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Today, in Bogot&aacute;, Colombia, civil society and trade unions, led by the ICEM electric utility affiliate Sintraelecol, will mark the 25th anniversary of the Guavio dam disaster in which most of the 200 casualities were&nbsp;temporary labourers. They were buried alive when a&nbsp;pair of massive rock slides, totalling 60,000 cubic yards of earth,&nbsp;fell on them&nbsp;in the evening of 28 July 1983. 
 
The day has been designated as not only a Day of Remembrance by&nbsp;ICEM's Latin America/Caribbean Region, but also as a day to push for full labour rights, including safety and health, for contract and agency workers. 
 
The memorial event and symposium&nbsp;will be held at the Hotel del Parque, 23-24 Carrera 5A, Bogot&aacute;, beginning at 14h00. 
 
&ldquo;Today is a tribute to the casual workers and others&nbsp;who passed away in 1983 while they were constructing one of the most important energy projects in our country,&rdquo; said ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos. &ldquo;It is also a call to non-permanent workers and agency staff everywhere to join with labour unions for decent work and a guarantee of protection under established global labour standards.&rdquo;
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Construction of the 820-foot rock-fill dam, the tallest in the Americas,&nbsp;began in August 1981 by Empresa de Energia Electrica de Bogot&aacute;, the electric power company of Colombia's capital city. Between the towns of Ubal&aacute; and M&aacute;mbita, 120 kilometres northeast of Bogot&aacute;, the utility had purchased 2,000 estates from landowners in order to build the continent's&nbsp;biggest hydroelectic dam, one&nbsp;that would generate one million kilowatts of power.
In September 1982, a precursor of what was to come occurred when four miners were killed from a rock slide.
During&nbsp;the spring of 1983, when construction&nbsp;was in full swing,&nbsp;heavy rains set in on the&nbsp;the Bocatoma Valley in the department of Cundinamarca. 

The US$1.3 billion dam project, on the Guavio River, had the financial support of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. March through May, 1983, also saw a 48-day strike by workers against the joint contractors, Rome-headquartered Vianini Lavori Spa and Madrid-based Entrecanles y Tavora. The&nbsp;strike saw the Colombian military&nbsp;called in.
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At 10h00 on 28 July, while boring was underway on a power tunnel and a separate water diversion&nbsp;tunnel,&nbsp;eight workers were slightly injured when a massive rock was dislodged and fell inside the adjacent tunnels. A safety alarm drew the attention of the industrial security team, but after inspection, the area was declared&nbsp;safe for work. Meanwhile, rain continued to ravage the Andes mountainside outside.&nbsp; 
 
At 19h00, pipefitters, electrical pump installers, and other skilled workers were leaving the project&rsquo;s front on buses,&nbsp;their work day complete. Left behind to mine the tunnels overnight were some 100-plus casual labourers, including many teen-age boys. 
 
In the words of one pump installer, who recalls looking back on the worksite&nbsp;from a base camp, the illimination of lights was brilliant. And then seconds later, &ldquo;the lights went dark.&rdquo; Some of the&nbsp;workers, along with rescues teams,&nbsp;began hurrying back to the project&rsquo;s front in buses, only to have a second&nbsp;landslide bury three buses alongside the tunnels. 
 
Buried inside were 138 workers, with&nbsp;another 40 workers crushed to death when the buses they were in&nbsp;became encapsulated by falling&nbsp;rock. Approximately 20 local residents, who were assisting work in one manner or another, also perished inside the tunnels.
The bodies of only one-half of the victims were&nbsp;recovered.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
The Guavio&nbsp;dam was finally&nbsp;completed in 1988, two years behind scheduled. In 1997, the Spanish company Endesa purchased the hydro-generating operation. 
 
The ICEM salutes its Colombian affiliate, Sintraelecol, with commemorating the 25th anniversary of a disaster that should never&nbsp;have happened, as well as all Latin American/Caribbean trade unions and NGOs who are participating in today&rsquo;s event.

