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Occupational health and safety, as well as environmental protection, are fundamental areas of work for the chemical industry. It is with this in mind that the ICEM&rsquo;s German affiliate IGBCE, already in August 1987, reached an agreement with German Chemical Employers&rsquo; Federation BAVC on protection of the environment. 
 
Through the agreement, GIBUCI (Joint Initiative for Keeping Works Council Members Informed about Environmental Protection in the Chemical Industry - www.gibuci.de) was born, the first common mechanism of social dialogue in the industry. It was the partner&rsquo;s conviction that co-operation between workers and trade unions would lead to a better safeguarding of the environment. 
 
So far, about 4,000 works council members have been trained through GIBUCI on environmental issues, including Responsible Care, laws on environmental issues, industrial safety, water protection, and environmental management. 
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GIBUCI - Commitment for Environment 
GIBUCI was celebrated and evaluated, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary in Berlin, on 23 August 2007, in the presence of about 150 participants, representing the social partners. Participants included representatives from IGBCE and BAVC, but also from companies. A number of politicians were also present. The ICEM was represented by its Chemicals and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan. 
 
Hubertus Schmoldt, IGBCE President and Vice President of ICEM, in his speech, called the agreement &ldquo;a milestone&rdquo; for German industry and social history, and said &ldquo;GIBUCI has showed that, through partnerships and a trusted co-operation effort, important things can be realised.&rdquo; He added that &ldquo;co-operation between works councils and managements on environmental protection is a cornerstone for the social dialogue in the chemical industry.&rdquo;

GIBUCI, 20-year Old Social Dialogue in German Chemical Industry, Celebrated and Evaluated

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The position on climate change and renewable energy sources by the Mining and Energy Division of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has drawn positive attention. A Green Party candidate for Senate in Queensland praised the CFMEU for its stand, and an opinion piece written by Mining and Energy Division President Tony Maher drew wide appeal in the Australian press. 
 
Queensland Green Party activist Larissa Waters welcomed the division&rsquo;s stand on renewable energy and a 60% target for greenhouse gas reductions by 2050. 
 
&ldquo;We would be keen to work with unions like the CFMEU to plan ways to move to an environmentally sustainable approach to energy production,&rdquo; said Waters, &ldquo;especially since we already have strong areas of agreement with them on the WorkChoices legislation.&rdquo; 
 
The CFMEU has begun a television ad campaign in Australia, contradicting the Howard government&rsquo;s denial that climate change is occurring and promoting immediate action programmes.
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In an article kicking the ad campaign off, Maher says, &ldquo;Doing nothing on climate change is not an option for the CFMEU.&rdquo; 
 
Maher writes: &ldquo;Our rank and file debated and discussed the proposition to campaign on climate change in every single mine and power station around the nation, before voting overwhelmingly to embark on this course of action. 

&ldquo;The decision to back the campaign did not surprise me &ndash; for more than a decade the union has been an active participant in the climate change debate. After all, our members and our families' livelihoods are at the pointy end of the debate.&rdquo; 

Maher says the key to the union&rsquo;s position was engagement with members &ldquo;to create our own policy on greenhouse emissions.&rdquo; 

He adds, &ldquo;We have taken this approach because we want to live in a cleaner world and we want the security for our members, our families and for the coal communities for which we are a vital part. 

&ldquo;Now some may argue that the way to secure the future of coal communities is to stick our heads in the sand and, like John Howard, deny that climate change is occurring. 

&ldquo;But what security is there in refusing to engage in a debate that is raging at this very moment?&rdquo; Maher writes. 

&ldquo;From our perspective, security comes in certainty &ndash; the certainty of Clean Energy Targets and the certainty of commitments to greenhouse reductions. 
&ldquo;Business needs certainty too. If mining companies invest billions into new technology, they must receive a guarantee that such clean energy will have a market share.&rdquo; 

Maher cites examples: &ldquo;Clean coal technologies like carbon capture and geosequestration will reduce the impact of coal on the environment. As most mainstream thinkers agree, coal will remain a large part of the world's energy mix for the foreseeable future &ndash; the real challenge is to minimise its harmful impacts.
&ldquo;At the same time, we need to be investing in and embracing renewable energy sources. Our argument is that without a clear Clean Energy Target &ndash; backed with a carbon trading regime &ndash; we will never have the incentive to invest in these new technologies.&rdquo; 
CFMEU claims it is the first mining union in the world to take such a stand on the climate change issue.

