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<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Strikes, road blockades, and mine sit-ins will continue through tomorrow, 31 May, as 8,000 mineworkers at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain continue their protests against government action to cut coal subsidies.

	Backed by mining unions within both of Spain&rsquo;s major labour federations -- Confederaci&oacute;n Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Uni&oacute;n General de Trabajadores (UGT) &ndash; strikes that began last week will re-start today and tomorrow following the break-off of tripartite talks yesterday, 29 May.

	The unions had hoped those negotiations would at least partially rescind the 64% subsidy cuts contained in the government&rsquo;s budget.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 255px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	Spanish Coal Miners on Strike Last Week

	The strikes began last week, 23-24 May, and saw 100% participation by coal miners. They were halted in order to give a tripartite monitoring committee on coal an opportunity to scale back the subsidies. But after six hours of futile negotiations that lasted into yesterday evening, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of both federations announced resumption of strikes today and tomorrow in and around the cities of Aragon, Asturias, and Castilla y Le&oacute;n, with a major demonstration planed in Madrid.

	Even before talks started yesterday, miners began blocking major road arteries linking northern cities, and ten miners began sit-ins late Monday evening after their shifts ended at the Cand&iacute;n mine in Oviedo. The premature strikes were spontaneous and not authorised by the unions, but the protests depicted the deep frustration felt by Spanish miners to the proposed subsidy curtailments.&nbsp;<a href="http://lolitaoutfits.com/Lolita-Corset_l166">corset for sale</a>

	The Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is adamant to enforce the 64% subsidy reduction in order to reduce the public deficit. But miners and their unions feel such a drastic cutback will be the death knell to coal-mining in Spain, a country that has shed 40,000 jobs over the past 20 year due to pit closures.

Spain’s Coal Miners’ Strike to Block State Aid Cuts to Industry

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	Following a second failed effort by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) to force an unwanted enterprise labour agreement on 4,000 Queensland, Australia, coal miners, the tri-union Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) called a seven-day strike starting 23 May at six of the company&rsquo;s rich coking coal mines of the Bowen Basin.

	That strike, one in nearly ten inside a bitter 18-month dispute that has become the bellwether for trade union rights under the Labour government&rsquo;s Fair Work law, will end tomorrow but an end to the long-festering contract battle appears nowhere in sight.

	At issue is managing partner BHP Billiton&rsquo;s longing to block union involvement over safety, work shifts, housing criteria for fly-in, fly-out miners, and equal work rights for contract staff. The SBU is composed on the majority union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU).

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 145px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Last October, BMA used its Fair Work right to directly ballot miners on its regressive proposals. Then, 92% rejected an offer containing substantial pay gains but gutting union work rights. On 22 May, just four days after counting of a second company ballot that saw 82.7% rejection, BMA and SBU met in Brisbane to avert this latest strike.

	But the company came to the table unwilling to amend its demands.

	&ldquo;With the same arrogant attitude and obviously on the back of two overwhelming &lsquo;no&rsquo; votes,&rdquo; CFMEU Queensland District President Stephen Smyth said, &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t seem to register with BHP that what they are selling, our members aren&rsquo;t buying.&rdquo;

	Not only has BMA attempted to circumvent the intent of the Fair Work law over 18 months of futile bargaining, but it also was reprimanded by Fair Work Australia early this month in a failure to communicate legally with the SBU over closure and redundancies at a seventh BMA Bowen Basin mine, the 340-worker Norwich Park mine.

	Also this month, the Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) condemned BHP Billiton&rsquo;s bad-faith bargaining in a formal resolution calling attention to a leaked e-mail in March stating the company&rsquo;s terms &ldquo;are not negotiable, not now, now next month, not next year.&rdquo; The resolution also declared the company&rsquo;s pursuit of safety deregulation &ldquo;from qualified workers on the job to management&rdquo; away from mine sites as the key factor leading to the Pike River mine disaster in new Zealand.

