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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, on the new HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia, a planned programme in Mongolia, and further work on the ILO HIV/AIDS instrument. 
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The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ICEM Releases Contract and Agency Manual in Arabic

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

ICEM Relocates inside Geneva, Effective Tomorrow, 24 March

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Son on yılda, &ccedil;okuluslu lastik şirketleri Orta Avrupa'yı yatırım cenneti olarak g&ouml;rd&uuml;ler, &uuml;retimi hızla oraya kaydırdılar ve tesisleri genişlettiler. Son olarak, ABD k&ouml;kenli Goodyear Polonya'nın Debica kentindeki tesislerine 100 milyon dolar yatırdı, Japonya'daki Bridgestone ise yine Polonya'da ikinci bir tesis kurmak &uuml;zere oraya gitti. 
 
G&uuml;ney Kore'den Hankook Macaristan'da bir &uuml;retim birimi kurdu, Bridgestone'un yeni tesisi ise faaliyete ge&ccedil;mek &uuml;zere. Hindistan'dan Apollo Tyre'ın Macaristan'da bir tesisi var. Keza, Romanya'da, Slatina'da, Pirelli &ccedil;elik kord &uuml;retmek &uuml;zere Continental AG ile birlikte kurduğu bir tesisi faaliyete ge&ccedil;irdi. 

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Ne var ki, Orta Avrupa'daki bu b&uuml;y&uuml;me, iş koşulları ve sendikal temsil konusunda bazı sonu&ccedil;lar doğuruyor. Bu b&ouml;lgedeki &uuml;cretler, &ccedil;alışma koşulları, iş sağlığı ve g&uuml;venliği kuralları Batı Avrupa &uuml;lkelerindeki d&uuml;zeyin hayli gerisinde kalıyor. Yeni tesislerin bazılarında sendikal haklar g&ouml;rmezden geliniyor ya da şirketler işyeri ve şirket sendikalarını tercih ediyorlar. 
 
Bu gelişmeler karşısında ICEM, ulusal sendikaların bu koşulların &uuml;stesin gelmesini sağlamak &uuml;zere lastik sendikalarının bir b&ouml;lge ağı kurmasını &ouml;nerdi. Macaristan, Slovakya, Romanya ve Slovenya'dan sendika y&ouml;neticileri ekonomik krizin etkilerinin yanı sıra bu sorunları g&ouml;r&uuml;şmek &uuml;zere 8-9 Nisan'da Budapeşte'de bir araya geldiler. 
ICEM'in Macaristan'dan &uuml;yesi VDSz'nin evsahipliğini yaptığı ve Friedrich Ebert Vakfı'nın desteklediği toplantıya Fransa ve İspanya'dan sendika temsilcileri ve EMCEF katıldı. 
<img height="123" alt="" src="" width="170" />
VDSz Başkanı Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak 

Sekt&ouml;rdeki k&uuml;resel durum &uuml;zerine ICEM'in yaptığı sunumdan sonra, katılımcılar, &uuml;lkelerindeki durum hakkında raporlar sundular. Macaristan b&ouml;lgedeki lastik end&uuml;strisinin her zaman merkezi olmuştur, ama sendikal &ouml;rg&uuml;tl&uuml;l&uuml;k d&uuml;zeyi son yıllarda d&uuml;şt&uuml;. Hankook ve Bridgestone gibi bazı şirketlerde sendikaların serbest&ccedil;e kurulması ve faaliyet g&ouml;stermesi engelleniyor. 
 
ICEM'den, her iki şirketteki sendikal tanınma m&uuml;cadelesini desteklemeye devam etmesi isteniyor. Slovakya'da, mali kriz &uuml;retimin &ouml;nemli &ouml;l&ccedil;&uuml;de d&uuml;şmesine yol a&ccedil;tı, iş saatleri d&uuml;ş&uuml;r&uuml;ld&uuml; ve genelde iş&ccedil;ilere normal &uuml;cretlerinin y&uuml;zde 60'ı &ouml;deniyor. Slovenya'da iş haftasının kısaltılmasını &ouml;ng&ouml;ren bir yasa &ccedil;ıkarıldı ve sendikalar bu yasayı destekledi. 
 
Slovenya'da kriz otomotiv end&uuml;strisini ve tedarik&ccedil;i firmalardan oluşan sekt&ouml;r&uuml; ağır bir şekilde etkiledi. Başlangı&ccedil;ta, &uuml;cretler kısılmadı, ama iş&ccedil;iler yıllık izinlerini kullanmaya zorlandı. Kriz derinleştik&ccedil;e, &uuml;cretler ve iş saatleri d&uuml;ş&uuml;r&uuml;ld&uuml;. Keza Romanya'da, otomotiv end&uuml;strisinde yaşanan ağır kriz araba lastiği sekt&ouml;r&uuml;n&uuml; ciddi bi&ccedil;imde etkiliyor. Tek olumlu gelişme, sendikanın Slatina'da yeni faaliyete ge&ccedil;en Pirelli fabrikasındaki 1.500 iş&ccedil;iyi &ouml;rg&uuml;tleyerek &uuml;cretlerde y&uuml;zde 10 artış sağlaması. Toplantıda, ayrıca, EMCEF kriz &uuml;zerine bir tebliğ sundu. 
 
