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ICEM Women&rsquo;s World Conference Decides on 7-Point Programme 
 
The ICEM Women&rsquo;s World Conference was held on 17 and 18 November 2007 in Bangkok. Some 150 women from all continents listened to presentations and worked on their priorities in working groups. Women from Burma, Colombia, Iraq, Nepal, Palestine, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe presented their work in crisis situations and the fight for peace. All presentations are available in the original languages from ICEM. 
 
One special highlight was the presence of Hashemiyya Muhsin Hussein, President of the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union for the Basra region, Iraq. In an interview conducted by ITUC she said among other things that, &ldquo;There is a great deal of women working in this sector. During the war between Iran and Iraq, the men left for the front and so women replaced them on a wide scale, which is why there are so many of them now&hellip; 
 
People write slogans on the walls of the markets and other public places against women, against women who work and against women who do not wear the veil. The simple fact of working is dangerous for a woman. But many women have no alternative, because of their financial difficulties. Yes, the fact that I am a woman has made things very difficult as well, but I didn&rsquo;t want to give up and so I fought for this position, even though I received death threats against myself and even against my son.&rdquo; Hashemiyya was elected to the ICEM Executive and women&rsquo;s committee. 
 
One other focus for the conference was work-life balance. The topic was introduced by women representing ICEM affiliates in Japan. Maternity protection was one of the priorities decided on for continuing work. 
 
One example of work in connection with hazardous substances and the dangers they represent for maternity as well as babyproofing the workplace was presented by Margreet Pasman from the Netherlands. FNV Bondgenoten has made folders available on these themes, and they can be accessed from ICEM or Margreet. Gender perspectives on women&rsquo;s health were presented by Edeltraud Gl&auml;nzer from Germany, and work on bullying, violence, HIV/AIDS and abortion was explained by sisters from Brazil. 
 
A publication on maternity protection with different case studies from all continents is available in English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish from ICEM. 
 
A session was held and facilitated by Ramona Parra from FITEQA-CCOO, Spain, to have an exchange with women from Europe. The conclusion was that more work has to be done in cooperation between EMCEF and ICEM. 
 
The conclusions from the conference work fed into the 7 points that were decided for ICEM&rsquo;s future work. The points are as follows: 
 
1. Do research and exchange information on best practices of maternity protection. Information on paternity leave is particularly interesting. 
2. Provide information and guides on how to bargain for paternity leave and work-life balance. 
3. General work must continue on maternity protection and work-life balance. 
4. Strengthen ICEM&rsquo;s work on informal workers, migrant workers and contract and agency workers, especially since a majority of these tend to be women. 
5. Build alliances with NGO&rsquo;s and civil society in order to change mentalities and expand gender equality. 
6. Expand women&rsquo;s leadership training and broaden women&rsquo;s leadership. 
7. Work will continue on Burma, Colombia, Iraq, Nepal, Palestine, Zimbabwe and all others where fights are on-going for human and trade union rights. 
 
The women&rsquo;s conference confirmed Evgenia Esenina as chair of the women&rsquo;s committee and vice-president of ICEM and elected Angeline Chitambo from ZEEWU, Zimbabwe, as vice-chair and ICEM vice-president. 
 
ICEM Congress was held from 22 to 24 November. A record number of women attended the Congress, although some delegations from developed countries were notable in their absence of women delegates. Some examples were very encouraging, however, such as Spain, Sweden, South Africa and Brazil among others. Japan must be lauded for including more women in their Congress delegation each time. Congress passed a motion on women&rsquo;s participation. The ICEM women&rsquo;s committee will be monitoring its implementation. 
 
On the last day of Congress Elena Guti&eacute;rrez, Sitrapequia Costa Rica, called for a minute of silence in memory of the many thousands of women worldwide who have died as a result of violence. This commemoration took place on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, explained below.
PLEASE FORWARD TO ICEM ANY INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT WITH A HIGH LEVEL OF WOMEN&rsquo;S INVOLVEMENT THAT YOU FEEL SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED BY ICEM ON THE OCCASION OF 8 MACH 2008, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN&rsquo;S DAY. 
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ICEM Colombia Committee Organises Gender Workshop 
 
On 18 July the ICEM Colombia Committee organised a workshop on gender in Bogot&aacute; with 70 men and women participants. The group worked on the construction of patriarchy and the different attributions associated with women and men as well as maternity and paternity. The participants analysed the theory of gender and discussed socialization, abortion and quotas in government in groups. 
 
