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In this issue of ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the HIV/AIDS Workshop in Trinidad &amp; Tobago, on the 1 December World AIDS Day statements, as well as on the 2010 UNAIDS report.
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. 
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OWTU: Make HIV/AIDS Workplace Policies a Priority! 
 
The President General of the Trinidad/Tobago&rsquo;s Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU), Ancel Roget, called on all companies, state or privately owned, to negotiate with unions and jointly adopt and implement HIV/AIDS workplace policies when he spoke at the opening of the OWTU/CEP/ICEM HIV/AIDS workshop in San Fernando, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, on World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
 
OWTU can argue from a point of strength as it adopted its own workplace policy on HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses in June 2009. Roget also warned employers that the union would take decisive action against any employer engaging in covert HIV/AIDS testing of employees. 
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OWTU President General, Ancel Roget
The workshop was attended by some 45 participants from OWTU, as well as representatives from the country&rsquo;s Communications Workers&rsquo; Union, Banking, Insurance and General Workers&rsquo; Union, Fires Services Association, and the Estate Police Association. It was sponsored by the Humanity Fund of ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada. 
 
The workshop put HIV/AIDS in the context of decent work to reduce and eliminate stigma and discrimination. ILO HIV/AIDS Technical Specialist Madhuri Supersad introduced the new ILO Recommendation No. 200 concerning HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. She said that a focus must be on prevention and that behaviour change and a prevention revolution must begin at the workplace. 
 
The ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant, Hans J Schwass, reaffirmed the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s commitment to fight the pandemic. When for every one person put on treatment, there are two new infections, we know that prevention must be our focus and the workplace is an ideal entry point to eliminate stigma and discrimination, and advocate voluntary counselling and testing. He also drew attention to the ICEM website on which a model workplace policy and other materials and resources are available. 
 
Participants under the guidance of OWTU Head of Education and Research, Ozzi Warwick, who organised the workshop, worked on an action plan for 2011, which includes a January 2011 peer educators&rsquo; course for two unionists from each of the 27 OWTU units and a minimum of three activities by peer educators within six months of the training. Such activities should comprise workplace interventions, community awareness programmes, and interaction with youth groups and schools. 
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ILO on World AIDS Day: Workplace Policies to Tackle HIV and AIDS 
 
On World AIDS Day, 1 December, ILO online spoke to Dr. Sophia Kisting, Director of the ILO Global Programme on HIV and AIDS and the world of work (ILO/AIDS) about progress made on giving effect to Recommendation 200 since its adoption in June 2010. 
<img src="" width="201" height="134" alt="" />
Dr. Sophia Kisting, Director of the ILO Global Programme on HIV and AIDS 
Kisting said that the response to this strong human rights standard that can help improve the issues of stigma and discrimination at the workplace has been overwhelming. There is also an important understanding that countries need to report back to the Committee of Experts at the 2011 International Labour Conference on progress made in giving effect to the Recommendation. 
 
Referring to the Governing Body&rsquo;s decision to develop a plan of action, she stated that one of the most important steps is the development of national workplace policies on HIV and AIDS and to make sure that these become part of national programmes and strategies so that the workplace is not separate from the broader national response to HIV and AIDS. 
 
(Source: ILO website Communication and Public Information) 
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Global Unions on World AIDS Day 2010 
 
In its World AIDS Day statement, the ICEM affirmed that HIV/AIDS is a social disease. HIV transmission mainly takes place along the fault lines caused by poverty, gender inequality, and social injustice. HIV/AIDS is also a workplace issue. The workplace is crucial for successful action to combat the pandemic. 
 
HIV and AIDS funds are in recession due to the impact of the global financial crisis; HIV and AIDS are not in recession. Still for every three people put on treatment, five more become infected. That is why awareness and prevention as well as advocacy for voluntary counselling and testing are crucial in the fight against the epidemic. These are also cornerstones of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project. 
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HIV is also a human rights issue closely related to workplace non-discrimination laws and regulations. The ICEM calls on its affiliates to negotiate and adopt HIV/AIDS workplace policies, which are rights-oriented, non-discriminatory, and do not victimise people living with HIV and AIDS. 
 