&ldquo;Krizin &ouml;nceki kazanımlarımızı yok etmesine izin vermemeliyiz&rdquo; diyen VDSz Başkanı Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak s&ouml;zlerini ş&ouml;yle s&uuml;rd&uuml;rd&uuml;: &ldquo;İşverenlerin mevcut koşulları k&ouml;t&uuml;ye kullanmasına izin vermemeliyiz. Toplumsal geleceğimiz sendikaların tanınmasına, sendikal temsile, &uuml;cretlerin ve &ccedil;alışma standartlarının y&uuml;kseltilmesine bağlıdır.&rdquo;

Orta Avrupa&#039;daki lastik sendikaları mali kriz konusunda ortak stratejiler oluşturuyorlar

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, on the new HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia in cooperation with the LO/FTF and on the HIV/AIDS project in India, sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim.
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The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant 
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HIV/AIDS Workplace Project in India on Track 
 
During his recent visit to India, which was organised by Project Coordinator BK Das who is also the General Secretary of the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation, the ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant could confirm that the HIV/AIDS project in India, sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has made excellent progress. 
 
&ldquo;So far we have trained 330 peer educators from ICEM affiliates in the coal mining, chemical, cement and diamond sectors in India&rdquo;, said BK Das. &ldquo;The project is on track&rdquo;, he added. The Consultant participated in a training course for peer educators and attended HIV/AIDS awareness meetings conducted by peer educators in remote mining villages in the region where Eastern Coal Ltd (ECL), around Asansol, some 250 km northwest of Kolkata, operates. 
 
He also had the opportunity to meet with peer educators of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) in Dhanbad. Both companies are subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd. (CIL). The Deputy Chief Medical Officer of BCCL, Dr Anurag Verma, said that there has been a significant increase in the uptake of VCT as reported back by the two Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres in the region. Peer educators have also taken the initiative to campaign among commercial sex workers and they cooperate with organisations of people living with HIV and AIDS. 
 
In Kolkata, the Consultant participated in a master trainers&rsquo; course, which was facilitated by HIV/AIDS specialists SM Afsar and Divya Verma from the ILO Delhi Office. The cooperation with the ILO Delhi Office has been outstanding: two master trainer courses were facilitated; material was made available and contacts with organisations of HIV+ people and state AIDS control societies were made. The ILO has also lobbied CIL, and in a meeting with Board member R Mohan Das, further HIV/AIDS activities to be undertaken by the company at its eight subsidiaries were discussed. 
 
For a continuation of the project when funding from Boehringer Ingelheim ends in December 2009, CIL and its subsidiaries as well as state AIDS control societies have to be targeted. With companies taking the threat of the pandemic more seriously, and with state AIDS control societies recognising the workplace as a major place of HIV/AIDS intervention, the prospects for sustainable HIV/AIDS work among ICEM affiliates in India are good. 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
New HIV/AIDS Project in Ethiopia 
 
As reported in the March issue of the e-bulletin, the LO/FTF Council, the Danish Solidarity Support Organisation, has obtained funding for a three-year HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions (NIFECM). 
 
The main objectives of the project are to reduce HIV/AIDS stigmatisation and discrimination in the high-risk mining sector and to increase the capacity of the Federation and its affiliated unions to deal with HIV/AIDS at the workplace, negotiate agreements with employers, and thus protect workers, their families, and the wider community in remote mining areas. 
 
After a fact finding mission in December 2008, the first project activities took place in March. Two workshops were organised for the leadership and union activists of NIFECM; the first on basic facts about HIV/AIDS and awareness and prevention and the second with the objective to develop an HIV/AIDS policy for the Federation. Both workshops were facilitated by the ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant and could count on the cooperation of the ILO office in Addis Ababa. The draft HIV/AIDS policy is expected to be adopted by the NEFECM Congress in July. 
 
Further activities in 2009 include a study tour to South Africa, the preparation of materials and the development of a negotiation guide and an HIV/AIDS toolbox, which should be validated in a workshop in October. At that time, a meeting of the Project Advisory Committee is also envisaged. 
 