Colombia Dam Disaster of 28 July 1983: ‘The Night the Lights Went Dark’ on 200 Casual Workers

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Forty-one national mining unions from 37 countries met 9-11 July in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the ICEM&rsquo;s quadrennial World Conference on Mining and DJGOP. A total of 138 delegates addressed the major changes occurring in the industry. 
 
At the top of the agenda of an ICEM work plan covering the next four years was the continuing health and safety problems occurring at mines throughout the world. 
 
&ldquo;At a time of unprecedented profits in the mining industry, it is an unacceptable situation that much of this profit continues to be stained with the blood of miners,&rdquo; said Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM President and also President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa.
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ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana&nbsp;
Although there are no worldwide figures on mining injuries and fatalities, serious accidents continue to plague mining operations in more developed countries, such as the US and South Africa, as well as in developing nations. South African-based Gold Fields Ltd., the world&rsquo;s fourth largest gold-mining house, was specifically cited for operating dangerous mines and may be a target of ICEM action. 
 
ICEM affiliates attending the Mining Conference approved a continued global campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 196, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Delegates also approved action to assist uranium miners in Africa in preventing exposure to dangerous radiation. 
 
A further focus to the conference was the continued vertical and horizontal consolidation in the mining and metals industries and the growing power of multinational corporations, including emergent multinational mining companies based in Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Delegates pledged to work together to build networks to confront these companies. 
 
Also designated as part of the work plan was the development of a policy on sustainable development, including support for developing clean coal technologies, challenging the use of contract and agency labour and gaining work rights for such workers, and establishing closer relationships with NGOs that show support for workers. 
 
Featured at the conference was a presentation on the fight between the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union, known as Los Mineros, and Grupo M&eacute;xico and the government of Mexico, which has attempted to destroy the union. ICEM affiliates pledged full support to the miners and a stepped up campaign against this company and the government. 
The ICEM mining report can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2008ICEMMiningReportEN.pdf">here</a>.

ICEM Holds Quadrennial Mining Conference in Russia

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Citing the common threat of decent work life being destroyed by rampant privatisation, six ICEM Turkish affiliates have joined with engineering associations and a&nbsp;consumer rights group in building an active coalition to block privatising. 
 
Called the Platform Against Privatisation, the coalition&rsquo;s declaration states that &ldquo;the Turkish Republic has been losing all values and accomplishments created with sweat and blood since (its) establishment.&rdquo; The mobilisation of public resources has been &ldquo;given as gifts to the capitalist class,&rdquo; the declaration says. 
 
The coalition issued a 10-point agenda, including a determination &ldquo;to continue a struggle for the rights and interests of labour and democracy, the fight to resist practices such as subcontracting, removing union coverage, low wages, (and) flexible employment,&rdquo; and to defend the &ldquo;public management of resources.&rdquo;
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The declaration specifically addresses the current privatising of Turkey&rsquo;s electric generating and distribution systems and calls energy a &ldquo;public right for human life.&rdquo; In July, auctions were held on Turkey&rsquo;s first two electric distribution networks, and the entire power grid in the Sakarya region is proposed for privatisation. 
 
Chambers of Engineers representing Chemicals, Electrical, Geology, Mechanical, Metals, and Mining are signatory to the declaration. Also, ICEM trade union affiliates including Tes-İş (Energy, Water, and Gas Workers Union), Petrol-İş (Oil, Chemical Workers', and Rubber Workers' Union), Genel Maden-İş (Coal Mine Workers' Union), the T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş (Mine Workers), Dev Maden-Sen (Mine Workers' Union), and ESM (Energy,&nbsp;Industry, and Mining&nbsp;Public Employees) are part of Platform Against Privatisation.

Trade Unions, Engineering and Consumers’ Groups Take Stand Against Turkey’s Privatisation

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Mining unions from Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Columbia met 19-21 August in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, in workshops to address enhanced union power in the face of mergers and consolidation within the mining sector. It was conducted by the ICEM, with sponsorship from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, union-related foundation in Germany. 
 
