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Global worker No1 2022

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

	Some 100,000 union workers in South Africa will march today, 7 March, for two causes &ndash; an outright ban on labour brokers and scrapping the planed e-tolling, or pay-to-drive on Gauteng freeways. Some 32 manifestations will occur today across the country today in actions sponsored by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

	The strike is against a government recommendation that failed to get consensus in year-long discussions before the national Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) that would allow employers to use workers provided by labour brokers for up to six months.

	COSATU is also protesting turning the country&rsquo;s first motorways into toll roads, something that clearly turns public services into commodities. &ldquo;These roads are national assets for the use of the people of South Africa,&rdquo; said COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, &ldquo;not a commodity which can be used to make profits at our great expense.&rdquo;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Zwelinzima Vavi

	COSATU is intent at ending the practice of labour brokering, which it compares to human trafficking. Statistics now show that one-third of all South African workers are temporary employees without social benefits. COSATU wants the responsibility of labour brokers to be limited to matching employees for employers, and that responsibility must end at the door to the workplace.&nbsp;

	COSATU believes precarious workers can easily be intimidated into not joining a union and Vavi said that&rsquo;s why the organisation&rsquo;s Central Executive Committee is insisting &ldquo;that every effort is made to mobilise workers employed by labour brokers to join actions on 7 March.&rdquo;

	In Johannesburg, Vavi, who will stand for re-election at COSATU come the union confederation&rsquo;s congress in September, will lead marchers starting at the Library Gardens to the Gauteng premier&rsquo;s office, and then past the offices of the Chamber of Mines and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation. Multiple marches will be held in various cities in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces.

South African Workers March Today to Ban Labour Brokers

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	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever&#039;s Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world&#039;s third largest consumer products company&#039;s unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner &ldquo;Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits&rdquo;, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers&#039; Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK&#039;s Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman&rsquo;s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled &euro;8 million, while Unilever&rsquo;s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 208px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	At today&#039;s manifestation, led by Unilever&#039;s European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: &quot;We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever&#039;s corporate culture. 
	 
	&quot;We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman&#039;s pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting &#039;sustainable living&#039; but that he says nothing about sustainable employment.&quot;

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever&#039;s Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company&#039;s UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, &quot;We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	&quot;The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into.&quot; 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies&#039; Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever&#039;s Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 95px;height: 160px" width="390" /> 

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

Spirited Rotterdam Rally Calls on Unilever to Save UK Pensions

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	Some 25 trade union representatives from Indian states Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka met at an ICEM workshop entitled &ldquo;International Labour Standards and Social Dialoguein Indian Chemical Industry,&rdquo; which took place on 15-16 February in Mumbai. The participants represented different chemical companies, including BASF (Mangalore and Thurbe plants), Rhodia, Reliance, 20-Microns, Shankar Packaging, FAG Bearing, NRC, Calchem, BEC Chemical and Danashmand and the ICEM workshop brought together different unions and national centers.

	Since 1990s, India has seen phenomenal economic progress with average 8% yearly GDP growth. This has made India 12th in the global chemical world and third-ranking in Asia. The chemical sector makes up 7% of India&rsquo;s GDP and 14% of total exports. The country also has emerging multinationals such as Reliance, Tata, Gujarat Chemicals, Biocon and Ranbaxyies.

	The Indian trade union movement, including chemical industry unions, face serious challenges such as declining union membership, shifts to unorganized and informal sectors, union multiplicity, low union density and weak finances. Indian union leaders inside the chemical industry say low wages and very long working hours are major problems.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 310px;height: 161px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Contract and Agency Labour was defined as another major matter because chemical companies are using this social dumping practice widely. Workers employed in such regressive contracts generally get paid much less than workers directly employed with the primary employer.

	The meeting analyzed recent trends in the chemical industry through ICEM&rsquo;s viewpoint via its Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs, Kemal &Ouml;zkan, who provided wide information on employment characteristics in the sector. International labour instruments were also on the programme within the context of ICEM&rsquo;s Multinational Companies and Social Dialogue Project, coordinated by Yoon Hyowon.

	Ghosalkar Ravindra Govind, President of ICEM affiliate Chemical Mazdoor Federation (CMFI), stressed the importance of international cooperation for developing union work in India&rsquo;s chemical industry. &ldquo;At a time when our chemical industry grows, we must take all efforts to advance our members through the global support of ICEM,&rdquo; said the CMFI President.