The training of master trainers will lead to workshops for a total of 220 local union leaders and activists who will then be capable of promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns at the workplace and in mining communities. Parallel to this, the competence of union leaders in negotiations and bargaining for HIV/AIDS issues such as non-discrimination and anti-victimisation as well as reducing stigmatisation will be developed. 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
UNITAID to Raise Funds through Travel Web Sites 
 
Philippe Douste-Blazy, former French foreign minister and head of UNITAID, announced recently that he is in talks with the online travel industry to allow air travellers booking online to make a $2 per-flight donation to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria efforts worldwide. The global financial crisis has placed some governments' foreign aid budgets &quot;under pressure,&quot; and the United Nations is &quot;turning to private industry and individuals to finance the battle against&quot; the three diseases. Several companies are working with UNITAID to develop system for micro-contributions that could also be adopted by other industries. 
 
UNITAID aims to raise more than US$1 billion annually for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria efforts. It has raised US$600 million during the past two years through a tax on airline tickets implemented by 12 participating countries. One flight with 300 passengers could raise enough funds to provide 60 HIV-positive children with treatment for one year. 
 
(Source: Financial Times, 11 March) 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
Haiti Making Progress against HIV/AIDS 
 
Some good news is coming from Haiti, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic. Data show that about 2.2% of Haiti's population -- or 120,000 people -- are living with HIV/AIDS and that AIDS-related deaths in the country have decreased in recent years. This compares with an HIV/AIDS prevalence of 6.1% in 2001. The percentage of HIV-positive test results among pregnant women has decreased by 50% over the past 10 years. 
 
Haiti's progress has been particularly significant for a country where 60% of the population lives below the poverty line of US$2 per day. Only four of every 10 Haitians have access to potable water and there is only one doctor for every 10,000 inhabitants. 
 
The progress in fighting HIV/AIDS in Haiti is due in large part to the efforts of dedicated people who work in NGOs founded to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS. More than 400 workers have been trained to administer no-cost antiretroviral drugs within communities. But many challenges remain as the majority of Haitians still lack sufficient sex education. Only 15% of women and 28% of men between ages 15 and 24 know HIV prevention methods, and both boys and girls are becoming sexually active at earlier ages. 
 
(Source: Cesar Chalala in Miami Herald, 12 March) 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
News from the Global Union Federations 
 
The Education International reports in its EI Newsletter &ndash; <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a> - of 9 April on HIV/AIDS initiatives by its affiliates in Namibia and Swaziland and reviews the recent UNESCO publication &ldquo;Heroes and Villains,&rdquo; which assesses the interaction between the education sector and the AIDS crisis and highlights the important contribution of teacher unions in the fight against the pandemic. 
 
The fortnightly HIV/AIDS update of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) of 15 March reports on the launch of an HIV/AIDS workplace policy at Mombasa port and on a UNDP report that female migrant workers from Asia have become highly vulnerable to HIV (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>). 
 
 
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 43 April 2009

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In meetings in Hanover, Germany, on 2-3 April, workers&rsquo; representatives of Continental AG met and adopted a common declaration opposing nearly 2,000 job cuts in Hanover and Clairoix, France. Calling the cuts &ldquo;morally despicable,&rdquo; the statement says that both factories posted outstanding financial results in 2008. 
 
Using the premise of the economic crisis to shutter the two plants, the statement calls the decision by Continental to close the two plants as lacking an economic basis. It also calls Continental&rsquo;s decision &ldquo;an enormous breach of trust&rdquo; against dedicated workers and calls on the German tyre and auto-parts supplier to rescind the decision. 
<img height="136" alt="" src="" width="140" />
The joint declaration also pledged to bring the issues front and centre at Continental&rsquo;s annual general meeting on 23 April in Hanover. 
 
In March, Hanover-based Continental said it would close an auto tyre plant in Clairoix, making redundant 1,120 French workers, as well as close the commercial tyre plant of Hanover-St&ouml;cken, costing another 780 workers. The announcement raised an outcry from top-level officials in both German and French governments, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Raymond Soubie, Social Affairs adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
Workers at both factories have conducted several vehement protests at the two factories in recent weeks, as well as French rubber workers taking to the streets in Paris. Continental&rsquo;s decision in March also calls for reductions at a plant in Puchov, Slovakia. 
 
The statement issued by workers&rsquo; representatives late last week was made by all French unions, German unions IGBCE and IG Metall, Works Council Chairman J&ouml;rge Schustereit, and by IGBCE&rsquo;s Werner Bischoff, a member of the Continental supervisory board.

German, French Unions, Continental Works Council, Condemn Tyre Company’s European Job Cuts

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Oil-rig workers at Terra Nova off the Canadian province of Newfoundland ratified their first non-mediated collective agreement in March. And with it, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada is on track to link collective agreement expiration dates between onshore oil, gas, and chemical plants with its two North Atlantic offshore agreements. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, a consortium of seven oil companies led by Petro-Canada, ratified a two-year agreement by a 60% vote. The 180 workers will receive a 6.5% wage increase retroactive to 1 October 2008, and they will receive a 4.5% increase in October 2009. 
 