There were some prejudices such as the idea that gender only refers to women or that gender divides trade unions or that gender is a distraction from the class struggle. There are differences in concepts between gender, feminism and women&rsquo;s movements, and it is important to understand these differences. 
 
Some of the men participants felt threatened in their power position. Since the seminar was mixed, men and women together, the women participated less than the men. ICEM Colombia considers this work to be fundamental and women and men must be involved at all levels of debate. 
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ITUC Seminar on Diversity, Racism and Xenophobia 
 
The ITUC held a seminar on diversity, racism and xenophobia from 4 to 7 December in Geneva. This is a topic that has very strong gender perspectives. Migrant women are generally over-represented in low-skilled employment. 
 
The World Bank reports that women make up about 50% of the migrant population worldwide. The UN calculated in 2006 that about 190 million people live outside their country of origin. 
 
The meeting deplored the fact that racism seems to be on the rise worldwide and that racist policies can be used for electoral gain. ITUC will be developing activities to lead up to the conference in 2009 to follow up the 2001 Conference on racism held in Durban, South Africa.
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Resources 
 
<a href="http://www.ccoo.es/webCCOO/temp/recursos/1/44630.pdf">Good Practice Guide for Non-Sexist Language in Collective Bargaining</a> (in Spanish)&nbsp; 
 
<a href="http://www.uso.es">For an explanation of equality plans in Spain&nbsp; 
</a> 
<a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch">United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=latestPeriods">For a look at the urban informal economy in UN Habitat</a>
<a href="http://www.homeworkersww.org.uk ">HomeWorkers Worldwide</a>
<a href="http://www.lo.no/lobasen/Content/122971/14-06-LO-magasin-eneglsk-skjerm.pdf">For a publication on Women in the South</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.all-together.org">Men and equality and work-life balance</a>

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN 27

Throughout a one-day, 21 November, ICEM conference on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), taking place prior to the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, speaker after speaker confirmed that the trend of industry subcontracting is rapidly increasing throughout the world. 
 
Predominant is the continuing trend of subcontracting in developing nations. With few exceptions, the 300 trade unionists attending cited specific problems with agency, temporary, short-term contract, or self-employment labour, relating directly to the lack of a (decent) employment relationship. 
 
For many of the world&rsquo;s workers, affecting most industries, a prior, normal relationship has been reduced to one of much lesser quality. For others, the relationship has changed to a mere commercial one, with workers&rsquo; taking the job security risks, and an erosion of social benefits affecting both workers and society. 
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The ICEM conference produced several examples in which subcontracting is becoming rampant on several continents. In the mining and diamond sector of India, virtually all miners are contract labourers. In Thailand and Korea, examples were cited where CAL work is omnipresent. 
 
Africa was described as globalisation&rsquo;s play ground. In the mining sector of sub-Saharan Africa, many problems are created by investors who think anything in the employment realm is possible. Other examples came from a wide variety of countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, United States, Japan, Tanzania, Peru, and the UK. 
 
A special contribution came from Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The conference also delivered, however, case studies in which unions and trade unionists have succeeded in rolling back the trend. One such example came from Brazil. At the oil firm Petrobras four years ago, there were three contract workers for each permanent worker. Today, after sound bargaining by trade unions, the ratio is one permanent worker to every one-and-a-half contract worker. 
 
Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, Macedonia, and Croatia were also quoted as countries where progress has been made, both legislatively and at the collective bargaining table. 
<img height="333" alt="" src="" width="250" />
Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Given the difficult situation in many countries, and the need by many to hear how others deal with temporary or agency labour, the ICEM was called upon to continue and intensify its three-year-old campaign on this employment issue. 
 