	The participants discussed a road map for the future with special attention of enhancing union visibility, organizing contract and agency workers; enhancing union and social networking; establishing social dialogue mechanisms at various levels, and escalating campaigns for ratification and proper implementation of core labour standards.

	There was also wide common understanding among participants that the collective bargaining scale must be taken from plant level to sector level. It was unanimously agreed to continue such strategy meetings on a regular basis.

Chemical Unions in India Escalate Struggle for Decent Work

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	Over 140 paper packaging workers have been taking strike actions against the Austrian company Mayr-Melnhof at a food packaging plant in Bootle, near Liverpool. The industrial actions, which began 12 days ago, revolve around management&rsquo;s stubbornness over redundancy terms.

	UK&rsquo;s Unite the Union is leading the strike actions, which last weekend, 18-19 February, took a different turn when management locked workers out of the factory. The purpose evidently was so managers could move products and equipment to another plant. Workers responded to the lockout with a blockade, and demanded to meet with management. Those talks commenced earlier this week.

	The Vienna-based company had sought paring 49 staff at the 180-worker factory, but the union agreed to significant changes to terms and conditions to reduce the redundancy count to 37.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 232px;height: 140px" width="390">&nbsp;

	But talks broke down and workers voted for strike action in a ballot counted on 3 February. Mayr-Melnhof refused to lower the number and became miserly in awarding proper social terms and conditions.

	Unite has called it &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; Workers first took strike action at midnight on 9 February, and then again the following week on 13 and 15 February, with weekend plant-gate demonstrations in between. Those were six-hour rotating strikes from 06h to noon, and then from noon to 18h. Workers were planning further actions last weekend when they faced the lockout.

	&ldquo;This is not the action our members wanted to take, but they felt they had no alternative,&rdquo; said Unite Regional Officer Phil Morgan. &ldquo;The redundancy terms on the able are significantly inferior to terms negotiated on previous occasions.&rdquo; The company had previously laid off about 50 workers and the reduced severance packages this time induced none of the workforce to apply for voluntary redundancy.

	Mayr-Melnhof makes several kinds of food packaging at Bottle ranging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to packaging for pet food. The firm operates another UK facility in Deeside, North Wales.

UK Packaging Workers Face Lockout at Mayr-Melnhof Plant in Merseyside

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

	A 90-day strike planned by ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago against state oil company Petrotrin did not go ahead as scheduled on 18 February. OWTU and Petrotrin, in marathon talks mediated by Labour Minister Errol McLeod on 17 February, agreed to a three-year deal for 5,000 oilworkers that covers the years 2008-10.

	The agreement not only grants fair wage and allowance adjustments, but OWTU made great strides contract-wise for temporary workers, and fulfilled job safety issues by getting Petrotrin to agree to fill all job vacancies within three months.

	The settlement averted a fuel disruption on the twin-island nation during Carnival and OWTU&rsquo;s filing of strike notice had set off panic buying at the fuel pumps over the past two weeks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="162" src="" width="130" />&nbsp;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget

	The deal includes a 9% wage increase following consolidation of all cost-of-living increases, and it will be allotted with 1% in the first year, 2% the second year, and 6% for 2010. The strike notice came about after Petrotrin refused to move above 5%.

	OWTU represents five bargaining units at the company, and it also won a 10% increase on all allowances, which include working heights, shift work, and excessive heat allowance. OWTU saw to it that full-time jobs will go to temporary workers, and that payment of all severance and gratuity to temporary workers over the age of 55 will be made.

	Earlier this week, the chairman of Petrotrin said the package will cost the company TT$271 million and that was far less than losses that would have accrued because of a strike. &ldquo;It was best for the company in coming to a settlement immediately because we really don&rsquo;t want a strike at this point in time.&rdquo;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget left the Ministry of Labour following the 17-hour talks early on 18 February and was greeted by jubilant union members. At a car park near the ministry in San Fernando, Roget told them it was their &ldquo;militancy and commitment&rdquo; that forced the deal. &ldquo;You made us crack the 5% cap,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We secured a good settlement. We have gone where others said we could not go.&rdquo;&nbsp;

OWTU Reaches Excellent Terms with Petrotrin in Trinidad and Tobago

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

	The ICEM cries out in dismay that the 6 February murder of American Platinum (Amplats) employee Pinky Mosiane remains unsolved. She was raped and murdered inside a mine shaft of Amplats&rsquo; Khomanani Mine in Rustenburg, North West Province.

