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<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
This is the 25th Issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin. 
 
There is no Time to Celebrate! 
For more than two years we have tried to give practical, timely and accurate information from a number of relevant sources. Too little feedback has reached us from our affiliates. Many of them are engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. If we do not know about their activities, we cannot report on them and others cannot benefit from new initiatives and ideas. 
 
Again, we make an appeal to send information on new agreements, campaigns and educational activities 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. 
 
There is certainly no time to celebrate: according to UNAIDS, each day still more than 8,000 people die of AIDS; almost 12,000 get newly infected with the deadly virus, many of them young people, in some regions more than half of them girls and women. Each day, 1,800 children become infected – the vast majority of them as newborns through mother-to-child transmission. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
World AIDS Day, 1 December 
 
Leadership is the theme for World AIDS Day 2007. The ongoing campaign slogan of the World AIDS Campaign is “Stop AIDS – Keep the Promise”. 
 
Unions can demonstrate leadership at every level – in the workplace, in their own governing bodies, in women’s committees, in health and safety committees, in negotiations with companies, in the community and at the national policy level. 
 
Any union member, shop steward, union official, committee member, gender representative who takes action on HIV/AIDS is a leader in the fight against the deadly disease. 
ICEM calls on its affiliates to take the lead in campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
Before the end of October, affiliates will receive campaign material. 
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ICEM Affiliates in Côte d’Ivoire and Namibia 
 
The HIV/AIDS Coordinator for the three affiliates in Côte d’Ivoire, Charlotte Nguessan, is particularly active. In addition to training workplace representatives, she has coordinated the writing of a proposal on HIV/AIDS workplace interventions, which was submitted to Partners against AIDS in August. 
 
Charlotte was also appointed to the working group for the Round 7 proposal to the Global Fund. 
 
In Namibia, the first two courses (out of three) for the training of VCT counsellors were completed in the Oranjemund region and at Okorusu Flourspar mining. The Mine Workers’ Union of Namibia makes sure the funds go a long way: instead of the usual 5 to 8 unionists, as in most other countries, it aims to train more than 20. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Global Fund: Record Amount in New Grants Recommended for Round 7 
 
Round 7 applicants to the Global Fund submitted fewer, but bigger and better, proposals than applicants in all previous rounds. 
 
The Global Fund's Technical Review Panel (TRP) has reviewed the 150 eligible Round 7 proposals that were submitted to the Fund, and has recommended that the board approve 73 of them. The grants recommended for approval will cost a total of $1,112 million over two years. 
This is a record amount: in the six previous rounds, the two-year value of approved grants ranged from $571 million to $968 million. (The full duration of a grant is five years. After the first two years, a review takes place to decide about the continuation of a grant). 
 
The percentage of proposals recommended for approval was also a record – 49%, up from an average of 38% over the previous rounds. On the other hand, the number of eligible proposals submitted in R7, at 150, was the lowest ever. 
 
The TRP's recommendations regarding Round 7 will be reviewed and voted on by the Board of the Global Fund at its next meeting on November 12-13. (In previous rounds, the board has always followed the TRP's advice regarding which proposals to approve.) 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Global Fund: Donor Governments Pledge Record Amounts 
 
Donors are expected to give the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at least $9.7 billion over the next three years, 57% more than they gave over the past three years. The pledges made at the Global Fund Replenishment Meeting in Berlin constituted the largest single financing exercise for a health issue that has ever taken place. 
 
Some highlights of the pledges: 
 
• The three countries that pledged the most for 2008-10 were USA (USD 2,172 million), France (USD 1,274 million) and the UK (USD 729 million). 
• The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) were Norway (0.087%), Ireland (0.076%) and Sweden (0.075%). 
• The country that pledged the largest amount per capita was the Netherlands. 
• The three developed countries that pledged the smallest percentage of their GNI were Japan, Finland and Switzerland (0.004% each). 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
ICAAP Held in Colombo 
 
“Waves of Change - Waves of Hope” was the theme of the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 19 to 23 August, 2007. The conference brought together 2,500 delegates from 70 countries including politicians, officials, community workers, medical professionals, academics, journalists, trade union leaders and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) to share knowledge and devise new strategies to deal with the disease. 
 
The HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific remains diverse. A number of countries have taken decisive action to deliver effective and comprehensive AIDS programmes. However, the overall response in the region is still not keeping up with the pace and expanding reach of the epidemic. Leadership at various levels is still not adequately aware of the consequences of an escalating pandemic and its impact, not only on public health, but also on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of the region. 
 
(Source: adapted from the ITF HIV/AIDS Update 28, 1 September) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Cambodia: Prevalence Rate Down 
 
Three international donors have decided to reduce aid for AIDS prevention to Cambodia as the country has reportedly achieved satisfactory progress. 
 
The Global Fund, DFID and USAID will cut funds targeted at reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS in the country as nationwide infection rates have declined from 3.3% in the 1990s to 0.9% in 2006. 
 
The reduction of aid does not mean the end of prevention activities. It is a recognition of the fact that the Government of Cambodia has enough capacity to carry on the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. For example, the number of voluntary confidential counselling and testing centres increased from 150 in 2005 to 190 this year. 
 
(Source: xinhuanet, 20 September) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
India: Case Studies on Corporate Response to HIV/AIDS 
 
A recent World Bank paper discusses the role of business in the fight against HIV/AIDS in India, with particular focus on the private sector. The report highlights interventions by five Indian companies (Reliance Industries Ltd, Transport Corporation of India Ltd, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, DCM Shiram Consolidated Ltd and Hindustan Lever Ltd) ranging from advocacy and education to prevention and treatment. 
 
The report argues that because a large share of the country’s HIV-positive population are employed by Indian industry, businesses can gain from early and decisive action to prevent HIV and AIDS. The paper also shows the advantages businesses bring to the fight against the pandemic and how the Indian government supports companies involved in HIV/AIDS interventions. 
 
(Source: Eldis Corporate Responsibility Reporter, 6 September <a href="http://www.eldis.org/csr">www.eldis.org/csr</a>. Eldis is a service of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex)
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
South Africa: Setback for New AIDS Policy 
 
The new AIDS policy in South Africa suffered a severe setback when the Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was forced to resign in August. 
During the long sick leave of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Deputy Minister had worked for a turn-around in the government’s AIDS policy, advocating a massive increase in antiretroviral treatment. This had been delayed for years by the Health Minister who encouraged people living with HIV/AIDS to treat it with garlic, beetroot and olive oil. 
 
(Source: various newspaper reports) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
 
The ICEM is represented on the Steering Committee of the Global Union AIDS Programme. The last meeting took place in Geneva on 3 October. Among other, the meeting discussed a closer engagement of Global Unions with the Global Fund and an initiative to cooperate with the World Bank. A meeting will take place in Washington in December involving the mining, transport, health and education sectors. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (nos. 26, 27, 28 and 29 of 1 and 15 August and 1 and 15 September) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports, among other, on an agreement between the union and the employers on an HIV/AIDS policy for the railway industry in Zimbabwe; how low levels of awareness and prevalent social stigma contribute to the spread of the disease in Pakistan. 
The Nigerian Government has approved a policy providing guidelines that aim to assist in the establishment of workplace HIV/AIDS policies in the formal sectors, as well as in the informal economy.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
ICEM’s two Nigerian oil and gas workers’ unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, gave the government and an energy company a two-week ultimatum on Friday, 5 October, or face a strike. The blue-collar and white-collar unions are fast losing patience with Conoil-Belbop Ltd., a publicly-listed Nigerian company engaged in oil and gas exploration, as well as petroleum products marketing.
The unions are pressing the government to force the company to comply with terms of a 2005 collective agreement, or face a national strike in the industry. 