The statement of the Global Unions AIDS Programme (GUAP) reiterated the commitment by trade unions to give effect to the implementation of Recommendation 200. The workplace cannot be left out of a coherent strategy to control the epidemic. GUAP also called for the adoption of national HIV/AIDS workplace policies and for them to be rights-oriented, non-discriminatory, and mainstreamed into national Decent Work strategies. 
 
The International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) reminded unions that World AIDS Day is a focus for action in the workplace. The union movement is intensifying its push for national implementation of the new ILO Recommendation 200 on HIV and AIDS and the world of work. This landmark ILO instrument breaks new ground by providing a framework for HIV and AIDS to be dealt with as a workplace issue, and by reinforcing the human rights consequences of the pandemic. 
 
The ITUC also announced the result of the first-ever writing contest, &ldquo;Positive Workers Write!&rdquo; which was open to HIV positive workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. 
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2010 UNAIDS Report: Beginning to Reverse the Spread of HIV 
 
The 2010 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that the AIDS epidemic is beginning to change course as the number of people newly infected with HIV is declining and AIDS-related deaths are decreasing. 
 
Data from the report show that an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected and that approximately 1.8 million died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2009. Both figures are down by about 20% compared to those five years ago. Still, 33.3 million are living with HIV. And there are two new infections for every one person starting treatment. 
 
From 2001 to 2009, the rate of new HIV infections stabilized or decreased in 56 countries around the world, including 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of new infections has fallen by 25%, led by young people using safer sexual practices. Significant progress has also been made in the prevention of mother- to-child transmissions. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 23 November) 
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International Guidelines Launched to Protect Health Workers 
 
Health Workers are at the frontline in providing prevention, treatment, and care for people living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. They are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV and TB, but often lack access to protection and treatment. 
 
To address this gap, new international guidelines were launched by the ILO, WHO, and UNAIDS to protect doctors, nurses, and other medical staff. There are an estimated 60 million health workers throughout the world. The 14 action points of the guidelines are based on respect for workers&rsquo; rights, as well as practical workplace health and safety programmes. 
 
(Sources: ILO, WHO, UNAIDS Press Release, 19 November) 
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Global Fund: Serious Deficiencies in Grant Management 
 
The Global Fund Observer devoted its entire issue 132 to reports released by the Global Fund&rsquo;s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on deficiencies in grant management and poor performance of principal recipients (PR) in a number of countries. 
 
In Zambia, the PRs have shown evidence of significant financial management and control weaknesses, episodes of misappropriation and fraud, and losses of grant funds, according to a report issued by the OIG. The OIG concluded that the two governmental PRs, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, were not fit to continue as PRs. More than US$10 million in expenses was identified as either ineligible or not properly documented. 
 
According to the OIG, there are a number of significant deficiencies in Cameroon in the financial management control framework of the Ministry of Public Health, principal recipients (PRs) and sub-recipients (SRs). The OIG was particularly critical of the Ministry, which was the PR for five of the six grants. Some US$3.4 million constituted overpayments which have to be recovered. The PR for the sixth grant was Care Cameroon, a non-governmental organisation. The OIG found that the internal control environment at Care Cameroon was strong, and made only minor recommendations. 
 
Insufficient grant management was also reported for Haiti (prior to the earthquake) and Cambodia. 
 
As one consequence, Sweden did not announce a pledge at the Global Fund&rsquo;s replenishment meeting in New York in early October because it was concerned about how the Global Fund is responding to findings by the OIG concerning misappropriated grant money. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 132 of 2 November. 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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Global Fund Should Expand Non-CCM Window 
 
