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After a sustained campaign by Bangladesh’s garment sector trade unions, the government last week announced an 80% rise to the minimum wage for workers in the sector. The minimum wage rise, from US$24 to US$43 per month falls far short of the US$72 (5,000 taka) figure that trade unions had pushed for. 
 
According to a report released in June by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Bangladeshi garment workers are the "world's most poorly paid" workers. The vast majority, some 80% of the 3.5 million garment workers in Bangladesh are women, earning far less than a living wage, with many working 12-14 hour days, six days a week, under appalling and hazardous conditions. Common practice is for factory owners to not pay overtime, to pay workers late, and to pay less than the minimum wage. 
 
The target figure of US$72 per month, which the Bangladeshi government refused to implement, is approximately half the minimum wage of China. Calculations suggest that a realistic living wage in Bangladesh is around US$150 per month. 
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The government’s decision was described as inadequate by labour leaders in the country, and was met with garment workers protesting in the streets of Dhaka, the nation’s capital. "We have tried our best to meet the demands of the workers," stated Labour Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. The country’s garment exports, mainly to the US and Europe, are worth over US$12 billion per year, nearly 80% of the total export income of Bangladesh. 
 
Affiliates of the International Textile, Garment & Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) responded to the increase with a series of demands for social benefits to supplement the minimum wage. The Bangladesh National Council (BNC) of Textiles Garment and Leather Workers called for provisions on food, housing, healthcare, and childcare if workers’ basic needs are to be met. The BNC has also urged government to implement the wage increase with immediate effect, instead of waiting until November. 
 
The ITGLWF is urging buyers to insist that their suppliers respect workers’ rights to freedom of association and to take account of the cost of paying a decent wage during price negotiations. 
 
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Gap, H&M, Marks & Spencer, and Tesco source much of their production from Bangladesh. While the international buyers are forcing prices to remain low in the so-called race to the bottom, workers are paying for it by receiving poverty-level wages. Minister of Labour Khondker Mosharraf Hossain previously stated, "The problem Bangladesh faces is that giant multinational retailers will not pay for a wage increase. Every year the multinationals slash the prices they are willing to pay per unit, which drives down wages.” 
 
Labour leaders have been forced into hiding, to escape retaliatory beatings and arrests by the Bangladeshi authorities.

Bangladesh Garment Workers Protest Low Wage Increases, Continued Repression

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New England Teamsters Union members, 400 strong including trade unionists of another American union, are effectively blockading 20 cement plants and terminals of Swiss-based Holcim subsidiary Aggregate Industries in the US states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
 
The strike, and subsequent sympathy strikes by other branch Teamster locals and Operating Engineer locals, started 16 August when Holcim’s American and UK subsidiary implemented work terms making drivers and plant operators part-time workers. The ICEM intervened late last week, stating this in a letter to Holcim CEO Markus Akermann: 
 
“ICEM affiliates, together with BWI, represent hundreds of thousands of workers at Holcim and other cement plants throughout the world. We will expose your actions and make this a truly global campaign, starting right here in Switzerland.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMCement.JPG" width="110" height="109"/>
Last week’s strike actions find global justification because Aggregate Industries unilaterally implemented part-time work status at one facility while legally engaged with the union in negotiations at the same time. Truck drivers and operators of Teamsters Local 170 diligently had worked for Aggregate Industries for five months past expiration of a prior labour agreement. Holcim rewarded that loyalty by taking the decision that it could and would reduce work-day time to four hours without negotiating with the union. 
 
Following the walk-out by Local 170 teamsters, supportive trade unionists from Teamsters Locals 25 and 379 in New England downed tools at other Aggregate Industries plants, as did members of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE). A few of these local branch unions have upcoming contract expirations with the national cement-products producer, and workers across Holcim’s New England operations clearly recognize that such a one-sided work rule is tantamount to social dumping. The ICEM applauds the actions of cement drivers and workers in New England, and pledges all necessary support. 
 
The ICEM reiterates its demand that Holcim in Switzerland take responsibility for this labour breach and immediately rescind the unilateral implementation of reduced working hours. To negate social dialogue over an economic issue of this depth is counter to the principles that Holcim supposedly adheres to. 
 
Holcim bought Aggregate Industries, active in several US and UK regional markets, in 2005. Early in 2010, Zurich-based Holcim merged Aggregate Industries US fully with Holcim US to create a single business unit.