<img height="155" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaNupeng.gif" width="150"/><img height="142" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaPengassan.JPG" width="135"/>
Salaries by the company have not been paid since August 2007, and Conoil-Belbop has sacked nearly all union members inside its 300-member workforce in a reorganization of the joint companies. The company is attempting to recruit new employees. 
 
In late 2006, the company arbitrarily and unilaterally reduced salaries by 30%, and refused to conclude talks earlier in 2006. The unions also accuse the company of unethical distribution of redundancy letters. NUPENG and PENGASSAN have already placed an embargo on all work at Conoil-Belbop. 
 
At a joint press conference on 5 October, PENGASSAN President Peter Esele said, “It appears the embargo is not enough to make Conoil behave properly, and so we are taking it to a different level.” The two unions called on the federal government and the ministers of labour and energy to immediately intervene.
The company’s continued efforts to circumvent the unions are directly contrary to an order issued by the National Industrial Court in June 2007. Conoil is the marketing and distribution arm of the Lagos-based company, while Belbop is engaged in services related to oil and gas exploration. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaPengassanPeterEsele.jpg" width="113"/>
PENGASSAN President Peter Esele
In other Nigerian news related to PENGASSAN, the senior staff union held a three-day workshop in Calabar, Cross Rivers state, over the weekend of 1-3 October. A statement from the workshop calls for a national summit as the means to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta. 
 
Entitled “Fostering Congenial Industrial Climate in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector: Challenges and Strategies,” the statement calls on the government to wage a genuine fight against corruption in all facets of life, to give strict adherence and implementation of proposed Memorandums of Understanding with local communities, begin real infrastructure development, and to engage in youth empowerment projects. 
 
“The workshop is concerned about safety and security of oil workers and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta,” said PENGASSAN Acting President Mustapha Wall and General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile in a statement. “The workshop agrees that underdevelopment, unemployment, corrupt activities of the local and political class, conflict merchants, and lack of political will by the ruling class contribute” to the denigration of society in many areas of the Niger Delta.

Nigerian Oilworkers Ready for National Strike Due to Harsh Practices of Conoil-Belbop Ltd.

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Following overwhelming rejection of a collective agreement proposal on 28 September, 500 members of New Zealand’s Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) have put off industrial action late last week after the plastic employers’ association promised to improve their offer.
<img height="98" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMchemical2.jpg.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
EPMU National Industry Officer Rachel Mackintosh said the decision to call off the strike was taken reluctantly, but employers pledged in talks late last week to revise the offer to include added leave time and recognition for long-time service. “At this stage, we don’t know the details of the offer, but the heat is on the employers because they know we’re determined to see this through and get a fair deal,” said Mackintosh. 
 
She said the union’s bargaining committee for plastics thought it was important to give bosses one further opportunity to include added leave time in a new proposal. The EPMU represents plastics manufacturing workers of 13 companies at 16 worksites.
<img height="50" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealandFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
On 28 September, 81% of the workers voted to reject a prior industry offer based on the failure to address their service leave claim. They also endorsed a resolution to engage in industrial action. In the first two weeks of September, EPMU members in plastics manufacturing had rejected an earlier employers’ proposal. 
 
EPMU members in metal sector bargaining won an extra week’s leave in that set of talks in 2007, and plastics workers of the EPMU are adamant on posting the same gains.

Plastic Manufacturing Strike in New Zealand Averted for Now

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Simultaneous three-day extraordinary congresses were successfully concluded last week in Sweden. In simultaneous congresses, delegates from ICEM affiliate SIF, the Swedish Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, and HTF, the Salaried Employees’ Union, voted to merge effective 1 January 2008 to become Unionen.
The joint congresses adopted statutes for the new Unionen, and passed a dynamic action plan. That plan contains the basic premise that democracy, respect, and solidarity will rule the union. Unionen also set forth in its action plan that it will also utilise union power, and fully realises that recruitment is behind union strength. 
<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SWEDENsif.gif" width="81" alt=""/>        <img height="50" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SwedenHTF.gif" width="50" alt=""/>
The plan also promotes solid environmental and safe climate practices, equality in labour markets, pledges a Unionen push for compulsory labour education in primary and secondary schools, and ensures that the union will protect the rights and interests of unemployed workers. 
 