&ldquo;We made an important step by bringing so many unions together to address the continued fragmentation of power among mining unions,&rdquo; said S&eacute;rgio Novais, ICEM Vice President for the Latin America/Caribbean Region.
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&nbsp;S&eacute;rgio Novais 
 

The ICEM provided a presentation on major trends in the mining industry that addressed how Latin American countries were targets for the major mining houses, companies that have profited from the unprecedented coal and metal commodity prices. The ICEM pointed out that without mining union mergers in Latin America, and the building of regional and global networks, mineworkers will lose bargaining power and will not be able to secure a fair share of the profits. 
 
Featured during the workshop was a day-long presentation by Ecliff Tantsi and Eddie Majadibodu of South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). They explained how&nbsp;NUM has built its formidable power under the banner of a single union. Their presentation included background on the history of the NUM, its structures, how collective bargaining is carried out, and how the union maintains both its economic and political power. The NUM also discussed how it assists other mining unions in Sub-Sahara Africa in union building and organizing. 
 
Participants jointly signed a letter to the government of Mexico protesting the continued repression of trade union rights in an effort to destroy the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union. And ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintracarb&ograve;n, the major mineworkers&rsquo; union in Columbia, reported new death threats against Adolfo Llanos, a union leader at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s Puerto Bolivar, and against other community activists. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda responded with a strongly-worded letter to President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe of Columbia demanding protection against death threats from right-wing paramilitary squads. Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-cast coal mine and its export facility, Puerto Bolivar, is equal parts owned by mining giants AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
The workshop participants decided to: share information and work toward more unity among trade unions in the mining industry, particularly in Brazil; create Latin American regional networks among unions having common employers; explore innovative structures and legislative changes that would bring about greater unionization; and jointly develop solidarity actions and campaigns that focus on stopping subcontracting, gutting of social security benefits, and improving health and safety.
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Support for ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, was approved, and the need for increased cooperation between the ICEM and International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) was also a subject of discussion. Only Brazil and Peru have ratified ILO Convention 176 in ICEM&rsquo;s Latin America/Caribbean Region. 
 
The mining workshops were attended by Jorge Almeida, Latin American Regional Secretary for the IMF. The ICEM and IMF are closely cooperating in efforts to build trade union power among Latin American unions.

South American Mine Unions Meet in Hopes of Consolidating Union Power

In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we report on the sub-regional workshop in Lagos and the West African assessment mission. Information is also included on the renewal of PEPFAR, the results of the G8 Summit and on latest developments at the Global Fund.
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Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Review Workshop in Lagos 
Fourteen unionists, half of them women, from Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone came together in Lagos, 21&ndash;23 July, for a sub-regional workshop to review progress in their HIV/AIDS work. Working groups dealt with constraints in their HIV/AIDS work and possible solutions; considered new proposals; discussed the role of women and young workers and argued in favour of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in all union activities; and explored the idea of making HIV/AIDS an organising tool for unions. 
 
Above all, participants discussed future sustainability in view of the expiry of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project. While funding from employers and national and international organisations, and cooperation with NGOs and faith-based organisations are all important, commitment by union leadership is crucial in the fight against the pandemic. Unions should also develop technical competence in proposal writing and project management. 
 
Presentations on HIV/AIDS workplace policies, the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and peer education were made by SMARTWork, a US-funded organisation which supports workplace programmes in Nigeria and other countries, in cooperation with employers and unions. (SMARTWork stands for Strategically Managing AIDS Responses Together in the Workplace). 
 
A representative of the Nigeria Business Coalition against AIDS (NIBUCAA) presented good practices by employers in case studies from Nigeria. 
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West African Assessment Mission 
Prior to the late July workshop in Lagos, the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator visited Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria to assess the HIV/AIDS work by ICEM affiliates during the past three years. 
 
A full programme in Freetown included meetings with the National HIV/AIDS Secretariat, mine companies, and the Network of HIV Positives in Sierra Leone. These meetings demonstrated the extended contacts the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union uses for its very successful HIV/AIDS programme and the commitment of leadership. 
 
