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We, the 50 delegates from 12 countries representing trade unions with members employed by Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Company, are gathered here as part of our unions&rsquo; ongoing commitment to achieve justice for workers at Goodyear worldwide. 
 
The Goodyear Global Union Network was established at a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio in March 1999 for the mutual defense and advancement of Goodyear workers everywhere. Since that time, the Network has played an important role in bringing Goodyear workers and the unions that represent them closer together. 
 
Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Company has in recent years continued to expand and globalize its operations. This transnational corporation produced 2006 net sales of approximately US$20 billion and manufactures products in 28 countries. 
 
Given Goodyear&rsquo;s increasing size and global scope, it is important that unions participating in the Goodyear Global Union Network recommit their efforts to secure and promote the rights for all workers worldwide at Goodyear. As part of those efforts, we pledge to increase the effective functioning of the Network steering committee and to expand and improve Network communications. 
 
Having reviewed our recent activities and collaboration, we examined Goodyear current status and future strategies. Every participating union provided detailed overviews of the current economic climate in their homeland and the working conditions at their particular Goodyear facility(ies). 
 
A particular attention was given to a global agreement with Goodyear management, beginning immediately with Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental issues. 
 
Structurally the meeting procedurally modified the rules that govern the coordinated activities of the Network. A new Steering Committee was selected and will be headed by USW International Vice-President Tom Conway. 
 
Among the situations examined was the long-standing problem in Thailand where many workers are denied collective bargaining rights and union activists are routinely dismissed. Anan Phonung, the elected union president detailed these situations as well as the very questionable circumstances that led to his firing. The Network strongly voiced its support of Phonung and called for his being properly restored to his position at the plant. 
 
Other actions by the Network included recognition of three recently deceased members of the Goodyear Network. They are George Becker, former USW International President and Founder of the Goodyear Global Network, Dick Davis, former USW International Vice-President and first Chairman of the Steering Committee, and Bernard Kleiman, former USW General Counsel and Special Advisor to the Goodyear Global Network. 
 
An extensive discussion of the recent negotiations in the U.S. and Canada was conducted and the Solidarity of the membership in both countries was applauded for enduring an 86-day strike and winning new contracts. 
 
The Network discussed upcoming negotiations in different countries such as South Africa and Turkey and issued statements of strong support and Solidarity.

March 19 – 20, 2007 in Akron, Ohio, USA

Statement of the Goodyear Global Union Network

At 6:30 AM this morning, 4 June 2007, oil workers struck the pipeline company in Basra, Iraq, bringing an immediate stop to the free flow of oil products, including kerosene and gas through pipe number 42. 
 
The pipe transfers oil and gas to Baghdad and the governorates of the central region of the country. The workers are members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The IFOU, previously known as the GUOE-Basra, and led by President Hassan Jumaa Awad Alasady, has over 26,000 members throughout the ten state oil companies operating in the south of Iraq. The union has a past history of strike action in defense of its members, and the oil industry as a whole of southern Iraq. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ICEM, the global union federation of national energy unions throughout the world, supports the IFOU in their strike action today. 
 
Earlier strike calls in May were postponed after the union gained a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. That meeting, on 16 May, resulted in the creation of a committee tasked with working on finding solutions acceptable to both sides. The ICEM understands that although several of the union demands have been fully agreed to by Iraqi authorities, the IFOU is still far from having all their demands fulfilled. This is what led to today&rsquo;s strike. 
 
The union is currently focussing on two core demands in its strike at the pipeline company:
&bull; They demand that the Oil Ministry take action to force the general manager of the pipeline company to resign; and 
&bull; They demand that the company be financially and administratively independent from the Baghdad-based central ministry, and that the pipeline company be managed locally.
ICEM is informed that the reason for the first demand, and the catalyst for today&rsquo;s action, is that the general manger of the pipeline company, Adel Aziz, who is based in Baghdad rather than in Basra, blocked the orders of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Mailiki to release delayed benefits due workers. Moreover, he stopped a Iraqi Dinar (IQD)50,000&nbsp;allowance which the workers are regularly entitled to. 
 
