English

Español

Français

Русский

New english test page

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

testing new page

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

<img height="40" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" />
As an election nears for workers at the Firestone Rubber Plantation in Harbel, Liberia, violence broke out during a three-day strike. Riot police stormed a picket line on 27 April, clubbing and tear gassing strikers. Some two-dozen workers were hospitalised, at least two seriously. 
 
The police violence came one month before some 6,000 agriculture workers will vote on their choice of union representative. An insurgent union, called the Firestone Agriculture Workers Union (FAWU), has strong support among workers tapping rubber at this million-acre rubber plantation owned by Bridgestone Corporation of Japan. 
 
The FAWU succeeded on 9 April in getting Liberia&rsquo;s Labor Ministry to conduct the election against the General Agriculture and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (GAAWUL), the recognised union that FAWU activists accuse of malfeasance and providing little or no representation. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Liberia.png" width="250" />
The police force, which included electric shocks from batons, occurred after strikers had questioned contract workers who were unloading rubber from trucks. The three-day strike was nearing an end at the time, with Firestone managers and workers nearly in agreement on issues related to the strike. 
 
Government and local officials denied calling out the police, and indications are that Firestone Rubber Plantation managers called for the forceful police raid. NGO and trade unions, who have been monitoring the longstanding trouble surrounding this rubber plantation, videotaped some of this police violence. 
 
While plantation workers count down to a union election, scheduled by the government for the last week of May, Bridgestone is defending itself in a US court against charges of longstanding child labour practices, other slave-like employment practices, and environmental degradation at the Firestone plantation. The Alien Tort Claims Act lawsuit in a US federal courtroom has been brought by the International Labor Rights Fund and 35 plaintiffs, including ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers.

Police Beat Insurgent Unionists at Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia

<img height="40" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" />
Some three months after miners of AVVS de Moederbond trade union in Suriname staged a strike at a Canadian-based gold-mining enterprise, called IAM Gold, they know their rewards. A new collective agreement was formally signed 25 April 2007, giving 900 miners their first collective agreement. 
 
It was the second strike within a year at the two-year-old gold pits &ndash; both against Canadian mining houses. IAM Gold bought the central Suriname site from Ciambor Inc. late in 2006. AVVS de Moederbond hit already that Canadian company with a strike that lasted four days in May 2006. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Suriname.png" width="250" />
This first labour accord serves as a strong precedent in the resource-rich South American country, since new mining development is occurring and IAM Gold is keenly interested in moving into eastern Suriname. 
 
In this initial three-year collective agreement, miners will receive a 24% increase, retroactive to 1 January 2007. They will also receive a 10% raise in 2008. In 2009, the union and management will negotiate a further raise.
In addition, the union won improved medical care and child benefits, while the vacation scheme was enhanced. In signing the agreement on 25 April, IAM Gold, a company with assets in Botswana, Ghana, Mali, Peru, and other South American countries, expressed public conviction to AVVS de Moederbond President Errol Snijders that it will build a trusting, cooperative relationship with the mining union. 
<img height="166" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0704SurinameErrolSnyders.jpg" width="200" />
President Errol Snijders
IAM Gold, founded in 1996, holds joint venture stakes with AngloGold Ashanti in Mali, Goldfields in Ghana, and owns the Mupane gold mine in Botswana. Mupane is a shared enterprise with the state, and the ten-year lease with civil society comes due in the year 2013. 
 
IAM Gold was a takeover target of Goldfields in the recent past, but the deal failed when shareholders of Goldfields rejected it. IAM Gold, in 2006, acquired Gallery Gold, and has several shared investments with Battle Mountain Gold. It also has mining interests in Senegal and Tanzania in Africa, and in Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador in South America. 
 
The Toronto-based company also holds mining interests in Canada and collects mining royalties on Canadian precious-metal mining.

Gold Miners in Suriname Win Two-year, 34% Wage Hikes

<img height="40" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" />
A mass strike in Peru has proven successful, despite government efforts to downplay the effect the strike has had on a number of mining enterprises. The strike was called by ICEM affiliate National Federation of Mining, Metallurgy, and Steel Workers Union (FNTMMSP) on 30 April and, by all accounts, over 40 copper, nickel, zinc, iron, gold, and silver mining operations have lost high levels of production since last week. 
 
