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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 23/2003
T he 20-million-member ICEM, meeting at its quadrennial Congress in Stavanger, Norway, this week, issued a challenge to the major pharmaceutical companies of the world to begin providing-at no cost or at affordable prices-anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS victims to fight the HIV pandemic in developing countries.
ICEM, with 400 affiliated unions in 121 countries, represents not only chemical workers in the pharmaceutical industry at the major drug-producing firms, but also industrial workers in sectors hardest hit by HIV-including energy, mining and mineral extraction in developing regions within sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. The ICEM has been in dialogue with high officials of the pharmaceutical industry over the past year to reach a consensus among the firms to make such a commitment.
"We feel the ICEM as a Global Union Federation (GUF) is strategically positioned to make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said General Secretary Fred Higgs.
ICEM's World Congress in Stavanger, 28-30 August, is drawing 1,000 trade union leaders from the energy, mining, chemicals and bioscience industries, as well as pulp, paper, rubber and other industrial sectors together for adoption of strategies and to map a framework to uphold human rights and labour rights throughout the world.
ICEM as a GUF is the leading labour federation to achieve Global Agreements with multinational firms. Such agreements commit a company to adhere to labour, health and safety and environmental standards wherever they have operations. One of those agreements, adopted in 1997 with Norwegian Statoil, was renewed on 23 August in Stavanger. Both parties, together with the Norwegian Union NOPEF, recognize the great advantages of the agreement and pledged further development to expand it in local areas.
"The experiences under the agreement have been beneficial to all parities," said Lars Myhre, International Officer of NOPEF. "It is a lasting, living document that other global companies would be wise to emulate."
ICEM's theme for the Congress is Globalisation: Local Problems, International Solutions By Solidarity. Higgs said the issue of globalisation is "ever changing in a world in which industry is rapidly expanding to developing areas. That brings with it problems to unions and to workers represented in both industrialized nations and in the developing world. We aim to address those problems, identify solutions and then act in a unified way to bring solutions to our affiliates."
ICEM, with 400 affiliated unions in 121 countries, represents not only chemical workers in the pharmaceutical industry at the major drug-producing firms, but also industrial workers in sectors hardest hit by HIV-including energy, mining and mineral extraction in developing regions within sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. The ICEM has been in dialogue with high officials of the pharmaceutical industry over the past year to reach a consensus among the firms to make such a commitment.
"We feel the ICEM as a Global Union Federation (GUF) is strategically positioned to make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said General Secretary Fred Higgs.
ICEM's World Congress in Stavanger, 28-30 August, is drawing 1,000 trade union leaders from the energy, mining, chemicals and bioscience industries, as well as pulp, paper, rubber and other industrial sectors together for adoption of strategies and to map a framework to uphold human rights and labour rights throughout the world.
ICEM as a GUF is the leading labour federation to achieve Global Agreements with multinational firms. Such agreements commit a company to adhere to labour, health and safety and environmental standards wherever they have operations. One of those agreements, adopted in 1997 with Norwegian Statoil, was renewed on 23 August in Stavanger. Both parties, together with the Norwegian Union NOPEF, recognize the great advantages of the agreement and pledged further development to expand it in local areas.
"The experiences under the agreement have been beneficial to all parities," said Lars Myhre, International Officer of NOPEF. "It is a lasting, living document that other global companies would be wise to emulate."
ICEM's theme for the Congress is Globalisation: Local Problems, International Solutions By Solidarity. Higgs said the issue of globalisation is "ever changing in a world in which industry is rapidly expanding to developing areas. That brings with it problems to unions and to workers represented in both industrialized nations and in the developing world. We aim to address those problems, identify solutions and then act in a unified way to bring solutions to our affiliates."