The combined delegations at the merger congresses in Västerås, numbering 280, also created a youth membership discount on union fees and created a conflict fund. The union also voted to retain regional offices, 19 from Sif and 13 from HTF, and vowed to bring down union fee levels by using return on capital equity for operational uses. 
 
Delegates also had strong words against the crackdown by the military junta against citizens of Burma. Unionen’s executive committee will now take action on that. 
 
Unionen will now comprise 530,000 Swedish workers employed professionally in 66,000 workers in the country’s private sector.
<img height="200" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0710Unionen.jpg" width="300" alt=""/>
Bengt Olsson and Mari-Ann Krantz of Unionen 
Mari-Ann Krantz, from Sif, will be the new President of Unionen, while Bengt Olsson, President of HTF, will be Unionen’s Vice President. Stefan Carlsson, Cecilia Fahlberg, and Peter Hellberg will be the Deputy Vice Presidents. Unionen will hold its first ordinary Congress in October 2008, and return to three-year Congress periods thereafter. 
 
Philip Jennings, general secretary of Global Labour Federation Union Network International (UNI), was the featured speaker at the merger Congress on 3 October, the day the two unions conducted the vote to merge.

SIF, HTF Merge in Sweden to Create Powerful White-Collar, Private Sector Union

<a href="#PPT">For a collection of Powerpoint presentations at the meeting, click here</a>
<img height="113" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0705ICEM2007Congresslogo-100.jpg" width="100"/>
Draft Agenda 
Chair of the meeting: Sjaiful DP, FSP KEP Indonesia
<ul>
 <li>9.00. Opening by Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 
 </li>
 <li>9.10 Welcome by Vesna Rodic, Resident Director FES Thailand 
 </li>
 <li>9.15. Aranya Pakapath, ICEM Project coordinator, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Asia 
 
 9.30. Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Latin America 
 
 9.45. Kenny Mogane, ICEM Project coordinator, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Sub-Saharan Africa 
 
 10.00. Jørgen Juul Rasmussen, DEF, Denmark, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Western and Northern Europe 
 
 </li>
 <li>10.15. - 10.45. Break 
 </li>
 <li>10.45. - 12.30. Additional speakers 
 
 Bambang Surjono, FSPKEP, Indonesia, Indonesian case study 
 Mato Lalic, ICEM Project coordinator, on the situation in Central Europe 
 Tony Burke, UNITE, UK, UK case study * 
 Carol Fraser, CEP Canada, on the situation in North America 
 Lev Mironov, ROGWU, Russia, on the situation in Eastern Europe 
 Olucha Umeh, NUPENG, Nigeria, case study 
 Maria Angelica Vera Horma, FENATRAPECH, Chile, Chilean case study * 
 Hassan J’Aama, IFOU, Iraq, on the situation in Middle East * 
 
 </li>
 <li>12.30. - 14.00. Break </li>
</ul>
<img height="202" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CALhorse.jpg" width="142"/>
<ul>
 <li>14.00. ILO representative* 
 
 14.15. Jim Baker, Council of Global Unions Coordinator, on the impact for organising and bargaining 
 
 14.30. Evgenia Esenina, ICEM Vice-President, ROGWU, Russia, on the gender aspect 
 
 </li>
 <li>14.45. Plenary debate 
 </li>
 <li>15.00. Break 
 </li>
 <li>15.30. Brendan Martin, ICEM Project consultant, past and future of the ICEM contract and agency labour campaign 
 