In an interesting commentary published in the Global Fund Observer issue 133, the author, David Garmaise, argues that it is time for the Global Fund to make some changes to the eligibility criteria for proposals from organisations other than country coordinating mechanisms (CCM). It is evident that in many countries the needs of key vulnerable populations are not being addressed by the national response because CCMs too often are still dominated by government representatives. Civil society organisations could fill this gap. 
<img src="" width="250" height="53" alt="" />
The Global Fund has always discouraged applications from Non-CCMs, which can apply only if they are from a country that is without a legitimate government; that is, in conflict or in an emergency situation, or that is facing a natural disaster &ndash; or if they are from a country that suppresses, or has not established partnerships with civil society. Of the 150 Non-CCM proposals submitted in Rounds 5-9, more than 90% were deemed ineligible. The most common explanation provided for screening out these proposals was that the applicant had failed to explain why it had applied outside its national CCM. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 133 of 15 November) 
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News from Global Union Federations 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 95 and 96 of 1 and 15 November, respectively, reports on HIV/AIDS workshops and strategic campaign meetings by its affiliates in the US, Tanzania, Ecuador, and South Africa. 
 
While we focus on sub-Saharan Africa, it is often forgotten that according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one million people are living with HIV in the US. More than one in five of those people living with HIV are unaware of their infection. Despite increases in the total number of people living with HIV in the US in recent years, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. 
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Five Years Ago: From the December 2005 Issue 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In future issues, we will refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In December 2005, The ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter reported on the Second Regional HIV/AIDS Workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa, with the theme &ldquo;Fighting for our Rights.&rdquo; This workshop led to the publication of the ICEM Training Manual for Collective Bargaining on HIV/AIDS, a publication which is still relevant and widely used. Furthermore, as witnessed by this issue and previous activities, negotiating HIV/AIDS clauses in collective bargaining agreements and workplace policies has become a focus of ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS work. This is also in line with giving effect to the new ILO Recommendation No. 200. 
 
The Epidemic Update 2005, a joint report by UNAIDS and WHO, which was summarised in the December 2005 newsletter, estimated that there were five million new infections in 2005, bringing the total number of people living with HIV and AIDS globally to 40.3 million. As the summary of the 2010 update in this issue shows, some progress has been made since then. But this is still far from satisfactory and universal access goals have not been reached at the end of 2010. 
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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. 63, December 2010

By a vote of 521 to 398 on 6 December, members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi voted to end a 32-day strike against the world&rsquo;s third largest copper miner, located in Chile. The Union of Workers of the Collahuasi Copper Mine and Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned jointly through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata, resumed talks early last week with help from Roman Catholic Prelate Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes, Bishop of Iquique. 
 
The union's Second Director, Carlos Daniel Rojas, told the ICEM early today that Bishop &Oacute;rdenes succeeded &quot;in opening the door&quot; with the company when there appeared little hope that talks would resume, and the union took it from there to work out a settlement. 
 
The final resolve came in negotiations over the weekend and early Monday, 6 December, with an acceptable compromise. 
 
The vote Monday night ends the longest private-sector Chilean copper strike, surpassing one of 26 days in 2006 at the Escondida mine, owned 57.5% by BHP Billiton and 30% by Rio Tinto. 
 
Terms of the settlement will give the 1,551 miners of Collahuasi a wage increase of 16.3% over a 42-month period, and a bonus payment of 14 million pesos (US$28,733). Other key issues in the strike, which began on 5 November, were company-paid health care and education costs for miners&rsquo; children. The union did make advances in both these areas from prior levels paid by the company. 
 
The strike was marked by a united workforce led by President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz and Second Director Rojas. The miners of Collahuasi took up residency in the Santa Mar&iacute;a School in Iquique, and staged peaceful and near-daily manifestations in that city. Those demonstrations were strategic in order to draw attention to their cause of gaining adequate health coverage and educational stipends from an employer that posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion due to high copper pricing. 
 
Last night&rsquo;s vote took place inside the Santa Mar&iacute;a School. Collahuasi miners were scheduled to return to work high in the Atacama desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, today, 7 December. 
 
&quot;The Collahuasi miners and their families showed strength and fortitude in a dignified and peaceful way against an enterprise intent on maintaining production and turning profits,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &quot;For that, they have earned the pride and admiration of the world's mining unions.&quot; 
 
Coverage of this heroic strike, taken from the ICEM website, can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4117-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike-Now-in-Crucial-Stage">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4102-Miners-Dig-In-at-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike">here</a>.