	Past ICEM coverage of the BMA-SBU dispute, including the origins of the above cited e-mail, can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4971-Intentional-BHP-Billiton-Strife-in-Australian-Coal-Dispute-Continues">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4731-Australian-Miners-Reject-BMAa-s-Contract-Proposal-by-9225">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4679-Coal-Boss-Conceit3A-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a>.

Queensland Coal Miners End 7-day Strike after BHP Billiton Ballot Fails

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	Workers in Germany&rsquo;s chemicals sector won 4.5% wage gains over the next 19 months in national talks concluded on 24 May in Sch&ouml;nefeld near Berlin. The 2012-13 negotiations between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and the chemical employers&rsquo; association, BAVC, began on 17 April.

	Perhaps more significant last week than another high round of industrial wage increases that will provide further growth to Europe&rsquo;s largest economy, the IGBCE achieved reduction in work time for older workers and more opportunities for younger ones through continuation of a &ldquo;demographic fund&rdquo; that will see even higher payments made by employers.

	The new pact, with the wage hikes to take effect between 1 July and 1 September, covers 550,000 chemical workers employed at some 1,900 companies. The 14-month 2011-12 social pact expires either at the end of May or June this year, depending on the region.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 285px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	The tough yet peaceful resolve to chemical sector talks came two days before IG Metall and the employers&rsquo; association Gesamtmetall reached 4.3% wage terms over 13 months for 800,000 metal and electronics workers in Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg state. That settlement set a pattern for other metal negotiations across Germany covering another two million workers.

	The IGBCE agreement continues a trend in the German chemicals industry that provides financial incentives for older workers to reduce their weekly work hours or opt to take early retirement at age 55, thus opening sustainable careers for young workers.

	IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Peter Hausmann said this agreement creates an even better &ldquo;age-friendly work environment.&rdquo; This is accomplished through the &ldquo;demographic fund,&rdquo; created in national talks in 2008.

	<img alt="" height="132" src="" width="175" />&nbsp;

	Peter Hausmann

	Between the years 2013 and 2015, employers will pay an additional &euro;200 per annum per worker into the fund, raising &ndash; in most cases &ndash; the yearly amount to &euro;600 and lifting the fund&rsquo;s reservoir by &euro;200 million. The fund can be tapped for early retirement at full pension benefits, reduced work week for staff over age 55 at full salary, or more workers eligible for semi-retirement, meaning a combination of reduced working hours with partial payment of pension benefits.

	In addition to the wage hikes, apprentices will realise an added &euro;50-a-month increase.

	IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis called the 2012-13 social charter &ldquo;a good result for all workers in the chemicals industry.&rdquo; He said the union accomplished a hefty pay increase and in particular achieved more comprehensive work-time savings for older workers, adding that the agreement meets the demographic changes occurring in the industry.

IGBCE Chemical Talks: Union Stays Course of Growth, Reinforces Worker Age Transition

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />The world of labour is celebrating the election victory of Guy Ryder as the tenth Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, the trilateral United Nations agency charged with protecting workers around the world.The election this Monday by the ILO governing body marks the first time someone from a trade union background has been chosen to lead the organisation. Several rounds of secret-ballot voting reduced the list of candidates from 8, and appointed Ryder on a five-year term.ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated close friend Guy Ryder on behalf of the global union, looking forward to the ILO now building on past successes and collaboration, placing decent jobs and proper trade union rights at the heart of the global agenda, in the spirit of tripartitism.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 98px;height: 91px" width="390" />&quot;Our duty to the poorest and the most vulnerable must be paramount in the journey ahead,&quot; stated Ryder.The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates lobbyied their home governments to support Ryder. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.The outgoing Director-General Juan Somavia, a Chilean national, will leave the post on 30 September 2012 after 13 years, and Ryder will take up the post in October.

ICEM Congratulates New ILO Director General Guy Ryder

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the UN General Assembly Declaration on HIV and AIDS, on a call by unions for more funding for HIV and AIDS, and more workplace activities and on efforts to find a vaccine or a cure to the disease. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
UN Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS 
 
On 10 June, the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly adopted its outcome document, the new United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. 
 