American Teamsters Union Strikes Holcim Cement Subsidiary

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In this issue of the HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on ICEM’s Southern African Women’s Workshop, which took place at the Midrand Conference Centre near Johnnesburg, South Africa, and we inform about the Global Fund’s call for proposals, and we deal with funding gaps, which may soon lead to loss of lives. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are 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. 
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ICEM Southern African HIV/AIDS Women’s Workshop 
 
Participants at the Women’s Workshop were proudly wearing their scarves with the slogan, “Safe Sex Demands Equal Rights.” This was the theme of the workshop, which was held in Johannesburg from 18-20 May with 26 participants from Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 
 
The decision to hold a women-only workshop was based on the need to identify specific challenges facing women, especially the empowerment of their sexual relations through the use of female condoms (femidoms). An HIV-positive woman from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) of South Africa stressed the importance of female condoms and demonstrated their use. Her example also stood out as she gave birth to an HIV-negative baby following the necessary treatment. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.aids.workshop.JPG" width="315" height="186"/>
The workshop also discussed increasing access for women to prevention, treatment, and care and how to address violence arising from HIV and AIDS status. According to a facilitator from the Twaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, only 5% of perpetrators are brought to book. Women are discouraged by untrained police officers handling violence cases and by lengthy legal procedures. 
 
Intensive role play and group work completed the workshop programme. Participants called for a campaign to promote female condoms. They recommended that unions take a stand against violence; that the quality of counselling and testing be improved; and that police be trained to deal adequately with cases of violence. 
 
Another first of the workshop was that it was an almost paperless meeting. Participants were encouraged to save all workshop documents and presentations on memory sticks given to them as part of the workshop materials. 

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Global Fund Launches New Funding Round 
 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria launched its tenth call for proposals on 20 May. The deadline for submissions of proposals was fixed as 20 August. Thus, applicants will have three months to prepare their proposals, one month less than in recent rounds. 
 
There is considerable uncertainty whether sufficient funds will be available to pay for all of the Round 10 proposals that are recommended for funding by the Technical Review Panel (TRP). The Global Fund says that, currently, based on confirmed pledges, no money is available for Round 10. However, the Global Fund is in the middle of "replenishment," with donors due to specify in October how much they expect to give to the Fund over the next three years. Thus, the amount of money available for Round 10 will certainly increase by the time the Global Fund Board approves Round 10 proposals at its meeting in December 2010. 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date will be reviewed by the Global Fund Secretariat to ensure that they meet the Fund's eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the TRP for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will make its decisions at its meeting scheduled for 13-15 December 2010. (In the past, all proposals recommended by the TRP for approval have indeed been approved by the Board, though sometimes they have been waitlisted pending funding availability.) 
 
The Round 10 proposal form and various support documents are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/applynow">www.theglobalfund.org/en/applynow</a>. 
 
(Source: Global Fund press release; and Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 124 of 21 May. 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>. 
 
The Global Fund Observer has also published a Guide to Round 10 applications which is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian on the above website. 

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Malawi Moves to Adopt WHO Guidelines 
 
Developing countries like Malawi are calculating the cost of adhering to new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that recommend starting HIV-positive people on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) sooner. 
 
Malawi is one of three African countries that have conducted WHO-supported feasibility studies to assess what adopting the new guidelines would mean, and has announced plans to roll out the new WHO guidelines by mid-2011. According to the feasibility study, the number of people on treatment would rise by about 50%, which could double the cost of the National ARV Programme in terms of additional drugs, personnel, and equipment, and would probably also mean waiting lists at many clinics. Malawi has a HIV prevalence rate of about 12%. 
 
Implementing the WHO guidelines would mean major changes to national treatment protocols: HIV-positive people would start taking ARVs at a much higher CD4 count of 350 (a measure of the viral load to ascertain when HIV-positive people should begin treatment). Like other countries in the region, it has begun treating HIV-positive pregnant women at the WHO-recommended CD4 count of 350, but the standard CD4 count threshold for initiating ARV treatment remains 250. 
 
Finance is among the major hurdles to adopting the guidelines, as well as infrastructure, supply-chain management, and health worker shortages. 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 27 May) 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Eliminate Bottlenecks to End Mother-to-Child-Transmission 
 
Making services for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) available without addressing the factors that keep mothers from accessing these services was an exercise in futility, experts told a press briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 
 
"There are barriers that stop mothers from accessing prevention of mother-to-child transmission and treatment services, some of which include inadequate involvement of men and communities, and lack of information," said Chewe Luo, senior advisor on HIV/AIDS to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF. 
 