Strike Ends at Collahuasi Copper Mine in Chile

<img alt="" src="" width="289" height="62" />
By a vote of 521 to 398 on 6 December, members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi voted to end a 32-day strike against the world&rsquo;s third largest copper&nbsp;miner, located in Chile. The Union of Workers of the Collahuasi Copper Mine and Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned jointly through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata, resumed talks early last week with help from Roman Catholic Prelate Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes, Bishop of Iquique.
The union's Second Director, Carlos Daniel Rojas, told the ICEM early today that Bishop &Oacute;rdenes succeeded &quot;in opening the door&quot; with the company when there appeared little hope&nbsp;that talks would resume, and the union took it from there to work out a settlement.
The final resolve came in negotiations over the weekend and early Monday, 6 December, with an acceptable compromise. 
The vote Monday night&nbsp;ends the longest private-sector Chilean copper strike, surpassing one of 26 days in 2006 at the Escondida mine, owned 57.5% by BHP Billiton and 30% by Rio Tinto.
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="142" />
&nbsp;Collahuasi Miners Vote on the Evening of 6 December 
Terms of the settlement will give&nbsp;the 1,551 miners of Collahuasi&nbsp;a wage increase of 16.3% over a 42-month period, and a bonus payment of 14 million pesos (US$28,733). Other key issues in the strike, which began on 5 November, were company-paid health care and education costs for miners&rsquo; children. The union did make advances in both these areas from&nbsp;prior levels&nbsp;paid by the company.&nbsp;
The strike was marked by a united workforce led by President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz and Second Director&nbsp;Rojas. The miners of Collahuasi took up residency in the Santa Mar&iacute;a School in Iquique, and staged peaceful and near-daily manifestations in that city. Those demonstrations were strategic in order to draw attention to their cause of gaining adequate health coverage and educational stipends from an employer that posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion due to high&nbsp;copper pricing. 
Last night&rsquo;s vote took place inside the Santa Mar&iacute;a School. Collahuasi miners were scheduled to return to work high in the Atacama desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, today, 7 December.
&quot;The Collahuasi miners and their families showed strength and fortitude in&nbsp;a dignified and peaceful&nbsp;way against an enterprise intent on maintaining&nbsp;production&nbsp;and turning profits,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &quot;For that, they have earned the pride and admiration of the world's mining unions.&quot;
Coverage of this heroic strike, taken from the ICEM website, can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4117-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike-Now-in-Crucial-Stage">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4102-Miners-Dig-In-at-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike">here</a>.

<img src="" width="100" height="122" alt="" />
Media Advisory 
 
Who: 
International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) &amp; International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) 
 
What: 
Cutting Emissions &ndash; Transforming Jobs 
 
Where: 
Room/SALAA - TRABAJO 
World of Work Pavilion 
Universidad del Sur 
S&uacute;per manzana 24, Manzana 15, Lote 10 
Av. Uxmal 
Canc&uacute;n Quintana Roo 
Mexico 
 
When: 
7 December 2010 
15h30 to 17h00 
A unique panel entitled &ldquo;The Links Between the Economic, Environmental, and Social Crises,&rdquo; presenting lessons to preserve decent jobs in green public policy through sustainability and Just Transition. Featuring: Shoichiro Kaneko, IMF-JC/JBU, Japan; Michael O&rsquo;Connor, National Secretary-elect, Construction, Forestry, Mining &amp; Energy Union (CFMEU), Australia; and Anabella Rosemberg, Policy Officer, Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Occupational Health and Safety, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Belgium. 
 
