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ICEM'e bağlı T&uuml;mka-İş &uuml;yesi 190 k&acirc;ğıt iş&ccedil;isinin'a karşı 16 g&uuml;nd&uuml;r s&uuml;rd&uuml;rd&uuml;ğ&uuml; grevle ilgili olarak yapılan m&uuml;zakerelerde &ccedil;ok az ilerleme kaydedildi. Greve yol a&ccedil;an &uuml;cret uyuşmazlığı Procter&amp;Gamble'ın Gebze'deki fabrikasında 21 Şubat'ta başladı. Amerikan şirketi fabrikada k&acirc;ıt havlu, k&acirc;ğıt mendil ve &ccedil;ocuk bezi gibi hijyenik &uuml;r&uuml;nler &uuml;retiyor. 
 
Grevcilerin ve onları destekleyenlerin 26 Şubat g&uuml;n&uuml; fabrikanın &ouml;n&uuml;nde yaptığı mitingde, d&uuml;nyanın d&ouml;rt bir yanındaki sendikalardan gelen dayanışma mesajları okundu. Dayanışmayı &ouml;rg&uuml;tleyen ICEM şirketin T&uuml;rkiye'deki y&ouml;netimine bir protesto mektubu g&ouml;nderdi. 
 
Mitingin yapıldığı g&uuml;n, şirket y&ouml;neticileri &uuml;cret tekliflerini yenilediler, ama bu &ouml;nemli bir artış i&ccedil;ermiyordu. 

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Gebze Mitingi, 26 FŞubat
&Ouml;nceki iki yıl s&uuml;reli toplu s&ouml;zleşme 31 Ağustos 2008'de son erdi. 
 
Şirketin &uuml;cret artışı teklifi ilk altı ay i&ccedil;in y&uuml;zde sıfır ile 2 arasında oynuyor. Diğer altı aylık d&ouml;nemler i&ccedil;in &ouml;nerilenler de dahil, toplam artışlar, T&uuml;rkiye'deki enflasyon oranının &uuml;&ccedil;te ikisini ancak karşılıyor. Sendika ise ilk altı ay i&ccedil;in y&uuml;zde 8'lik bir artışın yanı sıra diğer altışar aylık d&ouml;nemler i&ccedil;in &uuml;lkedeki enflasyon oranını karşılayacak artışlar talep ediyor. 
 
T&uuml;mka-İş Genel Başkanı Kemal Yılmaz ve Y&ouml;netim Kurulu &uuml;yesi Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu grevi başından beri destekleyen ICEM'e ve ICEM &uuml;yesi kardeş sendikalara teşekk&uuml;r etti.

Türkiye&#039;de Procter&amp;Gamble&#039;daki Grev İkinci Haftasını Doldurdu

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, on the new HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia, a planned programme in Mongolia, and further work on the ILO HIV/AIDS instrument. 
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The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already 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. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant 

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New HIV/AIDS Project in Ethiopia 
 
The LO/FTF Council, the Danish Solidarity Support Organisation, has obtained funding for a three-year HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions (NEFECM) of Ethiopia. 
 
The main objectives of the project are to reduce HIV/AIDS stigmatisation and discrimination in the high-risk mining sector and to increase the capacity of NEFECM and its affiliated unions to deal with HIV/AIDS at the workplace, negotiate agreements with employers and thus protect workers, their families and the wider community in remote areas. 
 
The ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant will work as a consultant to the project during the first year. After a fact-finding mission in December 2008, the first activities in the framework of the project will be organised in Addis Ababa towards the end of March. A more detailed article on the project and the first activities will follow in the April issue of this e-bulletin. 

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HIV/AIDS Programme in Mongolia 
 
Thanks to sponsorship from UI Zensen, Japan, the Taiwan Petroleum Workers&rsquo; Union and the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project, an HIV/AIDS programme in cooperation with the Federation of Energy, Geology, and Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Mongolia will be organised in August. 
 
