English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
Actrav&rsquo;s biennial symposium was held from 4-7 October 2011 at the ILO in Geneva, and was devoted to exploring Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) and other forms of precarious work. Over 100 unions from around the world participated in the symposium, including ICEM affiliates and experts from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Africa. 
 
Participants analysed the use of CAL around the world, the impact of the degeneration of permanent employment on the rights of workers, and what steps must be taken to mitigate these impacts. 
 
Participants agreed that combating precarious work requires a comprehensive policy response that includes economic, fiscal, and social policies geared towards full employment and income equality, a regulatory framework to reduce and ultimately eradicate precarious work, and greater efforts to empower workers by promoting the extension of collective bargaining. This will ensure that all workers can access and exercise their right to associate and to bargaining collectively, freely, and without fear. 
 
Basic income security through a universal social protection floor and minimum wages globally are indispensable to limit precarious and indecent employment and living conditions, as well as policies to combat the erosion of the employment relationship. 
 
The symposium drew attention to the vital role the ILO must play in providing a regulatory framework to stop the growing circumvention of labour and social protections through precarious employment arrangements. The conclusions call on the ILO to produce a Law and Practice Report and convene an ILO expert meeting on obstacles to collective bargaining for precarious workers. They also recommend increasing efforts to implement the Employment Relationship Recommendation 198 and other relevant ILO standards. 
 
A copy of the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/actrav/what/events/lang--en/WCMS_153972/index.htm ">Symposium&rsquo;s conclusions</a> as well as all documents relating to the Symposium can be found here.

Unions from Around the World Ask ILO to Take Action on CAL

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
The union representing permanent and contract workers at PT Cussons in Tangerang, Indonesia, has managed to negotiate permanent positions for 110 contract workers. 
 
Since the beginning of 2011, the union has been active in training contract workers and, out of a total of 200 contract workers, 118 joined the union. PT Cussons management refused to extend the check-off system to contract workers, so these workers pay their dues manually. 
<img alt="" src="" width="119" height="129" />
Union Chairman Sasmita
On August 2011, the company announced it would end the contracts of 200 fixed term workers without making any severance payments. The union challenged the company decision, drawing attention to the fact that the contracts contravened Indonesia law by explicitly stating that during a fixed-term contract it was forbidden to be married or to become pregnant, and those workers who did so would be deemed to have resigned without severance pay. 
 
After two weeks of negotiations and pressure from union members, the company finally reversed its decision. They arranged placement tests for the 200 contract workers. Out of 200 workers, 110 have become permanent staff since August 2011. Sasmita, the Cusson Union Chairman, said, &ldquo;We were satisfied with the result, but yet we still had to struggling for all the contract workers to be permanent.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="390" />
Union officers of Cussons in Union Office
According to Sasmita, the company has ceased using contracts with discriminatory language and now contract workers can marry and become pregnant without fear of being terminated. &ldquo;Those contract agreements &hellip; no longer exist, and we keep our eye (out) to make sure that the company (does) not use (them) anymore,&rdquo; he added. 
 
The 110 workers now enjoy health insurance and benefits. Tuti, one of the workers said, &ldquo;Now I am not worried again about my future, (to) become permanent workers is my dream, although still (there is) a long way to go for me together with the union to fights for the welfare of the whole workers in Cussons.&rdquo;

From Contract to Permanent Work: Victory at PT Cussons Indonesia

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
The Sub-Saharan Africa arm of ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Project held its regional conference in Accra on 25-26 October 2011. Next month marks the end of the first phase of the project, which began in 2009 with the support of Finnish solidarity organisation SASK, and Finnish trade unions TEAM and PRO. This CAL Project, coordinated by Joseph Toe, has been a great success in bringing CAL to the fore of trade union work in the project countries. 
 
Participants spoke about the various approaches, challenges and successes they had experienced over the three years of the project. 
 
