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A rare first-contract lockout in the US ended successfully for workers on 2 May when members of ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) came to terms with Stepan Chemical in Fieldsboro, New Jersey. Workers ratified an initial contract with the specialty chemicals company with a 33-2 acceptance vote that backed Stepan away from continuing a wage freeze, and making health care cuts. 
 
The lockout began on 26 January 2006 after workers chose UE for representation last year. Typically in the US, a company that loses a union certification vote will merely stall the bargaining process, sometimes for years. But Stepan responded to a spontaneous plant-site protest by the 40 workers by locking out the workforce, and attempting to run the plant with managers and scabs. 
 
Direct action by UE at Stepan&rsquo;s shareholders&rsquo; meeting on 27 April triggered a 180-degree shift by management, and a first contract. UE produced documents that proved the company had spent US$1.8 million on expenses relayed to the lockout, including sums to clean up chemical spills. CEO F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., was shocked at the documentation, believing the figure to be only US$500,000. 
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Within two days, Stepan called offering a return to bargaining. The company and the UE workers&rsquo; representatives, led by Field Organiser Jim Ermi, then hammered together the initial labour agreement. 
 
&ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t have to endure a 14-week lockout to get a union,&rdquo; stated UE Director of Organisation Bob Kingsley. &ldquo;A courageous group of workers triumphed at Stepan based on protest and perseverance, but their struggle points out the deepening workers&rsquo; rights crisis facing all of us.&rdquo; 
 
Stepan manufactures intermediates for use in consumer products, and has operations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Indonesia and Brazil.

UE Wins First Contract with Chemical Firm Despite Lockout

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Goodyear Thailand Ltd. has refused to reinstate 18 contract workers it sacked last year, despite an Industrial Court Commission (IRC) ruling that it must do so. Sixteen of the 18 reported for work at Goodyear&rsquo;s Bangkok tyre factory on 3 May, but management refused entry. 
 
Later, the workers received letters stating that the company disagrees with the IRC directive and intends to file papers in Thailand&rsquo;s central labour court to reverse the decision. &ldquo;The IRC&rsquo;s order is not final,&rdquo; the letters read, &ldquo;not until we exhaust the labour court mechanisms and the company cannot reinstate you at this time.&rdquo; 
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The contract workers, employed in the warehouse and rubber stock department, were fired in October 2005 for attempting to exert their legitimate collective bargaining rights. Several had been working for Goodyear for up to 10 years under one-year contracts. Goodyear had been deducting union dues from their pay checks for as long as four years. The IRC delivered its reinstatement order in mid-April. The ICEM will continue to press for permanent employment at Goodyear for the Thai rubber workers.

Goodyear Refuses to Reinstate Thai Contract Workers

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Continental AG, the German tyre manufacturer, wasted little time in slamming shut the negotiation process by announcing the closure of a union-represented plant in the US. Despite an offer by the United Steelworkers (USW) on 28 April to cut labour costs by US$16 million in order to keep an auto and light-truck tyre plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, operating, the company said the cuts were not enough. 
 
Managers then stormed out of talks and issued a formal letter stating negotiations had reached impasse. On 1 May, a day after expiration of a collective agreement for 800 rubber workers, Continental implemented its basket-load of cuts, totalling US$32 million, and announced tyre production in Charlotte would cease altogether by the end of September. 
<img height="150" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0605Continental.jpg" width="200" alt="" /> 
 
USW / IGBCE Press conference in Hannover
&ldquo;We consider this action unlawful and will take every step to see that the company&rsquo;s action is reversed,&rdquo; said USW Exec. Vice President Ron Hoover. The union has filed a US labour law charge against the impasse declaration and the unilateral implementation of pay and benefit cuts amounting to 35%. 
 
On 5 May, USW took its fight for job retention and fairness in Charlotte to the company&rsquo;s AGM in Hannover, Germany. The US Steelworkers, led by former Rubber Sector Chairman John Sellers, were joined by rubber manufacturing representatives of IGBCE in planning and implementing a protest and setting up a press conference denouncing Conti&rsquo;s harsh and abrupt actions.
The company, which sacked 140 Charlotte workers in March, says it will fire another 170 workers this month, with 480 slated to go in mid-September. Continental said only 200 workers will remain after September, performing mixing, calendaring and warehousing duties, while tyre production will shift to a non-union plant in the US and to plants in3 Mexico and Brazil. Continental realized record profits in 2005, as well as seeing share gains topping 25%.

Continental Gives No Ground in US Tyre Talks

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ICEM&rsquo;s paperworkers&rsquo; union affiliate in Finland, Paperiliitto, began a 48-hour strike today at some 64 paper mills owned by companies affiliated with the Finnish employers&rsquo; organisation, Forest Industries Federation. The strike by 20,000 Finnish workers is in protest to the harsh social measures through which the industry has chosen to improve profitability. 
 
