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The ICEM Global Framework Agreement with French specialty chemicals producer Rhodia took a major forward step with inclusion of specific neutrality language. The two parties formally signed the renewal agreement in Paris on 25 March. 
 
The Global Agreement, originally signed on 31 January 2005, also includes stronger language regarding responsible behaviour by the company&rsquo;s suppliers and subcontractors, as well as integration of the agreement with the &ldquo;Rhodia Way,&rdquo; a set of principles aimed at continuous progress on social and environmental responsibility.
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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Rhodia CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu at the 25 March signing&nbsp; 
 

The renewal agreement is supported by ICEM French affiliates Fedechemie CGT-FO and Federation Chimie Energie CFDT. It follows a favourable assessment of the terms of the agreement carried out over that past two years that included a joint trip to China last fall to observe work conditions at Rhodia&rsquo;s operations there. 
 
&ldquo;We feel we have taken the agreement with Rhodia to a new level,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;The commitment for trust and earnest dialogue is genuine.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement did contain, and still does, adherence to ILO Core Labour Conventions 87 and 98 regarding freedom of association, and the right of representation and collective bargaining, but it now goes further. Under a section entitled Labour-Management Dialogue, a clause now states: &ldquo;Rhodia respects the right of employees to be collectively organised and shall remain strictly neutral concerning their choices in this matter.&rdquo; 
 
Further to that section, &ldquo;Rhodia pledges to not practice any discrimination due to unionisation either when hiring or when managing employees&rsquo; careers.&rdquo; 
 
Rhodia also pledges to take a hands-on approach in assuring that suppliers and subcontractors adhere to the framework of the Global Agreement, as well as all laws and human rights standards. 
 
In addition, the renewal agreement sets formal ICEM involvement in tracking &ldquo;Rhodia Way&rdquo; performance; it creates a joint safety issues discussion group; allows the agreement&rsquo;s application to be audited by an outside expert jointly chosen by the two parties; and, following the successful Chinese mission, sets up an annual mission to a country to assess terms of the accord. The next such visit will be to Brazil.
The English and French versions of the agreement can be found <a href="/en/?id=98&amp;la=EN">here</a>.
Rhodia, which generated sales of &euro;5.1 billion in 2007, supplies chemicals for the automotive, tyre, electronics, perfume, and health, beauty, and home care markets. It employs 15,500 workers worldwide.

Renewal Rhodia Global Pact Has Specific Neutrality Language

Global Fund Calls for Round 8 Proposals 

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its Eighth Call for Proposals. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
 
Proposals have to reach the Global Fund by 1 July 2008. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 1 July 2008 will be reviewed by the Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations on the basis of which the Global Fund Board will decide.
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How does the Global Fund work? 
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002, and up to December 2007, the Global Fund has approved grants with a total commitment of US$14.5 billion, more than half of it targeted for HIV/AIDS projects. 
 
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it, and proves it &ndash; the Global Fund is performance based. 
 
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector, and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
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How can unions get involved? 
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is recognised. The workplace is an important entry point for HIV/AIDS services and no workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, the Global Unions, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the WHO, and UNAIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is supportive of public/private partnerships, or co-investment arrangements. Without the involvement of the private sector universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), it is not possible to qualify, or projects will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions, as the workers&rsquo; representatives. For the first time, the Guidelines for Round 8 proposals mention unions under eligible organisations of the private sector. 
 
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. Unions must tend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs. 
 
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term, it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM. 
 
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances &ndash; Creating Knowledge &ndash; Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. A lot of USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably of Nordic countries, The Netherlands, the UK, and the European Union may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme, ILOAIDS, has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices. 
 
The most significant new feature in Round 8 is that the Global Fund is recommending that applicants specify one (or more) Principal Recipients (PRs) from the government sector and one (or more) from the various non-government sectors, including the private sector which includes unions (dual-track financing).
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What are your next steps? 
&bull; Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget. 
&bull; Get to know the members of your country&rsquo;s CCM and lobby those potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 8 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
&bull; Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS, and WHO offices in your country. 
&bull; Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility. 
&bull; Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA. 
&bull; Access the website <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> on which a guide to Round 8 applications is available.
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How can the ICEM help? 
The ICEM Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and inquiries to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. The ICEM has Global Agreements with 13 multinational companies. These companies should be engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
Above all 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>Start today if you want to do something.&nbsp;</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Remember that the private sector includes business and unions as the workers&rsquo; representatives.&nbsp;</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance.&nbsp;</div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a> for further information and help. </div>
 </li>
</ul>

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin: Special Issue, 20 March 2008

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The ICEM mourns the death of German trade unionist Egon Sch&auml;fer, a former auditor of the ICEM who served with distinction on behalf of his trade union, IGBCE. He died on 14 February 2008 after a long illness. He was 69. 
 