The Declaration reaffirms the commitment of governments to fight the pandemic with time-bound targets laid down in the Millennium Development Goals, such as halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV by 2015. It commits governments to work toward the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015. Efforts must be accelerated to achieve the goal of universal access to antiretroviral treatment for those eligible based on WHO treatment guidelines by 2015. 
 
Governments also pledge to eliminate gender inequalities, gender-based abuse and violence, and increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect them from the risk of HIV infection. The Declaration calls on young people to help lead global HIV awareness. 
 
Of particular importance to unions and the world of work is Article 85 of the Declaration which says: &ldquo;Commit to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on workers, their families, their dependants, workplaces and economies, including by taking into account all relevant ILO conventions, as well as the guidance provided by the relevant ILO recommendations, including ILO Recommendation No 200, and call on employers, trade and labour unions, employees and volunteers to eliminate stigma and discrimination, protect human rights and facilitate access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.&rdquo; 
 
While the Declaration recognises that funding has increased in the period from 2001 to 2010 over eight-fold to US$16 billion, it expresses concern that the global financial and economic crises have a negative impact on the HIV and AIDS response. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS and ILO/AIDS press releases) 
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Unions Call for Closing Funding Gap; More Workplace Action 
 
Trade unions told a key meeting of UNAIDS, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS that, along with real commitments from governments to fill the US$8 billion funding gap, the potential impact of workplace-based activities in tackling the pandemic is still not being realised. 
 
Unions called on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, the organisation&rsquo;s governing body, to add its weight to the UN call (see article above) and ensure that work-related activities are a full part of the overall response to HIV and AIDS. 
 
The action plan by the ITUC and its Global Union partners stresses reduction of stigma and discrimination, increase in access to prevention services, scaling up of social protection services and access to treatment, care and support. 
 
(Source: ITUC press release, 24 June) 
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Toward an HIV Cure? 
 
On the 30th anniversary of the first medical reports of a new illness, articles appeared on new efforts to find a cure for the AIDS virus. 
 
The new head of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Bertrand Audoin, said that a cure is the only way to keep ahead of the HIV epidemic in the long term during tough financial times. He admitted, however, that it may take as long as 25 years to find a cure. 
 
IAS has convened a working group of international researchers to develop a strategy that might lead to a cure. The group is co-chaired by Professor Fran&ccedil;oise Barre-Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV together with Luc Montagnier. 
 
Barre-Sinoussi writes in the International Herald Tribune that there is now robust evidence that early and highly active antiretroviral therapy can have a major impact on HIV transmission, demonstrating the &ldquo;treatment as prevention&rdquo; concept. AIDS is no longer the death sentence it was, but there now remains extreme uncertainty concerning the long-term sustainability of treatment access, especially in resource-limited settings, she writes. 
 
The Economist devotes its 4 June cover to the epidemic: &ldquo;The end of AIDS? How 5 million lives have been saved, and a plague could be defeated.&rdquo; The lead article gives this stark statistic: since the discovery of AIDS, 25 million people have died and another 34 million are infected. But the death rate is dropping. In 2005 the disease killed 2.1 million; in 2009 the number was down to 1.8 million. Inside, an article gives a detailed account of the present state of research. If a few people&rsquo;s immune system controls the disease naturally, it suggests that a vaccine might be possible. And if antibodies have been discovered that neutralise the virus, that might form the basis of AIDS-clearing drugs. 
 
(Sources: BBC News, 1 June; International Herald Tribune, 4/5 June; and the Economist, 4 June.) 
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South Africa: New Policy Saves Thousands of Babies from HIV 
 
The South African government has slashed the HIV transmission rate from pregnant mothers to their babies to merely 3.5%, potentially sparing some 67 000 babies from HIV infection. The success is due mainly to the Health Department vastly improving its programme for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV infection (PMTCT) from April last year. 
 
&ldquo;It is possible to prevent all HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus on to their babies, but we now have to concentrate on the care of babies after birth,&rdquo; said Precious Robinson, deputy director of government&rsquo;s PMTCT programme, at the release of the new figures at the SA AIDS conference. 
 