The national HIV/AIDS coordinator in Nigeria has run innovative activities for NUPENG and PENGASSAN, with the help of SMARWork, and received technical assistance from GHAIN, the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria. A new project sponsored by the Humanity Fund of the Canadian ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) will take off soon. 
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News from Affiliates 
In the last issue of this e-bulletin, we reported on the national activities supported by the ICEM HIV/AIDS project in Nigeria, Zambia, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, and Sierra Leone. 
 
ICEM affiliates continue their HIV/AIDS work and reports were received from a number of countries. The Uganda Mines and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union conducted two training courses for HIV/AIDS counsellors in May and June for a total of 50 participants with the objective to developing skills to conduct counselling at the workplace. Unionists as representatives of workers have a special position of trust to overcome stigma and the low uptake of VCT. 
 
The Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN), in cooperation with the Occupational Health, Education, and Awareness Programme (OHEAP) of the Chamber of Mines, organised a group education workshop in Walvis Bay in May. Twnety-six participants from R&ouml;ssing Uranium Mine, from salt and chemical manufacturers, and from the surrounding communities attended the workshop. 
 
ICEM and MUN are also sponsoring an evaluation of the OHEAP Programme to be terminated by December. Over the past two years, cooperation between MUN and the Chamber of Mines has increased, recognising a greater role of the union in HIV/AIDS interventions. 
 
In Mauritius, the Chemical, Manufacturing and Connected Trade Employees&rsquo; Union organised an awareness campaign. A total of 192 participants, including migrant workers, attended the main event. With the support of the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project, 7,000 leaflets were printed. The target of the campaign includes female foreign workers who, because of their meagre salaries, often become part-time commercial sex workers in their spare time. 
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G8 Creates Monitoring Mechanism for AIDS 
A three-year lobbying by trade unions and civil society yielded a renewed G8 commitment to universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, health system strengthening, and the creation of a follow up mechanism to monitor G8 progress on HIV/AIDS. 
 
Such greater accountability was achieved in a three-year campaign lobbying G8 embassies and ministers at UN, OECD, and other inter-governmental meetings. In the short period of seven working days, over 250 organisations, mostly trade unions, signed up in support of the declaration circulated by the World AIDS campaign (see e-bulletin 32, May 2008). 
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US Triples Funding for AIDS, TB, and Malaria 
The US House of Representatives, on 24 July, voted 303 to115 and the US Senate followed with a 60-13 vote to approve a bill that reauthorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The bill allocates US$48 billion for PEPFAR over the next five years. It was signed by President Bush on 30 July. 
 
The bill approved includes a provision that more than half of the program's aid go toward HIV/AIDS treatment and care. It allocates US$2 billion for the Global Fund in fiscal year 2009. The legislation contains an existing requirement that organisations receiving PEPFAR aid have a policy that opposes commercial sex work. The measure also includes a provision that would ease U.S. HIV/AIDS travel restrictions. 
 
(Various sources, as reported in <a href="http://www.kaisernetwork.org">www.kaisernetwork.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />

UNAIDS Publishes New Report on Global AIDS Epidemic 
Significant gains in preventing new HIV infections are being seen in a number of countries most affected by the AIDS epidemic. This is according to the 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. The Report, published every two years, highlights specific examples of countries which are seeing changes in sexual behaviour followed by declines in the number of new HIV infections. 
 
However, the Report also shows that despite the declines in new HIV infections, the AIDS epidemic is far from over, and that rates of new infections are rising in many countries. 
 
The 2008 Report is the most comprehensive report on the response to AIDS. It includes data from 147 countries and enables readers to assess progress made since 2001. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 29 July. The report is available on the website <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>). 
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Record Gains in South-East Asia 
According to the above report, Cambodia and Laos are among the best reformers in the region when it comes to ARV coverage. By 2007, there were 26,000 Cambodians on ARV treatment of the 29,000 people living with HIV/AIDS who needed it. Similarly, Laos is in the small group of developing countries where the coverage is more than 75%. 
 