CFMEU&#039;s Green Initiative Applauded in Australia

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If any event defined the strength and vibrancy of a great trade union, that event started on the night of 9 August 1987 when the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began the Great Mines Strike of South Africa, or &ldquo;21 Days That Shook the Chamber,&rdquo; as it claimed to be called. Although the wage gains the NUM was seeking were not achieved, the strike by 330,000 black miners 20 years ago proved to be a decisive catalyst in the struggle to end apartheid. 
 
The NUM marked the anniversary last week in South Africa as an event that &ldquo;will be remembered for shaking the industry in a manner that was never seen before.&rdquo; It also solemnly noted the deaths of nine striking miners at the hands of apartheid police, and the 50,000 miners who were fired by mining companies for actively leading the strike.
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During 1987 wage bargaining between the employers&rsquo; Chamber of Mines and the Council of Mining Unions, representing white miners and officials, the unions accepted a 15% wage gain. But in separate bargaining with the NUM, the Chamber only offered 17% to black miners, who were paid much lower salaries than whites. NUM had lowered its demands to 24% at the time of the strike. 
 
Despite this, employers &ndash; led by the AngloAmerican Corporation, which employed the vast majority of unionised black miners &ndash; unilaterally implemented its offer. That caused the NUM to strike the first of some 60 gold and coal mines on 9 August. The Council of Mines thought the NUM too weak to sustain the early strikes, or to call out miners at more sites. 
 
But as the strike spread and more and more mines were idled, that proved to be a fallacy. 
 
A mining trade publication at the time reported: &ldquo;The union has shown itself to be much better organized, its strike call well supported from the outset. The Chamber appears to have expected the NUM action to last only a few days as in earlier years and was somewhat surprised at the duration and solidarity of the union&rsquo;s action and by its organisational capabilities, determination, and skill during the strike.&rdquo;
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NUM General Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa, the son of a Soweto policeman who was then only 35, provided strong leadership and staunch resolve. He also proved to be a visionary by calling 1987 the year that black mineworkers &ldquo;take control &hellip; to start controlling our lives in the mines, in the hostels, and the places we live. 
 
He also said, &ldquo;In the next few years, we are also going to take control of the work process, which dates back 100 years, when gold was discovered, during which the black workers have been like captive labour.&rdquo; Ramaphosa also said of the 1987 strike, &ldquo;The struggle we are involved in on the mines is a training ground for our people, for the ultimate goal which is liberation.&rdquo; 
 
The need for struggle was epitomised in May 1987, shortly after the NUM adopted the South African Freedom Charter, began a coalition with the United Democratic Front, and marched with the slogans of the banned African National Congress. On the night of 7 May 1987, with NUM&rsquo;s offices headquartered in the COSATU House in Johannesburg, special security police used explosives to blow the building up. A short three weeks later, NUM declared dispute with the mining houses over disparate wages, deficient health and safety practices for black miners, overcrowded hostels, and other grievances. 
 
Two weeks into the August mass strikes, realising that the NUM&rsquo;s resolve could not be broken, mining companies used a quirk in South African industrial law that allowed employers to dismiss workers even when they are engaged in a legal strike. Some 50,000 NUM members were fired. That and the very survival of the NUM caused regional strike committees to decide to end the strike, and on 30 August black mineworkers returned to work with their heads held high. 
 
The mining journal said the NUM &ldquo;has gained considerable stature as a result of its action,&rdquo; adding that the union&rsquo;s &ldquo;influence is now widespread throughout the mining industry and that unionisation of black miners is likely to increase.&rdquo;
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About half of the 50,000 mines were eventually re-hired to mining jobs over the next few years, and many proved to be key organisers and effective trade union leaders. The strike also taught the NUM something about self-reliance. As an outgrowth of it, the NUM formed non-profit organisations that mitigated job losses in mining with skill development, as well as labour cooperatives and welfare funds for dependants of miners. 
 
Today, that influence is evident. With roughly two-thirds of NUM members regularly attending union meetings and a shop-steward structure second to none, the NUM stands as a beacon of light for safe, sustainable jobs in South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry.

9 August: 20-Year Anniversary of NUM’s Great Mines Strike in South Africa

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In South Africa last week on 9 August, people celebrated National Women&rsquo;s Day in commemoration of the brave women one and two generations ago who first stood up against the racially-dividing Pass Laws of the apartheid government. 
 