Keynote Address (16h20): Jun Arima, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), Japan &ndash; &ldquo;Importance of Sustainable Development in Manufacturing and Energy Industries: Job Creation Through Green Technology Innovation.&rdquo; 
 
Contact: Kan Matsuzaki (IMF): +41 79 947 8618, (mobile), <a href="mailto:kmatsuzaki@imfmetal.org">kmatsuzaki@imfmetal.org</a>; Brian Kohler (ICEM): +41 79 734 9178 (mobile)

Press Advisory: Global Trade Unions’ COP16 Industrial Conference, 7 December, Cancún

M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal is a 27-year-old single mother of one who was and still should be employed at the Tezol T&uuml;t&uuml;n ve Kagit (Twezol Europap) recycled pulp, paperboard, and tissue mill in Izmir, Turkey. In July, she and 35 others at the 250-worker mill tried to organise with ICEM affiliate Sel&uuml;loz-İş. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="106" />
M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal
Management then maliciously called each of the 35 in individually and gave them a choice: resign from the union and maintain employment, or resign from the company and collect the meager, statutory state entitlements under Turkish law. Acunal did neither. When she turned up for the work the day following her interview, managers put her in the middle of the workplace to perform meaningless and humiliating work chores for the sole purpose of other workers to witness. 
 
When she complained and said she wanted to return to the machine operator job she had held for seven years, she was fired. She has filed suit, through her union, with both a labour court and a civil prosecutor. In the meantime, she and her child are living on stipends coming from the individual pockets of Sel&uuml;loz-İş officials, while long court cases wait. 
 
In your own words and in your own language, send a message of support to M&uuml;zeyyen Acunal at <a href="mailto:muzeyyen-acnl@hotmail.com">muzeyyen-acnl@hotmail.com</a>. 
 
If you care to make a contribution to help with her subsistence, write to ICEM Pulp and Paper Officer Dick Blin at <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>. He will provide bank details in order to make a bank transfer. 
 
Also in Turkey during the final week of October, at the Mondi Tire Kutsan Paper Mill in Tire, near Izmir, seven workers were fired for attempting to organise with Sel&uuml;loz-İş. Reportedly, South African-based Mondi, which owns 64% of the recycled pulp and corrugated packaging mill, is trying to install a yellow union inside the 400-worker mill. ICEM will provide more details on this as information becomes available.

Turkish Woman Fired for Union Organising at Izmir Packaging Mill

The quest to resist austerity measures imposed on public services and public-sector workers in the wake of the financial crash is a noble one and one worth fighting. But global unions need also look within boundaries of certain countries to witness an unparalleled assault on public-sector workers and trade unionists who courageously step up to lead those workers. 
 
I refer specifically to the troubling and untenable trade union situation in Iraq, where reconstruction to essential, publicly-owned industrial sectors has come at a steep price to ordinary Iraqi workers and the brave men and women who lead them toward a true democratic society. 
 
In Iraq, roughly 80% of all industries are in the public sector. Yet even as foreign investment arrives, and privatization of certain manufacturing sectors appears inevitable, trade unionism is prohibited. It is still illegal to be a member of a trade union, just as it was under the dictator Saddam, and two years into the rule of the occupation forces (2005), Decree 8750 was mandated that forbid unions from owning property, holding bank accounts, or collecting fees from workers. 
 
It is unconscionable that seven years after the fall of Saddam, and 23 years after his notorious Public Law 150 banning all trade union activity in the public sector, Iraq is still without a legal framework for industrial relations that meets ILO standards. Sadly, the Saddam-era ban was one of the few laws not overturned by the occupation administration when it took power. 
 
In 2005, the provisional government of Iraq did re-draft the country&rsquo;s constitution. Section 22 of that constitution calls for a new labour law to defend the rights of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. But due to political stalemate, lack of will by Iraqi politicians across all political parties, and indifference by the United States government, a Labour and Social Security Law that was written by the ILO has not even been considered by Iraq&rsquo;s Council of Representatives. 
 
Instead, Iraq&rsquo;s Cabinet members resort to ministerial orders that close union offices, confiscating all materials, equipment, and literature. The most recent such order, in July against all unions attempting to operate in the electric power industry, was carried out in a day, showing the government to be serious in its clamp-down on unions, perhaps as a signal to foreign investment. 
 
With the order shutting electrical union offices, a threat was also issued warning workers and trade union leaders that they would be incarcerated under Iraq&rsquo;s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 if they tried to protest the shutdowns. This came only months after the al-Maliki government laid down an order banning trade unionists from travelling abroad unless they got a hard-to-get &ldquo;internal visa&rdquo; from the Supreme Ministerial Committee. 
 