A number of unions participating in the project have driven the adoption of legislation and industry guidelines on the use of CAL. In Senegal, for example, an innovative campaign by ICEM affiliate Sutids led to the signing of the President Decree to regulate short-term employment. This law limits the duration of a short-term contract to two years; makes the user-enterprise responsible for working conditions, as well as for salary obligations should the agency &ldquo;fail&rdquo;; requires that CAL workers must enjoy the same working conditions as similar workers at the user enterprise; and provides for the short-term worker, at the end of his or her contract, to receive a severance pay equal to 7% of the total gross remunerations paid since the start of the contract. 
<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="139" />
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile 
In Nigeria, ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have worked closely together to raise awareness of CAL with the government, including through a three-day warning strike. Following pressure from the unions, the Ministry of Labour and Productivity convened a technical tripartite working group to review how CAL was being used in the oil and gas industries. This engagement led to the adoption of the Nigeria Guidelines on Labour Administration issues in Contract Staffing/ Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Sector. These guidelines, according to PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile, set the minimum standard for using CAL and are the first of their kind in any sector in Nigeria. 
 
Other unions reported a reversal of declining membership figures since efforts were focused on recruiting CAL workers and achievements in gaining permanent status for CAL workers. In Mozambique, about 400 workers have moved from CAL to indefinite contracts as a result of the work of the work of ICEM SINTIQUIAF. The union has also managed to recruit 360 CAL members. In Mauritius, from 2009-2011, a total of 3,000 contract workers joined ICEM affiliate CMCTEU. With the help of the CAL campaign, the union redefined its strategy to organise and bargain on behalf of contract workers, migrant workers, and workers in the informal economy. This included a decision to reduce the union&rsquo;s membership fees from Rs 50 to Rs 1 (one symbolic rupee) for the most vulnerable CAL workers. CMCTEU demanded that the government review the Domestic Workers Remuneration Order, which had been static for 25 years. This review led to domestic workers gaining an increase of 110% in salary, as well as other gains such as holiday leave, wedding leave, and end of year bonuses. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="164" />
In South Africa, ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU, with the support of an international delegation organised as part of the implementation of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreement, encouraged Umicore in South Africa to change its practices with regard to CAL. Umicore signed an agreement stating that all new work contracts will be on a permanent basis, with all ensuing social protections. Unions participating in the conference declared that targeting multinationals must be a key component of future work on CAL and committed to increasing cross border trade union cooperation in this respect.

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Conference Reviews 3 Years of CAL Work

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Today in Belgrade, the ICEM affiliate Federation of Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy and Mining Trade Union will lead a joint main board meeting with two other Serbian unions on the final stages of a three-way merger. The 40,000-member ICEM affiliate will be joined by the Trade Union of Metalworkers and the Textile, Leather and Shoe Workers&rsquo; Union in an effort to create a single entity with strong growth prospects in the Central European nation. 
 
The new labour organisation is expected to be called the Trade Union of Industry and Energy and an integration Congress will be held in early May 2012. The 2,000-member Metalworkers&rsquo; union was weakened by a split in that organisation in 2010 and the Textile, Leather Union, numbering now only 1,000 dues-paying members, has been plagued by operational difficulties. 
 
Today&rsquo;s meeting is expected to set an agenda in which the two smaller unions will operate as boards of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy and Mining Trade Union until next year&rsquo;s merger. Zoran Stojanovic of the ICEM affiliate said the action plan being developed calls for a merged union to actively organise and provide updated services to Serbian industrial workers, particularly in the different energy sectors.

Serbia’s Chemicals, Metal, Textile/Leather Unions Set Agenda for Merger

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The North American Cement and Building Materials Union Network (NACBMUN) met at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US city of Pittsburgh on 20-21 October. This third network meeting was co-chaired by Steve Brady, Chair of the USW Cement Conference, and Jim Pressley, Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB). 
 
The main activity of the network, created in 2008, is information exchange via a collective bargaining database, which includes full analysis of each collective agreement in the cement and building products sector. The database is updated annually. Six managers from Lafarge, Cemex&rsquo;s St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement, Essroc were invited to receive a report on business trends and human resource issues. 
<img src="" width="257" height="161" alt="" />
Phee Jungsun, ICEM Materials Industries&rsquo; Officer, presented an industry report and explained the new global labour instruments on protection of trade union rights in supply chains, including the revised OECD Guidelines and the UN Governing Principles on Business and Human Rights. Ongoing labour disputes at Holcim Cement in India and in Guatemala, and a global action plan to combat Holcim&rsquo;s unfair labour practices were reported. 
 