Under the old treatment programme, mothers and their newborns were given one dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine. At best, this reduced the HIV transmission rate to 8.8%, according to small local surveys. But in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal, one in five HIV-positive mothers were still infecting their babies despite getting nevirapine. 
 
In order to save babies, the PMTCT treatment programme was prioritised. From last April, the Health Department advised that all pregnant women with HIV are given the ARV called AZT from 14 weeks of pregnancy and three ARVs during labour (nevirapine, tenofovir, and 3TC). If a pregnant woman has a CD4 count of less than 350, she should be put onto triple therapy (three ARVs) within two weeks of getting her CD4 test results. Newborn babies are now given nevirapine syrup for as long as their mothers are breastfeeding them, or for six weeks if not they are not breast-fed. 
 
(Source: <a href="http://www.health-e.org.za">www.health-e.org.za</a>, 9 June) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
&lsquo;Red Card&rsquo; to Keep Children Free from HIV 
 
Captains of national football teams competing in the FIFA Women&rsquo;s World Cup 2011 soccer championship in Germany are signing up to the Give AIDS the Red Card appeal in support of a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. The Give AIDS the Red Card appeal, which was launched by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) one year ago at the FIFA 2010 Men&rsquo;s World Cup in South Africa, uses the power and outreach of football to unite the world around stopping new HIV infections in children. 
 
Every day more than 1,000 babies are born with HIV. However, with access to HIV counselling and testing for pregnant women and their partners, and treatment when needed, the risk of transmission can be brought down to less than 5%. 
 
On signing the pledge, team captains appeal to football players and fans across the world to &ldquo;celebrate life and support the global campaign to prevent mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV.&rdquo; 
 
(Source: UNAIDS press release, Geneva, 24 June) 
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Websites of Global Fund County Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) 
 
According to research conducted by Aidspan, at least 20 CCMs have established their own websites. Countries with CCM websites where the ICEM cooperates on HIV/AIDS include: 
<a href="http://www.india-ccm.org ">India</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://ccm-mauritius.org ">Mauritius</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://ccmnigeria.org ">Nigeria</a> (Language: English) 
<a href="http://www.gf.or.tz ">Tanzania</a> (Language: English) 
 
The information available varies considerably from one website to another, with the India site being by far the most comprehensive. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 149 of 8 June. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) published the fifth issue of Agenda, its yearly magazine dedicated to HIV and AIDS. Agenda features, among other articles, case studies from ITF affiliates, strategies to fight HIV and AIDS at the workplace, and a new study on the civil aviation sector which reveals workers&rsquo; exposure to HIV infection, as well as stigma and discrimination. 
 
In the ITF HIV/AIDS updates 108 and 109 of 1 June and 15 June, respectively, articles can be found on peer education for civil aviation workers in Ecuador, a life skill education programme on HIV and AIDS in Indonesia organised by the Indonesia Seafarers&rsquo; Union, and the critical role the Transport and Dock Workers&rsquo; Union at Mumbai Port is playing in the implementation of a workplace policy on HIV and AIDS. 
 
The June Newsletter of the Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme (SWHAP), jointly run by the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (IF Metall), reports on a range of peer educators and other HIV and AIDS programmes in East and Southern Africa. SWHAP focuses on the response to HIV and AIDS at Swedish related workplaces. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Five Years Ago: From the July 2006 Issue (No. 10) 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In the July 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the first seminar on HIV and AIDS and the workplace organised by ICEM affiliates in Colombia in cooperation with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Social Protection. 
 
We also reported on the concern the ICEM affiliate in Mongolia expressed about the increase in HIV infections. In a report to the ICEM Asia and Pacific Regional Committee, the Mongolia Mining and Energy Union gave an account of the recent increase in HIV prevalence in the country. Despite the still very low prevalence rate, the potential for a further increase due to unsafe sex, high infection rates among migrant workers and mobile traders, and lack of education among young people is high. It will be recalled that, with the help of the Japanese affiliates, the ICEM later initiated an HIV/AIDS programme in Mongolia. 
 