A key ingredient of this work is the need to guarantee that all CAL workers - everywhere - are entitled to the same wages, benefits, and work rights as the permanent workers. 
 
Also stressed was the importance of legislation efforts in regard to contract and agency labour, preferably at nation-wide level. The principles of the ILO Recommendation 198, the Employment Relationship Recommendation, will be an important tool in this. 
 
Finally, it was agreed that unions need to reach out to short-term contract or temporary workers. In too many countries, such workers have faced resentment from trade union members. Setting up unions, or union divisions, for CAL workers, or &ndash; by many, the preferred option &ndash; simply bringing CAL workers into existing union structures, is seen as an important and needed accomplishment.&nbsp;

Contract and Agency Labour - a Global and Negative Phenomenon

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Calling South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry &ldquo;the killing fields within our economy,&rdquo; the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) submitted a report on mine safety 14 November to the National Parliament&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy. 
 
The NUM listed eight recommendations needed to reduce the number of accidents and deaths occurring in South African mines. They include obtaining better detection technology on seismic geological events; legislation that will provide steeper fines on mining houses, up to imprisonment for executives when tragedies do occur; enabling legislation to nationalise mines when mining companies are found negligent in death-related accidents; and a mandatory review and heightened training of safety representatives by companies and the government, which must include risk assessment criteria enabling miners to detect and report hazardous conditions. 
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
The report cited the number of deaths and injuries per million hours worked in South Africa&rsquo;s mines since the year 2000. And it specifically highlighted the fact that, even though the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 sets forth a procedure for legal prosecution in mine safety negligence, no such prosecution has occurred dating back to the year 2000. 
 
&ldquo;Given the gravity of this situation and the need to send a clear message to employers that profit maximisation must not be pursued at the cost of our members&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; the NUM report concludes, we have no alternative but &ldquo;to embark on a National Strike.&rdquo; 
 
In mid-October, the NUM filed for certification for such a strike with the Commission on Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). That governmental agency, along with the NUM and the Chamber of Mines, is currently in the consultation process that is mandatory before any legal strike can occur.

NUM Recommends Broad Mine Safety Changes to South Africa’s Parliament

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New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) is giving support to a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill put forward by an MP that would give labour agency workers the right to be covered by a collective agreement. 
 
Labour MP Darien Fenton has submitted the legislation to New Zealand&rsquo;s Parliament, saying contract labourers and agency workers are often placed in a workplace to do the same job that full-time workers perform. But, he added, they are paid less and have fewer rights. 
 
The proposed legislative change is called the Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill. 
<img height="50" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Fenton saw first-hand the unfairness faced by temporary workers. He recently visited a worksite where temporary workers from an agency are employed. &ldquo;Entitlements are few and far between,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are no entitlements to breaks apart from lunch. There are no shift payments, no overtime rates, no weekend rates or other allowances, even though directly-employed workers receive these things. 
 
&ldquo;Under my bill, workers like these will be able to join the collective agreement in force at the workplace, thus ensuring they have the same pay and rights as directly-employed workers.&rdquo; 
 
Since Fenton&rsquo;s bill is a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill, in New Zealand it means that it will have to wait to be drawn from the ballot before it is brought before Parliament.

Private Member’s Bill Surfaces in New Zealand on Agency Labour

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
French rubber workers at the Goodyear-Dunlop twin plants in Amiens rejected a company restructuring plan that would increase work hours. With a 65% vote, the two factories, totalling 2,700 workers, said &lsquo;no&rsquo; to the American company&rsquo;s plan to reduce weekly rotation teams from five to four, and cut weekend pay for each worker by 10%. 
<img height="150" alt="" src="" width="115" />
All the primary French unions at the plants, including ICEM affiliate CFDT, recommended that workers reject the plan, and following the vote, they urged a quick return to dialogue to re-shape the restructuring plan. 
 