The network extended full solidarity support to contract workers at Holcim&rsquo;s Ambuja Cement in India, who have long been fighting for the right to join a union and to bargain collectively. 
 
The meeting discussed a plan to regularly conduct social dialogue with human resource managers, and participants agreed to extend the dialogue agenda to cover comprehensive subjects including subcontracting and union work along supply chains. A plan on a common organizing drive at unorganized workplaces is set as the main agenda item for a 2012 network meeting, to be held in Canada.

North American Cement, Building Materials Network Meets in Pittsburgh

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union project called &quot;The Chemical Industry in 2020 &ndash; A New Direction is Possible&quot; launched earlier this year was finalized with an international conference from 26-28 September in Santo Andre with 150 union leaders, government officials, and business and civil society representatives attending. 
 
The project&rsquo;s main goal is to promote sustainable growth in the Brazilian chemical industry through social dialogue and decent work. ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal Ozkan was keynote speaker and the conference fostered many discussions toward achieving 2020 targets by the UN, as well as producing and using chemicals not harmful to human health and to the environment. 
<img src="" width="223" height="161" alt="" />
The event was also an opportunity to prepare the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, together with social partners, for the UN&rsquo;s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) to be held in June 2012. 
 
With topics covering economic, social, and environmental dimensions, the conference deepened and expanded a series of discussions in three parts with participation of workers, entrepreneurs, public authorities, and others. Another highlight was presenting the ILO report called &quot;Restructuring the Brazilian Chemical Industry and its Impact on Employment and Social Dialogue.&quot; 
 
Paulo Lage, President of ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, opened the meeting by citing progress made since the first round of discussions in June 2011, especially a joint agenda between the union and the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (ABRIQUIM). &quot;Our industry has a terrible trade deficit which directly affects the jobs of workers, and only through debate and dialogue we will have a better world for everyone,&quot; said Lage. 
<img src="" width="170" height="161" alt="" />
Kemal Ozkan
At the conference&rsquo;s opening, Ozkan presented a detailed overview of the world&rsquo;s chemical industry, highlighting the prospects of growth in Asia, particularly China, which today is among the leaders in producing specialty chemicals industry. 
 
Yasuhiko Kamakura, senior ILO specialist for the chemical industry, addressed another important topic &ndash; Social Dialogue in the Chemical Industry. He gave worldwide data on restructuring and the effects of social dialogue, contents of which are contained in the ILO study. He also addressed the trend of mergers in the chemicals industry, saying some four million jobs were lost between between 2000 and 2006 due to corporate integration. 
 
The conference&rsquo;s closing was made by Artur Henrique, the president of Brazilian national labour center, Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and following, a proposed document was produced to strengthen the Brazilian chemical industry, which will be delivered by the unions and employers to the federal government.

Decent Work, Social Dialogue to Mark Brazilian Chemical Industry

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The 10th Congress of ICEM Turkish affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, the All Paper and Cellulose Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, was held on 15-16 October at the offices of Birleşik Metal-İş in Istanbul and it paid tribute to Kemal Yilmaz, the president of T&uuml;mka-İş who retired at the Congress after a sterling 50-year career in the Turkish labour movement. 
 
The Congress elected Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu to succeed the storied union leader, while İlhan &Ouml;zel was re-elected as the General Secretary. 
 
Comrade Yılmaz started work in the rubber industry in Turkey and was a member of another ICEM affiliate, Lastik-İş, the Rubber and Plastics Workers&rsquo; Union. While a regional officer for the union in the 1970s, he represented workers at factories defined in the paper industry. It was then that T&uuml;mka-İş was established and he became the first President of the pulp and paper union in the mid-1970s. He was also eleceted to the Executive Committee of Confederation of the Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), and during the military coup d&rsquo;etat of the 1980s, he was imprisoned for his trade union activity from 1980 to 1984. 
<img src="" width="163" height="161" alt="" />
Kemal Yilmaz
After DISK re-started activities in 1991, he again took the lead in organizing paper workers under the umbrella of T&uuml;mka-İş. He organised workers at several paper companies, including Procter &amp; Gamble, Kimberly Clark and Europackaging. At the Congress nine days ago, the T&uuml;mka-İş Executive Committee praised his achievements and committment to Turkish workers, and pledged that the banner and work of Kemal Yılmaz will never be scaled down. 
 