The article devoted to the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS stated that unlike the 2001 UN General Assembly Session on HIV/AIDS, relatively few world leaders attended this meeting which took place in New York from 29 May to 2 June, 2006. Civil society organisations criticised the final declaration. Difference over prevention strategies, such as abstinence and condom use, intellectual property rights and the naming of vulnerable groups have resulted in a weaker declaration and in serious omissions. In deference to Muslim and conservative Latin and Vatican opposition, the Declaration refers only to &ldquo;vulnerable groups&rdquo; at risk for infection without naming sex workers, homosexuals, or intravenous drug users as in need of particular attention. Civil society also noted an insufficient commitment to women&rsquo;s rights. Most of these deficiencies seem to have been removed from the new Political Declaration (see first article in this issue). 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
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. 70, July 2011

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The ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) issued an ultimatum on 15 June to the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEF) over the continuing victimisation of its Branch Chairman and other executive committee members. 
 
The senior staff union warned the PEF management that if victimization of its officials continues, workers would reply through industrial unrest not only in PEF but the entire Nigerian oil industry. 
<img alt="" src="" width="143" height="150" />
PENGASSAN union members hold significant leverage in Nigeria; its members are supervisors at each of the petroleum depots, which transport fuel and diesel throughout the country. The depots are under the control of PEF. 
 
The PEF management has been conducting aggressive interference in union affairs since a recently successful PENGASSAN campaign forced PEF management to promote over 70% of its staff who had stagnated at the same grade for upwards of six years. PEF set up a panel to investigate union member activity in terms of their adherence to union rules, clearly not the jurisdiction of management, and a breach of union independence intended to undermine PENGASSAN. 
 
In a letter to the PEF Executive Secretary, PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile warned that, &ldquo;the management of PEF is given a 14-day ultimatum with effect from the date of our earlier letter of June 15, 2011 to respect the Association&rsquo;s structure, rules, and extant laws on Trade Unions and labour relations or get prepared to face the consequences of full scale national industrial action in the oil and gas industry&rdquo;.

PENGASSAN Threatens Full-Scale Industrial Action in Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry

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ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers (USW) in the US is fighting to keep pension and healthcare benefits for 125 highly skilled mould repairmen at Owens-Illinois, and 175 at Ross International. US-based glass packaging manufacturers Owens-Illinois and Ross International are attempting to discriminate against younger workers by providing inferior retirement benefits to new staff. 
Also under attack in current negotiations are healthcare benefits contained in the two-tier proposals. The ICEM condemns this draconian stance of Owens-Illinois and Ross International in their collective negotiations. 
 
As reported by ICEM in July this year, Owens-Illinois has been attempting to squeeze more profit out of its operations elsewhere in the world by cutting workers&rsquo; benefits. In Colombia, ICEM-affiliated Sintravidricol members were forced to work dangerously long periods after restructuring at the plants in Envigado, Cogua, and Soacha. The company filled gaps by outsourcing work unilaterally, ignoring Sintravidricol&rsquo;s pleas for dialogue. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="161" />
Tim Tuttle
Ross International also has a record of bitter disputes with ICEM affiliates. However, Sintravidricol in Colombia did achieve recognition and a collective agreement from the company following a 23-day strike in 2007. 
 
Both companies are now targeting USW members&rsquo; social benefits and those of future generations. These workers repair the moulds used to manufacture containers in the beer, wine, spirits, and food sectors of glass and other packaging. 
 
Tim Tuttle, Chairman of USW&rsquo;s Glass Industry Conference, reports that a further meeting with management is scheduled for Wednesday, 31 August, the same day the current agreement expires. Additional dates in September will be sought to continue discussions. 
 