	The ICEM lauds affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who insists that authorities get DNA samples from all staff working that fateful shift on 6 February.

	Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, three days after this despicable assault and murder, the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO) adopted a strong statement denouncing workplace violence against women, specifically in reference to the cold-blooded murder of Mosiane inside this Amplats mine. She was crushed in the face with a heavy rock after the sexual assault.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="221" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The SSARO statement follows:

	&ldquo;On the morning of 6 February, a 28- year-old female worker was violated and murdered underground at Khomanani Mine, which is owned by Amplats, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American.

	&ldquo;This barbaric and neanderthal act against an innocent young worker is the most glaring case of gender-based discrimination against women and abuse of power. Sexual assault is cruel, inhuman, horrible. A mineworker underground on a daily basis has to deal with death or injury that can come from a rock fall or machines. Having to deal with death and violation against your person sexually and otherwise compounds the insecurity of a human being. A fellow worker who was supposed to act as a fellow human being acted as an animal.

	&ldquo;The National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting to enable women to work in mines. This and similar incidents should not be misconstrued to undo the progress that women have made to achieve equal employment rights.&rdquo;

	He who does not love a woman, who does not respect a woman, despises his own mother having come out of a kind womb of a woman.&nbsp;

	&ldquo;As the ICEM African Executive Committee and the ICEM African Women&#039;s Structure, we strongly condemn this atrocious act of barbarism.

	&ldquo;Mines and all workplaces must be safe environments for women and men. It is up to the employer to ensure that the workplace is safe for all. We will be holding the employer accountable for this tragedy.

	&ldquo;We call for a speedy and thorough investigation into these crimes. We are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, whoever they are. We call on the police to do a thorough investigation as the mine has records of who works what shift. We call on them to use all the forensic technology at their disposal to find out who the perpetrator is. We will be following up on this case and checking that justice is done. We also call for a tough sentence for the perpetrator or perpetrators once found.

	&ldquo;This young woman was only 28 years old and had one child, and her future and dreams were destroyed by a barbaric act of violence by a male counterpart. This is the triple oppression that we need to continue to fight against to attain true liberation for African women.

	&ldquo;We call on comrades to rally around this slogan: Not Another Woman Must Be Raped, Not Another Woman Must Be Murdered.

	&ldquo;We call upon affiliates and sister organisations of ICEM to post this statement on their websites and to disseminate it widely to the press.&rdquo;

Ghastly South African Rape, Murder of Woman Miner at Amplats Unsolved

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

	Swiss-based cement multinational giant Holcim continues to anger the ICEM with its illegal treatment of contract workers in India. Attempts by contract and agency workers employed at Holcim&rsquo;s subsidiaries, ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cement Ltd., to organise and establish collective bargaining with management are being crushed with intimidation, coercion, and dismissal.

	On 12 January, the ICEM joined a complaint to the OECD submitted by the local union Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS).&nbsp; PCSS is a member of the ICEM global family and represents 1,500 contract workers in the state of Chhattisgarh.

	The complaint focuses on a number of breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim&rsquo;s cement companies. Other than the clear violation of the contract workers&rsquo; right to organise and bargain collectively, Holcim is also cited for refusing to engage in collective bargaining with PCSS, which is officially registered as the trade union representing workers at the cement installations.&nbsp; Further violations are outlined in the complaint with respect to the surrounding communities around the Holcim plants.&nbsp; The companies acquired land from local farmers and went on to destroy living conditions in local communities, namely shoddy water management and destruction of homes by blasting and mining. The subsidiaries also refuse to give permanent jobs to locals.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 245px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Today in New Delhi, ICEM participated in a press conference with the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) and PCSS and their national federation, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI).&nbsp; ICEM Asia-Pacific Representative Phee Jungsun said at the press conference, &ldquo;It is through such practices as these that clearly violate workers&rsquo; basic rights to representation of their choice, as guaranteed by the UN, OECD and ILO, as well as the Indian constitution. That Holcim has doubled its profit margins through Indian operations stand as further disrepute in terms of the rights&rsquo; abuses of contract and agency workers.&rdquo;

	Holcim celebrates its 100th anniversary this week and claims &ldquo;We have placed Sustainable Development at the heart of our business strategy for many years, because we believe it contributes in adding value and ensuring continued success.&rdquo;

	Holcim is in breach of Indian legislation, namely the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act that stipulates that contract workers may only be hired to perform non-core functions, and that those who perform the same or similar kinds of work as regular workers must receive equal treatment in terms of wages and conditions.