The strike can easily be said to be a success, with the government already guaranteeing higher social benefits for contract and agency workers at the outset of the strike. After the union&rsquo;s return to tri-partite bargaining on 4 May, and following cessation of the strike, FNTMMSP is now pushing for further regularisation of the contract labour status, which needs to include the right to unionisation for contract workers. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100" />
The strike by the 28,000-member FNTMMSP saw roughly half of Peru&rsquo;s 110,000 miners participating. This included a good number of the mining sector&rsquo;s 50,000 contract or agency workers. 
Peru&rsquo;s Labour Minister Susanna Pinilla, however, has taken to the airwaves and has been quoted in the business press playing down the success of the strike. Throughout last week&rsquo;s strike, she kept providing a regular narrative of mining operations in Peru that continued production. 
 
The mining union federation, FNTMMSP, covering some 75 individual site-level unions, has complained bitterly to the government for some time that the Labour Ministry and other monitors have failed to keep pace with the burgeoning number of agencies or contract labour providers doing business in Peru&rsquo;s booming mining industry. Many of these agencies and service providers operate in the black. 
<img height="240" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0705Peru1.jpg" width="380" />
&ldquo;The over-exploitation of these workers has been going on for too long,&rdquo; said FNTMMSP Sec. Gen. Luis Castillo Carlos, who himself has participated in ICEM conferences on Contract and Agency Labour. &ldquo;The miners&rsquo; strike was called because the authorities lack the political will to enforce labour rights,&rdquo; he added. 
 
FNTMMSP and its affiliated mining unions are seeking strict regularisation of mining employment agencies; enhanced profit-sharing arrangements for its members and newly-established profit-sharing for contract and agency workers; shorter work days; and improved pension benefits.
The 30 April strike actually started two days earlier when miners from two sites of Grupo Mexico-connected Southern Peru Copper Co. blocked roads around Ilo, Peru. Southern Peru&rsquo;s mines in Toquepala and Cuajone suffered deep production losses during the strike. FNTMMSP held marches in several regions on 1 May, and also conducted rallies on 2 May and 4 May at the Labour Ministry in Lima. 
A sampling of mining operations in Peru affected by the strike includes: Southern Peru Copper Co.; US-operated Doe Run&rsquo;s La Oroya copper and lead smelting operations; several of Volcan Cia Minera SA&rsquo;s zinc smelters; BHP Billiton&rsquo;s Tintaya copper operations in Cusco; Chinese state-run Shougang Hierroperu&rsquo;s iron ore mines in the country&rsquo;s south; Glencore International AG&rsquo;s Los Quenuales zinc operation; Cia. De Minas Buenaventura; and zinc producers Cia. Minera Santa Luisa SA and Cia. Minera Raura SA. 
<img height="93" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Peru.png" width="200" />
At US-based Newmont Mining&rsquo;s Yanacocha SRL&rsquo;s gold mine and smelter, South America&rsquo;s largest gold operation, miners conducted a march and protest in support of FNTMMSP&rsquo;s strike. 
 
One already achieved result of the strike is that the government did commit to increase the number of labour inspectors in Peru from 100 to 250 by the end of the year. That should help in monitoring and in getting agency labour agencies to comply with Peruvian law. 
 
Despite Labour Minister Pinilla downplaying the effect of the strike, one cabinet minister did publicly confirm the significance of the strike. &ldquo;The demands voiced by these workers are fair,&rdquo; stated Energy and Mines Minister Juan Valdivia in a published report. 
 
Referring to the vast proliferation of service-providing entities inside Peru&rsquo;s mining sector, he added, &ldquo;There are companies that comply and others that don&rsquo;t. The ones that do not respect labour rights should be punished,&rdquo; said Valdiva.

Mining Strike in Peru Produces Gains for Contract Workers

<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
ICEM Gives Priority to Global Union G8 Campaign
A special issue of ICEM InBrief, published prior to 28 April &ndash; International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers &ndash; deals with global union efforts to press the United Nations to recognise 28 April as an Official Day. It also reports on national trade union centres&rsquo; events, as well as on plans of ICEM affiliates for 28 April. 
 
InBrief gives priority to the global trade union campaign to create a permanent high-level G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS as a major part of the G8 programme to combat the pandemic. The ICEM has urged its affiliates to send letters to the German embassy or consulate in their countries, requesting the creation of such a Working Group. Germany is to host the G8 Summit this year. 
 