He began his trade union service in 1962 for IGBCE&rsquo;s predecessor, IG Chemie, Papier, Keramik, in the union&rsquo;s Kassel office. He worked as head of collective bargaining and social issues for IG Chemie&rsquo;s white-collar membership, and was elected a regional chairman in 1973.
<img height="204" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&nbsp;Egon Sch&auml;fer 

He was elected to the union&rsquo;s central executive committee in1978 and rose to Deputy Chairman of the union, after which he took the major role on social policy matters. He also served on the supervisory board of German chemicals company Hoechst AG. He retired from union service in 1997. ICEM General Secretary said he had &ldquo;long and dedicated service&rdquo; in his voluntary role as ICEF and ICEM auditor. 
 
IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt called Egon Sch&auml;fer an &ldquo;outstanding social representative and a good friend,&rdquo; and said he was an ideological thinker who stood strongly behind his beliefs.

ICEM Mourns Death of Former Auditor, IGBCE Leader Egon Schäfer

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A near labour dispute by 2,100 Dutch workers at two of Europe&rsquo;s biggest oil refineries was averted last week when ICEM affiliates FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Bedrijvenbond came to terms with Royal Dutch Shell. The accord, reached on 4 March, will now be brought before the workforces for approval. 
 
The two-year agreement, which would become retroactive to 1 March at Shell&rsquo;s Pernis oil refinery, as well as at the company&rsquo;s Moerdijk refinery and chemicals operations, would give workers a 3.5% wage increase this year, and another 3.5% hike on 1 March 2009. It also grants one-half percent bonuses to workers each year of the agreement.
<img height="67" src="" width="100" border="1" alt="" />
The major stumbling block in negotiations throughout February was Shell&rsquo;s demand to buy back four ADV days. Those days were compensation for a cut in the work-week from 40 to 36 hours several years ago. Shell wanted the leave days back due to a shortage of personnel at the two refineries. 
 
The unions had sought to allow workers to keep the leave days, or, seek a higher compensation for these days. A compromise on this difficult matter was mutually accepted. 
 
The two unions engaged in joint membership consultations throughout in order to forge the agreement.

Settlement Expected for 2,100 Oil, Chemical Workers of Royal Dutch Shell in NL

US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW) intends to file a lawsuit in a federal courtroom in the state of South Carolina over Giant Cement&rsquo;s improper reporting of hazardous wastes emitted from the company&rsquo;s plant in Harleyville, South Carolina.
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USW claims Giant failed to report the identity and quantity of hazardous wastes burned at the plant, as well as hazardous chemicals used and stored on the jobsite of late. The suit will allege violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986
&nbsp;Giant, a subsidiary of Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas, is operating the cement plant with replacement workers and some 50 of the 138 workers who struck the plant in August 2005. The strike ended on 24 September, but the company has refused to take back the majority of unionised workers.

US Steelworkers File Environment Suit Against Spanish Cement Firm

French multinational Saint-Gobain in Thailand is using contract employees as well as logistics and maintenance workers to continue a lockout at an auto-glass assembly plant in Rayong province.
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After Saint-Gobain Sekurit presented, on 5 January, a pay offer that included an inferior bonus payment for 2005, some 300 workers protested outside the plant. The company locked out the workers the next day.
The plant has increased production since Saint-Gobain Sekurit gained auto-glass assembly contracts from General Motors Holden in Australia last year, a move inspired by the Howard government&rsquo;s free-trade agreement with Thailand that cost 120 jobs at two Pilkington auto-glass factories. The plant also fits glass for Toyota and Ford automobiles.
Thai union members at Saint-Gobain Sekurit, affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers&rsquo; Unions, are facing management proposals calling for reductions in Sunday overtime pay, a reduction from five days to three on &ldquo;private leave,&rdquo; and extending the retirement age.

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

ICEM Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have threatened to pull all oil workers from the Niger Delta unless the government moves to improve security and rebel groups cease using violence to gain political ground. Since four expatriate workers were kidnapped on 11 January at the Shell-operated EA offshore field, a spate of attacks at other installations has killed 22 workers.
<img height="104" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="105" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In a joint statement, NUPENG and PENGASSAN said, &ldquo;If the restiveness and consequent harassment and violence on workers in the oil and gas industry persist, we shall not hesitate to withdraw our members in the various oil and gas companies operating in the region.&rdquo;
The unions called on the government to urgently resolve tensions in an amicable way and to use peaceful means to secure the release of abducted oilmen. They also called on kidnappers to release the Shell contract workers, and demanded militia groups to stop the &ldquo;violence unleashed in the Niger Delta on our members, leading to the loss of 22 lives, the taking of oil workers as hostages and the shutting down of a flow station in Benisede in Bayelsa State.&rdquo;

