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ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN 25

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Pilkington glass workers in New Zealand, represented by Engineering, Paper and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) will decide tomorrow night, 14 August, whether or not to escalate industrial actions. During the first days of August, EPMU members at the Hamilton glass plant began a seven-day overtime ban because of a pay dispute. 
 
That was extended last week and union members at another Pilkington plant in Auckland met and agreed to support the Hamilton workers&rsquo; job actions. The Auckland workforce, represented by EPMU, was forced to take nine days of job actions last year in a pay dispute. In 2006, UK-based Pilkington was bought by Nippon Sheet Glass for &euro;3.2 billion, in a move to strengthen the Japanese company&rsquo;s presence in Asia, particularly China.
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&ldquo;The company&rsquo;s arguing over a quarter of a percent (in Hamilton), and frankly the members are getting sick of this kind of penny-pinching &hellip; the members are simply asking for their fair share,&rdquo; said an EPMU representative, as quoted on the union&rsquo;s website.

Pilkington Workers in Glass Dispute in New Zealand

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The position on climate change and renewable energy sources by the Mining and Energy Division of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has drawn positive attention. A Green Party candidate for Senate in Queensland praised the CFMEU for its stand, and an opinion piece written by Mining and Energy Division President Tony Maher drew wide appeal in the Australian press. 
 
Queensland Green Party activist Larissa Waters welcomed the division&rsquo;s stand on renewable energy and a 60% target for greenhouse gas reductions by 2050. 
 
&ldquo;We would be keen to work with unions like the CFMEU to plan ways to move to an environmentally sustainable approach to energy production,&rdquo; said Waters, &ldquo;especially since we already have strong areas of agreement with them on the WorkChoices legislation.&rdquo; 
 
The CFMEU has begun a television ad campaign in Australia, contradicting the Howard government&rsquo;s denial that climate change is occurring and promoting immediate action programmes.
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In an article kicking the ad campaign off, Maher says, &ldquo;Doing nothing on climate change is not an option for the CFMEU.&rdquo; 
 
Maher writes: &ldquo;Our rank and file debated and discussed the proposition to campaign on climate change in every single mine and power station around the nation, before voting overwhelmingly to embark on this course of action. 

&ldquo;The decision to back the campaign did not surprise me &ndash; for more than a decade the union has been an active participant in the climate change debate. After all, our members and our families' livelihoods are at the pointy end of the debate.&rdquo; 

Maher says the key to the union&rsquo;s position was engagement with members &ldquo;to create our own policy on greenhouse emissions.&rdquo; 

He adds, &ldquo;We have taken this approach because we want to live in a cleaner world and we want the security for our members, our families and for the coal communities for which we are a vital part. 

&ldquo;Now some may argue that the way to secure the future of coal communities is to stick our heads in the sand and, like John Howard, deny that climate change is occurring. 

&ldquo;But what security is there in refusing to engage in a debate that is raging at this very moment?&rdquo; Maher writes. 

&ldquo;From our perspective, security comes in certainty &ndash; the certainty of Clean Energy Targets and the certainty of commitments to greenhouse reductions. 
&ldquo;Business needs certainty too. If mining companies invest billions into new technology, they must receive a guarantee that such clean energy will have a market share.&rdquo; 

Maher cites examples: &ldquo;Clean coal technologies like carbon capture and geosequestration will reduce the impact of coal on the environment. As most mainstream thinkers agree, coal will remain a large part of the world's energy mix for the foreseeable future &ndash; the real challenge is to minimise its harmful impacts.
&ldquo;At the same time, we need to be investing in and embracing renewable energy sources. Our argument is that without a clear Clean Energy Target &ndash; backed with a carbon trading regime &ndash; we will never have the incentive to invest in these new technologies.&rdquo; 
CFMEU claims it is the first mining union in the world to take such a stand on the climate change issue.

CFMEU&#039;s Green Initiative Applauded in Australia

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US Affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) won an important court victory in its pursuit of justice for workers at shuttered Continental tyre and rubber plants in America. On 31 July, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court in the state of Ohio ruled that the German company must fulfill union contractual obligations to retired workers regarding health care.
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In December 2006, some 2,000 retirees from closed Continental plants in Charlotte, North Carolina; Mayfield, Kentucky; and Byron, Ohio, filed a class action lawsuit with the support of the union. Along with the cost-savings plant closings, the company shifted a large part of health care costs onto retirees. 
In the lawsuit, USW retirees, many of whom had been sacked at the time of the plant closures, sought restoration of the previous health insurance programme, and they argued for refunds on premium payments and other compensation. 
Judge Jack Zouhary of US. District Court in Toledo, Ohio, ruled in a summary judgment that the company had improperly reduced the benefit levels for retirees and their spouses. The judge&rsquo;s decision stated that since the company was unable to force its terms with the USW during contract talks, it unilaterally and illegally began implementing the cuts. 
Continental North America argued it had the right to lower retiree benefits, because the labour contracts had expired. Zouhary ruled that retiree benefits must remain separate from wages and benefits of active workers since there is &quot;inference&quot; in labour agreements that &quot;those benefits ... continue as long as the beneficiary remains a retiree.&quot;
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&nbsp;USW's Ron Hoover 