Goodyear&rsquo;s plan would also eliminate 450 jobs over three years through attrition. The company is seeking reorganisation of the plants in northern France in order to implement a &euro;52 million modernisation plan to produce high-performance tyres. But the reorganisation would increase work time by rotation of shifts every eight days. Weekend work would also have increased from 28 to 35 hours, had workers accepted the plan.

French Goodyear Workers Reject Reorganisation that would Increase Work Hours

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Trade unions in the UK are campaigning behind a Private Member's Bill that would give equal treatment to the more than one million contract and agency workers employed in the UK. 
Both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and UK&rsquo;s largest union, Unite, are campaigning for legislation that will give agency workers the same rights as full-time, permanent staff. Also on board are the unions GMB, Unison, Communication Workers Union, and the Union of Construction, Allied Trades, and Technicians (UCATT). 
<img height="108" alt="" src="" width="92" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="90" alt="" src="" width="90" align="absMiddle" />
The campaign begins after draft legislation, called the Temporary Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Bill, was brought by Labour MP Paul Farrelly. The unions are also pressing that a European Directive on full rights for contract and agency workers be adopted before the end of the Portuguese Presidency, which ends at year&rsquo;s end.
The TUC said if negotiations on an EU Directive fail to make progress, the British government must pass domestic legislation. The Blair government broke a pledge to support a 2006 Private Member&rsquo;s Bill by Farrelly, a promise that was made in the 2004 Warwick Agreement. Farrelly's bill did get the support of more than 100 Labour MPs. 
<img height="72" alt="" src="" width="155" />
&quot;Too many employers are replacing permanent staff with badly paid, insecure agency staff,&rdquo; said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. &ldquo;Far from providing a bridge to permanent work, this runs the risk of creating a whole underclass of temporary workers.&rdquo; 
Barber said the simple solution is an EU Directive that would give UK agency workers new rights to equal treatment from the first day on the job. But UK&rsquo;s government has led a blocking minority at the EU, which has prevented progress on a Directive that would provide equal treatment for contract and agency workers.

UK Unions Campaign for Legislation Granting Agency Workers Full Rights

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Mobilisation of European trade unions is in full force, counting down to a 4 December European Day of Action in Rotterdam, Netherlands, against food and chemicals company Unilever&rsquo;s unjust job cuts. The mobilisation is being headed by the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), and has the full support of the European Trade Union Congress (ETUC), the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the ICEM. 
In August, the Anglo-Dutch company announced a global reorganisation plan that would make redundant one-tenth of its 180,000 employees. Unilever would close 60 workplaces, out of 300 worldwide. In Europe, the company&rsquo;s global plan results in 10,000 to 12,000 job losses, with 20 to 25 plants endangered over the next 3 years. 
<img height="46" alt="" src="" width="146" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="85" alt="" src="" width="100" align="absMiddle" />
In The Netherlands, where a number of strikes have already occurred, FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Voeding came to agreement with Unilever recently over a new collective agreement, as well as job security terms over closure of three Dutch plants by the end of 2008. The plants targeted for closure are in Delft, where Calv&eacute; food products are made; in Loosdrecht, a plant making Knorr food products; and in Vlaardingen, a Lever Faberg&eacute; plant where consumer products are made. 
 
The job security terms state that plant-site Works Councils will study the company&rsquo;s plans and be allowed to develop alternatives. Those alternatives will then be seriously considered by the company in consultations with workers&rsquo; representatives. The two unions also agreed to fair compensation for any proposed job cuts. Unilever also guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies. 
In the collective agreement, running from May 2007 to March 2009, Dutch workers received a retroactive backpay award of 3% to last May. On 1 March 2008, they will receive a structural pay raise of 3.5%. The contract covers 3,000 workers. 
<img height="203" alt="" src="" width="200" />
For the 4 December manifestation, the ICEM and EMCEF issued a joint declaration regarding Unilever&rsquo;s global restructuring. In part, it reads, &ldquo;Unilever&rsquo;s August 2007 announced restructuring is the wrong response to the financial community&rsquo;s criticism of the company.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM, along with its sister Global Union Federation, the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), cites Unilever&rsquo;s anti-worker behaviour elsewhere as well. In India, the company has engaged in union-busting with the Hindustan Lever Employees Union at a factory in Assam. In trying to avoid social dialogue with the union, Unilever sold the food operation to a shell company. In Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, at a foods and tea factory, Unilever called in armed militia to break workers protest against a plan to replace 950 permanent jobs, out of 1,200, with casual and contract workers. 
<img height="75" alt="" src="" width="70" />
In Vinheido, Brazil, Unilever took an uncompromising position in collective negotiations that set the worst precedents on implementing precarious work. Likewise, in Chile, South Africa, and Colombia, Unilever has exhibited clear and negative attitudes relating to labour relations.