The background is available at: 
<a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq">/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2260-Threatened-Oil-Industry-Strike-in-Iraq</a> 
 
A second phase of the strike has been threatened to begin tomorrow morning, again at 6.30 AM, in the event the IFOU does not receive signs signalling compliance with their demands. The second phase would expand the strike by closing pipeline number 48, which feeds the southern governorates with oil products. 
 
ICEM, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), US Solidarity Center, and the UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the UK is following developments closely, and will keep trade union affiliates and the public fully informed on developments in this key dispute. 
 
For further information, contact Jim Catterson, Intl. Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) Energy Officer: +32 2 626 2045 - <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ICEM Supports IFOU in Today’s Oil Industry Strike in Basra

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With labour agreements now complete at two major tyre producing plants in Argentina, ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico Trabajores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentina (SUTNA) is focused on obtaining a renewal two-year contract with the third &ndash; FATE S.A.I.C.I., an Argentine based producer and the country&rsquo;s largest tyre-maker, employing some 1,200 workers. 
 
Workers at FATE had rejected the company&rsquo;s prior offer, a proposal that fell short of wage gains and bonus payments made at Pirelli S.p.A. and Bridgestone-Firestone Argentina. Negotiations will resume at the Ministry of Work on 6 June. Rubber workers have protested FATE&rsquo;s inferior demands, but have taken no industrial action.
<img height="93" src="" width="140" alt="" />
Earlier this spring, agreement was reached with both Pirelli and Bridgestone-Firestone, which employ a combined 1,400 SUTNA union members at Buenos Aires factories. At both worksites, workers won pay increases totaling nearly 25%, which included ratification and other bonuses. 
 
At the Firestone plant, workers received a 10% increase effective April 2007; they will receive a 6.5% increase in October 2007; 3.5% in March 2008; and 2.5% in May 2008. At Pirelli, SUTNA also negotiated a 10% increase effective in April 2007. Three percent is due in January 2008; 2% for April 2008; and 1.23% for June 2008. 
 
SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko pledged early this spring that, in this round of national rubber bargaining, no worker would earn less than 2,741 pesos (&euro; 600) per month.

Argentina’s Tyre Union Focuses Now on Pact with Single Company

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After a difficult year of negotiations, which included industrial actions this spring and a subsequent string of three-day lockouts by the company, 500 tyre workers at Bridgestone&rsquo;s Salisbury factory near Adelaide, South Australia, accepted the Japanese company&rsquo;s terms. 
 
Workers of three unions passed by the thinnest of margins &ndash; 240 to 225 &ndash; a new three-year agreement. The contract, some ten months after a prior one expired, grants workers 6% wage increases from May 2007 to May 2010, with possible bonuses interspersed.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="220" />&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="90" alt="" src="" width="90" /> 
 
Production workers, numbering about 450, are represented by ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality, and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), while most maintenance workers are represented by Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), also an ICEM affiliate. Electricians at Salisbury are represented by ICEM affiliate Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union (CEPU). 
 
Bridgestone used the full weight of the 2005 WorkChoices law in Australia to leverage its inferior bargaining demands. Workers had engaged in four stop-work actions since March, as well as an overtime ban. The company punished workers for the unions&rsquo; actions by employing contract workers on maintenance and electrical work, and taking the offensive under WorkChoices by imposing three-day, non-paid lockouts. 
 
&ldquo;Clearly, the restrictions placed upon union members by the current Australian industrial relations legislation made pursuit of improvements more difficult for members,&rdquo; said LHMU lead negotiator, Jim Watson. &ldquo;The company relied on the legislation and frustrated union members into accepting the agreement.&rdquo; 
 
Bridgestone workers had last seen a pay raise in December 2005. The previous agreement had expired in June 2006.