USW President Leo Gerard praised the judge&rsquo;s decision. &ldquo;The fact that the court issued summary judgment shows just how disgraceful Continental was in abandoning its contractual obligations to American tire builders who gave the company a lifetime of work.&rdquo; 

Continental has stated it will appeal the judge&rsquo;s decision, but the USW is calling on the company to make the payments even if it does appeal. &ldquo;This is an international corporation that has made massive profits throughout this sorry affair,&rdquo; said USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. &ldquo;It is time for them to finally stand up and fulfill the promises&rdquo; made to workers.

Continental Tyre Owes USW’s Retirees Medical Pay, Judge Rules

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Double-digit pay gains were won for miners by South Africa&rsquo;s largest union, the National Union Mineworkers (NUM). With two-year negotiations now nearly complete, only the world&rsquo;s largest gold-mining companies remain tight-fisted in pay talks. Global-leading platinum producers, AngloAmerican&rsquo;s Kumba Resources, and several coal producers came to terms with the NUM in the past week. 
 
DeBeers averted a diamond-mining strike on 31 July when it increased its pay offer. 
 
On 7 August, the world&rsquo;s second largest platinum miner &ndash; Impala Platinum &ndash; reached accord with the NUM. A day later, AngloPlatinum, the world&rsquo;s largest producer came to agreement. The contracts won by the NUM cover 39,000 miners at AngloPlatinum, and 26,000 at Impala Platinum. NUM also won a 10% for miners at the smaller Northam Platinum operations.
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AngloPlatinum, 75% held by AngloAmerican, will this year award lower-classified miners a 10% increase, while the higher classifications get 8.5%. Next year, miners will receive between 8% and 9%. The Impala calls for 10% and 8% this year and between 7.25% and 8.5% in 2008. 
 
Also last week, workers at Kumba, a major iron ore producer, agreed to pay hikes this year of 10%, 9.5%, and 8.5%, depending on the job classification. 
 
And 13 days ago, NUM recommended wage increases of 10% and a bit lower for the higher classifications to coal miners. In the second year of the agreement, coal miners will receive 1% on top of the consumer price index, or no less than 8%. NUM&rsquo;s coal-mining members are employed by such companies as AngloCoal, Xstrata, Optimum Collieries, Exxaro, Eyesizwe, and Kanga. 
 
At DeBeers, where a strike by 6,000 workers was to occur on 31 July, the world&rsquo;s leading diamond miner met the NUM&rsquo;s terms on that day. Diamond miners will receive 10% in the lower grade; 9.5% in the middle grade; and 8.5% in the higher-paid grade. &ldquo;We put a demand of 10% and we got it, so there is nothing to complain about,&rdquo; said Peter Bailer, NUM&rsquo;s lead negotiator in diamond mining.
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&nbsp;NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
But talks with gold producers remain stalled. In the last days of July and early August, the Chamber of Mines &ndash; on behalf of AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields, and Harmony Gold &ndash; had refused to budge from its top offer of 7.75%. As the two sides continue in talks, the NUM is mobilizing for strike action. &ldquo;We believe that the Chamber of Mines has tested our patience long enough and our workers will haunt the profit they make out of the workers sweat,&rdquo; stated NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. 
 
Nearly all the negotiations between the NUM and mining companies are occurring through the Chamber of Mines. Since disputes were called in most, South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) has been involved. 
 
Meanwhile, another mining death has occurred at an AngoGold facility in South Africa, the third such death at an AngloGold mining operation in the country in just a few weeks. A worker fell into a pit at the company&rsquo;s Moab Khutsong mine on 9 August. The pit had no barricades around it. AngloAshanti now has recorded 12 deaths overall in its South African mines this year.

Platinum, Coal, Diamond, Iron Ore Talks Complete for NUM in South Africa; Gold Talks Continue

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A crippling strike at South African refineries has ended, but other strikes by ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) continue in glass, paper tissue, packaging, and wood products. 
 
Some 40,000 members of CEPPWAWU have been in dispute with employers&rsquo; groupings cutting across all sectors since late June. On 26 July, the union issued 48-hour strike notices in ten different industries. Some employers&rsquo; associations settled, while others took the strike action. 
 