Women might not be able to afford medical care or transport to a clinic; cultural taboos might discourage them from giving birth in medical facilities. "We have to expand the scope of what we do to ensure that the burden of prevention does not fall on women's shoulders alone," Luo said. 
 
Virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission in Africa - where 20 countries share over 85% of the global burden of mother-to-child HIV transmission - would be possible but only if HIV counselling and testing services were expanded so that all mothers had access to effective antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis and treatment. 
 
In 2008, globally, 430,000 children became infected with HIV, 90% of whom lived in sub-Saharan Africa. In the absence of access to ARV treatment, most of them would die within one year of birth, according to UNAIDS. Fareed Abdullah, unit director for Africa at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, promised that "The Global Fund will refocus funding to ensure that priority is given to PMTCT programmes in the recipient countries, and more so in the 20 countries that share the 85% of the global burden of mother to child transmission of HIV." 
 
(Sources: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 28 May) 

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Lost Funding Means Lost Lives 
 
As donors retreat from funding HIV and AIDS programmes, years of progress in HIV treatment are under threat and the lives of HIV-positive people are increasingly on the line, according to a new report by the international medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Improved access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has saved lives, reduced the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and new HIV infections, and strengthened health systems in many countries hard hit by HIV. But as funding diminishes, these gains are now in jeopardy, says the report, “No Time to Quit: HIV/AIDS Treatment Gap Widening in Africa.” 
 
Funding shortages in eight African countries have already led to drug stock-outs, treatment rationing, and the inability of most of the countries to adopt improved ARV regimens advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the report noted. "About 75% of HIV funding in developing countries is international – you can't replace that in the short term," said Mit Philips, a health policy analyst at MSF and one of the report's authors. 
 
The recent decision by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to flat-line it’s funding at 2009 levels and decrease annual budget allocations in coming years, has already led PEPFAR-supported clinics in South Africa to begin turning away patients. 
 
UNITAID, the international drug purchasing facility, is to phase out drug funding, leaving Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Malawi without funding for costly second-line ARV drugs by 2012. 
 
Dr Eric Goemaere, MSF Medical Coordinator in South Africa, called donor backtracking a "moral betrayal. Years ago, countries in the southern Africa region were unsure that they could afford treatment, but they were told by the international community 'Set ambitious targets, we will follow with the money',” he said. "If this funding trend is confirmed, I would call it a moral betrayal for patients, who were told to be courageous and face testing because we would provide treatment; for the health staff, who managed to enroll more than four million people on treatment, and who are suddenly told not to enroll patients." 
 
The report predicted that if the downward trend in funding continued, ARVs would become increasingly inaccessible, which would lead to increased rates of mortality and hospitalisation among those living with HIV, and place a strain on already weak health systems. The report also warned that ARV patients may adopt risky strategies for coping with drug supply shortages, such as sharing pills, thereby increasing the likelihood of widespread drug resistance. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 27 May) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
HIV/AIDS Project in India Scores Again 
 
The ICEM HIV/AIDS project in India, sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has continued well into 2010 although funding ceased at the end of 2009. 
 
In the first five months of 2010, 24 courses and awareness meetings were held, under the auspices of the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF) and coordinated by its General Secretary, BK Das. These activities did not only reach mineworkers but also school teachers and students in company schools, as well as paramedical staff in company clinics. 
 
The extension of the project was possible because companies had increasingly taken over some of the costs resulting in budgetary savings which could be deployed for organising additional activities. 

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Headaches for HIV-positive Travellers 
 
China recently became the latest country to lift travel restrictions on people living with HIV, following the footsteps of the US (see <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3492-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-50-November-2009" type="internal">e-bulletin No. 50</a> of November 2009, and <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3582-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-52-January-2010" type="internal">No. 52</a> of January 2010). 
 
“Every individual should have equal access to freedom of movement regardless of his or her HIV status,” UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commented on China’s decision. 
 
According to UNAIDS, 51 countries and territories still impose restrictions on the entry, stay and residence of HIV-positive people. Among those countries requiring an HIV test, usually for a stay longer than 30 days, are: the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Singapore, Egypt, and Iraq. 
 
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, at its 122nd Assembly, called for an elimination of all restrictions. It called on parliamentarians to play a leading role in removing them and also encouraged parliamentarians to support legislation and law enforcement to protect people living with HIV from discrimination. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Nairobi, 6 May) 

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News from Global Unions 
 
The ICEM project in India is included in a documentation of good practices which was published by the ILO India Project, which is supported by the US Department of Labor. The publication is available on the website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/hivaidsindia">www.ilo.org/hivaidsindia</a>. 
 
