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On the evening of 7 November, U.S. Steel Corp. locked out 900 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 at the American company&rsquo;s Hamilton, Ontario, steel mill. The reason given: the union&rsquo;s refusal to submit a concession-laden contract to members for a vote. 
 
In 2007, U.S. Steel bought Canadian steel producer Stelco Inc. and its two steel mills, the Hilton Works in Hamilton and Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, for US$1.1 billion. The 1985 Investment Canada Act contains a provision stating that foreign investment in Canadian enterprises must provide a &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to Canada. 
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Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator
The lockout eight days ago frames that flawed premise. In fact, beginning in August 2009 and continuing for eight months, 1,000 steelworkers at the Lake Erie Works were locked out while U.S. Steel extracted pension cuts and other concessions. 
 
Now, in Hamilton, the situation is much the same. The American steelmaker is demanding closure of the defined benefit plan to new hires, an end to pension indexing for 9,000 Stelco retirees, cuts totalling 80% of the value of cost-of-living adjustments, and elimination of two weeks vacation time. 
 
A provincial mediator delivered these social cuts to Local 1005&rsquo;s bargaining committee on 4 November, three months after a prior collective agreement expired. With the union refusing to adhere to a company demand to put the proposal to a vote, U.S. Steel imposed the lockout. Local 1005 seeks status quo in a new labour agreement. 
<img alt="" src="" width="204" height="151" />
Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator
&ldquo;These workers and their community were promised by their government and U.S. Steel that they would benefit from this foreign multinational&rsquo;s takeover of Stelco,&rdquo; stated USW Canadian National Director and ICEM Vice President Ken Neumann. &ldquo;Instead, the takeover has resulted in pain and suffering for working families. U.S. Steel&rsquo;s &lsquo;net benefit&rsquo; has consisted of plant shutdowns, productions cuts, lost jobs, and labour disputes.&rdquo; 
 
Twice in the past two years, U.S. Steel has defied the Investment Canada Act. Only five weeks ago, on 8 October, the company shut Hamilton&rsquo;s blast furnace and idled all steel-making, citing weak customer orders. Although no workers were made redundant then, the shutdown was the harbinger to the 7 November lockout. 
 
From November 2008 to March 2009, a mere 15 months after buying Stelco, U.S. Steel laid off 1,500 of 2,000 workers at both operations as it moved production to steel mills in the US. The Canadian government is attempting to enforce the Investment Canada Act. It has brought a lawsuit in federal court against U.S. Steel for breaking job and production level promises with the 2008-2009 shutdowns. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="152" />
USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann
The government is seeking fines of up to C$10,000 per day for breaching the Act. 
 
But in court arguments, still underway, U.S. Steel used the economic recession to justify curtailments in Canadian steel production. Adding to production flight &ndash; and yet another slap at the Canadian law &ndash; near parity between the Canadian dollar and US dollar now has made a shift in production economical for the company. Slab steel made in both Hamilton and Nanticoke has been destined southward for finishing, and the weak American dollar has now made raw steel production cheaper in the US. 
 
Neumann has seen the Investment Canada Act trampled on too many times. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s Vale in Sudbury and Labrador, or U.S. Steel in Hamilton and Nanticoke, foreign corporations show no qualms about breaking their commitments and inflicting economic pain,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Neumann, the USW, and all Canadian industrial unions seek a re-write to the Investment Canada Act, revisions that give genuine social and economic guarantees to workers in the wake of corporate takeovers.

Flawed Investment Canada Act Again Seen in Steel Lockout

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the great success of a project by the German IGBCE women in Tanzania, on the South African government&rsquo;s failure to provide promised female condoms at the World Cup games, and on the mining house AngloAmerican&rsquo;s ongoing campaign to stem the spread of the HIV virus in South Africa. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
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IGBCE Women Sponsor Successful VCT campaign in Tanzania 
 
The second leg of the campaign for voluntary counselling and testing took place in Mwasa, the second largest town in Tanzania, in August. The campaign was sponsored with donations from the women unionists of the German ICEM affiliate, IGBCE. The African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) gave technical assistance. 
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A total of 875 people were tested, among them 800 workers, members of the ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO in Tanzania. Four percent tested positive, with a marked difference between men (3.1 percent) and women (6.9 percent). All who tested positive were referred to the government hospital in Mwasa. 
 