As Mongolia is a vast country with natural resources distributed throughout the country, it would not be possible to reach every workplace and union branch to train members and shop stewards. Therefore, 60 peer educators will be trained in two three-day centralised courses, one for the mining sector and another for the energy and geology sector. 
 
Participants will be chosen from union branches all over the country. On completion of the training, their task will be to take a pro-active role at their workplaces in organising awareness campaigns, inform about prevention measures, and advocate voluntary counselling and testing. The union will monitor the activities of peer educators and report back to the sponsors of the programme. 

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South Africa: Xstrata Sacks 106 Workers 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will contest the sacking of 106 workers at the Rustenberg smelter, operated by Xstrata, the world&rsquo;s largest ferrochrome producer. NUM spokesperson Lesiba Shesoka said that the workers were sacked for not taking part in a compulsory health briefing in which they said they were to be told they would have to take an HIV test. South African legislation says that no worker can be forced to take an HIV test. 
 
The company, however, said that it had no intention to force the workers to take the test. The company stated that the workers were dismissed for taking part in an illegal strike when they had demanded to be paid 50% of their wages and shift allowances during their extended leave in December. Workers were sent on the long leave due to a drop of demand in ferrochrome, requiring cutbacks in output and the closure of furnaces. 
 
(Source: Reuters, 11 March as reported in Mining Weekly) 

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Three Per Cent of US Capital City Living with HIV 
 
At least 3% of residents in Washington, D.C., are living with HIV, according to a report published on 16 March by the District of Colombia&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Administration. 
 
The Report states that HIV positive people are found in all demographics in Washington: more than 4% of African-Americans, almost 2% of Latinos, and 1.4% of Caucasians are living with HIV. However, African-American men are disproportionately affected, accounting for 76% of people living with HIV. 
 
The United States has one of the largest HIV epidemics in the world, with an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV in 2007. 
 
(Source: News item on UNAIDS website, 16 March) 
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Contribution from a Reader of the e-bulletin 
 
In a contribution to the February issue of the e-bulletin, Victoria Nanteza Kakooza of Uganda writes on &ldquo;Women and HIV/AIDS &ndash; a Ugandan Perspective&rdquo;: 
 
Cultural practices, norms and values deprive Ugandan women of the chances to decide whether they have sex with their husbands and to decide on the number of children to have. 
 
Women constitute 38% of the workforce and only 18% are employed in permanent jobs with very few in intermediate and senior positions. This makes a large number of women economically dependent on men. Men take advantage by taking a minimum of three wives, which has tremendously increased the number of people with HIV and AIDS. More so, children born with HIV/AIDS are now mature and dating and passing on the virus to others, hence increasing cases in the new generation. 
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News from ILO/AIDS 
 
In the course of its work towards the adoption of a new international instrument on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, the ILO has now issued Report IV (2), presenting the views of the ILO's constituents on the new standard. 
 
The first report, entitled HIV/AIDS and the world of work, Report IV (1), was published and disseminated to all ILO Member States in January 2008, and contained a questionnaire to which the Member States, in consultation with the social partners, were asked to respond by 31 August 2008. 
 
The second report, Report IV (2), summarizes almost 250 responses received from governments, employers and workers to this questionnaire. The vast majority of the constituents recognised the need to increase the attention paid to the issue of HIV/AIDS in the world of work through the adoption of a new international instrument. Moreover, there was a general consensus in the replies that the instrument should incorporate and strengthen the ten key principles contained in the ILO Code of practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
On the basis of those responses, the report contains draft conclusions regarding the proposed contents of the new instrument. The first and second reports will now serve as the basis for the discussions to be undertaken at the International Labour Conference in June 2009 on the form and content of the new instrument. 
 