With much higher absolute numbers, Thailand&rsquo;s achievements are also impressive. They are largely due to cheaper generic drugs. In November 2006, Thailand applied the compulsory licensing option, which allows developing countries to break patents of expensive drugs for public health emergencies under WTO rules. 
 
Papua New Guinea has made significant progress in scaling up VCT services, as well as expanding ARV access during the past few years. In Indonesia, however, the epidemic is among the fastest growing in Asia. The epidemic, which initially centred largely on injecting drug users in Bali and Jakarta, has now spread to 32 provinces. 
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Global Fund Board Confirms Round 9 
The Board of the Global Fund has confirmed that the Round 9 Call for Proposals will be on 1 October 2008, nearly six months earlier than had originally been anticipated. Round 10 is then expected to begin in April 2009. 
 
In the run-up to the decision on R8 proposals, for which the deadline was 1 July, the Technical Review Panel will give more complete information on rejected proposals, including suggested changes that need to be made to submit a proposal for re-submission. In Round 9, CCMs will be permitted to re-submit a proposal that had been assigned to Category 3 in Round 8 and to submit a separate new proposal. As anticipated, there will be a number of changes from the procedures followed in earlier rounds. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, issue 90 of 26 June 2008. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>, a Kenya-based NGO that serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund. 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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Do Global Fund Grants Work for Women? 
An Aidspan report entitled, &quot;Do Global Fund Grants Work for Women? An Assessment of the Gender Responsiveness of Global Fund-Financed Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa,&rdquo; has just been published. It is available at no charge, in English only, at <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications">www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications</a>. 
 
The report, by Angela Kageni and David Garmaise, provides findings from an analysis by Aidspan of all 211 approved proposals to the Global Fund that were submitted by countries in sub-Saharan Africa in Rounds 1-7. The study examines the extent to which these proposals, including services and activities, were &ldquo;gender responsive.&rdquo; Programmes are said to be gender-responsive when they provide services specifically for women or promote equal access for women to services provided to both men and women. 
 
For five focus countries &ndash; Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia &ndash; Aidspan analysed not just the proposals, but also the grants as implemented, to determine what results have been achieved for gender-related services and activities. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, issue 92 of 31 July 2008) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
Kenya in Landmark HIV Ruling 
Kenya&rsquo;s High Court has ruled for the first time that it is unlawful to fire someone on the grounds of their HIV status. It awarded a woman compensation of 2.2 million Kenyan shillings (US$35,000) for unfair dismissal. Homepark Caterers terminated the waitress&rsquo;s contract five years ago after she tested HIV-positive. 
 
The landmark ruling could have positive consequences for many of the 2.5 million Kenyans living with HIV, many of whom hide their status for fear of discrimination. 
 
(Source: SAPA, 11 July) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="" width="25" />
New AIDS Threat Emerging in India&rsquo;s Call Centres 
A new AIDS threat is rising in India's numerous call centres, where young staff is increasingly having unprotected sex with multiple partners in affairs developed during night shifts, a top AIDS expert has warned. 
 
While India has made great strides in bringing down its HIV infection rate, the promiscuity among &quot;call centre Romeos&quot; is a great concern, Dr. Suniti Solomon, who detected the first HIV case in India in 1986, told an international medical conference. 
 
According to her, India has reached a plateau of the infections. Her concern now is the call centres, where many of the young staff works at night to correspond with the daytime working hours of their American and European clients. 
 
It is estimated that India&rsquo;s call centres employ some 1.3 million people, mostly youths fresh out of school and colleges, earning a starting salary of 25,000 rupees (US$600) a month, more than a government doctor's pay check. There are no figures for how many call centre workers are infected with HIV. 
 
(Source: Associated Press Worldstream, 22 June) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions 
In its latest Newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools of 1 August, Education International reports on the controversy in South Africa in making condoms available in schools; and on HIV/AIDS workshops in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Mali. Articles also deal with preparations for the International AIDS Conference in Mexico and consultations on drafting the ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS in the world of work. 
 