A dancing troupe of people living with HIV and AIDS provided entertainment, and members of the group also gave testimonies to encourage workers and members of the public to get tested. 
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Female Condoms Missing During World Cup 
 
Female condoms have been widely celebrated as an answer to putting reproductive health and HIV protection in the hands of women. Yet, the South African government fell far short of its promise of distributing 7.5 million female condoms during the World Cup games in June, with only one million finding their way into the hands of consumers. On the other hand, male condoms were available in high numbers - 565 million - though even these were 20% fewer than expected. 
 
Many women&rsquo;s organisations, who had pressed for the condoms, expressed disappointment that the female versions were largely missing in action, thus offering women less choice of how to protect themselves. Tian Johnson of Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Trust is frustrated at the situation, referring to messages communicated by the organisation to 2010 visitors, &ldquo;Coming to South Africa soon? Bring your own condoms; we certainly don&rsquo;t have enough to share!&rdquo; 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.genderlinks.org.za">www.genderlinks.org.za</a>, as reported in Pambazuka, 23 July) 
 
Note by the Editor: The Coordinator of the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project is campaigning for wider access to female condoms. During the Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Women&rsquo;s Workshop in May, she found that female condoms were not commonly available. 
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World AIDS Day 2010: Universal Access and Human RIghts 
 
First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day (WAD) on 1 December has served to raise awareness about the epidemic, focus attention on issues that are key to a successful response, and to inspire positive action. The WAD theme for 2009-2010 is &ldquo;Universal Access and Human Rights.&rdquo; 
 
In cooperation with the World AIDS Campaign and other organisations, this year UNAIDS is organising a global &ldquo;Lights for Rights Commemoration&rdquo; in 100 cities. This campaign aims to highlight the linkages between HIV vulnerability and Human Rights around the world, especially of people living with HIV, women and girls, men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and transgender people. 
 
The &ldquo;Lights for Rights&rdquo; campaign began on 1 December 2009 in the US, when the lights were turned off and later turned back on, illuminating New York City landmarks. The darkness represents how stigma, discrimination, and criminalization forces people to die alone in fear and shame, while switching the lights on symbolizes the human rights of all people, which allows one to walk in the light of information, treatment, care, and health. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS website <a href="http://www.uniaidstoday.org">www.uniaidstoday.org</a>. UNAIDS has produced a toolkit which can be accessed on this site 
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Zimbabwe: Patients Forced to Pay for ARVs 
 
Rampant corruption in the provision of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other HIV services is threatening Zimbabwe's national AIDS response, according to a recently released report by a local human rights group. 
 
Commissioned by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in March 2010, the report - Corruption Burns Universal Access to Treatment - found that 73% of HIV-positive respondents had been asked to pay bribes by health workers. Most of those unwilling or unable to pay were turned away or given inadequate services. 
 
The findings were based on interviews with 1,024 people living with HIV in the provinces of Masvingo, Harare, Bulawayo, and Manicaland. Most of the respondents lived in urban areas and 89% had a family income of less than US$100 a month. 
 
HIV patients were often asked to pay for services that were supposed to be free. About a third of the respondents who were asked for bribes refused to pay them, mainly because of poverty; as a consequence, 63% were denied the service and had to pay for drugs or diagnostic tests in the private sector, or on the black market, or go without. 
 
(Sources: Plus News, Harare, 5 October) 
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Kenya: Minister Condemned for Promoting Gay Inclusion 
 
A Kenyan minister who expressed her opinion in support for HIV and Aids mitigation programmes for gays and lesbians has come under sharp criticism from church and Muslim leaders who said her remarks were &ldquo;satanic&rdquo; and contrary to &ldquo;African culture.&rdquo; 
 
Esther Murugi, the special programmes minister in the Kenyan government, while addressing a Gays and Commercial Sex Workers HIV and Aids Symposium held at the Kenya Coastal City of Mombasa, challenged the government, in which she serves to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community efforts in war against the scourge. 
 
The seminar, titled &ldquo;Most &ndash; At-Risk Populations (MARPs),&rdquo; was targeted at Men having Sex with Men (MSM), sex workers, and Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), believed to be at the greatest risk of HIV infection. 
 
Politicians attacked the minister over her remarks and called on Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to dismiss her for advocating for the recognition of gays and lesbians. The symposium was partly sponsored by the National Aids Control Council (NACC) which is the government national agency that designs and implements policies on the fight against HIV and AIDS. 
 
(Source: BTM correspondent, 6 October) 
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Global Fund: Donor Governments Pledge Record Amounts 
 
Donors are expected to give the Global Fund about US$11.7 billion over the three-year period, 2011-2013. This is 20% more than was pledged three years ago for the 2008-2010 period; but it is still less than the Global Fund says that it needs. 
 