 15.50. Discussion 
 
 </li>
 <li>16.50. Conclusion 
 </li>
 <li>17.00. End of meeting </li>
</ul>
* to be confirmed
Conference facilitator: Jeannette van Dongen, ICEM Project Officer
<a name="PPT"></a><img height="60" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM70.jpg" width="70" align="absMiddle"/>    <img height="60" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/GermanyFES1.jpg" width="121" align="absMiddle"/>
 <img height="55" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/NorwayLO.gif" width="61" align="absMiddle"/>       <img height="44" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/SwedenLOTCO.jpg" width="200" align="absMiddle"/><a name="PPT"></a>
Presentations from the Meeting

ICEM Contract and Agency labour Conference

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
ICEM affiliate IGBCE and German paper industry employers reached a new collective agreement on 16 May, covering 44,000 workers. The 17-month labour accord calls for wage increase of 3.2%, retroactive to 1 May 2007, with a further increase of 2% to take effect on 1 May 2008. 
 
The contract runs until 30 September 2008. 
Effective next month, a single payment for each worker was won, totalling €95. Apprentices will receive €35. Another achievement, reached in arbitration, was an add-on to the long-term savings plan for each worker. In addition to the €478.57 each year paid per worker by an employer, an extra €13 will be allotted for each €100 contributed by the worker to this supplemental retirement plan. 
<img height="242" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704IGBCE.jpg" width="150"/>
IGBCE Chief Negotiator Holger Nieden commended workers’ solidarity in achieving the contract. “We obtained a fair and equitable amount after substantial pressure was applied,” he said. “The proportional increases are appropriate, they correspond with the situation of the industry, and they fit the overall economic framework.”

Wage Pact Reached in Germany’s Paper Industry

<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
ILO Starts Process to Establish HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the Mining Sector 
The ICEM has been invited by the ILO to participate in the formulation of HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the mining sector. 
 
In 2000, when the ILO established a programme on HIV/AIDS, the Director General called HIV/AIDS “a workplace issue and a development challenge”. 
 
“The workplace” is not a simple idea: it covers the informal – a small repair shop, a market stall – to the formal: a government office, a hotel, a gold mine. Similarly, the workforce may be one family or thousands of workers in plants across the world. The different nature of work in different sectors means that the working conditions and needs of workforces differ greatly. 
 
At the same time, workplaces have points in common, including a common interest in recognising and responding to the threat of HIV and AIDS. For this reason, the ILO developed the Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
To complement the Code, assist in its implementation and recognise the different situations, needs and interests in different sectors, ILOAIDS has worked on more targeted guidelines. HIV/AIDS guidelines exist for the transport sector, education and for health services, the latter elaborated jointly with the WHO. 
 
With a clear timetable, draft HIV/AIDS guidelines for the mining sector should be ready by autumn this year and tested in a tripartite workshop before the end of 2007.
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
VCT Counsellors’ Training Begins in Five African Countries
Training of VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) counsellors from ICEM affiliates in five countries (Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania) has started with a financial contribution from Pfizer, the US based pharmaceutical company. 
 
The ICEM “5 by 5” project (five counsellors each in five countries) aims at up-scaling voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at the workplace. 
 
The current reach of HIV testing services remains poor. The low level of VCT is an issue. HIV testing and counselling services are the entry point to HIV prevention, care and treatment. Without the knowledge of an individual’s HIV status no timely access to care, treatment and support can be undertaken and no protection of unborn children (PMTCT) can be affected. For the community a wider knowledge of the HIV status and its links to interventions can lead to a reduction in denial, stigma and discrimination and to collective responsibility and action. 
 
The ICEM is convinced that counsellors coming from unions and being the peers of employees can better convince them to take an HIV test than medical staff employed by companies or public servants. They can reach out to families of workers and often have standing in the community to increase uptake outside the workplace. They also give a better guarantee that such testing of individuals is confidential, will be accompanied by counselling and is only to be conducted with informed consent. 
 