Delegates to the Congress discussed important legislative matters inside Turkey, as well as the country&rsquo;s paper industry in Turkey, particularly impacts from the financial crisis. According to official figures, employment in the industry dropped down from 34,075 in 2007 to 33,850 in 2008. By the end of 2008, however, Social Security Agency statistics showed an improvement and that has gradually improved to where in April 2011, employment was at 37,696 in 1,930 workplaces. 
<img src="" width="153" height="160" alt="" />
T&uuml;mka-İş Members Voting on 16 October
The Congress demonstrated its determination to organise in the post-crisis environment and precarious employment created through subcontracting was tagged as the main threat in union recruitment. 
 
This 10th Congress of T&uuml;mka-İş coincides with proposed mmodifications to Turkish trade union law to correct some of the deficiencies seen by the ILO. One specific modification relates to the paper sector in defining the exact number of sectors in which trade unions can operate. The proposed modification reduces the number of sectors from 28 to 18. 
 
If passed into law, the paper industry would be merged with the wood industry sector. This would require T&uuml;mka-İş to have to a Congress within a year of enactment to harmonizing its statutes with new provisions of the law. T&uuml;mka-İş and its national labour center, DİSK, find the proposal inadequate, and demand far more democratic measures in order to assure paperworkers the ability to enjoy freedom of association and other trade union rights.

Turkish Tümka-İş Pays Tribute to Retiring Leader, Kemal Yilmaz

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="59" />
A three-week strike by 4,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) spilled into the streets of Johannesburg this week, as workers at Xstrata&rsquo;s Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters near Rustenburg took a protest to the Swiss company&rsquo;s Alloys headquarters. NUMSA members presented a petition to company managers demanding wage parity with workers employed at the Xstrata Lion ferrochrome smelter in Tubatse, Mpumalanga province. 
 
Both operations are undergoing big expansions. Xstrata owns 79.5% of the ferrochrome complexes in South Africa, while publicly-listed Merafe Resources holds a 20.5% stake. Both companies also mine chrome in South Africa. 
 
The strike by NUMSA in the North-West province began on 24 October after conciliation efforts by the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. NUMSA and Xstrata Alloys met two days earlier, but a revised pay offer by the company fell short and workers rejected it. 
 
NUMSA is seeking an immediate 10% pay increase for Boshoek and Wonderkop metalworkers and a reduction of job grading systems from eight to five. That would close the wage gap with workers at the Lion smelter and equalize the grading system. Currently, Boshoek and Wonderkop workers earn 14 to 39% less than at Lion, depending on pay grades. 
 
NUMSA is also seeking a housing allowance of R3,500.
<img alt="" src="" width="255" height="169" />
&nbsp;NUMSA President Cedric Gina (rear) has&nbsp;Xstrata's Edwin Hlatshwayo&nbsp;Sign Receipt of Petition
The petition handed to Xstrata Alloys management on 15 November states: &ldquo;(The company) has angered workers and instead of focusing on negotiations, they have decided to apply cheap apartheid-era tactics of bashing members through police intimidation of the strike. NUMSA is very angry that workers who went on a legal and protected strike have been treated like common criminals.&rdquo; 
 
NUMSA President Cedric Gina and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Second Deputy Vice President Zingiswi Losi led the march and handover of the petition. The petition asks the company to respond within 48 hours. 
 
Xstrata is world&rsquo;s largest producer of metal alloys, which besides ferrochrome includes vanadium and platinum, and accounts for one-third of total global production. The Boshoek smelter is currently seeing an expansion that will lift production to 240,000-tonnes-per-year by the end of next year. A second smelter, meanwhile, is now being constructed at the Lion operation that will see production double from the current 360,000 tonnes when it goes on line in the first half of 2013. 
 
The Xstrata-Merafe joint venture in South Africa will then yield 2.3 million tonnes yearly of ferrochrome, which is used in stainless steel production.

NUMSA Protests Pay Disparities at Xstrata’s Chrome Smelters

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

	The ICEM-affiliated Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS) conducted a two-week tour of activities in Switzerland that concluded this week, educating trade union colleagues on the grave violations of work rights abuses by Holcim Cement of contract workers in India&rsquo;s Chhattisgarh region.