More than 40 countries, together with the European Commission, faith-based organizations, private foundations and corporations attended a pledging session in New York on 5 October chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. 
 
The Fund says that its total needs over the three years 2011-13 will be between US$13 billion and US$20 billion. Over the past few months, donor government studied the Fund's needs and effectiveness and deliberated over how much each would commit to for the three years in question. They then came to New York to announce their decisions. 
 
The four countries that pledged the most for 2011-13 are the US, US$4 billion, 40% more than its pledge for the previous three years; France, US$1.48 billion, a 20% increase over the previous three years; Germany, US$822 million, no change; and Japan, US$800 million, a 28% increase. The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) are Norway and France (0.018% each) and Canada (0.013%). 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 131 of 8 October. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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AngloAmerican&rsquo;s Campaign against HIV/AIDS 
 
AngloAmerican is the largest private sector employer in South Africa and the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have ravaged its business. However, over the years the situation has become more manageable. By its own estimates, approximately 12,000 of its 71,000-workforce in South Africa are HIV-positive. 
 
The group&rsquo;s medical consultant, Dr Brian Brink, who is also the Global Fund Board member for the private sector, says that the big turning point came when treatment became available and effective. In negotiations with the union, the company agreed to pay for antiretroviral treatment (ART), but the real obstacle to getting things done was the stigma, fear, and distrust surrounding the disease. Agreement with the union also included guarantees that the jobs of HIV-positive workers were safe. 
 
From the economic point of view, giving out ART free of charge also makes sense. The fully-accounted cost for treatment is US$126 per HIV-positive worker per month. Against this, the total savings from reduced absenteeism and declining health care costs, as well as reduced staff turnover and benefits payments are US$219. 
 
(Sources: Daily Telegraph London, 2 August, with additions from the editor) 
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News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme 
 
The Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) is a joint initiative by the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (IF Metall), an affiliate of the ICEM. 
 
In the latest newsletter of SWHAP, there is a report on the Swedish programme&rsquo;s Sub-regional Conference in Zimbabwe related to the development of its South Africa Peer Educators Network and new HIV/AIDS workplace programmes in cooperation with unions and Swedish companies in Southern and East Africa. The SWHAP programme in Namibia has commenced with the adoption of workplace policies by Auto Sueco, Atlas Copco, and ABB, and the training of peer educators. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter August 2010) 
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News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>, reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 93 of 1 October on its HIV/AIDS capacity-building workshop for the Asian region and the publication of a new seafarers directory that includes information on practising safer sex and advocacy of condom use. 
 
The August Newsletter of PSUFASA (Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa) reports on the projects activities in Zimbabwe. The project, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development, is in its last year of the three-year project cycle. The project is coordinated by Tsitsi Mariwo from the PSI Southern Africa office in Johannesburg. 
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Five Years Ago: ICEM&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS e-Bulletin was Born 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In future issues, we will refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In October 2005, we reported on the Global Fund replenishment meeting in London in September 2005. Governments then pledged US$3.7 billion, which was short of expectations as the total needs of the Fund had been estimated at US$7 billion. As the article on the replenishment meeting in New York above shows, the amounts pledged have trebled but so have the needs to cover all approved grants and sustain service delivery. 
 
In the October 2005 issue we wrote: &ldquo;The relatively low level of support raises questions about the G8 commitment (at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005) to place on antiretroviral treatment by 2010 all HIV patients who need it.&rdquo; 
 
That sadly has become true. As the year 2010 comes close to ending, various estimates say that only half of the HIV positive population who needs treatment still has not access to it. 
 
(The source of the article in October 2005: Global Fund Observer, Issue 50 of 7 September 2005) 
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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 61, October 2010

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

Turkish Woman Fired for Union Organising at Izmir Packaging Mill

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

Iraq: Trade Union Repression Must End

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The ICEM continues to support the campaign for the rights of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. The State Enterprise Workers&rsquo; Relations Confederation of Thailand (SERC) has teamed with LabourStart to call on the Royal Thai Government to end the illegal and unjust practice of blocking Burmese migrants from access to the Workers&rsquo; Compensation Fund (WCF). 
 
The social security fund provides compensation for workers who incur injuries or disease from their work. Burmese migrants are denied rehabilitation assistance and are denied the right to register as disabled if they suffer permanent disabilities from occupational accidents. 
 
