres. 
The ICEM calls on its affiliates to get fully involved in this process and make sure that substantive replies, with comments which reflect the views of workers, are provided in time. It is only in this way that the second report, which will be prepared by the ILO on the basis of the replies received, reflects the views of workers and their unions. It is worth noting that workers&rsquo; organisations may also provide their comments directly to the ILO. 
(The item above appeared already in the May issue of the e-bulletin. Because of the importance of the campaign, it is repeated here) 

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17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, 3 &ndash; 8 August 
 
The International AIDS Conference (IAC), organised by the Geneva-based International AIDS Society, takes place every two years. The last one was organised in Toronto in August 2006. The Conference is the largest meeting on HIV/AIDS worldwide. Some 25,000 scientists, politicians and activists are expected to participate in the event. This year&rsquo;s IAC is first ever held in Latin America. 
 
Conference organisers are developing a wide variety of plenary sessions around the theme, &ldquo;Universal Action Now.&rdquo; In addition to these sessions there are satellite meetings, exhibitions, and the Global Village. 
 
It is important that union HIV/AIDS activists participate in this event so that labour&rsquo;s voice is heard. In Toronto, the labour movement was well represented, highlighting the impact of HIV and AIDS on the workplace and emphasising the role of workers&rsquo; organisations in fighting the pandemic. 
 
As in Toronto, the Conference in Mexico will be preceded by a Labour AIDS Forum organised by the Global Union AIDS Programme. The Labour Forum will prepare union representatives for their role in the IAC and will deal with topics such as the challenges at the workplace and raising resources at national level. 
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Botswana Mine Company Launches HIV Survey 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Botswana Mine Workers' Union (BMWU) is involved in an HIV prevalence survey launched by BLC mine to determine whether current prevention efforts are effective. 
 
The exercise will enable the company to have data on the size and distribution of the epidemic among its workforce, and also to help management assess the dynamic and growth of the epidemic since the last survey in 2003. It will also enable BCL to re-plan its interventions, including resource mobilisation for the programmes if the outcome indicates that the current prevention efforts have been ineffective. 
 
The survey of all employees is an anonymous exercise and is not a substitute to voluntary counselling and testing. 
 
(Source: Africa News, 29 May from The Reporter, Botswana) 
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South African Military AIDS Policy Faces Court Challenge 
 
The South African military's blanket exclusions of HIV positive members is not medically justified and ignores government policy. A lawyer for the South African Security Forces Union, which is attempting to force the military to review its HIV/AIDS policy, said the army had failed to implement its own and the government's policies. 
 
&quot;The HIV policy adopted by the cabinet in relation to the military and the Department of Defence is not consistent with the policy implemented by the SANDF (South African National Defence Forces),&quot; lawyer Gilbert Marcus told a hearing at the high court in Pretoria. &quot;The cabinet has adopted a policy that HIV status should not exclude candidates from appointments to the SANDF, although it may preclude their appointment to positions that require extreme physical fitness.&quot; 
 
President Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang are respondents, alongside the military. 
 
According to Marcus, the SANDF has admitted that some 23 percent of its members are HIV positive. &quot;It is simply impossible at this stage to have an HIV-free defence force. The question is how we accommodate this.&quot; 
 
(Source: Pretoria News, 15 May) 
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PEPFAR Re-authorisation 
 
Treatment clients from free clinics run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in South Africa, Botswana, and Rwanda lobbied US legislators to ensure that access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment remains a key component of PEPFAR. 
 
The PEPFAR legislation, which is up for re-authorisation by the US Congress, currently requires that a minimum of 55% of funds be spent on treatment, a provision that has been completely removed from the re-authorisation bill. The group also calls for a significant increase in PEPFAR's treatment goals &ndash; up only 50% in the re-authorisation despite a 330% increase in overall PEPFAR funding. 
 
PEPFAR was the result of the 2003 State of the Union pledge to bring two million HIV positive Africans and others into treatment and prevent seven million new HIV infections via a five-year, $15 billion US-funded program. It currently operates in 15 focus countries and claims to support antiretroviral treatment for 1.4 million people worldwide. 
 
(Source: Africa News, 10 May) 
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The World Bank&rsquo;s Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS 
 
A World Bank report says African countries must continue to champion HIV prevention efforts to slow and reverse the rate of new infections. According to the report &ldquo;The World Bank&rsquo;s Commitment to HIV/AIDS in Africa: Our Agenda for Action, 2007-2011,&rdquo; for every infected person starting antiretroviral treatment, another four to six become newly infected, even as regional figures show falling prevalence in some countries. 
 