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 86 of 15 May on counselling and testing camps organised at Ethiopian international and domestic airports. The ITF also recently published the 4th issue of Agenda, an annual publication on HIV/AIDS and transport workers. 
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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 57, June 2010

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Four days of difficult talks between United Steelworkers (USW) Locals 6500 and 6200 and Brazilian mining company Vale in Canada were adjourned on 7 June, because the schedule of mediator Kevin Burkett could not permit a continuance. A settlement in the now 11-month strike at nickel and copper mines, a smelter, and production facilities in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, rest in resumption of talks that will take place 19 June in Toronto. 
 
Burkett issued a statement following adjournment on 7 June stating “progress was made” and the USW and Vale “have agreed to continue two party negotiations on certain issues” until formal and mediated talks resume this Saturday. 
 
Burkett statement said the 4-7 June time frame “set aside to complete the task of negotiating a renewal collective agreement was insufficient.” A news blackout has been honoured by both sides regarding negotiations. The early June re-start of bargaining was the third time since late February that the USW and Vale had engaged in talks with Burkett in the middle.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.usw.sudbury.png" width="315" height="125"/>
Meanwhile, in the Canadian province of Labrador/Newfoundland, where 250 steelworkers have been on strike against Vale since 1 August 2010, talks between the company and Local 9508 resumed in late May. Negotiations there also adjourned in order for respective bargaining committees to review issues. 
 
Since many of the same issues are common to both Ontario and the Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay workers in Labrador, it is thought that settlement will come first in Sudbury/Port Colborne. 
 
Pressure did come to bear on Vale when, on 1 June, 50 workers of Ushitou Maintenance in Voiseys Bay downed tools when their contract expired. The company is a contract provider for Vale and workers are members of another bargaining unit of Local 9508. Vale announced that the contractor will use replacements workers during the work stoppage. 
 
In Ontario, the road to a negotiated agreement was made somewhat easier in a 17 May decision rendered by the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The provincial labour board directed the two sides to return to bargaining, but ordered an issue over the reinstatement of nine fired strikers to be set aside in mediated talks. Vale has been steadfast in insisting that even with agreement, the nine – including two bargaining committee members are not welcome back – while the USW is insisting that reinstatement must be part of thee settlement. 
 
In Sudbury and Port Colborne, some 3,500 members of USW Locals 6500 and 6200 began strike actions on 13 July 2009 over Vale’s efforts seeking a two-tier pension scheme, sharp reductions in a production bonus, and company prerogatives on outsourcing, which threaten job security.

Difficult USW, Vale Canadian Mine Talks to Continue This Week

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A proposed agreement between social partners FNV Bondgenoten and employers’ federations, reached 4 June over reform of the basic retirement pension (AOW) in the Netherlands, will now go to a vote of union membership. 
 
The social plan under consideration calls for the Dutch retirement age to rise from age 65 to 66 in the year 2020, and possibly to 67 in 2025. That would occur only if a national evaluation of higher life expectancy after 2020 warrants it. Workers would still have the option to retire at 65, but they would face a 6.5% reduction in pension benefits. And the lowest-paid workers, and workers who do heavy physical jobs, would be exempt from the rise in the pension age. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten is organizing what is expected to be hotly-debated membership meetings across the country from 21-23 June to discuss the pension reform plan. Union members will vote on the plan between then and 30 June. In early July, the 480,000-member general union will consult leaders of the Dutch national labour center, FNV, if the proposal is accepted. 
 
Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk admitted the proposed AOW is a step backwards, but argued it could be a workable solution considering shortfalls in both public and private pension funds and proposals put forward by political parties.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0902.Henk.Holland.jpg" width="166" height="130" alt=""/>
Henk van der Kolk
The agreement came days ahead of the 9 June general elections in the Netherlands, elections in which three of the four political parties campaigned on pension reform that had worse terms than the proposed social agreement between Bondgenoten and employers. In that vote, parliamentary gains by the center-right Liberal Party (VDD) – considered the winner in the vote – and the racist Freedom Party (PVV) will make a Dutch coalition government difficult to put together. 
 
The VDD’s platform consists of an increase in the pension age of two months each year, dating back to 2007, with retirement at 67 proposed for the year 2023. The pre-election agreement cobbled together by the labour-business social partners, which likely will carry much weight with any future coalition government, if accepted, also means Holland has ten years to straighten out financial matters. The proposed reform plan, if moved ahead, would cover both state and private pensions.