Following three years of protest by the ITUC-affiliated SERC, the ILO&rsquo;s Committee of Experts in February 2010 ruled that this denial of access for Burmese migrants was a breach of ILO Convention 19, on equality of accident compensation, which Thailand has ratified. 
<img src="" width="150" height="69" alt="" />
The Thai government&rsquo;s response has been to outsource the compensation of migrant workers to private insurance firms. This cannot create equality of accident compensation with Thai nationals who remain covered by the WCF, and is in breach of international law and human rights standards. 
 
Over two million Burmese migrants currently work in Thailand, most in low-skilled, dangerous jobs. While the majority of these workers entered Thailand illegally, over one million have registered to work. 
 
Labour activists submitted a petition to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 26 October, calling for action on this issue and on the general abuse of migrant workers in Thailand. The LabourStart campaign condemns the Thai government&rsquo;s inaction on the human trafficking of migrants. 
 
Visit the LabourStart Act NOW Campaign <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=783">here</a>, to send a message to the Thai Government.

Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Warrants Support

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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jungsun visited ICEM affiliates in India and Pakistan 18-22 October. The mission was to increase understanding of the challenges facing ICEM members in those countries, and to coordinate ICEM support. 
 
The activities in India included a joint meeting with the four ICEM Indian affiliates, in Nagpur, 19 October. Those unions are the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF), The Indian National Cement Workers&rsquo; Federation (INCWF), the Indian National Diamond &amp; Ornaments Workers&rsquo; Federation (INDOWF), and the HMS Chemical Mazdoor Federation. 
 
The National Chemical and Petroleum Federation joined the meeting as an observer. The meeting was chaired by Warda and Brother BK Das, INMF General Secretary, who also serves as the India Representative of the Council of ICEM Indian affiliates, formed in 2009. 
<img src="" width="275" height="183" alt="" />
The common focus of the four unions is on issues of Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), and organizing. The INMF reported on progress in mines in the state of Orissa, where a collective bargaining agreement was obtained to provide equal benefits of social security for CAL workers. In the cement sector, around 60% of all workforces are CAL workers. Several unions were set up by CAL cement workers, who then either joined INCWF or applied for membership directly to ICEM. Cement employers sack CAL workers whenever they try to form union or to join. 
 
The proposal was agreed by affiliates to hold a joint rally and symposium in New Delhi, the capital of India, on the issue of national legislation and social security benefits for CAL workers. It will be a joint action with the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textiles, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). 
 
In the chemicals sector, due to common characteristics of small numbers of employees in a company, trade unions are not powerful, except for in the large state-owned fertilizer or petro-chemical companies. 
 
Pharmaceutical unions in MNCs were active until ten years ago, but have been destroyed by aggressive relocation strategies of employers, seeking unorganized workforces. Contrary to the high economic growth rate every year, trade unions in the manufacturing sector are in decline, especially in private companies. The unification of trade unions in Indian manufacturing seems more and more necessary. 
 
The mission continued to Karachi, Pakistan, on 21-22 October, where meetings were held with the three ICEM affiliates: the Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF), the Pakistan Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union (PCEM), and the Pakistan National Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Pharmaceutical Workers&rsquo; Union. 
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ICEM Mission to Pakistan
The Secretary General of the PCMLF, Sultan Muhammad Khan, and Pir Muhammad, Education Secretary, presented the challenges of the major industry federation, based in Quetta, Balochistan Province. It is the largest mining union in Pakistan, with a total membership of 130,000. Members suffer from occupational diseases, including TB, and Hepatitis A and C, with high numbers of fatal accidents at work. The numbers of death at work cases are 136 per year, with little help from the government since many labour inspectors are corrupt. 
 
The PCEM, led by General Secretary Muhammad Suhail, has 2,000 members, and is based in Karachi, Sindh Province. 
 
The Pakistan National Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Pharmaceutical Workers&rsquo; Union, led by General Secretary Khalil Ur Rehman, has 1,500 members, and is also based in Karachi. The union has national affiliation to the APFOL-PWF, an ITUC affiliate.

ICEM Supports Pakistan, India Affiliates in Tough Challenges

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ICEM Chemical Industries Sector Chair Tomas Nieber opened the Chemicals Sector Conference in Istanbul last week by calling for more regulatory standards as a result of the global financial crisis. Nieber, the head of German affiliate IGBCE&rsquo;s Economic Department who was re-elected chair of the sector that covers both chemicals and pharmaceutical, said with the sector showing a modest recovery in 2010, politicians and governments must not revert to past policies that caused the crisis. 
 