(Source: ILOAIDS website where the two reports can also be accessed) 

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News from the Global Union AIDS Programme 
 
The Steering Committee of the Global Union AIDS Programme, at its meeting in Brussels on 3 March, discussed, among other items, future cooperation between Global Union Federations (GUFs) on HIV and AIDS. India was chosen as a pilot target country as four GUFs, including the ICEM, have already HIV/AIDS projects in that country. 

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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
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. 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try http://www.google.com/language_tools and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: 
<a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3036-ICEM-HIV- AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-41-February-2009">/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3036-ICEM-HIV- AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-41-February-2009</a> 
Or click directly on the links below: 
<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=fr&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">Cliquez ici pour une traduction automatique en fran&ccedil;ais</a>. 
Cette traduction est faite automatiquement par un logiciel internet gratuit. L&rsquo;ICEM n&rsquo;assume aucune responsabilit&eacute; &agrave; cet &eacute;gard. Elle est approximative, mais peut n&eacute;anmoins vous donner une id&eacute;e g&eacute;n&eacute;rale du contenu de l&rsquo;article. 
<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=de&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">Hier Klicken f&uuml;r eine maschinelle &Uuml;bersetzung ins Deutsche</a>. 
Diese &Uuml;bersetzung, f&uuml;r die die ICEM keine Verantwortung &uuml;bernimmt, erfolgt durch eine frei zug&auml;ngliche Internetsoftware. Diese &Uuml;bersetzung ist nicht perfekt, gibt aber eine ann&auml;hernende Idee, wor&uuml;ber der Artikel handelt. 
<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=ru&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">Щелкните мышью здесь для получения машинного перевода на Русский</a>. 
Этот перевод выполняется автоматически с помощью бесплатной Интернет-программы, и ICEM не несет за него ответственности. Перевод приблизительный, но все же может дать общее представление о содержании статьи. 
日本語への翻訳について、無料オン� ��イン翻訳サービス利用されたい方<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=ja&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">はここをクリ</a>ックしてください。ただし、当該サ� ��ビスを利用した翻訳の質等について 、ICEMは一切責任を負いませんので、� ��了承ください。 
 
<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=es&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">Haga clic aqu&iacute; para una traducci&oacute;n autom&aacute;tica en espa&ntilde;ol</a>. 
Esta traducci&oacute;n se hace autom&aacute;ticamente con tecnolog&iacute;a libre del Internet. La ICEM no se responsabiliza de ella. La traducci&oacute;n es aproximada, pero puede proveer una idea general del contenido del art&iacute;culo. 
<a href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icem.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D72%26la%3DEN%26doc%3D3104&amp;sl=en&amp;tl=sv&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8">Klicka h&auml;r f&ouml;r en maskin&ouml;vers&auml;ttning till svenska</a>. 
Denna &ouml;vers&auml;ttning utf&ouml;rs automatiskt med kostnadsfri internetteknik. ICEM tar inget ansvar f&ouml;r den. Den &auml;r inte helt korrekt men ger dig &auml;nd&aring; en allm&auml;n uppfattning om vad artikeln handlar om.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 42 March 2009

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Following last October&rsquo;s release of the English version of the &ldquo;ICEM Guide on Contact and Agency Labour (CAL),&rdquo; the Global Union Federation has now released an Arabic version. Further language versions are in the works. 
 
The Arabic version can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/09-02-09%20Word%20version%20ICEM%20CAL%20Guide%20in%20Arabic.pdf ">here</a>. 
 
The CAL Guide describes numerous short-term contract, agency labour, and other precarious work situations from around the world. It contains a number of best practice examples, as well as worrying situations, such as the horrid work terms and working conditions that temporary workers fine themselves in. 
 
The guide also provides an overview of some of the most recent changes in national and international labour laws and standards. It further deals with combating the phenomenon at company level through collective negotiations. Useful and encouraging examples, together with union strategies are also provided. 
 
The English version of the manual, as well as the ICEM&rsquo;s CAL campaign website can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/">here</a>.&nbsp;

ICEM Releases Contract and Agency Manual in Arabic

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Effective 24 March 2009, the ICEM will be located in new office space in Geneva. The new offices, located in the Eaux-Vives section of Geneva near the old city, are located at 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva. 
 