European Unions to March 4 December Against Unilever’s Restructuring

<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
1. The ICEM Women&rsquo;s Conference Runs 17-18 November in Bangkok 
2. Africa &ndash; More Women in Governments 
3. Mexico &ndash; Discrimination Is on the Rise 
4. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) Meets in Washington 
5. &lsquo;Molecular condom&rsquo; Is Developed To Fight HIV/AIDS 
6. From Our Readers 
7. Resources
<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
1. The ICEM Women&rsquo;s Conference Runs 17-18 November in Bangkok
All systems are go for the ICEM Women&rsquo;s Conference, which will kick off week-long events of the ICEM&rsquo;s Fourth Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. The Women&rsquo;s Committee will be meeting on 17 and 18 November, and most delegates will stay on to attend Congress as delegates. The conference theme is &ldquo;Women &ndash; Work &ndash; 21st Century.&rdquo; 
 
The theme blocks for the conference will cover peace, contract and agency labour, women&rsquo;s health in the broadest sense, and the work-life balance. Presentations, debates, and working groups will contemplate these subjects and decide on a work plan covering these issues for the next four years. Congress motions will also be discussed. 
 
The conference will elect the chair and vice-chair of the Women&rsquo;s Section, who in turn will sit on the ICEM Presidium. We look forward to seeing you in great numbers in Bangkok! 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
2. Africa &ndash; More Women in Governments 
In Morocco, seven women were appointed to head strategic ministries, ranging from energy to culture. This compares with two in the previous government. In Senegal, the new Senate has double the number of women. There are now 40 women in that body, out of 100 total, and this compares with the previous chamber, which had only 18 women. 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
3. Mexico &ndash; Discrimination Is on the Rise 
A recent Mexican report indicates that accusations for job-related discrimination have gone up astronomically. From 2001 to 2006 the accusations of sexual harassment went up by 122%, firing for pregnancy-related causes by 106%, work-related violence by 61% and general discrimination by 133%. 
 
Employers tend to consider pregnancy to be a crime, instead of it being normal and a social responsibility. The Women&rsquo;s Institute considers sexual harassment to be one of the reasons why women are not promoted. The salary gap in Mexico is between 7% and 35%. The old forms of discrimination still remain, but they have been joined by new ones &ndash; emphasis on size, stature, figure, physical appearance, and simply on being single. 
 
Discrimination is banned by the Constitution, but the Labour Ministry feels that not much can be done against it because there are too loopholes. The main problem is that there is no culture of equality. Economic necessity also forces women to accept jobs that they know beforehand discrimination exists. But when women are heads of families, they have little choice. 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
4. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) Meets in Washington 
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) met in Washington on 5-6 November. The Commission worked on the Draft Declaration of San Salvador: Gender, Violence, and HIV and redrafting its statutes. CIM, a specialized organization of the Organization of American States, is the principal forum for generating hemispheric policy to advance women's rights and gender equality. 
 