&ldquo;With AIDS the largest single cause of premature death in Africa, we can&rsquo;t talk about better, lasting development there without also committing to stay the course in the long-term fight against the disease,&rdquo; said Elizabeth Lule, Manager of the Bank&rsquo;s AIDS Team for Africa (ACTafrica). 
 
With this new Agenda for Action, the Bank is moving away from its initial &ldquo;emergency response.&rdquo; It would commit at least US$250 million a year over the five-year period for HIV/AIDS initiatives built on strategic objectives. It will also establish a grant incentive fund of US$5 million annually to promote capacity building, analysis, and HIV/AIDS project components in key sectors. 
 
(Source: World Bank Press Release, 14 May) 
 
Comment by the editor of the e-bulletin: 
While this long-term commitment is laudable, it is surprising that after the Global Union/World Bank consultations on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa in Washington in December 2007, workers&rsquo; organisations or trade unions are not even mentioned among the organisations which were consulted in devising this new strategy. It is also surprising that the World Bank stresses the importance of providing people with integrated health services when its policies over years have helped to dismantle public health systems. 
 
Following the consultations last December, the ICEM is pursuing a selective approach, in the sectors it represents, to get its affiliates involved in projects financed by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. The objective is to devise effective workplace activities and capacity building for unions. 
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ILO Says Caribbean Making Progress on AIDS in Workplace 
 
The &quot;Saving Lives, Protecting jobs&quot; report (see e-bulletin no. 32, May 2008) indicates that 70 enterprises in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago have implemented policies and HIV/AIDS education programmes to promote responsible sexual behaviour, and reduce the level of discrimination faced by people living with the disease. 
 
The report shows a 34% increase in awareness about HIV/AIDS services on the job among workers in the tourism, manufacturing, banking, and finance sectors, as well as taxi drivers. Guyana's largest employer, the Guyana Sugar Company, has been lauded for sustaining the initiatives it implemented five years ago.
It has adopted an HIV/AIDS workplace policy and offers HIV services to workers and managers. An official of the Guyana Trade Union Congress said that 78% of partnering enterprises in Guyana have allocated official working hours to HIV/AIDS education during the last six months. 
 
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were also praised for their efforts to target members of the informal economy. The governments of both countries have adopted national policies on HIV/AIDS and recently Trinidad and Tobago took it a step further by launching a National Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS. 
 
The ILO report, however, pointed out that despite the progress being made in some countries, the region continues to grapple with rising levels of infection, even as treatment reaches more people. The Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world, after Sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
(Source: Caribbean Media Corporation website, Bridgetown, 21 May) 
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Commentary: Dropping the Ball 
(The following is an abbreviated version of an article which appeared in the Global Fund Observer No. 87, 17 April 2008. It was written by Wycliffe Muga, a Kenyan journalist who is the BBC World Service&rsquo;s &ldquo;Letter from Africa&rdquo; correspondent) 
 
If you stopped an ordinary man in the street here in Kenya and told him that there is a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria which gives money to help Kenya fight the three diseases, he would probably be pleasantly surprised. For not many people here have any idea that such a fund exists. 
 
And if you then told him that at present, Kenya is only receiving about half of the money it could receive from this fund &ndash; not because the money is being diverted to private bank accounts, but because the people charged with preparing proposals and submitting them to the Fund have been unable to come up with proposals which are acceptable &ndash; the likely response would be one of outrage. 
 
In a country where far too many people die of the diseases which this money is intended to fight, anything less than a perfect proposal prepared well in advance would seem like criminal negligence. 
 
For each of Rounds 1 through 6, the Global Fund's announcing of its &ldquo;Call for Proposals&rdquo; led to a flurry of activity in most developing countries: CCMs met, task teams were put together and consultants were sought. As the deadline for proposal submission got closer, people got more and more frantic. 
It was largely because of this &ldquo;controlled chaos&rdquo; that the Fund agreed two years ago that the Call for Proposals will always be on March 1. Thus, people know months beforehand when the Call will be issued. The idea is to enable CCMs to spend those extra months planning what their forthcoming proposals will focus on and seeking technical support. 
 
So it came as a real surprise when one month AFTER this year's Call for Proposals, rather than two months BEFORE it, UNAIDS headquarters sent out an email to UNAIDS offices around the world, instructing them to take action supporting CCMs as they prepare their proposals and seek technical support. 
 
This was not some unexpected deadline which was arbitrarily imposed on the CCMs. It is a deadline that comes around every year, on a date that is known well in advance. How can it possibly be justified that this great effort is being made this late in the day? 
 