	However, contract workers in both plants are employed to carry out tasks which are fundamental to production, but receive only one third of permanent workers&rsquo; wages.&nbsp;

	Holcim-ACC last year refused to respect a Chhattisgarh State High Court ruling that it is using &ldquo;sham and bogus&rdquo; contracts, and should regularise 27 contract workers. It was proven that contract workers at the plant do not have basic personal protective equipment, such as gloves, boots and masks, and are denied access to medical facilities, including basic first aid, in the factory.

	Between September 2010 and March 2011, 80 members of PCSS were dismissed by Holcim-Ambuja. Management of the plant repeatedly refused to participate in conciliation efforts by the Regional Labour Commissioner in Raipur.

	The Chapters and Paragraphs of the OECD Guidelines in violation are: Chapter II ( General Policies) specifically paragraphs A (1), (4),(9); Chapter IV (Human rights) specifically paragraphs 1, 2; and Chapter V specifically paragraphs 1 (a), (b), (d), (e), 3, 5.

	See the full text of the PCSS OECD complaint <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/OECD%20Complaint%207%201%202012.pdf">here</a>.

	See more information on the BWI Company Monitor webpage <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/category/mnc-info/holcim/">here</a>.

Holcim’s Violations in India Taken to OECD

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

	Schlumberger, the world&rsquo;s largest oil services company, has been scrambling to defend actions of local management in Egypt who sacked the entire leadership of a nascent trade union.&nbsp; Pressure has been exerted by the ICEM and its affiliated Norwegian and Canadian unions, IndustriEnergi (IE) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP/SCEP), on senior management to intervene and remedy this unacceptable violation of rights in Egypt.

	Schlumberger employs around 2,500 workers in Egypt, 40% of whom are workers of subcontractors at 10 different worksites.&nbsp;

	In April 2011, the process to establish an independent company-level trade union at Schlumberger Egypt was begun, as part of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), the trade union centre established during the final days of the Mubarak regime. In May 2011, signatures and required documents were collected to complete the legal process of establishing the union.

	On 11 May, local management was informed of the new union structure, at which time management responded with threats leading to the dismissal of General Secretary Mohamed Abd Elrahman. On 3 July, the day of the union&rsquo;s general congress, local management dismissed the union&rsquo;s President, Brother Essam. On 5 July, local management summoned union members to the head office and threatened them with dismissal if they did not leave the union. And then on 7 July, local management followed through on an earlier threat and dismissed the union&rsquo;s Assistant General Secretary, Ayman Abd Elmonem.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 195px;height: 161px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	ICEM&rsquo;s Jim Catterson with Sacked Union President, Brother Essam, at left

	No reason or dismissal letter was given to Abd Elmonem, he was simply blocked from entering the workplace. On 12 July, another union member was dismissed in similar circumstances, Mr. Hossam Al-deed Mostafa, again no written dismissal notice was produced.

	Under Egyptian law, workers can only be dismissed from their employment following a due legal process and a court ruling. The court procedure cannot even be initiated without justifiably serious reasons. Arbitrary unilateral decisions such as these cannot stand. Four sacked workers have been without income for several months now.

	&ldquo;I write seeking your immediate intervention to remedy shocking violations of labour rights at Schlumberger operations in Egypt. In a vicious attack on workers&rsquo; rights to organise and bargain collectively, Schlumberger employees&rsquo; nascent trade union has been illegally dismantled through the sacking of its leaders,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda in a letter to Schlumberger.

	Register your protest to Schlumberger Chairman Andrew Gould, CEO Paal Kibsgaard, and Egypt Area Manager Amr Essawy by clicking <a href="mailto:gould1@exchange.slb.com; pkibsgaard@exchange.slb.com; AEssawi2@exchange.slb.com">here</a>.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 80px;height: 107px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The company has responded to ICEM and IE calls with an investigation into the sackings.&nbsp; ICEM will continue to monitor the situation closely and will mobilise the next phase of the campaign with Schlumberger&rsquo;s clients, the oil and gas multinationals that use Schlumberger&rsquo;s services, if positive action by the company is not taken soon.

	IE of Norway organises Schlumberger employees, and those workers registered their protest with Norwegian national management and local managers over the last ten days. Local Schlumberger union reps in Norway are meeting today with the ICEM.