The ICEM strongly believes that such a Working Group is needed to guarantee that there is progress on prior G8 commitments, including achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care by 2010 and developing a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. The ICEM further believes that a more sustained political commitment and commitment of resources by the world&rsquo;s richest nations must occur to reverse the pandemic, which hits workers and their families in the developing world hardest. 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Leadership: The World AIDS Day Theme for 2007 and 2008 
The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is &ldquo;leadership&rdquo; This theme will be promoted with the campaign slogan &ldquo;Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise&rdquo;. 
 
Since the beginning of the epidemic, experience has clearly demonstrated that significant advances in the response to HIV/AIDS have been made when there is strong and committed leadership. Leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of the disease &ndash; in families, in communities, in trade unions, in countries and internationally. 
 
We have to start early. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator will keep affiliates informed on materials available and will give guidance on campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007. 
 
We should also bear in mind that the leadership of ICEM affiliates will meet for the World Congress in Bangkok, 22 &ndash; 24 November, just one week before World AIDS Day. 
 
(Source: World AIDS Campaign website <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Mining Sector the Focus at Ghana Health Conference 
 
The Ghana Health Conference brought together a wide range of private and public sector participants. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator was invited to speak at the roundtable on &ldquo;Mobilizing the Mining Industry in Ghana and West Africa&rdquo;. 
 
At the roundtable and in plenary sessions, he had several opportunities to intervene and emphasise the role of organised labour in workplace programmes and co-investments projects. 
 
He urged the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, a co-sponsor of the Conference, to set targets for the conclusion of workplace agreements with union participation in all mining companies in Ghana and West Africa by the end of 2007; to start massive VCT &ndash; Know Your Status Campaigns; to provide anti-retroviral treatment and to form public/private partnerships to bring HIV/AIDS services, including ART, to the wider community around mining sites. 
 
A major development in Ghana is the inclusion of a private sector representative in the Country Coordinating Mechanism. This development is an outcome of the joint ICEM/Global Fund mission to Ghana in May 2006. The Manager of the AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Programme is a member of the CCM. A proposal for a public/private sector co-investment project for malaria is being prepared for Round 7 of the Global Fund. 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
ICEM Feasibility Study on HIV/AIDS Services in Mining Areas in Ghana 
While in Accra, the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator also had an opportunity to discuss the recommendations and follow-up action to be taken of the recently completed feasibility study of HIV/AIDS services in Obuasi and Tarkwa, two major mining areas in Ghana where HIV prevalence rates are higher than the country&rsquo;s average. 
 
The study was prepared by the Credible Technical Forum, Accra, in cooperation with the Ghana Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (GMWU) and some major mining companies in order to identify gaps in HIV/AIDS services in these areas. Work will continue with the GMWU, companies and local health authorities to close these gaps. 
 
Priorities will be the conclusion of workplace policies where they do not yet exist, hiring of full-time HIV/AIDS coordinators, training of VCT counsellors and the extension of VCT and ART to those members of the community who are not able to secure this for themselves. 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Thailand: Strategic Plan to Reduce HIV Prevalence among Youth 
Thailand&rsquo;s National AIDS Prevention and Control Committee recently approved a three-year plan to reduce the alarmingly increasing HIV cases among young people in the country. The plan will focus on educating youth about HIV prevention and promoting social values with the involvement of local civil society organisations. 
 
About 17,000 new HIV cases occur annually in Thailand, about half of them among young people aged between 18 and 19. 
 
(Source: Medical News Today, 23 April 2007, <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com">www.medicalnewstoday.com</a>) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Bangladesh: Awareness for HIV/AIDS Prevention 
 
According to UNAIDS estimates, only 7,500 people are infected with the virus in Bangladesh. At a recent workshop, however, a warning was sounded that the number is on the rise. If hard measures are not taken now, HIV/AIDS could reach epidemic proportions in the country soon. 
 
The closeness to India and Thailand, two major HIV/AIDS afflicted countries, widespread poverty, illiteracy, high practice of pre and extra marital sex are reasons to spread awareness about prevention methods. Of great concern are also the large number of private blood banks without facilities for screening blood and the multiple use of syringes and needles. 
 