This was the government&rsquo;s response to trade unionists from a whole range of Iraqi unions who for several years had travelled to Jordan, Lebanon, Europe, or America for union training and development programs. Donors and trade union organizations such as the British Trades Union Congress (TUC), the American AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, and ICEM have supplied that support and training. 
 
In 2007, at the ICEM&rsquo;s World Congress in Bangkok, Iraqi trade union development and full trade union rights for the country&rsquo;s unions became a priority in our work plan. That was reiterated at our 2010 Executive Committee where a strongly worded resolution was adopted condemning the government&rsquo;s most recent repressive tactics. &ldquo;We demand the immediate repeal of all restrictions on union activity and the immediate enactment of fair labour legislation which fully complies with ILO Conventions and provides fundamental human and trade union rights as provided in the Iraqi constitution,&rdquo; read the statement. 
 
To be sure, other trade union bodies and Global Union Federations have taken up the cause in order to achieve this. At the 97th International Labour Congress in June 2008, five labour organizations, including ICEM, TUC, AFL-CIO, Public Services International (PSI), and Education International (EI), stood in front of the Committee of Standards and condemned Iraq&rsquo;s ruthless attack on trade unionism. 
 
The ICEM is proud of the work it has done with Iraq&rsquo;s unions and with trade union leaders, but we know that far more needs to be done. The ICEM is even prouder of the great trade union leaders who have risen inside Iraq against what would seem insurmountable odds to carry out a most noble struggle with perseverance and self-sacrifice. 
 
One is Hashmeya Muhsin Al-Saadawi, the first woman to head a trade union in the Arab world and one leader who was forcefully removed from her office in Basra this past July when the government closed the union offices in the electrical sector. As president of the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians of Iraq (GUEWT), affiliated to both the ICEM and the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Hashmeya Muhsin in 2009 won the Dutch labour center FNV&rsquo;s prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez award. 
 
The award, along with a cash prize, is given to a trade union leader who takes risks in defending workers&rsquo; rights in countries where they are routinely violated. In poverty-ridden Iraq, however, what she did with the prize money is most exemplary: she produced a training manual for launch of an Iraqi social security campaign to promote social justice and equality as means to achieve job opportunities, decent work, and health, education, and quality living. 
 
The ICEM offers this as the way in which to go about nation-building. 
 
There are many other Iraqi trade union leaders who have stood tall in the face of repression, and we owe it to them to raise full ire outside Iraq to what is happening to them within. Some have been arrested, others forced from their work and transferred away from co-workers and their families to remote job sites because they led protests against salary curtailments, cuts to food rations, or common social entitlements withheld. 
 
I would be remiss to not mention the dozens of Iraqi trade union leaders have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their union activities &ndash; their lives. Dedicated unionists such as Hadi Saleh of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), Shukry al-Shukry, a founder of the IFTU, Ali Hassan Abd of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union, Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, an academic and adviser to the GFIW who reviewed the ILO&rsquo;s labour law proposal, Moaaid Hamid of the GFIW, Ahmed Adris Abas of the Transport and Communications Workers&rsquo; Union, Thabet Hussein of the General Union for Health Sector Workers, General Secretary Najim Abd-Jasem of the Mechanic Workers Union, Hassan Hamza, president of the Hotel and Tourism Workers&rsquo; Union, and Majiid Karim, an executive member of the GFIW, to name only a few, all were assassinated in order to stifle union activity. 
 
The assassination of journalists, as well, has regrettably set civil society back in Iraq. In recent weeks, the lives of Ryad al-Saray in Baghdad and Safaa al-Khayat in Mosul ended because cowards could not bear a free and open society, and their deaths serve as reminders that public-sector life in Iraq is dangerous and deadly. 
 
One has to ask, how far has Iraq come since the overthrow of Saddam? Is destroying Iraq&rsquo;s labour movement the way to ensure a stable, civil society in which democratic institutions can thrive? By neo-liberal norms in an age of greed-filled privatization, free and democratic trade unions do stand in the way to unfettered access of a country&rsquo;s resources. 
 