In a letter to Owens-Illinois CEO, Albert Stroucken, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda condemned the company&rsquo;s stance against a fair contract for employees. &ldquo;This is an attempt by Owens-Illinois to bolster its bottom line on the backs of vulnerable retirees. It also appears to be a cynical attempt by Owens-Illinois to undermine the union by sewing divisions within it between current workers and newly hired workers,&rdquo; stated Warda. 
 
As Warda warned the CEOs of both glass packaging manufacturers, the ICEM will mobilise international support if managements fail to alter their regressive stance in North American bargaining.

USW Resists Concessions in Owens-Illinois, Ross International Bargaining

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In the midst of national unrest facing Chile President Sebasti&aacute;n Pi&ntilde;era, Mineworkers&rsquo; Federations meet together today in Iquique to push forward support for 1,500 union members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi, a major affiliate of Chile Federation of Miners (FMC), the trade union covering miners and workers employed by the world&rsquo;s major mining houses. 
 
The Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Collahuasi and FMC have set 2 September as a 24-hour day for industrial action, mainly in protest to the company sacking six workers during the last 24-hour strike, on 29-30 July. The union&rsquo;s planned strike is also in protest to the miners&rsquo; employer, Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, reneging on collective agreement conventions put in place in the past. 
 
A delegation from Federaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), the Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation representing state-run copper company Codelco&rsquo;s staff, will likely participate in today&rsquo;s meeting. 
<img alt="" src="" width="215" height="161" />
Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, the world&rsquo;s third largest copper mine, is jointly owned through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata. The 29-30 July strike at Collahuasi was also done in support of a strike at another FMC major branch, Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida. Then, 2,375 miners where in a middle of a 15-day strike at Minera Escondida, the world&rsquo;s largest copper producer, owned by BHP Billion (57%) and Rio Tinto (23%). 
 
In the past few weeks, FMC President Cristi&aacute;n Arancibia has visited several mines where workers are represented by FMC branches and urged support for Collahuasi miners as the global copper enterprise ramps up for even more production. 
 
Today&rsquo;s meeting comes on the heels of a prior successful FMC-FTC solidarity meeting in Antofagasta &ndash; on 28 July &ndash; just prior to Collahuasi miners joining Escondida miners in a symbolic day-long shutdown of 10% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply. Another coordinating meeting between the Collahuasi mineworkers&rsquo; branch and the Escondida branch on 20 August produced official support from the Escondida union. And the Cobres have met amongst themselves to discuss ways to support the FMC Collahuasi miners, as well as narrowing issues in which to engage Codelco on. 
 
Dialogue has occurred between mine management at Collahuasi and Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi, reports FMC branch President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz, but that dialogue is undermined by supervisors intentionally giving workers mis-information. Relations between Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi and mineworkers have been frayed for over a year and the two sides were pitted in a bitter 33-day strike late last year that still is being felt. 
 
In a 24 August letter to the company, Mu&ntilde;oz said that the company&rsquo;s Human Resource facilities have failed and the company is vulnerable to workers and supervisors leaving Collahuasi for other employment. He alluded to common misunderstandings that could get resolved in honest negotiations, but instead have become serious confrontations. 
 
Meanwhile, Codelco recognised that popular Chilean unrest in both mining and the general society is not good for the country&rsquo;s business climate. Last week, the company and the Cobres signed a framework agreement intended to remove communication barriers between labour and management. The agreement sets the conditions under which workers&rsquo; opinions are fostered for shaping the future direction of the company. 
 
FTC President Raimundo Espinoza said the framework agreement gives FTC stature to help develop Codelco&rsquo;s divisions &ldquo;including an analysis of the current and future workforce and compliance with the law for contract workers.&rdquo; The framework agreement results from a one-day strike on 11 July at Codelco mines over privatisation threats.

Mine Federations Meet Today in Support of Collahuasi Strike

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Trade union movements in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK will protest at Fiji missions in their respective countries this week over escalating union and civil society repression imposed by Fijian military dictator Josaia Voreque Bainimarama. These manifestations &ndash; in addition to protests at embassies of Fiji in several other countries &ndash; occur as Daniel Urai, President of the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC), and Dinesh Gounder, of the National Union of Hospitality, Catering, Tourism Employees, face a court hearing this week, 2 September, on charges of holding a union meeting without a permit. 
 