The strikes, begun at 6h00 today and are set to run until 6h00 on 17 May, affecting all major paper firms including Stora Enso and UPM Kymmene. Other mills and paper converters owned by M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, Myllykoski, and other, smaller companies are also affected. Paperiliitto&rsquo;s Executive Committee decided to allow Stora Enso&rsquo;s mill at Panakoski and UPM Kymmene&rsquo;s mill at Voikkaa mill to operate. Stora has the Panakoski mill up for sale, while UPM intends to shut down the Voikkaa mill by year end, even though it is a viable operation that could be sold. 
On 17 May, office workers across the Finnish paper sector, represented by the Union of Salaried Workers Trade Union, will strike for 24 hours in similar protest. 
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Stora and UPM, the largest Nordic paper companies, announced broad restructuring plans of late. In order to cut production capacity to maintain high prices, Stora Enso announced in the last quarter of 2005 that it would slash 2,000 jobs and close 10 mills worldwide. UPM Kymmene said it would cut 2,560 jobs, and that three mills in Finland would be shuttered. The other companies have also cut jobs in Finland, although at smaller numbers. 
 
Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen, chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector, said the cuts to jobs and workers&rsquo; livelihoods reflect a disturbing trend as to social awareness by the paper manufacturers. &ldquo;Finland has moved to a management culture where shareholders are now the priority,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Paperworkers feel deeply insulted at the way they have been treated by employers.&rdquo;

Paperiliitto Launches 48-Hour Strike in Finnish Paper Sector

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On 3 May, Nigerian Labour &amp; Productivity Minister Dr Muhammed Hassan Lawal prevailed upon ICEM affiliate PENGASSAN and ExxonMobil&rsquo;s Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. to come to terms over a company breach on a procedural agreement with the white-collar union. Specifically, ExxonMobil agreed to pay 50% of unpaid housing allowances owed to some 300 workers by the end of May. 
 
Several other matters were discussed, and the three parties agreed in a joint statement that industrial action would be suspended, with lingering issues taken up in further dialogue between the union and Mobil Oil management. 
<img height="100" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMoil2.JPG" width="100" alt="" />.
However, PENGASSAN&rsquo;s National Executive Council has now issued an ultimatum to the company over its reluctance to curb the use of contract labour. The union&rsquo;s Executive said that if this all-important matter is not immediately resolved in compliance with the laws and policies currently in place on expatriate quotas and local content, industrial action is imminent. PENGASSAN cites several companies within the country&rsquo;s oil and gas industry for violations, but specifically targets Mobil Oil for industrial actions unless the grievances are rectified. 
 
PENGASSAN noted &ldquo;with grave concern the disturbing trend in the recruitment, releases and compensation of well skilled and qualified Nigerians that are being employed as contract workers with no hope of security of employment.&rdquo; 
 
On 2 May, local community members protested at a Mobil Oil export terminal at Qua Iboe over the company&rsquo;s failure to pay compensation and adequately clean up an oil spill. Some 70 workers &mdash; many of them PENGASSAN members &mdash; had been detained by the protestors, but were later released. Production at the 420,000 barrel-per-day terminal was interrupted, but was later restored through efforts of members of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, Nigeria&rsquo;s blue-collar oil workers&rsquo; union.

PENGASSAN in New Dispute with ExxonMobil in Nigeria

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ICEM&rsquo;s rubber and chemical workers&rsquo; affiliate in Turkey, Lastik-Īş, announced late in April that it would strike the four Turkish plants of three major tyre producers if the companies did not take a different track in negotiations. But that announcement was pre-empted by one of the companies, Goodyear Lastikleri AS, which locked out 1,300 workers at its two Turkish factories. 
 
Lastik-Īş has been negotiating with Goodyear, Pirelli Lastikleri, and Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci since mid-December over a renewal agreement covering 3,500 workers. Demands by employers for concessions on health care provisions, lower rates of pay for new workers, reductions in paid holidays, and flexibility regarding the use of contract workers caused the union&rsquo;s Executive Board to call strikes at the plants starting on 22 May. 
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In a statement issued by Lastik-Īş, the union said: &ldquo;The main reason why the conflict has continued so far is not the demands of our union, but the attitudes of employers who insist on dismantling our gained rights.&rdquo; 
 
Goodyear Lastikleri AS, 74.6% owned of Goodyear Tire and Rubber of the US, sacked a total of 109 workers at its tyre plants in Izmit and Adapazari in November 2005, as part of a restructuring move. Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci, in which Bridgestone of Japan controls a 40% stake, employs 1,000 workers at a plant in Izmit, while Italian Pirelli employs another 1,100 workers at a facility, also in Izmit.