Everybody dropped the ball here &ndash; the civil society groups that pressured UNAIDS to take action, but didn't do so until well after the Call for Proposals; UNAIDS itself, for not getting moving on this until it was pushed by the civil society groups; and those many CCMs that delayed strategizing regarding their Global Fund applications until months later than they should. 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions 
 
The Global Union AIDS Programme is organising an HIV/AIDS African Regional Consultative and Planning Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 12-13 June. The ICEM will be represented by Project Management Assistant Paula Ndessomin. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS Update (No. 42 of 1 May 2008), the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) gives a detailed analysis on travel restrictions against people living with HIV. The creation of an International Task Team is a critical opportunity to move towards the elimination of all travel restrictions against HIV-positive people.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

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Twenty delegates from ten nations attended meetings in early May in Lom&eacute;, Togo, intended to lay the groundwork for dissolution of the former World Federation of Industry Workers&rsquo; (WFIW&rsquo;s) Pan African Federation of Industry Workers into the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Region. 
 
Resolutions were passed to that effect, and full integration of the two regional structures will occur at next week&rsquo;s ICEM regional meeting in Accra, Ghana. The meeting was attended by Italo Rodomonti, former WFIW General Secretary and ICEM Vice President, and Rayford Mbulu, ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Region Chairman, who also is President of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia.
<img height="110" src="" width="240" alt="" />
Togo&nbsp;
Among some of the resolutions passed includes a recommendation to establish networks within the ICEM region to counter the power of multinationals, and one asking the ICEM region to encourage synergy within countries between former WFIW trade unions and ICEM affiliates. Also, a recommendation was passed requesting observer status for the former WFIW regional unions on the ICEM&rsquo;s Presidium, Executive Committee, and Sub-Saharan African Regional Women&rsquo;s Committee. 
 
Former WFIW delegates attending the meetings came from Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leon, Morocco, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Rodomonti from Belgium and Jan Voets from ACV Hout en Bouw, also 
of Belgium.

Structure of Former WFIW Absorbed Into ICEM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Region

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Zonguldak is the capital of Turkey&rsquo;s hard coal region, an area in the West Black Sea region of the country. First production of coal was in 1848, after the mineral was first discovered by a soldier named Uzun Memet in 1845. 
And it was there, on 26-28 May, in which ICEM affiliate Genel Maden-İş co-hosted the 16th National Coal Congress of Turkey, called by union President Ramazan Denizer of the Zonguldak Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (Genel Maden-İş). ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda delivered the opening address. 
 
The Congress was also hosted by the Zonguldak Branch of the Mining Engineers Chamber, a 10,000-member organisation of mine technicians and engineers. The Zonguldak Branch numbers 1,200 engineers.
<img height="200" src="" width="300" alt="" />
Manfred Warda Speaking at the Turkey's Hard Coal Conference
Warda gave a detailed presentation on recent developments in the global coal industry, and presented conclusions from the late 2007 International Coal Mining Conference in Calcutta, India. The underlying fact, he said, is that while energy prices continue to increase, the demand for hard coal escalates. 
 
&ldquo;Subsidies for coal mines must be a joint decision by governments and by tax-payers as insurance against a future downturn,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;Without secure domestic coal production, we cannot secure our future energy supplies, and the security of our jobs and the industry.&rdquo; 
 
Warda then announced that the ICEM is in full support of 5,000-member Genel Maden-İş&rsquo;s position for more jobs in the growing production pits of Zonguldak. In the 1960s, 65,000 miners worked in the area. Today, that employment figure is 10,000. 
 
Turkey&rsquo;s hard coal production is 20 million tonnes per year, with 5.5 million tonnes used in domestic steel production.
<img height="173" src="" width="260" alt="" />
At grave of Semsi Denizer (At right, Maden-Is President Ramazan Denizer, younger brother of Comrade Semsi Denizer)
The ICEM General Secretary&rsquo;s visit drew large press attention, with Warda doing a live television broadcast. The visit also was personal for him, because he was present in Zonguldak in 1991 during a mass strike and protest march conducted by Genel Maden-İş. The ICEM leader visited the grave of strike leader Semsi Denizer, as well as to a memorial erected on behalf of the 4,500 miners who have perished in the region&rsquo;s mine pits.

ICEM Forefront at Turkey&#039;s Hard Coal Conference

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A statement distributed at the US shareholders&rsquo; meetings of ExxonMobil and Chevron by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), representing 30,000 workers at some ten oil and related enterprises connected to the Southern Oil Co., demands that the multinationals cease their lobbying efforts for an ill-advised Hydrocarbons Law in the Middle East nation. 
 
The IFOU also called on the world to support passage of a new Labour and Social Security Law in Iraq, and for the world community to press for repeal of two draconian decrees inside Iraq. The 1987 Public Law No. 150, a Saddam-era decree still enforced by the occupational forces, prohibits workers employed in the public sector, including ICEM sectors oil, gas, and electric generation and distribution, from joining or forming unions. 
 