Men and women gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, site of an August 1956 march by 20,000 women in protest of the Pass Laws that were enacted on 9 August 1956. In Cape Town last week, 700 women and children marched and demanded that the government immediately implement the Domestic Violence Act. The march to government buildings there was against the abuse and rape of women and children.
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And across South Africa, unions, civil society organisations, and other groups used the 9 August holiday to urge more governmental action on HIV/AIDS-related work and treatment centres. Women are the worst affected by the scourge of the HIV virus. 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) issued a statement commemorating both the brave women of the anti-pass struggles, and the brave miners who stood up to white bosses in the Great Mining Strike of 1987.
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&ldquo;We salute the heroes and heroines of these struggles and call on employers to improve the welfare of women and workers in general as a tribute,&rdquo; stated NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;The good wage agreements we enter into this year are a tribute to the fallen heroes and heroines of these struggles. 
 
The anti-pass protests and deaths from those protests had a galvanizing effect against the control-minded apartheid government of the late 1950s and 1960s. The Pass Laws prevented the free movement of black people. The laws defined the very essence of oppression and racism then in South African apartheid life. White citizens, although required to have identity documents, were not required to carry them. Black South Africans had to carry passes. 
 
The Afrikaners called it bewysboek (Book of Proof). Blacks called it dompas (stupid pass). The laws gave the police the opportunity to detain any black African who was unemployed. And since statutes said that &ldquo;pass bearers&rdquo; could not be officially classified as employees, blacks saw further discrimination in terms of workplace conditions and trade union rights. 
 
On 21 March 1960, an anti-pass protest was met by the ruthlessness of police in the township of Sharpville, south of Johannesburg. Police fired on demonstrators, killing 69 of them &ndash; many shot in the back as they were retreating &ndash; and wounded 178 others. Many of the organisers were arrested.
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Considered the leader of South Africa&rsquo;s anti-pass movement was Margaret Gazo, the woman with the idea for the 20,000-person march in August 1956. She died in 1974, but spent five years in prison due to her activism. The Pass Laws were repealed in 1987, with some aspects of the statutes repealed earlier. 
 
The ICEM salutes South African working men and women of today for honouring the groundbreaking achievements of women of the anti-pass movement, and echoes NUM&rsquo;s Baleni in paying tribute to these pioneers of the early anti-apartheid era.

9 August: National Women’s Day in South Africa Celebrates ‘Anti-Pass’ Struggles of Apartheid

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The ICEM is in strong support of oilworkers&rsquo; trade unions in Iraq over the most recent denial of their rights. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Sharistani, through his legal adviser Laith abd al Hussein Shahir, issued a formal directive to the country&rsquo;s oil companies, ordering them not to deal with trade unions and to exclude trade unionists from work committees. 
 
The directive, in effect, is meant to silence Iraq&rsquo;s oil unions from having an effect on the proposed Hydrocarbon Law. That law, which allows outside companies to exploit Iraq&rsquo;s wealth, has been approved by the Iraqi government and now is before the country&rsquo;s parliament. Iraq&rsquo;s oil workers and their unions have become the most outspoken opponents to the measure, arguing that it would ignite already dangerous regional rivalries and enrich global oil companies at the expense of ordinary Iraqis.
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Sharistani&rsquo;s directive, which states that &ldquo;unions do not enjoy any legal status to work inside the government sector,&rdquo; is a repeat of the Coalition Provisional Authority&rsquo;s Decree 8750, issued by the occupational forces in 2003 to prevent public-sector oil workers from forming trade unions. It is also a replay of Saddam&rsquo;s Decree 150, which banned all public-sector unions. 
 
&ldquo;The promotion and development of free and democratic trade unions, and the necessary social dialogue attached to that is essential for the reconstruction and reconciliation in Iraq,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We stand with our Iraqi brothers and sisters, and ask that this draconian directive be rescinded.&rdquo; 
 
Iraq&rsquo;s constitution, passed in 2005 with great hoopla praise from the occupational forces, enshrines the right of forming and joining professional associations and unions, and states this will be set in law. Sharistani&rsquo;s directive of 18 July 2007 is directly contradictory to Iraq&rsquo;s constitution. Iraq has also ratified ILO Convention 98 on Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, and thus has international obligations to promote voluntary unionism and collective bargaining rights.
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Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Workers, representing 26,000 workers in the Southern Oil Companies, said his members would not recognise the directive since &ldquo;we are working for Iraq.&rdquo; He had called the oil law a &ldquo;planned theft of Iraqi oil disguised as &lsquo;The Hydrocarbon Law.&rsquo;&rdquo; 
 