The petrol strike started on 30 July and ended on 7 August. An immediate fuel shortage just days into the strike brought panic buying at the gas pumps. South Africa&rsquo;s largest refinery, a joint Shell-BP Sapref complex in Durban, was shut, as was PetrolSA&rsquo;s refinery in Mossel Bay and Chevron&rsquo;s Caltex plants in Cape Town. Sasol, which supplies 40% of South Africa&rsquo;s fuel and petrochemicals, found its operations undermanned and was effectively down.
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CEPPWAWU negotiators were called into talks late on 6 August by the nation&rsquo;s conciliatory agency and the National Petroleum Employers&rsquo; Association. The strike ended the next day. Bosses had moved a half-percent increase proposed for January 2008 to 1 July of this year, and an 8.5% wage increase was agreed to. CEPPWAWU made other gains, as well, including maternity leave improvements and added payment for public holidays as a provision to the 40-hour work week. 
 
The effects of some of the other strikes cut across industry divides. From the drug industry to building materials, delays and shortages of products or packaging for those products was growing daily. 
 
On 30 July, some 3,000 pharmaceutical workers went on strike at major drug and generic drug producers, including Pfizer, Aspen, and Adcock Ingram. That strike ended on 2 August when the employers association revised its terms. Also on 30 July, CEPPWAWU members in the Tissue and Allied Products section took strike action, shutting the operations of Nampak and Kimberly-Clark. 
 
Kimberly-Clark issued an ultimatum to its two CEPPWAWU-represented workforces in Cape Town and Johannesburg that its miserly pay offer of 6.5% was its final offer. 
 
Over the weekend prior to the Monday, 30 July, strike deadline, the Pulp and Paper Employers Association came to an 8.5% wage agreement with CEPPWAWU. That prevented thousands of workers at Sappi and Mondi from striking. And talks in the Industrial Chemicals section are continuing. 
 
On 3 August, thousands of red-shirted protesters turned out for a CEPPWAWU manifestation in Johannesburg to lend support to workers and their fair wage goals. The union and striking workers also received formal support that day from COSATU and the South African Communist Party. 
 
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s ten different bargaining tables in 2007: Industrial Chemicals, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Glass, Petroleum, Pharmaceuticals, Pulp and Paper, Sawmilling, Tissue and Allied, Particle Board, and Sasol Mines.

CEPPWAWU Resolves Petrol, Pharma Strikes; Tissue, Glass, Wood, Packaging Strikes Persist

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If any event defined the strength and vibrancy of a great trade union, that event started on the night of 9 August 1987 when the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began the Great Mines Strike of South Africa, or &ldquo;21 Days That Shook the Chamber,&rdquo; as it claimed to be called. Although the wage gains the NUM was seeking were not achieved, the strike by 330,000 black miners 20 years ago proved to be a decisive catalyst in the struggle to end apartheid. 
 
The NUM marked the anniversary last week in South Africa as an event that &ldquo;will be remembered for shaking the industry in a manner that was never seen before.&rdquo; It also solemnly noted the deaths of nine striking miners at the hands of apartheid police, and the 50,000 miners who were fired by mining companies for actively leading the strike.
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During 1987 wage bargaining between the employers&rsquo; Chamber of Mines and the Council of Mining Unions, representing white miners and officials, the unions accepted a 15% wage gain. But in separate bargaining with the NUM, the Chamber only offered 17% to black miners, who were paid much lower salaries than whites. NUM had lowered its demands to 24% at the time of the strike. 
 
Despite this, employers &ndash; led by the AngloAmerican Corporation, which employed the vast majority of unionised black miners &ndash; unilaterally implemented its offer. That caused the NUM to strike the first of some 60 gold and coal mines on 9 August. The Council of Mines thought the NUM too weak to sustain the early strikes, or to call out miners at more sites. 
 
But as the strike spread and more and more mines were idled, that proved to be a fallacy. 
 
A mining trade publication at the time reported: &ldquo;The union has shown itself to be much better organized, its strike call well supported from the outset. The Chamber appears to have expected the NUM action to last only a few days as in earlier years and was somewhat surprised at the duration and solidarity of the union&rsquo;s action and by its organisational capabilities, determination, and skill during the strike.&rdquo;
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NUM General Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa, the son of a Soweto policeman who was then only 35, provided strong leadership and staunch resolve. He also proved to be a visionary by calling 1987 the year that black mineworkers &ldquo;take control &hellip; to start controlling our lives in the mines, in the hostels, and the places we live. 
 
He also said, &ldquo;In the next few years, we are also going to take control of the work process, which dates back 100 years, when gold was discovered, during which the black workers have been like captive labour.&rdquo; Ramaphosa also said of the 1987 strike, &ldquo;The struggle we are involved in on the mines is a training ground for our people, for the ultimate goal which is liberation.&rdquo; 
 
The need for struggle was epitomised in May 1987, shortly after the NUM adopted the South African Freedom Charter, began a coalition with the United Democratic Front, and marched with the slogans of the banned African National Congress. On the night of 7 May 1987, with NUM&rsquo;s offices headquartered in the COSATU House in Johannesburg, special security police used explosives to blow the building up. A short three weeks later, NUM declared dispute with the mining houses over disparate wages, deficient health and safety practices for black miners, overcrowded hostels, and other grievances. 
 