Joe Gargiso, an Administrative Vice President for CEP who heads the union&rsquo;s Oil and Chemicals bargaining, said the main significance of the agreement is that it expires in 2010 when the CEP&rsquo;s National Energy Bargaining contracts come due. &ldquo;Our goal is to line up the offshore agreements with the refineries and other energy installations across Canada,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re now moving in that direction.&rdquo; 
<img height="139" alt="" src="" width="140" />
The CEP&rsquo;s other offshore contract, covering 450 union members, is at Hibernia, a North Atlantic platform owned by another consortium of oil companies including Petro-Canada, only led and operated by US based ExxonMobil. The collective agreement there expires on 1 July 2009. 
 
Gargiso said the labour-management relationship there has improved markedly since workers made Hibernia the first North American offshore oil platform to unionise back in 2001. 
 
Workers at Terra Nova, who organised in 2003, saw a first collective agreement take effect through a provincial mediator&rsquo;s interest arbitration award in 2006. The same holds true at Hibernia, where a Canadian provincial government mediator determined a 38-month initial agreement in May 2006. 
 
At Terra Nova, Gargiso singled out participation in a CEP Health, Safety, and Industrial Relations Fund, as well as wage adjustments ranging from one percent to 6.5% for 117 of the rig&rsquo;s workers as highlights of the new, bi-laterally negotiated agreement. The CEP&rsquo;s Fund requires employers to pay C$.03 per hour worked for this purpose. Workers won improvements in shift differential for night-time work, and improvements in training, travel expenses, and vacations. 
 
At both Terra Nova and Hibernia, the CEP collective agreements cover workers employed by all service and supply operators on the two oil platforms.

Terra Nova Offshore Oil Pact Major Step for Canadian CEP

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The Global Unions&rsquo; message was made with great effect, 30 March, When the Council of Global Unions (CGU) released an attractive publication, giving a unified response to the global economic crisis. This is the first time Global Union Federations (GUFs), who together with the ITUC and TUAC of the OECD comprise the CGU, have come together in a unified voice, from different perspectives, to produce concrete statements on the crisis. 
 
The magazine, edited by International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) General Secretary Aidan White, also supplies sector specific views on the crisis, with several GUF General Secretaries calling for enhanced roles for government in the management of the economy. 
<img height="108" alt="" src="" width="92" />
Aidan White 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda focused a chapter in the publication, entitled &ldquo;Getting the World to WORK &ndash; Global Union Strategies for Recovery,&rdquo; on issues of &ldquo;Future Fuel,&rdquo; discussing the worrying effects of the economic crisis on global fuel supplies and the necessity for sustainable development in meeting those supplies. 
 
The full publication, in pdf format, can be found at the Global Unions&rsquo; website <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/spip.php?article253">here</a>. 
 
John Evans, General Secretary of TUAC, discusses the Global Unions&rsquo; London Declaration and its proposals for economic recovery. Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the ITUC also joins the GUFs in calling for fresh approaches to governing the global economy, only in a far fairer and more sustainable fashion than in the period before last year&rsquo;s downturn. 
 
Each of the chapters can be individually downloaded off the Global Unions&rsquo; website. The publication is an important tool for trade unionists, a vital and refreshing road map for the way forward, and a valuable source of information on each of the 13 GUFs, in which the publication cements further cooperation efforts.

Global Labour Responds to the Economic Crisis with Insightful, New Publication

The ICEM is using the occasion of April 28, the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, to announce the renewal of its campaign for the formal ratification of International Labor Organization ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines. 
 
The ICEM has been lobbying the ILO to dramatically increase its efforts to promote ratification of the convention to improve health and safety laws in many countries. A recent seminar in Mongolia, the first in a series of proposed seminars, showed a new committment by the ILO to become more actively engaged in a campaign for ratification. (See story on Mongolia seminar in InBrief No. 129 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3162-ILO-Mongolia-Seminar-Launches-Asia-Campaign-for-Ratification-of-Mine-Safety-Convention-176">here</a>)

ICEM Campaigns for ILO Convention 176

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

Archive

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

ICEM Releases Contract and Agency Manual in Arabic

ICEM Relocates inside Geneva, Effective Tomorrow, 24 March

Orta Avrupa'daki lastik sendikaları mali kriz konusunda ortak stratejiler oluşturuyorlar

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 43 April 2009

German, French Unions, Continental Works Council, Condemn Tyre Company’s European Job Cuts

Terra Nova Offshore Oil Pact Major Step for Canadian CEP

Global Labour Responds to the Economic Crisis with Insightful, New Publication

ICEM Campaigns for ILO Convention 176

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

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