The General Union of Oil Workers and Technicians (GUOWT), part of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), sent a delegation on 6 August to meet with the oil minister. Sharistani refused to meet, but sent the Information director of the ministry to tell the trade unionists that the oil minister &ldquo;will not meet with people that represent unions in the oil sector&rdquo; because there are no workers in this sector, only &ldquo;state employees.&rdquo; 
 
The GFIW delegation did deliver a letter, which demanded that Sharistani withdraw the directive.

Reckless and Repressive Union-Busting by Iraqi Oil Minister

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Turkish affiliates of the ICEM, some 13 in total, have come together to form a committee with a view to working efficiently and being actively involved in the activities of the ICEM. 
 
The first meeting of the ICEM Turkish Coordination Committee was held in Ankara on 2 August 2007. Chaired by Mustafa Kumlu, President of Turkish Electricity, Water and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (Tes-İş), which hosted the historic gathering, the meeting was attended by 30 representatives from the affiliates. 
 
At his opening speech, Mustafa Kumlu, an ICEM Executive Committee member, said, &ldquo;Turkey is situated in a unique part of the world. On the one hand we have Europe and the Balkans, and on the other Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Mediterranean basin.
<img height="260" alt="" src="" width="390" />
&nbsp;From left, ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan and Warda; Mustafa Kumlu, President of Tes-İş; and Mustafa &Ouml;ztaskin, president of Turkish ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş 
&ldquo;This gives us very important, but very difficult tasks,&rdquo; he added. Kumla said part of the difficulty lies with the fact that the Turkish trade union movement is facing an era of privatisation, rampant subcontracting, trade union rights violations, and redundancies that are steadily growing. &ldquo;We expect the ICEM to support us in promoting trade union rights and freedoms, as well as to provide solidarity in time of conflicts, especially during organising drives,&rdquo; Kumla said. 
 
Turkish unions, he stressed, want to make their own inputs into the activities of the ICEM, as well as support and solidarity worldwide. &ldquo;One of the important pillars of our trade union work is to reinforce international solidarity and transnational cooperation,&rdquo; Kumla said. 
 
But there can be no denying that Turkish labour legislation is wilfully lacking in meeting international standards, particularly ILO conventions. Turkey&rsquo;s trade union leaders are well aware that the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on Applications of Standards has placed the country and employers operating in the country on the agenda at its meetings this year. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda presented the federation&rsquo;s activities, and spoke of the developments in connection with ICEM&rsquo;s 4th World Congress in November in Bangkok, Thailand. He also spoke on the different projects of the ICEM, including HIV/AIDS and Contract and Agency Labour. He also addressed regional-based projects, and said that it was essential that affiliates use the ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreements to organise inside multinational companies. 
 
Warda took up potential cooperation areas and joint initiatives in which Turkish unions are welcome and invited to participate. Specifically, he mentioned the ICEM&rsquo;s role in bringing free and democratic trade unions in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East, as well as further involvement in the highly successful energy project in the Caspian Region.
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
&nbsp; 
The ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industry Officer, Kemal &Ouml;zkan, informed participants about ICEM&rsquo;s specific services for affiliates, such as efforts to create a Turkish language version on the ICEM website. &Ouml;zkan, a trade unionist who spent many years in the Turkish labour movement, also cited specific projects for the country in the coming months, including a workshop on Contract and Agency Labour in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). 
 
Commenting on the reports given, the participants expressed their appreciation to the ICEM as it actively continues to back ongoing industrial actions and strikes in different industries inside Turkey.

ICEM’s Turkish Affiliates’ Coordinating Committee Meets in Ankara

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The ICEM has taken issue with a global building contractor following the dismissal of a union leader in Argentina. 
 
Management of Swedish-based Skanska AB&rsquo;s Argentine subsidiary fired the leader of ICEM affiliate Federaci&oacute;n Argentina Sindicol del Petr&oacute;leo y Gas Privados (FASPyGP), Marcelo Turchetti, while he was engaged in legitimate union activities for the Austral Basin branch of the union in Santa Cruz Province.
The sacking occurred in June, and FASPyGP began a boycott of Skanska&rsquo;s contracting services at all of Argentina&rsquo;s energy worksites. The company operates as a contractor for ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron operations in Argentina. Skanska employs 1,000 construction workers in Argentina. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" />
&ldquo;We have implemented a boycott campaign and we have taken all the necessary legal steps under our country&rsquo;s laws to get him reinstated,&rdquo; said FASPyGP Secretary General Alberto Roberti. 
 