The general phone number, fax number, and all individual extension numbers will remain the same. 
 
The new offices have 570 square metres of space spread across two floors of a modern building. It will serve as more functional and accommodating leased office space compared to the 150 square metres of temporary offices that the ICEM occupied since the April 2008 move from Belgium to Switzerland. 
 
We encourage all ICEM affiliates and their representatives, whenever in Geneva, to visit us at 20 rue Adrien Lachenal.

ICEM Relocates inside Geneva, Effective Tomorrow, 24 March

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In efforts to hold the government of &Aacute;lvaro Uribe responsible for prosecuting the real perpetrators behind the murders of trade union activists before a US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is enacted, the US House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee heard vivid testimony last month on several murders. 
 
One was the 2001 assassination of Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos, who was once the Colombian coordinator for the Miners&rsquo; International Federation (MIF), one of the predecessor trade union federations of the ICEM. 

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Yessika Hoyos
Testifying in Washington, DC, was his daughter, 25-year-old Yessika Hoyos. She said that despite police arresting two individuals who actually committed the crime, no effort has been made to apprehend and prosecute those who ordered the assassination. 
 
&ldquo;We know there is evidence of other perpetrators, including members of the national army,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The investigation remains open, but with no follow-up of the evidence as requested, and no identification of other possible perpetrators.&rdquo; 
 
Dar&iacute;o Hoyos, then 61, was gunned down in his home town of Fusagasuga, in central Colombia near Bogot&aacute;, on 3 March 2001.At the time, a paramilitary group called the Block Centaurs was thought to have carried out the killing. He was MIF&rsquo;s national coordinator from 1984 to 1991, and then served as an organiser and collective bargaining advisor to unions representing teachers, bank workers, and telecommunications staff. 
 
At the February 2009 US Congress hearing, the House Education and Labour Committee stated, &ldquo;The Colombian government has not done enough to stem the rising violence against trade union leaders or address the backlog of labor union leader killings.&rdquo; A representative from Colombia&rsquo;s National Labour School testified that 60% of all murders of trade union activists throughout the world occur in Colombia.

US Congressional Committee Hears Testimony of Slain Colombian Mine Union Activist

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Yao Fuxin, a Chinese labour activist who led a 2002 peaceful protest against the corruption that drove a steel mill into bankruptcy, was released from prison 16 March. He served a full seven-year term for &ldquo;subversion of state power.&rdquo; 
 
In March 2003, after a hasty four-hour trial two months earlier, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were sentenced to prison terms for leading worker protests demanding back wages and pension payments at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy mill in northeastern Liaoning Province. 

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In March 2002, some 15,000 workers at five metal-working operations protested against government and management corruption at state-run enterprises in China&rsquo;s steel belt. At the Liaoyang Ferroalloy facility a year earlier, workers there alleged that 2,000 tons of iron ore disappeared, leading to bankruptcy and non-payment of wages and benefits. 
 
Xiao Yunliang, a retired metalworker, was released just three weeks before his four-year prison term was up in March 2006. 
 
But Yao Fuxin persevered through harsh conditions at Lingyuan No. 2 prison where he suffered two heart attacks, a stroke, and was consistently placed before an open window in the cold of winter. He also suffered from sleep depravation. Prison officials ordered other prisoners to step on him when he fell asleep. 
 
Upon his release last week, Yao Fuxin, now 63, expressed no remorse. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with what I did,&rdquo; he said in a telephone interview with a news wire service, adding he and others were only exercising their rights under China&rsquo;s constitution. &ldquo;I feel no regret at all. What I did was protect the interests of the country and the interests of the people, the law-given interests of the workers.&rdquo;

After 7 Years, China Releases Metalworker Labour Activist

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The ICEM supports the actions of its Ukrainian affiliate, the Coal Mining Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), as it announced a series of mass rallies throughout the country, protesting the situation facing miners in an industry in crisis. 
 