A record 250 delegates from 40 countries attended the ICEM&rsquo;s quadrennial chemicals conference in Istanbul on 27-28 October, a conference splendidly organised by Petrol-İş, the petroleum, chemicals, and rubber union of Turkey. 
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Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin
Nieber said 34 million jobs were lost worldwide due to the financial crisis, and he cited a number of challenges facing the sector, including the rising price of fuels and the need to maintain sustainable policies for the two industries. He also said since the sector has been marked by &ldquo;internationalization&rdquo; with increased cross-border investments and mergers, there must be more coordination regarding currency exchange rates. 
 
&ldquo;As trade unions, we must demand more regulations,&rdquo; Nieber said. 
 
Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin welcomed delegates to Turkey, but told global chemical and pharmaceutical trade union leaders that his country has implemented policies neutralizing unions. &ldquo;International conventions related to trade union rights and freedoms are routinely violated,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and the national legislation which regulates trade union activity retains its repressive and prohibitive essence.&rdquo; 
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27 delegates from Japan attended the conference
&Ouml;ztaşkin said recent constitutional modifications that have been accepted by referendum actually are regressive in many ways toward trade union rights. He said Turkey ranks among the top ten worldwide in chemicals production, but he said privatization has decreased employment by 60-70% over the years, with non-union and precarious labour the norm. He also said it has become common for trade unions in Turkey to be the chief advocates for developing social responsibility standards, waste management, health and safety standards, and clean technologies. 
 
The conference included no less than six panel discussions over the two days, including one on Industrial Relations, Social Dialogue, and Social Responsibility. That panel saw Lutz Mugl, General Secretary of the International Chemical Employers&rsquo; Labour Relations Committee, Rhodia Chemistry President Bernard Chambon, and Umicore Human Resources and Development Director Mark Dolfyn participate and review practices, as well as ICEM Chemicals Industry Kemal &Ouml;zkan and Hubertus Schmoldt, former President of IGBCE and President of EMCEF. 
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The delegation from the Russian Chemical &amp; Allied Workers&rsquo; Union was led by President Alexander Sitnov, right
(For a listing of the panels, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4051-ICEM’s-Quadrennial-Chemicals-Conference-in-Istanbul-Next-Week ">here</a> to view a previous ICEM article on the conference.) 
 
The conference concluded with development of an 11-point action plan for the next four-year period. Highlights include support and coordination for organising workers of multinational companies; development of decent work practices in collective agreements, as well as equal pay and same terms and conditions of work; use of social dialogue with employers&rsquo; organizations; health, safety, and sustainability practices through union participation; a emphasis on women and young workers in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries; and support for a new global trade union structure with two other Global Union Federations. 
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Hassan Juma Awad Sdawe of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (GFIW) was a panelist on Global Union Power Through Solidarity
The complete work plan can be accessed <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ChemsActionPlan%20_3_.pdf ">here</a>. 
 
The Chemicals Conference also endorsed a resolution supporting French, Romanian, and other European trade union federations engaged in strikes against austerity measures. That resolution was first adopted by the ICEM Presidium, which met on 26 October at the same venue in Istanbul. That resolution can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/FrenchResolutionChemConf.pdf ">here</a>.

ICEM Chemicals Conference Concludes with Record Turnout

Meeting in Stavanger, Norway September 6-8, 2010, delegates to the ICEM World Energy Conference were appalled to hear of the latest attacks on trade unions by the present &ldquo;caretaker&rdquo; government in Iraq. 
 
Delegates listened to presentations by ICEM Executive Committee member, Hashmeya Muhsin Alsadawe, President General Union of Electricity Workers and Abdulah Muhsin International Representative of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) 
 
There is clearly an extended and concerted attack on trade union organisation. The latest attacks have seen on July 21, police storming the offices of the Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union in Basra on the orders of Electricity Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to shut the union down. As more police arrived, they took the membership records, the files documenting often-atrocious working conditions, the leaflets for demonstrations protesting Basra's agonizing power outages, the computers and the phones. Finally, Muhsin and her coworkers were pushed out and the doors locked. 
 
Shahristani's order prohibits all trade union activity in the plants operated by the ministry, closes union offices, and seizes control of union assets from bank accounts to furniture. The order says the ministry will determine what rights have been given to union officers, and take them all away. Anyone who protests, it says, will be arrested under Iraq's Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005. 
 