The ICEM alerted the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) prior to lodging the complaint. The BWI and Skanska are signatories to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA), agreed to in 2001. 
 
In the ICEM letter, General Secretary Manfred Warda states that &ldquo;Turchetti was discharged in the performance of his legitimate union duties &hellip; this is counter to Core Labour Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and is counter to the principles contained in the (GFA) that your company has signed with ICEM&rsquo;s fellow GUF, the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI).&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is seeking for the branch leader&rsquo;s immediate reinstatement with full back wages. The ICEM&rsquo;s letter to Skanska can be found <a href="http://herecem.org/index.php?id=21&amp;doc=2353.&amp;la=EN">here</a>.

Swedish Builder Skanska Charged with Union-Busting in Argentina

Mr. Stuart E. Graham 
President, CEO and Managing Director 
Skanska AB 
Rasundavagen, 2 
169 83 Solna 
SWEDEN 
 
Mr. Graham: 
 
I write on behalf of the over 400 trade unions in 125 countries that are affiliated to the ICEM, the Global Union Federation (GUF) for the Energy, Oil, Gas, and Mining and other industrial sectors worldwide. 
 
I write on behalf of our trade union affiliate in Argentina, Federaci&oacute;n Argentina Sindicol del Petr&oacute;leo y Gas Privados (FASPyGP), who has informed us of the unfair dismissal of union leader Marcelo Nevil Turchetti, the general secretary of the Austral Basin branch of that union in Santa Cruz Province. 
 
He was fired from his job by Skanska&rsquo;s Argentine management on 6 June 2007. Following an investigation by the ICEM, we have found that Turchetti was discharged in the performance of his legitimate union duties. We have determined that this is counter to Core Labour Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and is counter to the principles contained in the framework labour agreement that your company has signed with ICEM&rsquo;s fellow GUF, the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI). 
 
Senior leadership at FASPyGP has informed us they have filed the necessary appeals under the Argentine labour code, as well as an appeal to the Ministry of Work over this matter. They also inform us they have started a boycott of the company. Skanska as a contracting agent for a number of petroleum and gas facilities in Argentina. 
 
As you know doubt know, Skanska&rsquo;s business in the South American country is vast, employing 1,000 workers, with work at the facilities of ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. FASPyGP has asked ICEM to assist them in this effort, as well as to inform our affiliates worldwide of Skanska&rsquo;s conduct toward legitimate trade union activities in Argentina. 

I write to urgently call on you to intervene. I respectfully request that you intervene to reinstate Mr. Turchetti to his rightful position, and that he be made whole for lost earnings and benefits. I also urge you to inform your subsidiary in Argentina of the respect for trade union rights inherent in your company. I am confident that by you taking these actions, the legal matter that is pending on behalf of Mr. Turchetti can be dropped, saving both sides time and expense. 
 
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary 
 
CC Alberto Roberti, Secretary General, FASPyGP 
Anita Normark, Gneral Secretary, BWI

ICEM&#039;s Letter to Skanska AB Over Labour Abuses in Argentina

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ICEM Affiliates: HIV/AIDS Activities Pick up 
 
ICEM affiliates in Botswana organised a series of meetings on HIV/AIDS policy, peer education, and voluntary counselling and testing. The National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) has shown an interest in the unions&rsquo; programme. 
 
In Tanzania, ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO organised training workshops for peer educators at the Mbeya Labour College and in Dar-es-Salaam. A separate seminar was held for members from the Kiwira Coal Mine. 
 
Workplace union representatives were the target group of a training seminar in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire which dealt with behaviour change communication, the rights of HIV-positive workers, and the essential elements of workplace policies. 
 
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, two training workshops for peer educators were held in Kinshasa and Moanda, which is a town on the border with Angola where prevalence is high. 
 
All these activities were supported with funds for national activities from the LO/TCO-FNV Mondiaal HIV/AIDS project.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
ICEM Regional Meetings in Africa 
 
At the Regional Women&rsquo;s Conference in Johannesburg, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa presented a resolution on the gender dynamics of HIV/AIDS. Women need to be empowered to take control of sexual behaviour, especially condom use. HIV/AIDS and women workers has been made one of the priorities for the work of the women&rsquo;s committee in the coming years. 
 