(Source: New Nation, Dhaka, online edition 29 April 2007, <a href="http://www.nation.ittefaq.com/">www.nation.ittefaq.com</a>) 
&nbsp;<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Global Fund Board Meeting Makes Progress on Many Fronts 
At its meeting in Geneva at the end of April, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reached agreement on a number of issues. 
 
Board members agreed on a new Chair from the private sector (Rajah Gupta, formerly CEO of McKinsey &amp; Co); a new Vice-Chair from an African NGO (Elizabeth Mataka from Zambia); an ambitious new target for fundraising; a new concept that each grant should normally have one Principal Recipient from government and one from outside government; a new method whereby countries can obtain financial support for well-developed national strategies for tackling HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria; a new approach to appointing Local Fund Agents; and more. 
 
The Board recommended (but did not require) that, starting with Round 8, each proposal submitted to the Global Fund should specify both a government Principal Recipient (PR) and a non-government PR. The Fund refers to this concept as &quot;dual-track financing&quot;. If a proposal does not include both types of PR, it should contain an explanation for this. 
The Board noted that the possible benefits achieved through dual-track financing include increased absorption capacity (from taking full advantage of the implementation capacity of all domestic sectors, both governmental and non-governmental), accelerated implementation and performance of grants, and the strengthening of weaker sectors. 
 
The Board meeting took place just two days after Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, the Fund's new Executive Director, took office. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 75, 30 April 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org. 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="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
The Steering and Advisory Committees of the Global Union AIDS Programme met in Geneva, 2 &ndash; 4 April to assess progress in the programme and discuss a work plan for 2007 and 2008. The meeting was addressed by Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director and Sophia Kisting, Director of ILOAIDS. 
 
A delegation of the Steering Committee met the Director of External Affairs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Christoph Benn, and its Civil Society Officer, Mick Mathews, to discuss the way forward for a greater involvement of workers organisations in Global Fund structures, such as the Board and national Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The delegation also met the focal point of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) at the Global Fund, Barbara Bulc. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 18 and 19 of 1 and 15 April) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) reports, among others, on efforts to develop an HIV vaccine, on increases in HIV infections in Korea and on producing more affordable antiretroviral drugs in Zimbabwe <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>. 
 
Education International (EI) has published an interview with Clementine Dehwe, the Global Union HIV/AIDS Coordinator, <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=455&amp;theme=hivaids&amp;country=global">http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=455&amp;theme=hivaids&amp;country=global</a>. EI launched its new website of the EFAIDS programme in April <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 20

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
In the UK, trade unions are calling attention to 28 April&rsquo;s International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. The GMB is asking all its 600,000 members to convince MPs to officially recognise the day in the UK, as well as making it a national holiday. 
 
GMB wants more MPs to sign on to an &ldquo;Early Day Motion&rdquo; in the House of Commons calling for official recognition of the day. Labour MP Michael Clapham has submitted the motion, and GMB Health and Safety Officer John McClean said, &ldquo;We need (MPs) to do more than just lift their pens&rdquo; on the initiative. Clapham&rsquo;s motion has 78 MPs signed on, and is also supported heavily by ICEM affiliate Amicus and the Communication Workers&rsquo; Union. 
<img height="90" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/UKGMB.gif" width="90" align="absMiddle" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="82" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/UKAmicus.jpg" width="160" align="absMiddle" alt="" />
Amicus, meanwhile, has distributed a petition to its members, also asking the UK&rsquo;s government to officially recognise the day. 
 
Amicus Research Officer Chris O&rsquo;Leary states: &ldquo;Most workers don&rsquo;t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic accidents. They did because an employer decided that their safety just wasn&rsquo;t that important a priority. Sixteen-hundred people die each year in the UK while doing their job, and 20,000 die from work-related diseases. This country should remember them President Rudolf on this day, as they do in other countries and by doing so, reduce this slaughter.&rdquo; 

The ICEM is extremely grateful to the ITUC, and particularly to Lucien Royer at the ITUC for tracking and distributing Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day 2007 activities. Much of the material in this special issue of InBrief originates from Lucien Royer.

United Kingdom: ICEM Affiliates Plan Workplace Actions, Events for 28 April

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
In Taiwan, the NGO Tavoi will again organise a demonstration to mark 28 April. But this year, a three-day workshop will follow the 28 April commemoration event. 
 