	Causing a stir in the Swiss media, the PCSS together with Swiss union UNIA and Swiss-based human rights organisation <a href="http://www.multiwatch.ch/">MultiWatch</a>, solidarity organisation <a href="http://www.solifonds.ch/node/121">Solifonds</a>, the ICEM and Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) raised increasing awareness through various channels.

	The details of the case are shocking and include the worst examples of workers&rsquo; rights violations around the world, especially in terms of the global trend of outsourcing and engaging precarious employment relationships, which capital sees as a tool to lessen its responsibilities to workers.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 211px;height: 158px" width="390" />

	Holcim AGM Protest

	Holcim invested in the Indian cement industry in 2005 when the Indian government opened up the country&rsquo;s resources to outside investment. Holcim&rsquo;s two subsidiaries, ACC Jamul and Ambuja Cement, had a long history of abusing worker rights, and Holcim has thus far refused to reverse these practices. Instead, the Swiss-based company has overseen an increasing proportion of contract workers that now comprises 80% of the company&rsquo;s total workforce.

	The PCSS represents contract workers at the two plants and Holcim is the largest cement producer in India. Contract workers are protected by Indian law and by a sectoral agreement prohibiting employment in core production work, with all work paid at the same rate that permanent workers receive.

	This stipulation has been flouted at Holcim India, where contract workers work side by side with permanent workers in core production, and they are denied proper protective equipment and paid one-third that of permanent workers. They also do not receive proper benefits and have greatly reduced rights to organise and bargain collectively.

	Contract workers of Holcim India have been punished for attempting to organise into the democratic PCSS union and as well, they have been punished for informing global Holcim management of the abuses. In fact, the majority of the PCSS members at Holcim are now excluded from work in the companies due to their union involvement.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 98px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Shalini Gera of PCSS with UNIA&#039;s Rolf Beyeler

	Global pressure has forced Holcim to pay attention to these violations in India, but when Holcim Executive Paul Hugentobler visited ACC Jamul recently, contract workers were all moved to a different shift and workers&rsquo; representatives were banned from taking part in meeting with him. Instead, representatives of the sham company union, OP Banchore, were involved.

	The Supreme Court of Chhattisgarh ruled in favour of the PCSS, instructing the company to award permanent employment contracts to those temporary employees, some of whom have remained on rolling temporary contracts for over 20 years. Holcim India even went so far as to reject India&rsquo;s court ruling and instead committed large financial resources to extend the legal process.

	The PCSS, supported by ICEM, met last week with the National Contact Point of the OECD in Switzerland as part of the process of the complaint on breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim India.

	PCSS was welcomed at the ILO on 13 April, where explanations of the violations in India were met with serious concern and proposals for possible action.

	Public events in Zurich, Bern, and Geneva spoiled Holcim&rsquo;s 100-year anniversary celebrations. A demonstration outside Holcim&rsquo;s Annual General Shareholders meeting yesterday presented management with a new book documenting the group&rsquo;s abuses around the world, and a manifesto for which signatures are being collected around the world, already signed by global figures such as Noam Chomsky.

Holcim Cement Tainted in Switzerland by Work Rights Abuses in India

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;

	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the HIV/AIDS project in India, on Women&rsquo;s Day in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire and on the renewal of mining licences in South Africa being linked to HIV and TB workplace policies. We also address a call to the Canadian government to bring up the HIV/AIDS issue at next month&rsquo;s G8 Summit in the US.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;

	HIV/AIDS Workplace Project in India

	The final report of the HIV/AIDS workplace project in India reveals the enormous impact the project has had. Sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the project ran from August 2008 to the beginning of 2012.

	Sixty-one master trainers were trained, who in turn organised 28 programmes in which 709 peer educators received skills training. Particular attention was also given to women who received training in courses exclusively for women. Furthermore, sensitization programmes were organised for para-medical staff and teachers and students of company schools.