The decision to commence with mass protest actions on 25 March was taken by the union&rsquo;s Shop Stewards at the 3rd Plenary Meeting of PRUPU&rsquo;s Central Committee, held on 27 February. Delegates resolved to launch the mass protest actions, starting this Wednesday, including the picketing of the seats of the state authorities in Kiev and other major coal-mining towns in the eastern Donbass region. 

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PRUPU President Victor Turmanov
Ukrainian miners face ongoing violations of their right to timely remuneration, significant wage arrears, and a reduction of 4.6 times of the budgetary allocations for the industry in 2009 over that of 2008. 
 
The Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions, in a statement released 11 March, accused the country&rsquo;s leadership of &ldquo;ignoring the interests of the people to please international financial magnates.&rdquo; 
 
In exchange for a US$2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the Ukrainian government agreed to restrictive conditions for the loan. Notable promises were the cancelling of social utility discounts for poor families, raising the retirement age by five years, and a six-fold increase in gas prices for Ukrainians.

Ukrainian Miners’ Union, PRUPU, to Launch Government Protest Rallies This Week

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On 10 March, the labour-backed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was introduced in both houses of the US Congress. If passed, the legislation &ndash; which has the support of global labour &ndash; would remove many of the advantages an employer now routinely uses to avoid unionisation in the US. 
The proposed law would entitle a union to be authorised to represent workers&rsquo; interests if a simple majority signed cards or a petition requesting union representation. Currently, as mandated under the 1935 US National Labor Relations Act, union recognition can occur either through such a &ldquo;card check&rdquo; measure, or through a government supervised election. 
But it is an employer that chooses which of the two methods is used and in nearly all instances, a government ballot is the bosses&rsquo; choice. This gives an employer the necessary time on a jobsite to implant fear and counter the merits of unionisation. 
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Statistics reveal that in 25% of all US organising drives, employees with pro-union sympathies or those who openly support a union are sacked. Further, in 78% of all campaigns leading to a government ballot, employers use intimidation by delivering harsh anti-union messages on the shop floor, including threats of plant closure, layoffs, and other negative impacts if a union is elected. 
The EFCA would grant workers, not employers, the right to choose the method for union representation, either through a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret-ballot election or through a majority card-check or petition. (Business interests in the US are now engaged in an intense lobbying effort against EFCA, saying it absolutely denies secret-ballot elections, a falsehood.) 
Secondly, the proposed law contains mandatory government arbitration so that a collective agreement can become effective if the two parties cannot reach one after a period of time. Similar to industrial relations in many developed countries, both labour and management submit proposals to a government panel, which then would put in place a collective agreement for a two-year period. 
Currently, after a union is certified, many employers in the US practice what is called &ldquo;surface bargaining,&rdquo; meaning they adhere to the 1935 law which states they must engage in bargaining, but do so without ever intending to enter into a collective agreement. In such practices, the result is to delay the process and to frustrate the legitimate desire of workers to be part of a collective labour agreement. 
Another major US labour law reform contained in the EFCA is a financial penalty on employers who discriminate against workers exhibiting lawful union activity. Now, there is no risk to an employer who fires union activists during organising campaigns. A worker must prove such bias, with the NLRB sometimes taking years to determine a case, including inevitable employer appeals. Even when a case is concluded in favour of a worker, the award is mere back pay, minus wages and other compensation the worker may have received following the discharge. 
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The EFCA contains triple back pay damages for workers found to have been illegally sacked. 
This is the fourth time the EFCA has been introduced in the US Congress. The last time, in March 2007, it passed the House of Representatives by a 241-185 count, but died three months later in the 100-member US Senate, where an archaic rule mandates 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture, or the required number needed in a vote to halt a filibuster. The measure then had 51 US Senate supporters, although President George Bush promised a veto. 
This time the EFCA has the support of President Barack Obama. Two weeks ago, when introduced, the EFCA had 223 of 565 House members signed on as co-sponsors, while the Senate side had 40 co-sponsors. 
In this session of Congress, sponsors will attempt a different strategy by first bringing EFCA forward in the Senate. It is expected to begin receiving committee hearings in late April, with the bill brought to the Senate and then House floors during the summer. 
Global labour, through the Council of Global Unions, is encouraging national unions to bring the American EFCA to the attention of their respective governments, as well as to employers who have operations in the US. More can be learned about this important US legislative proposal by clicking <a href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/">here</a>.