The Global Union AIDS Programme is organising a two-day Labour AIDS Forum to facilitate trade union cooperation ahead of the biennial International AIDS Conference in Mexico City from 3-8 August.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

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Elbranschernas Fackforbund BF, the ICEM&rsquo;s Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union affiliate in Finland, has mounted a health and safety campaign against the use of creosote-treated wooden utility poles, reports Trade Union News of Finland. The union has targeted the Swedish firm Vattenfall, which has recently expanded the use of creosote on and inside of electrical poles in Finland. 

Direct evidence leaves little doubt that contact with creosote causes rashes and irritation, and could possibly lead to harmful damage to respiratory organs, reports the newsletter. Creosote is used as a preservative on and inside of wooden utility poles. 

The Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union claims it is impossible for utility workers not to have contact with creosote-stained poles in their daily work. Union Bargaining Secretary Sauli Vantti said the only alternative is for stakeholders of all utilities to implement an immediate cessation of wood treated with the resin fibre. 

In 2001, the European Council adopted a Directive that limits the use of creosote. But the Directive did not forbid its injection into electrical poles, or application on poles. 

The union is asking utility companies to find less harmful means to preserve wooden utility poles.

Finland’s Electrical Workers’ Union Wants Utility Pole Creosote Use to End

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An estimated 80% of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) 1.8 million members participated in a national strike on 6 August, protesting rampant inflation. The day-long strike marked the culmination in a series of four work stoppages calling for relief to rising electric and food costs. COSATU also issued a stern demand for a decent living wage to counter a June inflation rate that hit 12.2%. 

In the South African capital of Pretoria last week, 30,000 trade unionists marched on a government building while the cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki was meeting inside. In Cape Town, another 40,000 staged a four-hour march.
<img height="101" alt="" src="" width="220" />
&nbsp; 

Across South Africa, some 18 pockets of mass strike activity and protests took place. Nearly all the major mining houses were forced to cease operations because miners heeded their union&rsquo;s call to stop work, and three auto assembly plants were also shut by striking workers. 

The nation&rsquo;s workers and consumers demanded a roll back of a government-imposed 27.5% tariff increase in July atop already high electricity costs from state-owned utility Eskom. They also vowed to resist another two-cent-per-kilowatt increase due in September. 

They also protested a hike to food prices totaling 17% in recent months, interest rates that just broke the 20% mark, and fuel prices that rose a full 35% from 2007 to 2008. 

The first national strike called by COSATU this year happened on 9 July. The national labour centre followed that up with strikes on 16 July, targeting the provinces of Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalange, Free State, and Northern Cape. On 23 July, the day-long stay-aways expanded to Gauteng, Eastern Cape, North West, and Limpopo provinces.
<img height="240" alt="" src="" width="160" />
&nbsp;NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 

The 320,000-member National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), COSATU&rsquo;s largest affiliate, fully endorsed the walk-outs. NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said fuel costs alone have made it prohibitive for many miners to travel from worksites to their homes to visit families when they are not working. 

&ldquo;We need to send a very strong message that the poor of our society are deeply affected&rdquo; by this current economic crisis, said Baleni. &ldquo;Electricity, food, and everything else is quickly becoming beyond reach.&rdquo;

South African Unions Conduct Wave of National Strikes, Protesting Energy, Food Costs

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Strategic, year-long pressure by the Pulp and Paper Workers&rsquo; Branch of Australian ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) appears to have severed a supply contract between retail grocery chain Woolworths and Indonesian-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). The supply arrangement was for kitchen towels and tissue products. 

The pressure, countering Woolworth&rsquo;s environmental claim on packaging of its Select private-label towel and tissue products, came to a head last week when Woolworths announced it had &ldquo;concluded its contract commitments for the supply of Select paper products.&rdquo; 
The CFMEU is now looking for Australia&rsquo;s largest retailer to tell the country&rsquo;s consumers that it will, in fact, rely only on paper producers that adhere to sustainable forest practices. 