	In follow-up programmes at grass-root level, almost 20,000 people benefited from awareness and behaviour change messages.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Women&rsquo;s Day Activity in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire

	The HIV/AIDS Coordinator for Francophone West Africa, Charlotte Nguessan, organised a very successful symposium on Violence Against Women for women workers in the petroleum sector of C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire. More than 200 women attended the deliberations; the Human Resources Directors of the companies were also present at the meeting. Sexual violence is a factor in transmitting HIV infections. An appeal was made to stop all forms of violence against women and to introduce effective sanctions when such violations happen.

	In a statement on International Women&rsquo;s Day on 8 March, the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS called on world leaders to provide resources to stop HIV infection of women. Worldwide, women constitute around half of people living with HIV and AIDS. They represent 59% in sub-Saharan Africa and 53% in the Caribbean. In all regions, HIV prevalence in women has increased dramatically throughout the years.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	South Africa: No HIV and TB Workplace Policy, No Mining Licence

	Speaking to hundreds of mine workers and community members in the mining town of Carletonville, South Africa, on World TB Day, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, a former General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), urged the mining industry to improve TB services, upgrading health centres to allow for the treatment of drug-resistant TB and to extend health services to those from surrounding communities and mines that may have limited access to healthcare.

	At the same event, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu announced that mining companies which have HIV, TB and workplace safety policies audited by her ministry will have to submit their policies as a prerequisite for renewing their mining licenses.

	As part of the deputy president&#039;s call for all mine workers to be screened for TB and HIV in the next year, World TB Day celebrations were accompanied by HIV and TB screenings, during which at least 1,220 people were examined for TB and 260 people were tested for HIV.

	As in many countries in Southern and East Africa, South Africa&#039;s high TB incidence is fuelled by a high HIV prevalence. Although many people carry TB, only 10% will ever develop the active disease. But because of their compromised immune systems, people living with HIV are up to 37 times more likely to develop active TB.

	Miners are also at a higher risk of TB due to bad living conditions, often in the poorly ventilated, overcrowded single-sex hostels that have historically characterized mining in South Africa, and have facilitated TB transmission. Miners exposed to high levels of silica dust also often acquire a serious respiratory illness called <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/92240/SOUTH-AFRICA-Glimmer-of-justice-for-sick-gold-miners">silicosis</a>, which increases their risk of developing active TB.

	(Source: IRIN News, Carletonville, 26 March)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	G8 AIDS Campaign

	Trade unions throughout Africa and Canada are calling on the Canadian government to champion a focus on HIV and AIDS at the next G8 Summit at Camp David, Maryland, in the US on 18-19 May 2012 with the theme &ldquo;An AIDS-free Generation by 2015.&rdquo;

	A lobbying campaign delivers messages directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper within Canada and through Canadian Embassies or Consulates throughout Africa. They are asking Canada to lead in calling on the G8 to implement the 2011 UN Political Declaration on HIV &amp; AIDS and to replenish new resources to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. They also want G8 countries to implement the ILO&rsquo;s Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, and strengthen the G8&rsquo;s Accountability Framework.

	Unions contend that the UN Political Declaration&rsquo;s targets on AIDS are a time-bound road map, which are a logical extension of the G8 commitment to reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Progress must be monitored through the G8 accountability mechanism. The same approach should be applied to the G8&rsquo;s numerous affirmations of support for a fully-funded Global Fund.

	(Source: CLC and ITUC emails)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Global Fund Finance Beyond Governments

	Of every US$1 contributed to the Global Fund, more than 95 cents comes from the governments of rich countries. The Global Fund has been trying for years to obtain more revenue from other sources. Despite sizeable donations from foundations like the Gates Foundation (US$750 million donated for the period 2011&ndash;2016) and private sector companies (Chevron pledged US$55 million for the period 2008&ndash;2013) &ndash; and despite product marketing campaigns such as (PRODUCT) REDTMwhich has generated US$180 million for the Global Fund to date &ndash; such contributions still account for only a very small proportion of revenues.

	Governments and activists have been searching for innovative ways to generate additional revenues &ndash; not just for the Global Fund itself, but also for the fight against specific diseases and for health and development more generally. Two of the ideas that have been explored are a tax on airline tickets and a tax on financial transactions.