Nigerian Oil Affiliates Seek Halt to Niger Violence

Nepal&rsquo;s despotic monarchy ordered a day-long curfew on 20 January, which prevented planned demonstrations in Kathmandu and neighbouring Lalitpur by pro-democracy political parties, including trade union federations GEFONT, DECONT, and NTUC.
Instead, protests sprang up across the capital city on 21 January and were met with excessive force by police using tear gas and brandishing firearms instead of bamboo batons. Some 300 demonstrators were arrested, and many of those remained in custody this morning. In addition, police arrested another 150 political and human rights activists on 19 and 20 January.
<img height="159" alt="" src="" width="139" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="157" alt="" src="" width="122" />
Gefont's Secretary General Binod Shrestha&nbsp;and 
&nbsp;Chairman Mukunda Neupane 
Senior GEFONT leaders&mdash;Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Secretary-General Binod Shrestha&mdash;were arrested on 19 January and remain in police custody. Leaders of a seven-party political alliance not already under arrest have called for a general strike across Nepal on 26 January in protest to King Gyanendra&rsquo;s absolute rule.
More: 
<a href="/index.php?id=7&amp;doc=1630&amp;la=EN">ICEM letter to the King of Nepal</a>

Nepal’s Pro-democracy Groups Call for 26 January General Strike

The ICEM is calling on Nepal&rsquo;s monarchy to immediately release the top two leaders of Nepalese trade union federation General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), as well as scores of senior leaders of a seven-party political coalition who were rounded up yesterday and early today and placed under a 90-day detention order. Early today, authorities arrested GEFONT senior leaders Chairperson Mukunda Neupane and Secretary-General Binod Shrestha at their homes. 
 

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The Global Union Federation (GUF), covering 20 million workers from the energy and chemicals sectors to mining and process industry sectors, also is calling on King Gyanendra to immediately rescind a 16 January dictum that forbids peaceful protest and assembly in Kathmandu and neighbouring Lalitpur. 
 
The order banning all assemblies, processions and political sit-ins is aimed at blocking scheduled non-violent protests for tomorrow, 20 January, as well as future pro-democracy rallies. 
 
&ldquo;We call for immediate release of GEFONT&rsquo;s leaders and others,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;To arrest these people only deepens our resolve, and the resolve of pro-democracy voices inside Nepal for an end to the absolute rule of this monarchist regime.&rdquo; 
 
Higgs added, &ldquo;The political coalition that has taken shape in Nepal has proven through its peaceful mass protest in Janakpur on 12 January that non-violent dissent is a legitimate vehicle for an end to the suppression of political rights,&rdquo; said Higgs. &ldquo;The ICEM supports the people of Nepal to participate in such non-violent protests and demonstrations.&rdquo; 
 
Further, the ICEM condemns the regime&rsquo;s recent curfews, changes in media law placing stricter controls on radio stations, and today&rsquo;s cut-off of mobile phone transmissions. 
 
The Brussels-based GUF also voices its opposition to recent amendments to Nepal&rsquo;s Labour Code, which have been orchestrated by government ministries intended for the royal seal. Such amendments, the ICEM feels, will restrict workers&rsquo; rights and trade union rights, as well as imposing undue foreign influence inside Nepal&rsquo;s worksites.

ICEM Calls for Release of Nepal Trade Union Leaders, Restoration of Rights

The 20-million-member ICEM calls on the government of Serbia-Montenegro to meet the legitimate pay demands by ICEM-affiliated EPS Trade Union at three enterprises of the state-run electric power generation and distribution services, i.e. the PE Electric Power Industry of Serbia, the PE Elektromreža Srbije (the Serbian Transmission System and Market Operator) and the PE Underground Pit Mine Extraction. 
<img width="100" height="100" src="" alt="" />
Workers at these three enterprises are owed wage arrears for 2004 and 2005. The government has failed to respond to union demands, as well as to make an adequate wage offer for 2006. Workers at the three enterprises began a series of one-hour strikes on 10 January in protest of the non-payment of wages, and have conducted similar one-hour strikes every day since. 
 
&ldquo;The inflation rate in Serbia in 2005 reached 17%,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;It is unconscionable that the government is withholding payment of wages due for past years and refusing to make an acceptable offer this year.&rdquo; 
 
Serbia-Montenegro&rsquo;s government had requested that EPS Trade Union postpone any strike action until the end of February 2006. The ICEM says that such a request is irresponsible considering the non-payment of wages in 2004 and 2005. 
 
The ICEM fully supports the strikes, and has offered assistance to the 43,000-member EPS Trade Union in meeting their pay demands.

ICEM Calls on Serbia to Pay Backwages, Reach 2006 Pay Terms

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