Established in 1928 at the Sixth International Conference of American States (Havana, Cuba), the CIM was the first official intergovernmental agency in the world created expressly to ensure recognition of the civil and political rights of women. As such, it has played a crucial role in making the participation and support of women a legitimate and indispensable part of governance and international consensus building in the Americas. 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
5. &lsquo;Molecular condom&rsquo; Is Developed To Fight HIV/AIDS
Kavita Gupta, a female doctoral student from India at the University of Utah in the US, has developed a &quot;molecular condom.&quot; The condom is really a microbicide gel that kills HIV, and is designed to allow women more control in preventing AIDS since partners need to be involved in the application. 
The university is partnering with a contraceptive marketer to sell the products in India, where AIDS in increasingly being seen as a feminized disease. AIDS is spreading most rapidly in India among young women, according to the World Health Organization, and 2.5 million people there carry the virus. 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
6. From Our Readers 
 
The Women&rsquo;s Committee in the Petrochemical, Mines and Energy Workers Union in Palestine held a four-day workshop to train women. The aim of the workshop was to enable women to make plans and support women&rsquo;s issues so that they would have experience and insight into women&rsquo;s activities in Arab countries and the world. 
The workshop dealt with women and democracy, new technologies, public speaking, and support mechanisms for women workers. The women had many ideas about trade unions and society. At the end they received a diploma. 
&nbsp;<img height="31" alt="" src="" width="25" />
7. Resources
<a href="http://www.siyanda.org/docs/WGEKN_sen_ostlin_george.pdf">Unequal, Unfair, Ineffective and Inefficient Gender Inequity in Health</a>: Why it exists and how we can change it - Final Report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health - September 2007 - Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network 
<a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/EXTEXTINDWOM/0,,menuPK:3157100~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:3156914,00.html">World Bank&rsquo;s website &ndash; Extractive Industries and Gender</a> 
<a href="http://www.mdgmonitor.org">http://www.mdgmonitor.org</a> 
UN&rsquo;s new website to track progress on the Millennium Development Goals. 
<a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org">http://www.catalystwomen.org</a> 
On reports on gender stereotyping at work, inclusive work environments and women&rsquo;s progress in business. 
<a href="http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=3624">http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=3624</a> 
Work Life Law, a site dealing with family responsibilities and discrimination 
<a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_084620/index.htm">Women in the workplace</a>: New ILO report highlights how action in the world of work can help reduce maternal deaths 
<a href="http://www.observatoriogeneroyliderazgo.cl/">http://www.observatoriogeneroyliderazgo.cl/</a> 
Women Leadership (in Spanish) 
<a href="http://www.generoycomercio.org/">http://www.generoycomercio.org/</a> 
Gender and Trade (in Spanish) 
<a href="http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Gender%20Gap/index.htm ">The Global Gender Gap Report 2007</a> 
<a href="http://nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/cms/">http://nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/cms/</a> 
Chilean network against domestic and sexual violence (in Spanish)

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN 26

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers Unions (ICEM) deplores the arrest, two days after the emergency decree in Pakistan, of Deputy General Secretary Rana Ayub Aki Khan, leader of ICEM affiliated WAPDA Labor Union (PWLU). 
 
&ldquo;We demand his immediate release, and the release of the others.&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It should not be surprising that a leader of a trade union &ndash; and one that has been outspoken in the way Pakistan has operated its public utilities &ndash; is one of the first ones rounded up and arrested.&rdquo; 
 
PWLU is a strong trade union voice inside the 130,000-worker Pakistani Water and Development Authority (WAPDA). ICEM has learned that Rana Ayub Aki Khan, along with 4 colleagues, were arrested on Monday, November 5, and are in a police jail in Gujranwala, Punjab Province. The ICEM also received notice that other leaders of WAPDA have now gone into hiding. 
 
The union has protested against government mismanagement and inefficiency at the public utility. It has also blamed a political patronage system with failure to deliver basic services, such as education and health. 
 
On October 29, nearly 1,000 WAPDA workers marched in Peshawar in protest of authorities ignoring the kidnapping of a co-worker at a WAPDA subsidiary, Peshawar Electricity Supply Co. Mukhtiar Khan is a driver for the utility. <a href="/en/?id=78&amp;doc=2444&amp;la=EN">Click here for more on that</a>. 
 
The ICEM is a Brussels-based 20-million-member Global Union Federation representing oil, gas, power, mine, chemicals, and other manufacturing workers. It has 384 affiliated trade unions in 118 countries. 
 