The training is done in line with certified curricula and ends in recognised accreditation of the VCT Counsellors.
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Canadian CEP Humanity Fund in Solidarity Action
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union of Canada (CEP/SCEP), affiliated to the ICEM, has for the last 15 years assisted partners in the global South. Among the current projects supported by the Humanity Fund are two directly related to the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic: fighting HIV/AIDS in the petroleum sector in Chad and HIV/AIDS education and training in Nigeria. 
 
The CEP Humanity Fund raises money with a 1-cent an hour contribution negotiated through the collective bargaining process. The Humanity Fund is building partnerships with workers’, community and women’s organisations, which are involved in improving living and working conditions, organising workers, defending human rights and organising health and safety courses. 
 
For more information go to <a href="http://www.cep.ca">www.cep.ca</a>. CEP is also affiliated to UNI and IFJ. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Brazil and Thailand Defy Big Pharmaceutical Companies
Brazil will bypass the commercial patent on a crucial anti-AIDS drug manufactured by Merck in order to ensure that those who desperately need treatment can get a cheaper, generic Indian-made version. 
 
The country will import a generic version of Efavirenz for the price of USD 0.45, less than half of the price of USD 1.10 offered by Merck. Brazil offers free AIDS treatment and Efavirenz is taken by about 75,000 of a total of 180,000 who are on antiretroviral drugs. 
 
Thailand approved generic production of two anti-AIDS drugs in November 2006. It recently announced a decision to adopt compulsory licensing for two more antiretroviral drugs. Abbot Laboratories, the licence holder of one of the drugs, Kaletra, then took a decision to withhold new drugs from Thailand in retaliation. 
 
In Canada and other countries, AIDS Action Now and churches took protest action on 26 April, on the eve of Abbott’s annual general meeting. 
 
Under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, a compulsory licence can be granted in a health emergency or if the pharmaceutical industry abuses its pricing. 
 
In a related development, the Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative concluded an agreement with Indian generic manufacturers Cibla and Matrix Laboratories for the procurement of second line antiretrovirals, which are very expensive and used when AIDS sufferers have developed resistance to first line drugs. The deal is financed by UNITAID. 
 
(Source: NZZ am Sonntag, Switzerland, 6 May 2007 and Newsweek, International Edition, 9 April. For further reading on compulsory licensing, go to <a href="http://www.twnside.org"></a><a href="http://www.twnside.org.sg">www.twnside.org.sg</a> for Martin Khor’s article “Patents, Compulsory Licensing and Access to Medicines”) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
South Africa: Delayed State AIDS-Fighting Body going at last
The newly constituted South African National AIDS Council (Sanac), which will be the lead agency in the fight against HIV/AIDS, was officially launched on 1 May after years of delays by the government. 
 
The council, which is chaired by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has endorsed the five-year national strategic plan for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). 
 
Last year saw increased pressure from opposition parties, anti-AIDS groups and the Congress of South African Trade Unions on the government for it to be more effective in the fight against the epidemic. 
 
The main goal of the five-year plan is to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and mitigate the effect of AIDS on individuals, families and communities. Targets of the plan to be reached by 2011 include: providing treatment to 80% of adults who need it; reducing the proportion of adults starting antiretroviral treatment in hospital to 30%; increasing the number of HIV patients on treatment overseen by nurses to 70%; and reducing the rate of new infections by 50%. 
 
Sanac’s membership includes the government at a ministerial level and leaders of business, labour and civil society. 
 
(Source: Business Day, Johannesburg, posted on the website 2 May 2007) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Nigeria: Federal Government Approves Workplace Policy on HIV/Aids 
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Hassan Lawal, announced the approval of the workplace policy on HIV/AIDS when he launched a new ILO report on discrimination in the world of work. 
 
Lawal said the policy provided guidelines to facilitate the establishment of workplace responses to HIV/AIDS in both the formal and informal sectors. He said the policy would also protect the rights of infected and affected people, while also sensitising them on options of redress. 
 
The minister stated that the policy would build the capacity of management and workers in handling HIV/AIDS issues in the workplace. 
 