FNV Bondgenoten Members to Vote on Pension Reform Plan

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The Taiwan Electric Power Labour Union (TPLU) has been protesting in Taipei for clarification of their pension status. Some 6,000 members of the ICEM affiliate, working at several water and electric enterprises, turned out 2 June at the Legislative Yuan to manifest and then to march. 
 
Under current law, workers at the enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning their pension pay-outs are miniscule, not paid out in monthly installments, their retirement earnings are not covered by a state-legislated pension insurance programme, and they are without the preferred interest rate on pension savings accounts.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.taiwan.jpg" width="280" height="155" alt=""/>
TPLU Members Marching on 2 June  
 

Under three classifications of work in Taiwan, employees are classified as civil servants, workers, or civil servants and workers. Public sector engineers and administrators, for example, have the latter classification, which grants them more in terms of pension benefits and better regulated retirement schemes. 
 
But workers at Taipei Power Company (Taipower) and water and other enterprises are considered neither workers nor civil servants, meaning they have the advantages of nether and bear the disadvantages of both. 
 
We are orphans under a system that does not recognise our rights and does not provide any safeguards, said a TPLU spokesperson close to President Guo-Kang Hu. TPLU wants lawmakers and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to amend the provisions of the “State-Run Enterprise Administrative Act” that better reflects a high court ruling in 1990 that sets forth details on retirement and retirement benefits. 
 
Taipower management supports the workers demands and has laid out three schemes that would correct the legal status. The ICEM also has endorsed TPLU’s campaign to achieve fairness and a sense of balance into Taiwanese pension schemes.

Taiwanese Power Workers Protest Over Slight in Pension Laws

On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion on the drilling rig "Deepwater Horizon". 
 
Eleven oil workers were killed. Two days later the rig sank in an ocean of fire. Oil is flowing completely uncontrolled and is still doing so after almost two months. 
 
We do not know what caused the blow out. The ICEM-IMF-ITGLWF Sustainability conference will however declare that: 
 
1) an independent and open inquiry must be held, and trade unions should be granted full insight in the process; 
 
2) at all times the responsibility rest solely on the operator; 
 
3) blow out prevention (BOP) systems should have remote control capabilities, for instance acoustic signal actuators, in addition to traditional BOP controls; 
 
4) when working in new areas, deep water, and other special conditions, it must be demanded that more than one rig be present in the area to ensure safer evacuation in case of an emergency and to be able to start drilling a relief well in case of a blowout. Two months after the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a catastrophic disaster that the drilling of a relief well had not been started; 
 
5) sufficient and effective oil booms and/or other means to collect oil spillage must be available or in place in all areas where offshore drilling takes place; 
 
6) the demands of deregulation must be reversed. More regulations are needed and the "best available technology" must be demanded, at least in all new and challenging areas.

Global Governance Includes Better Governance of Oil Companies

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Participants of the recent Joint ICEM-IMF World Conference on Sustainability, June 18-19, Toronto, Canada, adopted unanimously a statement regarding the British Petroleum (BP) oil well blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
The statement demands an independent and open inquiry into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a process to which trade unions should be granted full insight. 
 
In the years prior to the 20 April oil rig explosion that caused the current disaster, BP had repeatedly made assurances that “best available technology” is in use in all its operations. It has since become clear that this was not true at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig operation. The Statement demands that “blow out prevention (BOP) systems should have remote control capabilities, for instance acoustic signal actuators, in addition to traditional BOP controls”.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM100.jpg" width="100" height="86"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IMF.jpg" width="90" height="88"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITGLWF100.jpg" width="85" height="85"/>
The participants at the Toronto Conference included 270 trade union leaders from the industrial and manufacturing sectors of some 50 countries, affiliated to the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). In total, the number of workers represented by these organisations and their affiliates exceeds 55 million people and includes the most important unions in the petroleum sector, worldwide. 
 
Local sponsors of the event in Canada included the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Power Workers Union (PWU), the United Steelworkers (USW), and the International Association of Machinists (IAM). 
 
See the full statement <a href="/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety/3897-Global-Governance-Includes-Better-Governance-of-Oil-Companies" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM, IMF, ITGLWF Affiliates Demand Better Governance of Oil Industry

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The ICEM French trade union affiliate, the Federation of Chemical and Energy Workers (FCE-CFDT) Union, elected Jean-François Renucci to the post of General Secretary, with the 48 year-old succeeding Patrick Pierron, who served seven years as General Secretary. 
 