Several speakers at the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, referred to the importance of behaviour change, the need for testing, and the necessity for a wider availability of anti-retroviral drugs. HIV/AIDS must be considered a disease like any other. Only then can stigma, which prevents people from knowing their status, be eliminated. 
 
The host unions in Botswana reported on a successful campaign when, on one day, 350 people were tested in Silebe Phikwe, a mining town with one of the highest prevalence rates in the country. Sadly, however, a delegate from Zimbabwe described a bleak situation where people prefer not to be tested because ARVs are not available.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Tanzania: Hope to AIDS Sufferers 
 
As more and more people visit Care and Treatment Centres (CTC), the number of HIV patients on anti-retroviral treatment has doubled in just over a year. 
 
The increase has been attributed to the introduction of &ldquo;fellows&rdquo; trained by the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/AIDS Foundation, an NGO jointly initiated by former presidents of Tanzania and of the US, Benjamin Mkapa and Bill Clinton, respectively. 
 
These so-called fellows address the gaps in human resources for the public health sector, which is key in scaling up HIV/AIDS care and treatment. 
 
Setting a good example, the current President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, publicly took an HIV/AIDS test. 
 
(Source: East African, Nairobi, 24 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
India: 2.5 Million People Living with HIV, According to New Estimates 
 
The new 2006 estimates, released on 6 July by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country. These estimates are more accurate than those of previous years, as they are based on an expanded surveillance system and a revised and enhanced methodology. 
 
The revised estimates will be used to improve planning for prevention, care and treatment efforts. &ldquo;While it is good news that the total number of HIV infections is lower than previously thought, we cannot be complacent. The steady and slow spread of the HIV infection is a worrying factor. The better understanding of India&rsquo;s epidemic has certainly enabled us to have more focused HIV prevention and treatment strategies and more effective deployment of resources,&rdquo; said Mr. Naresh Dayal, Secretary of Health and Chair of the National AIDS Control Board. 
 
Commenting on the new estimates and guarding against their misinterpretation, Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization said, &ldquo;The calculation of figures for several years, using the new model helps us understand that the new lower estimates do not mean a sharp decline in the epidemic.&rdquo; She cautioned against easing off the momentum of the HIV response. 
 
Comments by the editor of this e-bulletin. Hans Schwass: The 2006 UNAIDS epidemic update put the 2005 figure for India at approximately 5.7 million with a variance of 3.4 to 9.4 million. This made India the country with the highest absolute number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. 
 
Prof. James Chin, former unit chief at the WHO Global Programme on AIDS, says that UNAIDS has overestimated HIV prevalence in a large number of countries. He goes on to say that exaggerating the numbers will cause a backlash and damage support from the public and policymakers. He acknowledges, however, that the pandemic is severe in a large number of regions and countries and that it requires that AIDS programmes continue to receive the highest public health priority and funding. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 6 July and The Monitor, Kampala, 28 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
HIV: A Time Bomb for the Mining Industry? 
 
Mining companies all over the world have belatedly realised that at a time of booming demand for minerals, HIV/AIDS is hampering their operations. 
 
Mining areas regularly have a higher prevalence rate than the national average. In South Africa, the infection rate is nearly double that of the general working population; in the Russian mining town of Irkutsk, it is three times higher than the national average. To a large extent, this is due to the working and living conditions of mine workers and the high rate of migrant workers who are employed in the industry and who have to leave their families behind. Remote mining sites also attract commercial sex workers. 
 
Brian Brink, Senior Vice President Health of AngloAmerican mining house in South Africa, admits that despite all their efforts, they did not stop the epidemic. A lot of cases still go undiagnosed and do not get reported. In India, where the prevalence rate is still low (see previous article), there are areas where the rate is around 1%. &ldquo;In the early 1990s, that is where we were and then it is very difficult to stop,&rdquo; declared Brink. &ldquo;Other countries must not fall into the same trap as South Africa, said Lennox Mekuto, Health and Safety Officer of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). 
 
(Source: The Namibian, Windhoek, 13 July)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
News from ILOAIDS 
 
Edwin Cameron, Judge at the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, gave a talk at the ILO on 19 June on &ldquo;Legislating an Epidemic: The Challenge of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace.&rdquo; The talk was given on the background of the ILO having started work on developing a Recommendation on HIV/AIDS in the World of Work, following a decision of the Governing Body in March 2007. 
 