Bridgestone Workers in Australia Come to Terms with Company

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On 19 May, in a testament to the growing Solidarity now coming to strikers at Novamed in Turkey, 16 energy-sector trade union leaders from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Belorussia visited picket lines in the Antalya Free Trade Zone. 
 
Eighty-four strikers have been out since 26 September 2006, protesting the medical equipment company&rsquo;s harsh and unusual practices. Novamed, part of German-based Fresenius Medical Care, has refused to recognise ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Iş.
<img height="158" src="" width="280" alt="" />
&nbsp;ROGWU President Lev Mironov Addresses Turkish Strikers 
 

Eighty-two of the strikers are women. They have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including being forced to apply for permission from company bosses before becoming pregnant. 
 
The delegation from Eastern Europe and Central Asia came to Turkey following discussion and prominence of the strikers&rsquo; plight at the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee meetings earlier in May. They were greeted at the picket line by Petrol-Iş General Secretary Mustafa Cavdar and other leaders of Turkey&rsquo;s dominant oil and chemical workers&rsquo; union.
<img height="210" src="" width="280" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
In thanking the trade union leaders, Petrol-Iş President Mustafa Oztaskin stated that their presence is a solid reminder that &ldquo;this is a struggle backed by the whole trade union movement throughout the world.&rdquo; The strikers heard from Lev Mironov, president of the Russian Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU); Melik Mirzoyev, general secretary of the ICEM&rsquo;s Interregional Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Federation; and Jahangir Aliyev, general secretary of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Azerbaijan. 
 
Other leaders visiting the picket line on 19 May included: Yelena Mustafina, Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of Kazakhstan; Nikolay Stratila, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union of Moldova; Yuriy Rovda, Belarus Petrol Gaz İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikasi Başkani; Ludmila Hrushetskaya, Belarus Mining and Oil Workers&rsquo; Union; and Tamara Bashuk, Ludmila Chubaryan, Natalya Navmova, Hasipat Hugayeva, Rostislav Zagorodniy, Vera Shchukine, Larisa Lukiyanova, Ludmila Brovkina, and Aleksander Vasiliyev, all of ROGWU.
<img height="225" src="" width="300" alt="" />
&nbsp;

Energy Trade Union Leaders Visit Novamed Picket Lines in Turkey

<img height="48" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Privatisation auctions by Nigeria&rsquo;s Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) of refineries owned by the state&rsquo;s Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) have brought further strikes and threats of strikes. The two oil workers&rsquo; unions in the country &ndash; ICEM affiliates PENGASSAN and NUPENG &ndash; are protesting the lack of transparency in the sales. 
 
Late last week, branches of both unions at the Kaduna refinery threatened a shutdown of that facility if the BPE follows though on 51% sale of Nigeria&rsquo;s second largest refinery. In mid-May, BPE threw out the lone offer for Kaduna, a US$102 million by the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). But shortly thereafter, the government&rsquo;s privatisation arm accepted a US$160 million bid by Bluestar Oil, which is a consortium of Nigerian industrial interests.
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <img height="137" alt="" src="" width="130" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="145" alt="" src="" width="140" />
Bluestar had earlier won a bid on the larger Port Harcourt refinery with a US$561 million offer. The lack of transparency in that process brought a two-day strike by the unions on 24-25 May, which halted all shipments of crude oil into the refinery. 
 
The branch unions of PENGASSAN and NUPENG at Kaduna called Bluestar&rsquo;s bid &ldquo;a deal &hellip; sealed under the table, to a company that has no record of refinery operations, and for a price that can only be described as give-away.&rdquo; 
 
The statement by the unions added: &ldquo;Based on the glaring lack of transparency in the privatisation process and insincerity on the part of BPE, the sale of (Kaduna) fails to meet the minimum standard, set by the government and cannot in any sense of the word be said to have been a transparent exercise. 
 