For more, please contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, <a href="mailto:Dick.blin@icem.org">Dick.blin@icem.org</a>, Tel: +32 2 626 2026, or +32 2 377 4023

Trade Unionist Immediate Victim of Pakistan Crackdown

<img height="37" alt="" src="" width="26" />
&nbsp;World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007 
Leadership is the theme for World AIDS Day 2007. The ongoing campaign slogan of the World AIDS Campaign is &ldquo;Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise&rdquo;. 
 
Unions can demonstrate leadership at every level &ndash; in the workplace, in their own governing bodies, in women&rsquo;s committees, in health and safety committees, in negotiations with companies, in the community and at the national policy level. 
 
Any union member, shop steward, union official, committee member, gender representative who takes action on HIV/AIDS is a leader in the fight against the deadly disease. 
 
At the end of October, the ICEM has sent out its own campaign leaflet together with material from UNAIDS/World AIDS Campaign. The leaflet in English, French, Spanish, German and Swedish is also available on the dedicated section on HIV/AIDS at <a href="/72-HIV-AIDS">/72-HIV-AIDS</a>. 
 
Further campaign material and ideas can be found at <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>, the website of the World AIDS Campaign. You can also find resources on the website of UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a> and at ILOAIDS <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>. 
 
Union leaders, gathering in Bangkok, 22-24 November for the 4th ICEM World Congress, will pledge to fight HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world. 
ICEM calls on its affiliates to take the lead in campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
Report back to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Send campaign materials and pictures. This will be published in the e-bulletin. 
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ICEM Regional Workshop on Medical Insurance 
All the coordinators from 12 sub-Saharan African countries participated in an ICEM regional workshop in Johannesburg in October. 
 
The purpose of this 5th workshop for national coordinators was to explore the role of medical insurance schemes in covering treatment of HIV/AIDS for workers and dependents. 
 
Participants examined the funding of schemes, aspects of the coverage of medical insurance schemes, employer-provided schemes, relationship and effects on public health systems and the role of unions in negotiating health insurance schemes and their participation in the governance of these schemes. 
Participants highlighted the need for Know-your-Status campaigns as the key to prevention. Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) can, however, only be encouraged if universal access to treatment is in place and where human and labour rights such as job security, non discrimination and non stigmatisation were strong. 
 
Large companies, especially in the mining sector, had generally good schemes which included HIV/AIDS services for workers and also for dependents. Gaps were identified in the coverage of contract workers and in the lack of schemes at small and medium-size enterprises. Limitations of the schemes were also highlighted. These challenges included the cost to members as a proportion of their wages and that coverage often did not cover workers once they were no longer employed. 
 
While private company schemes provide coverage and, in remote areas, often are the only health services available, participants acknowledged that, as unionists, we must also advocate the strengthening of the public health sector. 
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News from Affiliates
ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in Tanzania, TUICO and TAMICO, have finalised their VCT Counsellors&rsquo; training programme. From 30 July to 26 August, seven unionists followed an intensive programme at the Muhimbili Health Information Centre. The course, with a total of 160 hours on 20 training days, included lectures and practical training sessions at the hospital, a practicum in the field and advanced skills training following the experience from the practicum. 
 
A similar programme was run for affiliates in South Africa. 
 
With the financial support from the project for national programmes, several countries implemented new activities (see also e-bulletin 23/24 of August/September). 
 
In Nigeria, NUPENG and PENGASSAN conducted a successful mobilisation for voluntary counselling and testing at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company among workers and members of the community. The campaign over four days in July resulted in 677 people being tested. 
 
In Uganda, UMMAWU organised a training workshop for union representatives and a peer educators&rsquo; course in September. 
 
MUZ and NUCIW of Zambia held two three-day peer educators&rsquo; workshops in July and August. 
 
Very encouraging developments can also be reported from Sierra Leone where the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union took the initiative to submit a programme and was included in the project. So far UMU conducted two peer educators&rsquo; training workshops for shop stewards and community leaders in Daru Town and Tongo Field. 
 