Gounder and Urai, formerly of ICEM affiliate Fiji Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union who also serves as General Secretary of the Hospitality, Catering, Tourism union, were arrested on 3 August for violating a four-day-old decree aimed at disempowering trade union activities. 
 
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) will conduct two manifestations while Urai and Gounder are in the dock; one at the Fiji Consular General&rsquo;s office at 100 North Walker Street, North Sydney, the other at the Fiji High Commission in Canberra, 19 Beale Crescent. Both demonstrations begin at 11h.
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="120" height="120" />
Daniel Urai, Dinesh Gounder
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) will conduct a protest at 12h30 on Friday, 2 September, at Fiji&rsquo;s High Commission offices at 31 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wellington. 
 
In the UK, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will hold a protest together with Amnesty International outside of Fiji&rsquo;s High Commission in London on Thursday, 1 September, from 16h to 17h. This Fiji mission is located at 34 Hyde Park Gate, London SW7 5DN. 
 
LabourStart has launched an online campaign in which opponents of this blatant repression of trade unionism can respond directly to the Fiji government. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1086 ">LabourStart campaign</a> can be found here. 
 
The Fiji military regime has tightened the noose on human and trade union rights over the past months and it has flaunted it in full view of the international community. In May 2011, the regime imposed a draconian anti-social amendment to the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007 law that eliminates public-sector workers from the scope of the regulation. On 29 July, the regime of Commodore Bainimarama then published the Essential National Industries (Employment) Decree, effectively banning all industrial actions, voiding existing collective agreements in weeks to come, curbing overtime pay, and canceling wage adjustments and certain work terms in designated industries. The decree will severely hamper union ability to gain bargaining rights and maintain representation status. 
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The decree also prohibits people from holding union office unless employed by the respective company, and those that do not face large fines and jail sentences. The right to was previously limited, but the Essential National Industries decree now makes it near impossible, with strike authorisation only granted by government approval. 
 
The military regime last week also banned the annual conference of Fiji&rsquo;s Methodist Church because church leaders refused to accept a government demand that pro-democracy church leaders step down from their church roles. The Methodist religion is Fiji&rsquo;s largest religious affiliation. 
 
The ICEM joins national labour centres and other labour organisation in pressing Fiji to reverse these archaic decrees, as well as calling on Fiji to conduct free and democratic elections in the near future.

Days of Action This Week Against Fiji: Join!

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The worst forms of trade union repression are being conducted by the authorities and business leaders of Bahrain, punishing workers for protesting and carrying out a general strike on 13-22 March 2011. The general strike led by the national trade union centre, General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), was called in support of pro-democracy protests in the Persian Gulf island-state. 
 
The crackdown was immediate, with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved, although the agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
As trade unionists around the world condemned the violent repression, the worst estimates then were that over 1,000 workers would be sacked for strike activity, including staff at Alba Aluminum Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services, and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. 
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Now, more than 2,600 workers have been sacked for their involvement in the uprising, including over 100 government workers in recent weeks, including health, education, and municipal workers. Reacting to international pressure, the Bahraini authorities have promised the reinstatement those illegally sacked. However, GFBTU reports that only 134 workers have been reinstated, with many only brought back in return for promises never again to join political activities &ndash; or a trade union. 
 
Jailed trade unionists and others are being passed through tribunal hearings in which they are not given an opportunity to mount a defense. 
 
The global union federation for teachers, Education International (EI), has issued a new appeal to Bahraini authorities to release Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi 'Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, Vice-President and President of the Bahraini Teachers Association (BTA), who face trial by a military tribunal. Send appeals to the Bahraini authorities on <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/en/uaas/uaa_details/31">EI&rsquo;s site</a> here.&nbsp; 
 
Six members of the GFBTU Executive Board remain dismissed, as well as 44 executive board members of GFBTU-affiliated unions.

Kingdom of Bahrain’s Trade Union Repression Continues

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