&ldquo;First, the sole bidder (CNPC), failed to match the undisclosed reserved price of Kaduna during the first and second rounds of bidding, suddenly another company (Bluestar) that did not submit a bit, that did not conduct any due diligence on the facility, that is completely alien to the transaction, that has no track record in the refining sector, is now said to have 51% shares of Kaduna in a process the BPE describes as &ldquo;closed-in&rdquo; bidding.&rdquo; 
 
PENGASSAN and NUPENG have vowed to resist the turnover to Bluestar until all the issues raised by the union are resolved.

Privatisation of Nigerian Oil Refineries Bring Further Unrest

<img height="48" src="" width="120" alt="" />
On 29 May, ICEM&rsquo;s three Italian affiliates called a one-day strike across the country for natural gas workers of the Eni, Italy&rsquo;s largest energy concern. The protest was over the company&rsquo;s mid-May announcement that it would close 37 of 49 customer service centres. 
 
Italian trade unions Filcem-CGIL, Femca-Cisl, and Uilcem-Uil also conducted a mass mobilisation in Rome on 29 May at Piazzale Mattei, home of Eni&rsquo;s corporate headquarters. The unions fear Eni will outsource the jobs of its Conus gas and electric subsidiary. The unions also protest unfair transfers of some 250 of 850 jobs that are expected to occur in the restructuring.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="73" src="" width="100" alt="" />&nbsp;<img height="62" src="" width="110" alt="" />&nbsp;<img height="122" src="" width="100" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp; 
The unions contend that transfers of workers to service centres of up to 150 kilometres away from their current job locations will threaten their employment. The unions did negotiate with Eni over the restructuring, but those talks broke off when commitments were not made over which jobs would be retained, and which would be outsourced. 
 
Eni announced that its restructuring would take effect on 1 July. Besides keeping open only 12 service centres, the company would retain only two call centres, in Rome and in Turin.

Eni’s Gas Workers in Italy Protest Restructurings

<img height="48" src="" width="120" alt="" />
A second methane gas blast in Russia&rsquo;s Kuznetsk Basin region of southern Siberia on 24 May has killed 39 coal miners. The workers were affiliated with ICEM&rsquo;s Russian Independent Coal Miners&rsquo; Union (ROSUGLEPROF), as were 110 miners who died 19 March at the Ulyanovskaya mine, Russia&rsquo;s worst mining disaster in 60 years. 
 
Both mines are operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, the mining subsidiary of the Evraz Group, Russia&rsquo;s second largest steel and metals company.
<img height="162" src="" width="160" alt="" />
The tragedy 12 days ago occurred at Yuzhkuzbassogol&rsquo;s Yubilienaya mine. An immense methane build-up had formed, and the explosion occurred due to a spark from a faulty electrical cable that apparently had been switched off. The ICEM mourns the loss of the miners and in the wake of this recent disaster, and calls on mining companies to implement all modern safeguards to protect the lives of miners in this era of high prices and high output of natural resources. 
 
Russia&rsquo;s federal environmental, engineering, and nuclear worksite regulatory agency, Rostekhnadzor, had repeatedly cited the Yubilienaya mine with safety deficiencies. The agency had attempted to halt work at the mine until all safety measures were put in place. But managers of Yuzhbuzbassugol had fought those orders in local courts and won reprieves for work to continue. 
 
In fact, the shafts inside Yubilienaya where the explosion occurred had been temporarily shut for a brief period only weeks before. 
 
ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk faulted the Russian pay system for bringing unsafe conditions in mines. Since nearly all Russian coal mines have been privatised, the flat-rate monthly wage has been set at a bare minimum, while the vast share of all mining salaries are based on production. &ldquo;While volume, productivity, and profits have risen since the coal industry has been privatised, individual workers are worse off,&rdquo; he told the New York Times.
<img height="164" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&nbsp;ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
The 19 March Ulyanovskaya mine disaster in the Kemerovo region is a case in point. Evidence indicates that managers had tampered with sophisticated methane gas detection equipment in order that production would continue even with high build-up levels of the gas. 
 