	The tax on airline tickets is already a reality. Between 2006 and April 2011, the tax raised US$2 billion for UNITAID, an international facility for purchasing drugs for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The size and scope of the tax vary by country. This is still a sizable amount considering the fact that only nine countries implement the tax of which Chile, France and the Republic of Korea are the most important. The airline tax constitutes 70% of UNITAID&rsquo;s revenues.

	In September 2011, UNITAID commissioned a study on how to implement a financial transactions tax (FTT) on a national basis. Authors of the study estimated that a very small tax on a variety of financial transactions could generate &euro;265 billion annually in the G20 countries. The idea of using an FTT to fund international development has been around for at least a decade but it is unlikely to be implemented universally.

	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 178 of 13 March. 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>)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	African Sex Workers Top HIV Infection List

	Prostitutes in sub-Saharan Africa have one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world, an international study has established. The research findings also recommend that prostitution should be legalised to make working conditions for sex workers more tolerable and reduce their rate of HIV infections.

	The study, which was released last Thursday, was funded by the World Bank and the UN and carried out by the US-based John Hopkins School of Public Health. It was published by The Lancet, a medical journal.

	It recommends an urgent scale up of HIV programmes. The researchers sampled about 100,000 prostitutes from 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Middle East. They found that of all the prostitutes in the 50 countries, those in sub-Saharan Africa had the highest HIV prevalence. The survey, undertaken between the years 2007 to 2011, ranked prostitutes in Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe as having the highest rates of HIV infections.

	(Source: Africa Review, Nairobi, 19 March)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	ILO at UN Human Rights Council

	At its 19th Session on 20 March 2012, the UN Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on giving a voice to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The importance of workplace action was mentioned by the ILO, government of Brazil and government of France.

	Alice Ou&eacute;draogo, Director, ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the world of work (ILO/AIDS), underlined that protection of human rights at work is essential and that 2010 ILO Recommendation on HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, the first human rights standard focusing on HIV/AIDS, should be widely used for improving legal protection of against discrimination. The importance of the workplace in protecting the rights of people living with of affected by HIV/AIDS was highlighted by Brazil and France.

	Moyses Toniolo, National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Brazil, said there were many forms of discrimination that people living with HIV/AIDS experience in the workplace. It was important to demystify HIV/AIDS, to stress that it could not be disseminated in the workplace through social interactions and to change people&rsquo;s perceptions of people who were infected so that those who lived with HIV/AIDS were no longer stigmatized.

	(Source: ILO/AIDS website)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	News from Global Unions 

	The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/">www.itfglobal.org</a>), in its latest HIV/AIDS update 120 of March reports on the establishment of the first network of HIV positive transport workers. USAFERI received its registration as a community based organisation from the Kenyan government.

	The April 2012 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 meeting of its Peer Educator Network. Peer educators are at the heart of most HIV/AIDS programmes. Their work is demanding and stressful and it is thus important for them to meet for debriefing and sharing of experience and strategies to help them cope with their roles.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />

	Five Years Ago: From the April 2007 Issue (No. 19)

	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 April 2007 HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported, among other items, on the G8 campaign and on C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire being on the right track; two topics which also appear in this April 2012 issue.

	The G8 campaign in 2007 was lead by the Global Union AIDS Programme, which regrettably has ceased to exist. We made model letters available which were to be sent to German embassies, as the G8 in that year took place in Heiligendamm, Germany. As Germany also held the EU Presidency in the first six months of 2007, it organised an EU Presidency Conference in Bremen in March choosing HIV/AIDS as the main health policy topic. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, gave the keynote speech.

	Important (and understandable because of the German double presidency) was her repeated reference to the G8 Summit. Germany had put HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the Summit and she promised that progress would be made.

	The outcome document of the Conference in Bremen, the Bremen Declaration, made reference to trade unions: &ldquo;We invite the employers and trade unions to ensure non-discriminatory policies for people living with HIV/AIDS and vulnerable groups in the workplace and to reduce fears of infection, stigma and discrimination among staff by providing objective, evidence-based information, and access to prevention, testing, treatment and care according to the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work.&rdquo;

	On the other topic dealt with in the April 2007 issue, it is regrettable that the civil war in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire brought to nought many achievements and disrupted HIV and AIDS services. However, to the extent possible work in the ICEM-sponsored project continued and companies have become more cooperative.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 79, April 2012

Archive