But for the vast majority of Iraq&rsquo;s citizens, after five decades of living under severe repression, they want better. Nationalist sentiment inside Iraqi society considers electricity, the oil sector, pipelines, ports, transportation, and other enterprises as integral public services that stand as guarantees of sovereignty and economic well-being for all citizens. 
 
There can be little debate that war makes privatization easier. First you destroy the infrastructure, and then you re-build with no-bid contracts awarded to favored corporations. Iraqi unions have seen this first-hand over the past seven years, and the fights they wage to defend what is rightfully theirs, against forces of neo-colonialism, are heroic and just. Global Union Federations like the ICEM recognize this, we recognize it as a shining example of what public-sector trade unionism is all about, and we pledge to continue to do what is necessary to assist Iraqi trade unions in winning their fight.

Iraq: Trade Union Repression Must End

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At last month&rsquo;s ICEM Presidium meeting in Turkey, the body recommended that ICEM solicit donations to assist the valuable communications vehicle RadioLabour with its continuing start-up costs. RadioLabour is a unique web-based broadcasting network that airs valuable labour programmes across the global north and global south. 
 
It was launched early in 2010 and is the brainchild of Marc Belanger, former labour educator at the ILO in Turin, Italy. It can be found at <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net">here</a>.&nbsp; 
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Marc Belanger
&ldquo;Since RadioLabour has come on line, the ICEM has used this valuable twice-weekly labour reporting service frequently,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We recognise the valuable connection that RadioLabour has amongst trade unionists in the developing world. In its short existence, RadioLabour has proven to be a low-cost, unencumbered, yet effective voice for global labour.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM affiliates, and individuals as well, are encouraged to keep RadioLabour working by making a bank transfer to: 
RadioLabour, c/o 115 Douro St., Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9H 1H5 
Account number: 008020168416 
The Bank of Nova Scotia, c/o 111 Hunter St., Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9H 7G5 
Swift Code/BIC: NOSCCATT 
Canadian Clearing Code: CC0002000802

ICEM Seeks Affiliate Financial Contributions to RadioLabour

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After several months of futile bargaining with employers&rsquo; grouping Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), members of Unite the Union in the UK will vote in the coming weeks on industrial action. The bargaining committee for Unite&rsquo;s corrugated paperboard industry, representing 2,500 workers at 50 UK factories, will meet tomorrow to discuss details in issuing the ballot. 
 
Last week, Unite announced that paperworkers in the corrugated sector voted by a nine-to-one margin to reject a 2010 pay increase of 2.1% by the CPI. That offer was put forward after weeks of delay by the employers&rsquo; organisation. Contract talks began in late July and the 2009 agreement expired on 1 September 2010. 
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Unite National Officer Peter Ellis
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re dealing with a group of companies that had a very good 2009 and this year, they continue to make profits,&rdquo; said Unite National Officer Peter Ellis. The three major companies comprising the corrugated paperboard talks are D.S. Smith, SmurfitKappa, and SAICA. The 2009 increase was 1%. 
 
&ldquo;At the talks in early October, we could have settled on a modest improvement to the offer, but the CPI insisted that a pay settlement at less than half of the retail price index was as far as it would go,&rdquo; said Ellis. The union had lowered its pay demands to 2.5% in order to achieve accord but with the CPI&rsquo;s lack of movement, the divide might now widen. 
 
Ellis insisted that median wage awards in other UK industries do not apply to the corrugated sector because the packaging industry for food, beverage, and other consumer uses has not suffered compared to other industries. &ldquo;We will not settle for a median offer,&rdquo; he said. 
 
By UK labour statute, unions must allow workers at least a three-week voting period for balloting on industrial actions. That must be followed by a seven-day period for employers to respond with a possible revised offer.

Paper Packaging Workers in UK to Vote on Industrial Action

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Some 117 members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) in New Zealand began a one-day industrial action against the global plastics and packaging company Sealed Air on 8 November at the company&rsquo;s Cryovac subsidiary in Porirua. 
 