The death toll of 159 from the two Yuzhkuzbassugol mine tragedies just 66 days apart more than doubles the 68 deaths that occurred in all of Russia&rsquo;s coal mines in 2006.

Another Coal Mine Blast in Russia’s Kuzbass Kills 39 Miners

<img height="48" alt="" src="" width="120" />
The ICEM has demanded that the Turkish parent company of Trakia Glass in Bulgaria intervene to settle a two-week strike at factories in Turgovishte, in the northeast of Bulgaria. Hundreds of glass workers, members of ICEM affiliate National Federation of Chemical Workers &ndash; CL Podkrepa, began a strike on 19 May over the company&rsquo;s failure to keep pace with minimum salary levels, as set by Bulgarian labour code. 
 
Trakia is wholly-owned by Turkish glass and chemicals groups, Şişecam Group. In a letter dated 1 June, ICEM called on Şişecam&rsquo;s General Director Doğan Arıkan to resolve the dispute immediately in a manner that protects the company&rsquo;s reputation, as well as respects Bulgaria&rsquo;s status as a member of the European Union.
<img height="117" alt="" src="" width="120" />
&ldquo;Bulgaria&rsquo;s membership in the EU assures that its citizens have certain rights and entitlements, and your company&rsquo;s recent behaviour in Targovishte reflects disdain and disrespect for these rights and entitlements,&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Arikan. &ldquo;A company headquartered in Turkey, which is now on a course of negotiations toward EU entry, must and should do better in pursuit of such entry.&rdquo; 
 
Workers of Trakia are seeking increases in overtime work and night-shift work, increases which were mandated by the country&rsquo;s minimum monthly salary which took effect 1 May.
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Because of the union&rsquo;s salary demands, during the week of 7 May, Şişecam has suspended a &euro;221.6 million investment at the glass factories, an investment that was to include a second flat glass factory, a second factory for glassware, and additions to processed glass works already operating. The Bulgarian government had made incentives available to the Turkish company, which included road construction and associated infrastructure needs. 
 
Trakia Glass Chief Executive Gulsum Azeri openly states that the investment was suspended until Bulgaria make regressive revisions to its labour legislation, social conduct which the ICEM termed &ldquo;unacceptable.&rdquo; 
The ICEM Regional Conference for Central Europe, meeting in Hungary on 5 and 6 June 2007, adopted a resolution in support of the striking workers in Bulgaria. To read the resolution, click <a href="/index.php?id=21&amp;doc=2286&amp;la=EN">here</a>.

Turkish Glass Firm Şişecam Prompts Strike In Bulgaria

<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
ILO Starts Process to Establish HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the Mining Sector 
The ICEM has been invited by the ILO to participate in the formulation of HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the mining sector. 
 
In 2000, when the ILO established a programme on HIV/AIDS, the Director General called HIV/AIDS &ldquo;a workplace issue and a development challenge&rdquo;. 
 
&ldquo;The workplace&rdquo; is not a simple idea: it covers the informal &ndash; a small repair shop, a market stall &ndash; to the formal: a government office, a hotel, a gold mine. Similarly, the workforce may be one family or thousands of workers in plants across the world. The different nature of work in different sectors means that the working conditions and needs of workforces differ greatly. 
 
At the same time, workplaces have points in common, including a common interest in recognising and responding to the threat of HIV and AIDS. For this reason, the ILO developed the Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
To complement the Code, assist in its implementation and recognise the different situations, needs and interests in different sectors, ILOAIDS has worked on more targeted guidelines. HIV/AIDS guidelines exist for the transport sector, education and for health services, the latter elaborated jointly with the WHO. 
 