Goodyear Jumps Gun; Locks Out Turkish Tyre Workers

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A dispute has been settled and a first collective agreement is in place in Malaysia&rsquo;s paper industry. ICEM assisted its affiliate Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees&rsquo; Union (PPPMEU), as did Norwegian trade union Fellesforbundet in achieving recognition and a contract at a Malaysian Newsprint Industries mill in Pahang. 
 
Malaysian Newsprint is 34% owned by Norske Skog, with whom ICEM and Fellesforbundet have a Global Framework Agreement. The matter was brought before the Norwegian-based company by Fellesforbundet. 
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A union was formed at the nine-year-old mill in October 2004 and, in March 2005, a government ministry verified PPMEU certification. The union submitted proposals toward a first collective agreement in July 2005, but the company stalled in meeting its bargaining obligations. When the company finally did meet with the union, it informed the union that 70 of 220 workers were in &ldquo;executive&rdquo; capacities and exempt from the union, even though they perform manual tasks. 
 
The ICEM and Fellesforbundet attention to the dispute, and no doubt the formal intent-to-strike notice issued by PPPMEU on 15 May, brought pressure on management to settle. The initial three-year collective agreement will be backdated to 1 October 2005. Even though the scope of the bargaining unit wasn&rsquo;t resolved, it will now be submitted to a Malaysian Industrial Court. Other partners in the newsprint mill include the Hong Leong Group of Malaysia (34%), the New Straits Times newspaper (21%), and Rimbuan Hijau Group of Malaysia (11%).

Global Agreement, Strike Threat Brings First Accord to Malaysian Paper Mill

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 11

28 April &ndash; International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers 
Workers throughout the world participated in activities to commemorate the millions of workers who died, were injured or became ill due to unsafe, unhealthy or unsustainable workplaces. Focus of the activities this year was the call of the international trade union movement for a total ban of asbestos and the fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
In a massive campaign international and national union bodies called on G8 governments to establish a permanent high-level G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS at their forthcoming summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Such a working group will help G8 countries achieve commitments made at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, for universal access to treatment by 2010 and to the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. (<a href="/?id=72&amp;doc=1729&amp;la=EN">See also e-bulletin No. 7, April 2006</a>). 
 
Global Unions have updated their workbook, which reports on ICD activities. It can be accessed at <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/"></a><a href="http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf">http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_4c.EN.pdf</a>. 
 
The ILO, as the current chair of the Committee of Co-sponsoring Organisations of UNAIDS, put the spotlight on HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and produced a report, &ldquo;Decent Work &ndash; Safe Work &ndash; HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; 
 
Global Unions Advisory Committee 
 
The Advisory Committee of the Global Unions Programme on HIV/AIDS met in Geneva from 4 to 6 April. The committee, which brings together representatives of all Global Unions, funding organisations and the ILO and UNAIDS, developed a strategic work plan for 2006 and 2007 and a joint action plan for interventions at major events. The overall objectives of the GU Programme are: 
<ul>
 <li>Make HIV and AIDS a priority issue for trade unions </li>
 <li>Strengthen capacity of trade unions&nbsp; </li>
 <li>Develop partnerships to position trade unions within the AIDS response&nbsp; </li>
 <li>Mobilise resources, especially at country level. </li>
</ul>
Go to <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids">www.global-unions.org/hiv-aids</a>&nbsp;for more information on the programme. 
 
 
High Level Meeting on AIDS 
 
The United Nations General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in achieving the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), which adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The review will take place during a high-level meeting at the UN Head Office in New York City from 31 May to 2 June. 
 
The UN produced two reports, which can be accessed on the UNAIDS website www.unaids.org: a report on progress made until the end of 2005, entitled &ldquo;Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS: Five Years Later&rdquo; and &ldquo;Towards Universal Access: Assessment by UNAIDS on Scaling Up HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support.&rdquo; 
In his foreword to the progress report, the UN Secretary General warned, &ldquo;Failure to urgently strengthen the AIDS response will mean that the world will achieve neither the 2010 targets of the Declaration of Commitment nor Millennium Goal 6.&rdquo; 
(Note: the wording &ldquo;universal access to treatment by 2010&rdquo; has mutated in some official documents to &ldquo;coming as close as possible to universal access to treatment by 2010.&rdquo;) 
 
Civil society organisations and trade unions will be represented at this important event. The South African government objected to the participation of the Treatment Action Campaign and two other NGOs and refused their accreditation. 
 
 
Bangladesh 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Bangladesh Chemical, Energy and Allied Workers&rsquo; Federation is getting involved in the fight against the pandemic. In a wide-ranging report to the ICEM, the Federation pinpoints the dangers which high-risk behaviours pose. 
Although the overall prevalence rate in Bangladesh is still very low, a large commercial sex industry, low levels of condom use and needle sharing among drug users contribute to a slow but steady increase in the infection rate. The Union is getting involved in awareness raising campaigns and the promotion of prevention. 
 