Jean-François Renucci was unanimously proposed by the union’s Federal Executive and subsequently elected by the Federal Steering Committee. Renucci began in his new role on 1 June, as the federation’s third general secretary. 
 
The FCE-CFDT has described their new General Secretary as a dedicated trade unionist, with the necessary determination and experience to lead the trade union action of the federation, during turbulent financial conditions, globalisation, and ever-changing social conditions. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Jean Francois Renucci FCE CFDT.jpg" width="197" height="222"/>
Jean-François Renucci
Jean-François has identified social dialogue as the key in the effort to improve conditions and rights of workers, individually and collectively. According to the new general secretary, collective bargaining is the only way to ensure fair treatment of employees in small, medium, and large sized companies. Jean-François has been involved in negotiating collective agreements in all sectors and at all levels, local, national and international, and he has consistently identified mutual respect, trust and confidence as key factors to success of collective bargaining. 
 
Jean-François has made communication and participatory debate a priority for effective decision making, and the internal democracy of the federation. He hopes that in changing the general secretary, the organisation will not change its line or direction, but will give a renewed impetus to continue to implement decisions agreed collectively. 
 
The ICEM salutes and thanks outgoing Patrick Pierron, and congratulates Jean-François Renucci.

Jean-François Renucci Becomes FCE-CFDT General Secretary

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Day eight of the strike by 6,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) against four global tyre producers begins today with negotiations continuing. NUMSA and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA) have been locked in a dispute since mid-August over pay, term of agreement, labour brokers and short-term contract workers, and other conditions of work. 
 
The four tyre companies affected include Bridgestone/Firestone, Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop. Bridgestone/Firestone and Continental had served notices of lockout to NUMSA prior to the strike. 
 
The employers’ association is seeking a three-year agreement, while NUMSA prefers a one-year deal. The two sides remain far apart on wages. NUMSA is seeking an 11% initial year increase while bosses have offered 8.5%, with the exception of Bridgestone which is offering 7%. Employers are offering a second-and third-year increase pegged at the consumer price index (CPI) plus 1%, or 5%, whichever is higher. 
 
If it is to agree on a three-year pact, NUMSA is insistent on year two containing either a 12% increase or CPI plus 2%, whichever is greater, and a third year increase of 14% or CPI plus 3%, whichever is higher. 
 
The union seeks consultation over all short-term or temporary employment contracts, as well as abolishment of all labour brokers in the South African tyre industry. It also wants direct temporary workers to be made permanent, full-time staff at six months of service. Other contentious issues include a 70% local content requirement regarding sourcing, premium pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and an adequate training pool and training to occur during work-time hours. 
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(Photo: International Metalworkers' Federation)
NUMSA and the NTMEIA have been negotiating since April 2010 on a renewal agreement to a three-year pact that expired on 30 June. 
 
On 1 September, NUMSA also launched a strike against both the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers’ Association. Carrying out those strikes are 70,000 NUMSA members at garages, auto component shops, petrol stations, and various workshops and retail outlets that make auto components. 
 
Besides a 40-hour work-week, the union is seeking 15% across-the-board increases for notoriously low-paid workers in these areas, while the associations are offering only 6.6%. Already, one auto assembly plant, Volkswagen in Utinhage, has had to shut operations and send workers home due to a shortage of auto components. 
 
On 2 September, the ICEM sent affiliated NUMSA and its General Secretary, Irvin Jim (photo on site), a message of solidarity, stating, “We have learned that your 6,000 members in the tyre industry, overwhelmingly at the multinational companies namely Bridgestone, Continental, Apollo-Dunlop, and Goodyear, as well as 50,000 members in the auto-supplier industries, are now striking following the failure of collective negotiations due to your rightful demands not being accepted by employers. 
 
“On behalf of the whole ICEM family, I cordially salute the heroic strikes engaged by NUMSA and its members in both industries. I am also proud to announce our heartfelt solidarity and support to you. We have already alarmed our affiliated unions in those sectors throughout the world who are shoulder-to-shoulder with you.” 
 
The strikes in all three South African auto-related industries come just two weeks after 31,000 NUMSA auto workers struck seven car makers affiliated to the Automobile Manufacturers Employers’ Association. That strike lasted eight days, until 19 August.

South Africa Tyre Strike Continues into Week Two

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