With a clear timetable, draft HIV/AIDS guidelines for the mining sector should be ready by autumn this year and tested in a tripartite workshop before the end of 2007.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
VCT Counsellors&rsquo; Training Begins in Five African Countries
Training of VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) counsellors from ICEM affiliates in five countries (Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania) has started with a financial contribution from Pfizer, the US based pharmaceutical company. 
 
The ICEM &ldquo;5 by 5&rdquo; project (five counsellors each in five countries) aims at up-scaling voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at the workplace. 
 
The current reach of HIV testing services remains poor. The low level of VCT is an issue. HIV testing and counselling services are the entry point to HIV prevention, care and treatment. Without the knowledge of an individual&rsquo;s HIV status no timely access to care, treatment and support can be undertaken and no protection of unborn children (PMTCT) can be affected. For the community a wider knowledge of the HIV status and its links to interventions can lead to a reduction in denial, stigma and discrimination and to collective responsibility and action. 
 
The ICEM is convinced that counsellors coming from unions and being the peers of employees can better convince them to take an HIV test than medical staff employed by companies or public servants. They can reach out to families of workers and often have standing in the community to increase uptake outside the workplace. They also give a better guarantee that such testing of individuals is confidential, will be accompanied by counselling and is only to be conducted with informed consent. 
 
The training is done in line with certified curricula and ends in recognised accreditation of the VCT Counsellors.
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Canadian CEP Humanity Fund in Solidarity Action
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers&rsquo; Union of Canada (CEP/SCEP), affiliated to the ICEM, has for the last 15 years assisted partners in the global South. Among the current projects supported by the Humanity Fund are two directly related to the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic: fighting HIV/AIDS in the petroleum sector in Chad and HIV/AIDS education and training in Nigeria. 
 
The CEP Humanity Fund raises money with a 1-cent an hour contribution negotiated through the collective bargaining process. The Humanity Fund is building partnerships with workers&rsquo;, community and women&rsquo;s organisations, which are involved in improving living and working conditions, organising workers, defending human rights and organising health and safety courses. 
 
For more information go to <a href="http://www.cep.ca">www.cep.ca</a>. CEP is also affiliated to UNI and IFJ. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Brazil and Thailand Defy Big Pharmaceutical Companies
Brazil will bypass the commercial patent on a crucial anti-AIDS drug manufactured by Merck in order to ensure that those who desperately need treatment can get a cheaper, generic Indian-made version. 
 
The country will import a generic version of Efavirenz for the price of USD 0.45, less than half of the price of USD 1.10 offered by Merck. Brazil offers free AIDS treatment and Efavirenz is taken by about 75,000 of a total of 180,000 who are on antiretroviral drugs. 
 
Thailand approved generic production of two anti-AIDS drugs in November 2006. It recently announced a decision to adopt compulsory licensing for two more antiretroviral drugs. Abbot Laboratories, the licence holder of one of the drugs, Kaletra, then took a decision to withhold new drugs from Thailand in retaliation. 
 
In Canada and other countries, AIDS Action Now and churches took protest action on 26 April, on the eve of Abbott&rsquo;s annual general meeting. 
 
Under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, a compulsory licence can be granted in a health emergency or if the pharmaceutical industry abuses its pricing. 
 
In a related development, the Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative concluded an agreement with Indian generic manufacturers Cibla and Matrix Laboratories for the procurement of second line antiretrovirals, which are very expensive and used when AIDS sufferers have developed resistance to first line drugs. The deal is financed by UNITAID. 
 
(Source: NZZ am Sonntag, Switzerland, 6 May 2007 and Newsweek, International Edition, 9 April. For further reading on compulsory licensing, go to <a href="http://www.twnside.org"></a><a href="http://www.twnside.org.sg">www.twnside.org.sg</a> for Martin Khor&rsquo;s article &ldquo;Patents, Compulsory Licensing and Access to Medicines&rdquo;) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
South Africa: Delayed State AIDS-Fighting Body going at last
The newly constituted South African National AIDS Council (Sanac), which will be the lead agency in the fight against HIV/AIDS, was officially launched on 1 May after years of delays by the government. 
 