UMU is also actively engaged with the social partners in the drafting of an HIV/AIDS policy for the mining sector.
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Global Fund: Debt2Health Initiative 
 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched a &quot;Debt2Health&quot; initiative that could generate substantial funds. The initiative is a form of debt conversion, in which Western governments that are owed money by developing countries agree to cancel a portion of the debt on condition that the developing countries in question invest money in Global Fund-approved programmes. 
 
In the first Debt2Health implementation, the German government forgave 50 million Euros in debt by Indonesia, and Indonesia committed to investing the local equivalent of 25 million Euros in Global Fund programmes in Indonesia. Over the next four years, Germany plans to generate a total of 200 million Euros for Global Fund programmes through this initiative. The Global Fund hopes to enter into future Debt2Health agreements with Kenya, Pakistan and Peru. Further details are available <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/D2HMechanisms.pdf">here</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. 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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Still Losing the AIDS Fight 
Excerpts from an article by Richard Holbrooke, President of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: 
 
&ldquo;On the day you read this column, an estimated 12,000 people worldwide will contract HIV. Ninety percent of them will not learn that they are infected until full-blown AIDS hits them &ndash; in 2015. Until then, those people will unintentionally spread the virus that lies silently within each of them. 
 
But on Dec 1, the 19th annual World AIDS Day, political leaders and international health officials will, once again, tell the world that although the fight is far from over, progress is being made. The fight is indeed far from over &ndash; but don&rsquo;t believe the second half of such statements. 
 
It is heartening that more than 2 million HIV-positive people are on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. But real progress must be measured by the only criterion that ultimately matters: Is the number of people who are HIV-positive declining? The answer is a resounding no. As a strategy to defeat HIV/AIDS, focusing primarily on treatment will never succeed. The only way to reverse the spread of HIV is to focus on prevention. 
 
Here is my challenge to the international health community: This year, tell the truth on World AIDS Day. Admit that we are still losing. Advocate strategies that emphasise prevention and detection, based on the successful &ldquo;opt-out&rdquo; testing systems being tried in Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi.&rdquo; 
 
(Source: Washington Post, 9 October) 
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New Technical Support Publication by the GTZ BACKUP Initiative
The German GTZ BACKUP Initiative has published a guide on where technical support for capacity development of Global Fund recipients is most needed, who is able to provide it, and how to make best use of it. 
 
The guide, entitled &quot;Accelerating action: A technical support guide to develop capacity and to benefit from global health financing,&quot; is intended for use by professionals working on HIV, TB and malaria projects that are financed by the Global Fund, World Bank, and other such mechanisms. The publication is available at <a href="http://www.gtz.de/backup-initiative">www.gtz.de/backup-initiative</a>. 
 
(Source: gtz website) 
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Botswana Continues Anti-AIDS Efforts
As far back as 2001, at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly, President Festus Mogae stated that his nation was threatened with extinction. Almost 40% of the population were infected with the virus and people were dying at a chillingly high rate. 
 
A year later, Botswana became the first country on the continent to provide antiretroviral drugs free of charge. 270,000 people are infected. Today, over 90,000 patients are receiving treatment. This is close to the figure of all of those infected for whom treatment is medically indicated. 
 
While Botswana, with an adult prevalence rate of 24%, is still among the most affected countries, the trend has been downward for many years. A programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been expanded; voluntary counselling and testing is encouraged as a critical entry point for all HIV/AIDS response programmes. 
 
Botswana now channels most of the international assistance it is receiving into prevention efforts. 
 
(Source: VOA, 9 October) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 30 and 31 of 1 and 15 October) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports, among others, on its World AIDS Day Campaign for which a 16-page brochure was produced with guidelines for campaign activities. 
 
In September the ITF organised a planning workshop in Kolkata to extend its project in South Asia for another three years beyond the end of 2007. South Asia is facing a fast growing pandemic. 
 
In its most recent newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) introduced its new World AIDS Day Initiative called &ldquo;One Hour on AIDS&rdquo;. Learners around the world will benefit from lessons on AIDS on the same day, 30 November. EI is putting together a kit specially designed for teachers - <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

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