On a workplace perspective, Judge Cameroon made three propositions: that the effects of the epidemic on the workplace are distinctive, and must be distinctively addressed; that in countries where the epidemic has taken hold or threatens, the response by unions, employers, and governments to workplace issues has not been sufficient; and that the workplace offers a particularly appropriate location for addressing HIV-related issues. 
 
He went on to say that since the adoption of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work in 2001, the epidemic has moved fast and that some aspects of the Code seem outdated now. He gave two reasons: the Code elides treatment and its approach to testing is antiquated. 
 
On treatment Judge Cameron argued that since 2001, large-scale provision of anti-retroviral treatment, even in resource-poor settings, has proven to be effective and feasible. 
 
The Code is fully five years behind. Encouraging access to anti-retroviral treatment should now be a cornerstone of every employer&rsquo;s policy in every country where the epidemic has taken hold. Although it probably remains too ambitious to want to oblige employers to provide ARVs, they should certainly be obliged to assist and to provide information on ARVs, and to provide assistance in accessing them. The fact is, the workplace is an ideal environment for treatment literacy campaigns, for partnering treatment roll-out programmes, and even for directly observed treatment supervision. 
 
On HIV testing, he maintained that the Code&rsquo;s approach is out-dated. In the present climate of continuing stigma, amid the availability of treatment, the Code&rsquo;s approach to treatment is even retrogressive. It was valid before large-scale treatment became available and at a time when testing was all too frequently merely an excuse to discriminate and exclude. 
 
Thus the Code cautions that testing should not automatically be carried out in the workplace and that it should be strictly confidential and with informed consent. The debate about testing has moved far beyond these constricting parameters. Where non-discrimination protections do exist, and where confidentiality is assured, testing should be actively encouraged &ndash; not hedged around with impediments. The ability to establish your HIV status should be celebrated as a means of self-knowledge, self-empowerment, and as a portal to treatment. According to Cameron, the Code&rsquo;s approach badly needs an over-haul. 
 
Judge Cameron declared his HIV positive status publicly some time ago and is, as he stated, &ldquo;proudly and openly gay.&rdquo; At the ILO, he went on to say, &ldquo;I owe my own presence with you here in Geneva today to anti-retroviral medication. I started taking ARVs nearly ten years ago, in November 1997, when I was very sick with AIDS and facing death. I have been on the same drug combination for nearly seven years &ndash; since early 2001.&rdquo;
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (Nos. 24 and 25 of 1 and 15 July) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>, reports, among other items, on plans by India&rsquo;s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to increase the number of condom vending machines from 600,000 to 3 million. Condom promotion is one of the priority areas for NACO in HIV prevention. It also reports on a new public/private partnership to use cell phones to bolster care and treatment in ten African countries.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 &amp; 23

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The Workers&rsquo; Actrav of the ILO and the ICEM urges union leaders to announce to trade unionists that applications to the Global Labour University&rsquo;s upcoming degree programmes are now open. The programmes will be held in South Africa, in January 2008; Brazil, in February 2008; and in Germany, September 2008.
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The ILO&rsquo;s Workers&rsquo; Actrav will award a limited number of scholarships. Deadline for submissions to the Brazil and South African sessions: 1 September 2007. Deadline for the German programme is 1 April 2008. 
 
The courses take place at the University of Witwaterstrand in South Africa, at Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and at Germany&rsquo;s University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics. The course titles are &ldquo;Labour and Development&rdquo; (South Africa), &ldquo;Social Economy and Labour&rdquo; (Brazil), and &ldquo;Labour Policies and Globalisation&rdquo; (Germany).
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The ILO scholarships are open to applicants from developing and transitional economies. Applicants need to have the endorsement of a trade union to apply for a scholarship. The grant is conditional on a contribution from the supporting trade union, or other donor. 
 
The courses are endorsed by COSATU in South Africa, CUT in Brazil, and DGB in Germany, and backed by Germany&rsquo;s Hans Boeckler Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Scholarship Submissions Due for Global Labour University’s Classes in Brazil, South Africa, Germany

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ICEM's Letter to Skanska AB Over Labour Abuses in Argentina

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 & 23

Scholarship Submissions Due for Global Labour University’s Classes in Brazil, South Africa, Germany

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