The council, which is chaired by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has endorsed the five-year national strategic plan for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). 
 
Last year saw increased pressure from opposition parties, anti-AIDS groups and the Congress of South African Trade Unions on the government for it to be more effective in the fight against the epidemic. 
 
The main goal of the five-year plan is to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and mitigate the effect of AIDS on individuals, families and communities. Targets of the plan to be reached by 2011 include: providing treatment to 80% of adults who need it; reducing the proportion of adults starting antiretroviral treatment in hospital to 30%; increasing the number of HIV patients on treatment overseen by nurses to 70%; and reducing the rate of new infections by 50%. 
 
Sanac&rsquo;s membership includes the government at a ministerial level and leaders of business, labour and civil society. 
 
(Source: Business Day, Johannesburg, posted on the website 2 May 2007) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Nigeria: Federal Government Approves Workplace Policy on HIV/Aids 
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Hassan Lawal, announced the approval of the workplace policy on HIV/AIDS when he launched a new ILO report on discrimination in the world of work. 
 
Lawal said the policy provided guidelines to facilitate the establishment of workplace responses to HIV/AIDS in both the formal and informal sectors. He said the policy would also protect the rights of infected and affected people, while also sensitising them on options of redress. 
 
The minister stated that the policy would build the capacity of management and workers in handling HIV/AIDS issues in the workplace. 
 
(Source: This Day, Lagos, 13 May 2007) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
News from ILOAIDS: ILO constituents renew commitment to act on AIDS
In 2001, governments, employers and workers agreed the ground-breaking Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. Translated into over 40 languages, a reference point for laws and policies in over 70 countries, the Code of Practice will now be complemented by a Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
To take forward the workplace response to AIDS, the March 2007 session of the ILO Governing Body decided to place HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the International Labour Conference in 2009. 
 
This means that the ILO has now begun work towards the adoption of a Recommendation. A first discussion will be held during the International Labour Conference in June 2009, and the new standard is expected to be adopted as the outcome of a second discussion in June 2010. 
 
Recommendations provide guidance for states and for employers' and workers' organisations, among others, and form a basis for ILO promotional and assistance measures. 
 
(Note by the Editor: Agreement was not reached on a Convention which is the stronger instrument and which the workers&rsquo; representatives would have preferred). 
 
(Source: ILOAIDS Website)
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
The German Government has agreed to raise the issue of a regular HIV/AIDS review at the upcoming G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, 6 &ndash; 8 June. The German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said, in a letter to the Chair of the Global Unions AIDS Programme, Alan Leather, that the German Government would present the findings of its own review to the G8 and discuss the need for additional monitoring exercises. Global Union leaders also raised the issue during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 7 May. 
 
The Global AIDS Alliance, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and numerous other organisations have joined the call for universal access and the need for accountability by monitoring progress through a high-level permanent working group. 
 
The Global Unions representative also lobbied ministers and government delegations at the WHO World Health Assembly in Geneva in May for a G8 high-level, permanent working group, which will ensure that responding to and reporting on the epidemic takes place regularly at the G8 summits. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 20 and 21 of 1 and 15 May) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) reports, among others, on its work with the World Bank in the Transport Forum where workers&rsquo; rights and HIV prevention were key issues, on the HIV/AIDS situation in Kazakhstan and on a meeting in Berlin on European Employers&rsquo; and Trade Unions&rsquo; response to HIV/AIDS (see: <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>). 
 
In its most recent newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) has published, among others, an article on the ban of sex education in schools in Maharashtra state, India. The Indian teachers&rsquo; union AIFTO condemned this ban, which is also in force in a number of other Indian states <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 21

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