	Egyptian activists in Paris on 18 February conducted a picket at Schlumberger headquarters and met with the manager of Schlumberger France, who has also now been mobilised to intervene into the case.

Oil Services Giant Schlumberger Pressured over Egyptian Union Busting

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" /><div>In this last issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we cover aspects of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project, which comes to an end in December 2012.&nbsp;A new project proposal for sub-Saharan IndustriALL affiliates is being developed. Since 2005, the ICEM HIV/AIDS project has covered much ground. But without question, there is still much work left to be done.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />Dear Readers, Friends, ComradesAs announced in the May issue, this is the last issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin. We thank all readers for their interest and hope that we have succeeded in making a contribution to the dissemination of useful information over almost seven years.Next week, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) will hold their dissolution congresses in Copenhagen. Immediately after that the Founding Congress of the new Global Union Federation, IndustriALL, will take place. </div>Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />HIV/AIDS is a Workplace Issue; Unions Have Central Roles to PlayThis has been the leading message of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project, which has been running since 2005. The first phase of the project was sponsored by LO/TCO Biståndsnämnd, Sweden, and FNV Mondiaal, Netherlands, and ran from 2005 to 2008, with an additional project year in 2009. After a thorough internal assessment in 2008, a new project was approved, running from 2010 to 2012, sponsored by SASK of Finland and FNV Mondiaal. ICEM affiliates in these countries gave strong support and contributed financially to the project.Throughout the project periods, national HIV/AIDS coordinators were trained in regional workshops. At national level, activities started off with peer education and awareness and prevention campaigns. Increasingly, however, VCT campaigns were organised and thousands of workers, their families and members of the community queued up to know their status.Some progress has also been made on the adoption of workplace policies and the insertion of HIV/AIDS clauses in collective bargaining agreements. Despite a sometimes adverse relationship over conventional bargaining issues, companies must be seen as partners in the fight against the epidemic since an effective HIV/AIDS policy cannot be implemented without the participation of employers.HIV/AIDS workplace policies should also draw on the resources of companies for skills training, awareness and prevention campaigns and for VCT and ART services. Cost-benefit analyses have shown that even small expenses by companies for HIV/AIDS activities result in reduced costs for medical schemes, higher productivity, and reduced expenditure for training. Unions must continue to convince employers that it makes business sense to invest in the fight against HIV/AIDS.At the heart of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project are annually-approved national HIV/AIDS programmes that run in each of the 11 project countries. These &ldquo;projects-within-a-project&rdquo; are applied for by the national coordinators to the Sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS project coordinator, who discusses, approves and monitors all these individual national plans for action.Women issues in relation to HIV and AIDS also received a boost with two women-only sub-regional workshops in 2010 and 2011. Women&rsquo;s empowerment in taking control of their reproductive rights and dealing with issues such as violence at home and sexual harassment at the workplace were at the heart of these workshops. The use of female condoms was also promoted. The sub-regional workshops in turn led to women activities organised at national level. Several of these were not only relevant with respect to HIV/AIDS, but also strengthened unions by integrating more women in their union work and by recruiting more female members.Fighting HIV and AIDS is a national policy matter. All target countries have national policies to fight the pandemic and a National AIDS Commission, which coordinates the efforts of all stakeholders. It is important that trade union activities fit into this general framework. For this to happen, unions must be recognised as partners in national policy implementation and, subsequently, they have to actively seek contacts with national HIV/AIDS bodies.As part of the fight against the pandemic, trade unions should also seek the participation of NGOs in their activities and build alliances with them. NGOs often have more expertise and experience as they concentrate on one issue. Of utmost importance is the involvement of organisations of People Living with HIV/AIDS to reduce stigma and to demonstrate that HIV and AIDS should be treated like any other condition or disease.From its adoption by the International Labour Conference of the ILO in June 2010, ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, was promoted at in regional and national ICEM HIV/AIDS events. This is the first international human rights instrument to focus on HIV and AIDS and the world of work. All workers are protected by the new labour standard, including those in informal economies. As Recommendation 200 becomes more widely known and accepted, it has the potential to develop into a tool for unions to use.The Global Action Plan for the implementation of R200, as adopted by the ILO Governing Body in March 2011, seeks three outcomes for the period 2011 to 2015: reduction of stigma and discrimination, increased access to services, and scaled-up action by world of work actors.In our work, we also made a link to the broader ILO Decent Work Agenda, which is central in efforts to reduce poverty and to make occupational health and safety an integral part of the Decent Work Agenda. Important in this, as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned, is often not so much the job itself, but the conditions around it that can lead to behaviour that puts workers and their dependents at risk of acquiring HIV, such as working and living conditions of workers in remote mining areas, which contribute to an increasing infection rate.At global level, good cooperation was established with ILO/AIDS. Technical cooperation was not only extended by the ILO Head Office in Geneva but also by country offices where activities were organised. Special mention must be made of the cooperation with the ILO Delhi office, which greatly contributed to the success of the HIV/AIDS project in India, and of the collaboration with the ILO Pretoria office, which gave a boost to work on the ILO Decent Work Agenda and Recommendation 200.Work was initiated with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank (WB AIDS Campaign Team for Africa) and the World Bank&rsquo;s International Finance Corporation (IFC against AIDS) with the objective to promote the concept of public/private partnership and co-investment with the involvement of unions. The dictum has been that the private sector is business and organised labour, i.e. trade unions. When skills training, knowledge transfer and other assistance are extended to management, it should also be offered to unions. No HIV and AIDS interventions at the workplace are effective if workers and their representatives are not included. Unfortunately, these organisations have not been responsive to such legitimate demands.An HIV/AIDS e-bulletin has been published monthly since October 2005. A dedicated HIV/AIDS website provided access to useful materials and links to other websites. Materials have included a leaflet, a manual for collective bargaining on HIV and AIDS issues, and a guide for resources and finance for HIV/AIDS activities. Very important for union work at the national level, a model union policy and a workplace policy on HIV/AIDS were developed.Another element of the work at global level has been the successful acquisition of additional funding to expand the project beyond Africa. Corporate partnership and solidarity contributions from affiliates made it possible to run HIV/AIDS projects in India, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, Mongolia, and Colombia. Supplementary funding was also obtained for Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly earmarked for VCT campaigns in Tanzania and Nigeria. The Danish LO/FTF supported a three-year project (2009-2011) in the mining sector in Ethiopia.While a lot has been achieved in the past years, much more still needs to be done. It was therefore decided to seek a continuation of the HIV/AIDS project and look at developing a new project proposal for sub-Saharan African IndustriALL affiliates for the years 2013-2015. Discussions are ongoing with the donor community on this.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 81, June 2012