And the occupation&rsquo;s own Decree No. 8750 severely limits trade unionism in Iraq by prohibiting trade unions from holding funds, and denies unions the legitimate right to collect dues and maintain assets.
<img height="266" alt="" src="" width="200" />
IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad 
In the statement, IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad said: 
 
&ldquo;The Ba&rsquo;athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect and continues to be enforced against us. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted, and assassinated. Our rights as workers are routinely violated. This is an attack on our rights and the basic precepts of a democratic society. It is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.&rdquo; 
 
In a four-point demand, IFOU seeks withdrawal of all foreign troops; passage of the Labour and Social Security law; an end to meddling in Iraq&rsquo;s economic affairs by the US, UK, International Monetary Fund, and energy multinationals; and an end to efforts to pass the oil law, a measure that will pour further profits into the pockets of oil companies, while denying the Iraqi people the necessary funds to rebuild their country. 
 
The ICEM also believes the Iraqi people are the ones who should decide and control their oil resources and revenues.
<img height="95" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In a mid-May letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) also called for passage of the 2006 draft labour law, which was drafted with the assistance of the ILO. ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder said the Iraqi government must allow for a pluralistic trade union framework, and said the proposed law is consistent with core global labour standards.

Iraqi Oil Union Makes Case at Shareholders’ Meet of Two US Supermajors

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Some 500 truck drivers of two contract firms attached to Royal Dutch Shell in the UK voted overwhelmingly for industrial action last week. The drivers, represented by Unite and employed by Hoyer and Suckling Shell, haul petrol and other refined products for the multinational across the UK. 
 
Ron Webb, Unite&rsquo;s National Secretary for Road Transport, said the votes &ndash; 95% at Hoyer and 87% at Suckling Shell &ndash; reflect drivers&rsquo; feelings of increasingly being short-changed. &ldquo;These drivers are paying a hefty price for Shell&rsquo;s stratospheric profits,&rdquo; said Webb, noting they work 48-hour weeks and take home a mere &pound;23,000 after taxes.
<img height="120" src="" width="120" alt="" />
Unite is seeking a minimum gross salary of &pound;36,000 per year, about &pound;2,000 more than Shell drivers&rsquo; current gross pay. &ldquo;Shell would be far better placed if they were to stop stuffing their shareholders&rsquo; pockets and ensure their contractor Hoyer had the resources to conclude a deal that is acceptable to our members,&rdquo; said Webb. 
 
Unite and Hoyer are expected to meet for further negotiations in order to break the pay deadlock. The drivers work out of several UK terminals of the oil giant, and work under Shell fuels distribution contracts.

Contract Tank-Truck Drivers for Shell at UK Vote Industrial Action

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After 14 long months of struggle and dispute with American consumer products company Procter &amp; Gamble, 350 workers represented ably by Sindicato de Trabajadores de Procter &amp; Gamble Industrial Peru (SINTRA P&amp;G) have won their first collective agreement through arbitration. 
 
In the agreement, the union secured fundamental workers&rsquo; rights principles guaranteed under ILO standards, particularly the right of freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. In making the announcement, the Peruvian union thanked the ICEM and other organisations for assistance and solidarity since the new union began organising at the chemicals, soaps, and detergents factory in San Isidro, near Lima, in March 2007.
<img height="105" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
The contract became viable through arbitration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru management had resisted going to arbitration throughout, despite the fact that it had engaged in previous such sessions with a predecessor union. 
 
SINTRA P&amp;G has now pledged to take up the cause of 39 trade unionists at the factory who had been fired for asserting their right to form a union. SINTRA P&amp;G stated that despite the resistance from management to form a union, &ldquo;It is now time to turn the page and encourage all to move forward on the right path&rdquo; of active trade unionism, referring to organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The union&rsquo;s intention now is work toward an improved second collective agreement, and SINTRA P&amp;G has opened its doors to all workers who seek healthy work lives. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru also utilizes 400 indirect workers in its production and distributions operations. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the recent success of its future Peruvian affiliate!

SINTRA P&amp;G Successful in First Contract at Procter &amp; Gamble Peru

Archive

UK’s TUC Congress Calls on Government to Adopt EU Directive

New Zealand Labour Pushing Law to Protect Contract Workers

IGBCE Youth Action Network Wins Training Positions

ICEM Expresses Concern over Latest Ukrainian Coal Mine Blast

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

Structure of Former WFIW Absorbed Into ICEM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Region

ICEM Forefront at Turkey's Hard Coal Conference

Iraqi Oil Union Makes Case at Shareholders’ Meet of Two US Supermajors

Contract Tank-Truck Drivers for Shell at UK Vote Industrial Action

SINTRA P&G Successful in First Contract at Procter & Gamble Peru

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