The workshop will focus on occupational health and safety issues, and will be attended by trade unionists, other NGO members and scholars from India, Hong Kong, Japan, and other Asian countries. 
 
Each day in Taiwan, five workers die from industrial accidents and 20 more workers become permanently injured. The economic miracle that has engulfed Taiwan for the past four decades has also left an appalling trail of workplace carnage.

Taiwan: 3-day Workshop to Focus on Workplace Health, Safety Issues

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
In February 2007, South Korea's Labor Ministry announced a total ban on the manufacture, import, and use of asbestos, which will take effect in 2009. Under the plan, the Labor Ministry will restrict the use of products containing asbestos in steps through 2008, in order to allow for the examination of possible substitutes.
In 2009, all asbestos-removal companies will be required to register with the Labor Ministry, and all articles which involve the use of asbestos will be removed, according to Korea's construction laws and regulations. 
<img height="115" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/SouthKorea.png" width="250" alt="" />
The ministry, in making the announcement, noted that a number of countries in developed nations have already banned asbestos. It also said that when taken into the body, asbestos fibres can cause breathing problems by damaging the lungs, which causes asbestosis and an increased risk to cancer.

South Korea: Labor Ministry announces Total Ban on Asbestos by 2009

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
The Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic (KOZ) will observe Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day on 27 April this year with an official tripartite conference, involving also the government and employers' groups, to discuss safety issues. 
 
The conference will be held in the small Slovak town of Novaky, where last month&rsquo;s tragedy struck inside a factory for de-activation of old military munitions. Eight civilian workers were killed, including three women. KOZ has arranged the tripartite meeting along with the Federation of Metallurgical Trade Unions. 
<img height="47" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/SlovakiaKOZ.gif" width="380" alt="" />
The labour confederation's Safety and Health Department has prepared leaflets for this year's World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The Slovak Republic has an official workplace fatality rate of 11 per 100,000 workers. The government has ratified all ILO Conventions core labour standards, and has also adopted ILO Conventions 139 (Occupational Cancer), 155 (Occupational Safety and Health), 161 (Occupational Health Services), and the Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Slovakia: Tripartite Memorial Day Conference Set at Site of Deadly, March 2007, Munitions Blast

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
On 17 April, a special commission, formed by the government of Peru, adopted a prohibition of asbestos and recommended a total ban on the product, which would take effect on 1 January 2009. 
 
This means that 46 countries have now banned or will ban asbestos across the world. While making the decision, the Peruvian government's commission took into account debate and arguments from the Asbestos Ban Network, Peru's industry representatives, and the lobby of the International Asbestos Industry. 
<img height="93" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Peru.png" width="200" alt="" />
Peru currently imports 492 tons of asbestos per year. The government has not yet ratified ILO Convention 162 (Use of Asbestos at Work), or Convention 155 (Occupational Safety and Health). 
 
Trade union federations in Peru were among the 16 labour groups in five Andean nations which helped to compile a recent document titled &quot;Ban Asbestos in the Andean Sub-region.&quot; The document, written with the support of Dr. Eva Delgado and published by the Andean Labour Institute, was also aided by labour federations in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

Peru: Government to Place Total Ban on Asbestos, Effective in 2009

<img height="40" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief201.gif" width="100" alt="" />
In Vilnius, Lithuania, national trade union organisations have organised a round table discussion to take place in the country&rsquo;s Parliament on 28 April. The theme of the discussion will be, &ldquo;Health and Safety at Workplaces: How to Guarantee Efficient Implementation Measures.&rdquo; 
 
The conference is being hosted by the government&rsquo;s Committee of Social Affairs and Labour, and is being sponsored by three labour groups: LTU Confederation, LTU Solidarumas, and the Lithuania Workers&rsquo; Federation. 
<img height="203" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Lithuania.png" width="200" alt="" />
 
 
Union leaders will discuss the health and safety in the country, as well as recently passed workplace legislation, with representatives from the State Labour Inspection agency, a delegation from the European Community, as well as with MPs and Social Affairs and Labour officials. 
 
In Lithuania, according to the State Labour Inspectorate, one-third of all workplace fatalities occur in the building construction, and the fatality rate in this area is three times higher than the average in other EU countries. The agency says that one-half of all fatal accidents are caused by work that is badly organised and poorly managed.

Lithuania: Worker Safety Topic of Parliamentary Discussion on 28 April

Archive