Delegates unanimously confirmed the importance of the ICEM EC resolution of May 26-27, 2010 and resolved to intensity their support and solidarity work with our affiliated trade unions in Iraq in their struggle for fundamental trade union and human rights and a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society.

Resolution on Iraq

&quot;Global Governance Includes Better Governance of Oil Companies&quot; 
 
On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion on the drilling rig &quot;Deepwater Horizon&quot;. 
 
Eleven oil workers were killed. Two days later the rig sank in an ocean of fire. Oil is flowing completely uncontrolled and is still doing so after almost two months. 
 
We do not know what caused the blow out. The ICEM World Energy Conference will however declare that: 
 
1) an independent and open inquiry must be held, and trade unions should be granted full insight in the process; 
 
2) at all times the responsibility rest solely on the operator; 
 
3) blow out prevention (BOP) systems should have remote control capabilities, for instance acoustic signal actuators, in addition to traditional BOP controls; 
 
4) when working in new areas, deep water, and other special conditions, it must be demanded that more than one rig be present in the area to ensure safer evacuation in case of an emergency and to be able to start drilling a relief well in case of a blowout. Two months after the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a catastrophic disaster that the drilling of a relief well had not been started; 
 
5) sufficient and effective oil booms and/or other means to collect oil spillage must be available or in place in all areas where offshore drilling takes place; 
 
6) the demands of deregulation must be reversed. More regulations are needed and the &quot;best available technology&quot; must be demanded, at least in all new and challenging areas.

Energy Conference Resolution on Gulf of Mexico Oil Well Blowout (BP - Deepwater Horizon)

The ICEM World Energy Conference, meeting in Stavanger, Norway on 6-7 September 2010, is deeply disturbed by the extraordinarily high number of workplace deaths and injuries in recent months, in both upstream and downstream oil and gas industries. It must be remembered that these are workers who died producing profits for corporations that failed to provide safe working conditions. 
 
Specifically, the ICEM notes a rash of explosions and fires in US oil refineries, including the tragic refinery explosion of the Tesoro company at the Anacortes, Washington, refinery that killed seven dedicated union members in April 2010. The ICEM grieves the death of a Petrobras worker at an onshore oils filed in the state of Bahia in May. Much has rightly been made of the environmental destruction along the United States Gulf coast brought about by the BP-operated oil rig explosion and blow-out in the gulf of Mexico earlier this year. After the initial news, however, the fact that 11 offshore workers died and 15 others were severely injured has been largely ignored. These are examples only. ICEM also recognizes that there have been many further workplace deaths in the oil and gas and other sectors. 
 
This deterioration in safety and health conditions is attributable, the Conference believes, to the rush by corporations to maximize profits by corporations in the wake of the financial crisis, and a general disregard for best practises in safety and health. Indeed, many oil and gas companies, rather than create or re-create decent jobs as the economy recovers, have instead made a hazardous industry more hazardous by expanding the utilization of contract workers, combining existing jobs, and decreasing direct employment. Thiss situation is made worse by the non-regulation, deregulationn and non-enforcement of safety and environmental regulations by many governments. 
 
The ICEM calls on the industry to engage the legitimate workers' representatives in implementing proper procedures and best practises such as Process Safety Management and Joint Union-Management Health and Safety Committees to remedy the inherent risks in these industries. 
 
ICEM insists that trade unions be fully involved in all design, safety methodology and implementation of safety equipment, as well as fully involved in investigative work following accidents or malfunctions. 
 
The ICEM pledges to alert affiliates whenever it becomes aware of mass deaths inside any work facility caused by negligence or faulty safety systems. It is the expectation that trade union affiliates will bring attention to these horrific acts to their own governments and inside their own enterprises in order that a new safety consciousness is raised and a new culture of health and safety is built. 
 
The ICEM also calls for ratification and strict adherence to all of the important ILO instruments on occupational health and safety, including: ILO Convention 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention; Convention 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention; Convention 162, the Asbestos Convention; Convention 148, the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise, Ventilation); Convention 136, the Benzene Convention; Convention 170, the Chemicals Convention; Convention 115, the Radiation Protection Convention; Convention 139, the Occupational Cancer Convention; Convention 183, the Maternity Protection Convention; and Convention 176, on Safety and Health in Mines, as well as attention to the ILO Guidelines on health and Safety management Systems. 
 
Finally, the ICEM calls on other Global Union Federations to join its campaign for better safety and health conditions throughout all industries.

Energy Conference Resolution on Safety in the Oil and Gas Sector ICEM World Energy Conference, 2010

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