(Source: This Day, Lagos, 13 May 2007) 
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News from ILOAIDS: ILO constituents renew commitment to act on AIDS
In 2001, governments, employers and workers agreed the ground-breaking Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. Translated into over 40 languages, a reference point for laws and policies in over 70 countries, the Code of Practice will now be complemented by a Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. 
 
To take forward the workplace response to AIDS, the March 2007 session of the ILO Governing Body decided to place HIV/AIDS on the agenda of the International Labour Conference in 2009. 
 
This means that the ILO has now begun work towards the adoption of a Recommendation. A first discussion will be held during the International Labour Conference in June 2009, and the new standard is expected to be adopted as the outcome of a second discussion in June 2010. 
 
Recommendations provide guidance for states and for employers' and workers' organisations, among others, and form a basis for ILO promotional and assistance measures. 
 
(Note by the Editor: Agreement was not reached on a Convention which is the stronger instrument and which the workers’ representatives would have preferred). 
 
(Source: ILOAIDS Website)
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
The German Government has agreed to raise the issue of a regular HIV/AIDS review at the upcoming G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, 6 – 8 June. The German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said, in a letter to the Chair of the Global Unions AIDS Programme, Alan Leather, that the German Government would present the findings of its own review to the G8 and discuss the need for additional monitoring exercises. Global Union leaders also raised the issue during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 7 May. 
 
The Global AIDS Alliance, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and numerous other organisations have joined the call for universal access and the need for accountability by monitoring progress through a high-level permanent working group. 
 
The Global Unions representative also lobbied ministers and government delegations at the WHO World Health Assembly in Geneva in May for a G8 high-level, permanent working group, which will ensure that responding to and reporting on the epidemic takes place regularly at the G8 summits. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 20 and 21 of 1 and 15 May) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reports, among others, on its work with the World Bank in the Transport Forum where workers’ rights and HIV prevention were key issues, on the HIV/AIDS situation in Kazakhstan and on a meeting in Berlin on European Employers’ and Trade Unions’ response to HIV/AIDS (see: <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>). 
 
In its most recent newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) has published, among others, an article on the ban of sex education in schools in Maharashtra state, India. The Indian teachers’ union AIFTO condemned this ban, which is also in force in a number of other Indian states <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 21

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Arrests and injuries from police gun-fire haunt Democratic of Congo’s (DRC) trade unions, as activists struggle to exert their rights in the war-torn but resource-rich African country. 
 
On 22 May, General Secretary Jean-Benoit Ntando of the ICEM affiliated mining and energy trade union, Organisation des Travailleurs Unis du Congo (OTUC), was arrested near Kinshasa. He was leading a demonstration of Foire Internationale de Kinshasa (FIKIN) workers and along with two other union leaders, was detained at a police detention centre in Limete, Kinshasa. 
 
The three were released two days later.
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The main reason for industrial action by the FIKIN workers’ was non-payment of salaries and other benefits, a persistent problem in the DRC. In spite of the many promises by the company, workers, as well as middle managers, suffer from non-payment of wages for up to 17 months. Trade unionists also were protesting against the abusive dismissal of co-workers, and the employer’s failure to consult with the union on important decisions, as required by the company’s statutes. 
 
In a memorandum addressed to the DRC’s Minister of Portfolio, Jeannine Mabunda, on 22 May, the FIKIN trade union delegation called for the removal of the company’s top-level management. 
 
The situation for the workers at the state-run diamond mine called Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) near Mbuji-Mayi, in south-central Kasai-Oriental Province, also remains precarious. 
 
A strike there by some eight ICEM-affiliated mining unions over non-payment of wages began on 23 April, but was suspended four weeks later after a new interim management team was installed. Although the company did pay one month’s back wages, the dispute regressed when MIBA used police force against workers. 
 