IndustriALL Global Union will be founded on 19 June in Copenhagen, Denmark.&nbsp;Uniting 50 million workers along global supply chains, uniting the history, expertise, and passion of three proud international organisations, IndustriALL will fight for workers everywhere.<div class="rte">Over&nbsp;1,200 trade union delegates from every corner of the globe are meeting in Copenhagen&nbsp;18-20 June, 2012 to form IndustriALL Global Union, representing workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors.&nbsp;&quot;Among the delegates are heroes who have been on the front-line of the fight for democracy and workers&#039; rights,&quot; stated Jyrki Raina, the in-coming general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 280px;height: 292px" width="390" />&quot;Workers and their unions, members of IndustriALL, have been at the forefront of the Arab Spring fight for democracy, the struggle against despots.&quot;In Copenhagen we will form a new union family of heroes, with strong bonds, ready to stick together through thick and thin - a new force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.&quot;IndustriALL will challenge the power of multinational companies like Rio Tinto and BHP,&quot; Jyrki Raina said. &quot;We will negotiate on a global level with the global giants.&quot;IndustriALL will fight for a new model of globalization, a new economic and social model that puts people first, based on democracy and social justice.&quot;IndustriALL will be founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012. The new organisation will bring together affiliates of the former global union federations: International Metalworkers&#039; Federation (IMF), International Federation of Chemical,&nbsp;Energy, Mine and General Workers&#039; Unions (ICEM) and International Textiles Garment and Leather Workers&#039; Federation (ITGLWF).IndustriALL Global Union will represent workers in a wide range of sectors from extraction of oil and gas, mining, generation and distribution of electric power, to manufacturing of metals and metal products, shipbuilding, automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering, electronics, chemicals, rubber, pulp and paper, building materials, textiles, garments,&nbsp;leather and footwear and environmental services.The new website, <a href="http://www.industriall-union.org/">http://www.industriall-union.org/</a>, will go live at 14:00 on 19 June 2012.</div>&nbsp;

IndustriALL Global Union to be New Force

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