The strike came five days after workers at the plastic bag and food packaging plant rejected an inferior 2010 wage offer and then voted for the industrial action. The action includes a ban on all short-notice overtime work. 
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EPMU's Tim Awatere
Cryovac Sealed Air offered a 2% increase. EPMU Organiser Mark James said that falls short of a fair deal, considering Sealed Air&rsquo;s 2009 profit sheet. The world&rsquo;s 19th largest paper packaging firm by assets held, posted US$13.15 million in net profits last year, up US$8.6 million over 2008. 
 
&ldquo;Two percent would effectively be a pay cut for our members because inflation is set to rise over 4%&rdquo; in 2011,&rdquo; said James. EPMU members at Cryovac Sealed Air work 12-hour shifts, four days on, four days off, in what James calls &ldquo;very unsociable hours.&rdquo; 
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EPMU's Aaron Bailey
Pay negotiations were to resume on 11 November but if no improved pay offer was put forward, further strike actions could re-occur.

EPMU Members Strike Sealed Air Subsidiary in New Zealand

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A woman and metalworker won election as General Secretary of Italy&rsquo;s largest labour federation, the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL). Susanna Camusso was elected by the federation&rsquo;s 160-member National Executive Assembly on 3 November with a 79.1% vote, succeeding Guglielmo Epifani who stepped down due to term limits. 
 
Camusso, 55, becomes the first woman to lead a major national labour centre in Italy, and the challenges in front of her are great. Considered Italy&rsquo;s most militant labour federation, the 5.7-million-member CGIL must confront the &euro;23.5 billion in public spending cuts that the Berlusconi government is proposing, and it faces social regressions that car-maker Fiat is demanding in return for investing in Italian auto factories. 
 
Following her election, she said of Silvio Berlusconi, &ldquo;The more he governs, the more trouble he creates.&rdquo; She said the sooner that Berlusconi retires from public office, &ldquo;the better it will be for the country.&rdquo; 
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CGIL General Secretary Susanna Camusso
Regarding Fiat, she must navigate the militancy of CGIL&rsquo;s Metalworkers (FIOM) branch &ndash; once her own constituency &ndash; with the moderation of Italy&rsquo;s other two national labour centres, the UIL and CISL, in dealing with the automaker. One test will be Fiat&rsquo;s insistence on individual factory agreements instead of a national collective agreement. 
 
Another will be the determination by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne to drive a wedge between CGIL-FIOM and the other federations in coming talks over implementing the company&rsquo;s five-year, &euro;20 billion investment plan in Italy. 
 
Camusso began her union career in 1977 as a union organiser for CGIL&rsquo;s FIOM branch in Milan. Over a 20-year career there, she built a reputation as a fierce negotiator, having bargaining numerous collective agreements in the auto and metalworking sectors. She is considered a pragmatic, results-oriented labour leader. 
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CISL Congress, May 2010 
In 1997, she left FIOM in Milan and became a regional leader for CGIL in the Lombardy region. In 2005, she founded the Italian women&rsquo;s rights movement &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s Get Out of Silence&rdquo; movement. On her election earlier this month, she said full women&rsquo;s rights must be a condition for democracy in Italy and the demeaning issue of prostitution must find a place on the national agenda, an obvious reference to Berlusconi&rsquo;s style. 
 
She was elected a member of the CGIL&rsquo;s 10-member national governing board in 2008, became the federation&rsquo;s deputy general secretary at the May 2010 Congress, and was Epifani&rsquo;s choice to succeed him earlier this month. 
 
Camusso will often be paired in her new duties with Emma Marcegaglia, the leader of the industrial employers&rsquo; federation Confindustria. The two women share a mutual respect for one another other, with Marcegaglia saying early this month she has &ldquo;a very positive opinion&rdquo; of Camusso.

First Woman Elected to Lead Italian National Labour Federation

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Iraq: Trade Union Repression Must End

ICEM Seeks Affiliate Financial Contributions to RadioLabour

Paper Packaging Workers in UK to Vote on Industrial Action

EPMU Members Strike Sealed Air Subsidiary in New Zealand

First Woman Elected to Lead Italian National Labour Federation

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