Employee Free Choice Act Again Introduced in US Congress

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In September 2007, ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly signed a Global Framework Agreement with Belgian-based Umicore, a chemicals, metals technology, and catalysts systems company. In line with a relevant article of the agreement calling for the parties to have an annual mission to a Umicore worksite to monitor compliance, a visit to a plant in Shanghai, China, producing cobalt and zinc powders for battery application was made from 16-20 March. 
 
The ICEM was represented by Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, while IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi, IMF Director of Education, Health and Safety Magnus Palmgren, and Jef Peeters, chairman of Umicore&rsquo;s European Works Council also were along. The company was represented by Ursula Saint L&eacute;ger, Senior Vice-President of Human Resources. 

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Umicore&rsquo;s corporate officials presented the topics covered in the global agreement related to social objectives, human rights, working conditions, and environmental issues. Both Global Union Federations explained their activities regarding multinational companies, and Peeters provided information on the structure of the company&rsquo;s European section. The union side commented on the reports given and put forward expectations for the future. 
 
The delegation then visited the company's subsidiary in Shanghai, called Shanghai Blue Lotus. Employing 88 workers &ndash; 71 men and 17 women &ndash; the plant does have trade union representation. ICEM and IMF had the opportunity to meet Lu Yaozhong, chairman of the branch union at Shanghai Blue Lotus, and discussed working conditions and trade union rights. 
 
Commented &Ouml;zkan on the visit, &quot;This first joint activity has created hopeful expectations for the future. In&nbsp;view of the importance of international industrial relations, the global agreement between ICEM/IMF and Umicore will continue to serve to improve working conditions of the company worldwide.&quot;

ICEM, IMF Join Umicore on a Joint Mission to Shanghai, China, Plant

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Trade unions joined with aid agencies and environmentalists on the streets of London last weekend, 28 March, to march under the banner &ldquo;Put People First&rdquo;. The 35,000 peaceful protestors called for reform of the world&rsquo;s economy under a common banner, &ldquo;Jobs, Justice, Climate.&rdquo; Decent jobs and public services for all, justice for the world&rsquo;s poor, including the 200 million people that the United Nations predicts will be thrown into poverty as a result of the economic crisis, and a green economy to slow climate change. 
 
The march was part of the global campaign to challenge the G20 ahead of the summit meetings last week, and was sponsored by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the UK. 

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The colourful four-mile march from Embankment to Hyde Park was accompanied by brass bands and chants of &ldquo;Bail out the people, not the bankers!&rdquo; Speeches were then heard from trade union leaders, including United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard, Australian Council of Trades Unions (ACTU) President Sharon Burrow, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, and comedian Mark Thomas. All called for an overhaul in the mechanisms governing the world economy. 
 
&ldquo;Even before the crisis, the world suffered poverty and faced the threat of climate change,&rdquo; said GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny of the UK. &ldquo;The G20 must fight recession by making the world fairer and greener.&rdquo; At least 1,500 GMB members took part in the march. 
 
The high turnout has been attributed in part to the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media used by organizers in the run-up to the event. During the march, messages that had been posted on Twitter were shouted through a loud speaker.

Trade Unionists join others on streets of London demanding G20 to ‘Put People First’

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Trade Unionists join others on streets of London demanding G20 to ‘Put People First’

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