Ngandu Ntumba, a union leader of the ICEM-affiliated SYTRAME-CDT, disappeared for 48 hours into the hands of DRC’s security forces, while another SYTRAME trade unionist named Tshimpaka was shot in the leg by police, and then was trampled by police forces as they rushed other protesters. This occurred in mid-May. 
 
The victim remains in a hospital in Bonzola in eastern DRC, after doctors removed a bullet from his left leg. But he is still without proper medical necessities. The ICEM is cooperating with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in order to get the necessary care and medicines to him.
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 Léon Ngoy Bululu 

Also in the DRC, Vice President Léon Ngoy Bululu of the Solidarité Syndicale des Travailleurs et Cadres du Congo, an affiliate of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) was released from Makala prison in Kinshasa on 15 May. Bululu was arrested on 20 April following an appearance on local television, where he criticised the state-owned transport agency ONATRA. 
 
A hearing on 11 May had already acquitted him of all charges. Both ITF and ICEM had demanded his release.

Dangerous Times for Mining Union Activists in Congo

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Jeff Lawrence, the 17-year president of ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality, and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), won selection last week as Secretary-elect of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). 
 
He will succeed Greg Combet, who will stand down late this year as the day-to-day leader of the Australia’s national labour centre and run for Parliament from the New South Wales district of Charlton in 2007 elections. Combet has served as secretary of the 1.9-million-member ACTU since the year 2000. 
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Jeff Lawrence, new ACTU Secretary-elect
Lawrence, 55, was the only person nominated for the post at the ACTU’s Organising Conference on 13 June at the University of New South Wales. He began his trade union career in 1977 for the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union, one of several predecessor unions to the 130,000-member LHMU. 
 
“I am determined to work hard to see off the Howard government and its unfair IR laws,” Lawrence stated. “As ACTU Secretary, I want to work with Australian working families to ensure that they and their rights are given respect. (That includes) respect for them to be heard … in the workplace and in society in general; respect for their role as parents and carers; (and) respect for their skills and their ability to improve themselves. 
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“That’s what WorkChoices, the Howard government’s industrial law, has taken away.” 
ACTU President Sharan Burrow called Lawrence a trade unionist who has led the charge against the Howard government’s draconian labour relations reforms. “He is from a union that has members at the forefront of the impact of WorkChoices," she said. “I look forward to working with Jeff Lawrence and to developing a new partnership to lead the community campaign to restore the rights of working Australians taken away by the Australian government.”

LHMU’s Jeff Lawrence to Succeed Greg Combet as head of Australian Council of Trade Unions

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With private equity funds in 2006 going on unprecedented buying sprees totaling US$725 billion, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) has published a 36-page booklet entitled “Workers’ Guide to Private Equity.” 

The booklet is aimed at trade unions and their members, and highlights the threat of private equity companies when they take over companies. The IUF says the heavy debt loads that companies often carry following such buy-outs means they pay less in taxes, thus creating a more increased tax burden for individuals and small businesses. 
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The IUF also says cost-slashing following takeovers by private equity funds means that research and development budgets of major companies are cut, so new product innovations go by the wayside. The sole corporate investment strategy by such funds is maximum short-term financial returns to shareholders. 
“Workers’ Guide to Private Equity” includes chapters on the Impact to Unions and Undercutting the Public Interest. It also contains two “Trade Union Action” programmes, one on the “organising challenge,” the other entitled “mobilising and intervening for re-registration.” The booklet, in its appendix, lists the top 50 private equity buy-out funds. It also contains an IUF Public Equity Buyout Watch. 
A PDF version of the booklet can be viewed <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/www/documents/A%20Worker's%20Guide%20to%20Private%20Equity-e.pdf">here</a>.  The IUF is selling the booklet for CHF 5 each (plus postage), or for CHF 3 (plus postage) each for bulk copies of ten or more. 
The IUF also has a part of its web-site decidated to the private equity problem: <a href="http://www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch">http://www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch</a>.

IUF Offers ‘Workers’ Guide to Private Equity’

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