&ldquo;If Woolworths has finally decided to do the right thing, they need to show us by a clear and unequivocal statement they will never go back to APP,&rdquo; said CFMEU&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Secretary Alex Millar. They must now prove &ldquo;they will source their product from Australia and support Australian jobs the way they expect Australian consumers to support them.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" src="" width="120" alt="" />
The CFMEU campaign focused on a Woolworths packaging claim that its Select products were sourced from an &ldquo;environmentally managed company.&rdquo; In fact, Indonesia&rsquo;s Centre for International Forestry Research in 2007 found that APP relies on 60-70% of its wood fibre from clearing first-growth, protected forests in Sumatra. And much of that is by using illegal logging practices. 

The campaign then discovered that many Select products are made in APP&rsquo;s Chinese mills, where much of the wood fibre used is also derived through illegal means. 

After CFMEU appeals to Woolworths shareholders, most notably in November 2007, the retail chain pulled the Select brands from its shelves. But a few weeks later, those brands were back on the retail market, but without the environmental friendly claim. 

Millar says the CFMEU will now recommend to Woolworths paper-producing companies inside Australia which use proven, sustainable fibre sourcing in paper manufacturing.

CFMEU Forces Woolworths Hand on Sustainable Forest Products

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Trade unions the world over are encouraged to apply for the remaining spots in the 2008-2009 master course offerings of the Global Labour University, to be held in Germany, India, Brazil, South Africa. 
 
Forms and information can be found&nbsp;<a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/">here</a>. 
 
The programme offered at Germany&rsquo;s University of Kassel and Berlin School of Economics centres on global governance and macroeconomics; the programme at the Tata Institute in Mumbai, India, deals with the informal economy; the curriculum at the University of Witwaterstand, Johannesburg, South Africa, is the politics of development; while at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), S&atilde;o Paulo State, the focus is on transational companies.
<img height="91" src="" width="98" alt="" />
The Global Labour University is an initiative of the ILO, global trade unions, academic institutions, and foundations. ACTRAV, the ILO Bureau for Workers&rsquo; Activities, offers scholarships to trade unionists from developing nations and transitional economies. Applicants must have the endrosement from a trade union to apply.

Applications Closing Fast for Admission to 2008-2009 Global Labour University

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of the UK has issued a cautionary warning on the number of hydrocarbon releases in the offshore oil and gas industries. Such releases are considered precursors for major accidents. 
 
The concern comes just five weeks after British trade unions and civil society commemorated the 20-year anniversary of the deadly Piper Alpha offshore disaster, in which 167 oil workers were killed. 
 
Figures released by the UK's HSE reveal that there has been no improvement in the number of hydrocarbon releases in 2007-2008. Some 517 dangerous incidents were reported in that period, 40% of which were hydrocarbon releases.
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The statistics, released by the HSE on 13 August, show that there was also an increase in the number of serious injuries in the offshore sector in 2007-2008 from the prior year. There were 44, compared to 39 in 2006-2007. Although for the first time in three years there were no fatalities in the offshore sector, there were 12 deaths in marine operations tied to offshore work. That included eight seamen who perished in April 2007 when the Norwegian anchor-handling tug supply vessel Bourbon Dolphin sunk in UK waters off the Shetland Islands. 
 
HSE Executive Judith Hackitt said the statistics are a reminder &ldquo;that we are far from being in a position where we can feel comfortable. On the failure to reduce the number of hydrocarbon releases, plus the increase in recorded dangerous incidents, she said the obvious implication is &ldquo;that basic safety systems are not being followed.&rdquo; 
 
UK&rsquo;s worst offshore disaster in the UK occurred on 6 July 1988 during Occidental Petroleum&rsquo;s Piper Alpha platform blasts. The 167 workers killed were caught in a hellish series of explosions lasting 75 minutes that many blamed on lax management control systems.

UK’s Health, Safety Executive Issues Warning on Offshore Hydrocarbon Releases

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