 
World Bank Suspends US$60 million AIDS project in Ukraine 
 
The World Bank has suspended a US$60 million project on combating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis because of the government&rsquo;s failure to implement the project. Only 2% of the funds earmarked in January 2004 have been spent. This is a major tragedy for the people who need treatment in this country, which has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in Europe. 
(Comment: While a series of political crises&rsquo; may have contributed to this development, the World Bank may also have failed to include capacity building into such a large project). 
 
(Source: Kyiv Post, 12 April 2006) 
 
 
Life Expectancy in Zimbabwe &ndash; World Health Report 2006 
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the 2006 World Health Report in advance of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 22-26 May. 
 
Outstanding from the mass of data are the statistics for the life expectancy in Zimbabwe, which at an average of 36 years is lower than anywhere else in the world. The high mortality rate of people at a young age is largely due to death caused by AIDS. 
Ten years ago, life expectancy was still 56 years. Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where women have a lower life expectancy (34 years) than men (37 years). Behaviour change may have contributed to a falling HIV infection rate in the country in recent years but more tragically a lower rate at this stage of the pandemic is probably due to the high death rate. People who have died of AIDS are no longer included in the statistics of people living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
By the end of 2005, only 20,000 people in Zimbabwe were receiving antiretroviral treatment. The target was 145,000 people, around half of the total of 295,000 believed to require the drugs. 
 
 
Global Fund Phase 2 Renewals 
 
Only 23% of the 124 Global Fund grants that have reached the end of their second year have met or exceeded the performance targets that were set by the applicants when they submitted their original proposals. This constitutes an A rating. 
(Note: Global Fund grants are approved for five years but are reviewed and rated after two years. The Fund can then decide whether a grant receives funding for Phase 2, i.e. years 3 to 5).
The rest of the grants received a B1 or B2 rating with a conditional or revised go-ahead. Only two grants received a C rating, which means that no funding is approved for Phase 2 (Senegal and South Africa). 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 56 of 17 April 2006) 
 
Theoretically, the Fund has the right to terminate grants at any stage, not only after a Phase 1 review. The Global Fund Board meeting on 27-28 April applied this exceptional procedure to two HIV grants worth some US$81 million to Nigeria on the grounds of inadequate performance. One of the grants was supposed to have 14,000 people on ARV treatment by the end of the first year, but the actual number was zero. 
 
On continuation of services, the Board agreed that in cases where people have started treatment on ARVs or for TB, financial support for such treatment would not automatically stop when a grant is terminated. 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 57 of 1 May 2006) 
 
Note: The Global Fund Observer is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the GFATM. To receive it, you can send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>. The subject line and text can be left blank. 
 
 
News from ILOAIDS 
 
The ILOAIDS website <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>&nbsp;now features country profiles with information on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. They are also linked to new pages providing details of project activities. The 15 countries, which are so far included, can be found on the roll-down menu on the left side of the screen. 
 
ILOAIDS has made available, on its website, a tool kit for the workplace on Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) jointly published with Family Health International. The tool kit provides a step-by-step approach, emphasising prevention through education, gender awareness and practical support for behaviour change. 
 
 
Resource Pack on Gender and HIV/AIDS 
 
The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Gender and HIV/AIDS developed a resource pack. It aims to strengthen the impact of national HIV/AIDS programmes by tackling a key underlying factor that fuels the epidemic: gender inequality. 
The resources pack contains an Operational Guide on a rights-based approach, a Review Paper on Integrating Gender into HIV/AIDS Programmes and 17 Fact Sheets with concise information on gender-related aspects of HIV/AIDS. The resource pack can be accessed at <a href="http://www.unfpa.org">www.unfpa.org</a>. 
 
 
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line. 
 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr">http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1790">/index.php?id=72&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=1790</a>.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 8

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In Belgium on 1 May, trade unionist Paul Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain will unveil their new book, Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. The book depicts the aftermath of Belgium&rsquo;s worst mining tragedy in history, a fire that raged inside a coal mine near the Wallonian town of Marcinelle, killing 262 miners. 
 
The tragedy occurred on 8 August 1956 and the book marks the 50th anniversary of the devastating loss of so many lives. The book&rsquo;s title, Tutti Cadaveri, comes from an Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, &ldquo;All corpses.&rdquo; 
<img height="127" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/paullootens.jpg" width="120" alt="" />
The book is available from Aden Publishers for &euro;22 and can be ordered from Aden by contacting editionsaden@skynet.be, or calling +32 2534 46 61. The ICEM will bring further attention to the 50th Anniversary events as the August date draws closer.

May Day Launch of Book on Marcinelle Coal Mine Tragedy

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