Two weeks into the August mass strikes, realising that the NUM&rsquo;s resolve could not be broken, mining companies used a quirk in South African industrial law that allowed employers to dismiss workers even when they are engaged in a legal strike. Some 50,000 NUM members were fired. That and the very survival of the NUM caused regional strike committees to decide to end the strike, and on 30 August black mineworkers returned to work with their heads held high. 
 
The mining journal said the NUM &ldquo;has gained considerable stature as a result of its action,&rdquo; adding that the union&rsquo;s &ldquo;influence is now widespread throughout the mining industry and that unionisation of black miners is likely to increase.&rdquo;
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About half of the 50,000 mines were eventually re-hired to mining jobs over the next few years, and many proved to be key organisers and effective trade union leaders. The strike also taught the NUM something about self-reliance. As an outgrowth of it, the NUM formed non-profit organisations that mitigated job losses in mining with skill development, as well as labour cooperatives and welfare funds for dependants of miners. 
 
Today, that influence is evident. With roughly two-thirds of NUM members regularly attending union meetings and a shop-steward structure second to none, the NUM stands as a beacon of light for safe, sustainable jobs in South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry.

9 August: 20-Year Anniversary of NUM’s Great Mines Strike in South Africa

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In South Africa last week on 9 August, people celebrated National Women&rsquo;s Day in commemoration of the brave women one and two generations ago who first stood up against the racially-dividing Pass Laws of the apartheid government. 
 
Men and women gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, site of an August 1956 march by 20,000 women in protest of the Pass Laws that were enacted on 9 August 1956. In Cape Town last week, 700 women and children marched and demanded that the government immediately implement the Domestic Violence Act. The march to government buildings there was against the abuse and rape of women and children.
<img height="60" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/SouthAfricaFlag.gif" width="100" />
And across South Africa, unions, civil society organisations, and other groups used the 9 August holiday to urge more governmental action on HIV/AIDS-related work and treatment centres. Women are the worst affected by the scourge of the HIV virus. 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) issued a statement commemorating both the brave women of the anti-pass struggles, and the brave miners who stood up to white bosses in the Great Mining Strike of 1987.
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&ldquo;We salute the heroes and heroines of these struggles and call on employers to improve the welfare of women and workers in general as a tribute,&rdquo; stated NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;The good wage agreements we enter into this year are a tribute to the fallen heroes and heroines of these struggles. 
 
The anti-pass protests and deaths from those protests had a galvanizing effect against the control-minded apartheid government of the late 1950s and 1960s. The Pass Laws prevented the free movement of black people. The laws defined the very essence of oppression and racism then in South African apartheid life. White citizens, although required to have identity documents, were not required to carry them. Black South Africans had to carry passes. 
 
The Afrikaners called it bewysboek (Book of Proof). Blacks called it dompas (stupid pass). The laws gave the police the opportunity to detain any black African who was unemployed. And since statutes said that &ldquo;pass bearers&rdquo; could not be officially classified as employees, blacks saw further discrimination in terms of workplace conditions and trade union rights. 
 
On 21 March 1960, an anti-pass protest was met by the ruthlessness of police in the township of Sharpville, south of Johannesburg. Police fired on demonstrators, killing 69 of them &ndash; many shot in the back as they were retreating &ndash; and wounded 178 others. Many of the organisers were arrested.
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Considered the leader of South Africa&rsquo;s anti-pass movement was Margaret Gazo, the woman with the idea for the 20,000-person march in August 1956. She died in 1974, but spent five years in prison due to her activism. The Pass Laws were repealed in 1987, with some aspects of the statutes repealed earlier. 
 
The ICEM salutes South African working men and women of today for honouring the groundbreaking achievements of women of the anti-pass movement, and echoes NUM&rsquo;s Baleni in paying tribute to these pioneers of the early anti-apartheid era.

9 August: National Women’s Day in South Africa Celebrates ‘Anti-Pass’ Struggles of Apartheid

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Some ten coal mine disasters in China were recorded over the past month, leaving 100 dead. And last week, the China State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) issued an alert stating that the number of coal mine accidents might increase in the coming months, as production accelerates to meet winter demand. 
 
October was another deadly month in China&rsquo;s coal mines, where an estimated 20,000 workers die each year from industrial accidents, methane explosions, floods, and illegal mining. 
The latest reported tragedy occurred on Friday, 2 November, when a shaft tunnel collapsed, killing nine miners. This occurred at the licensed Shanxi Jinle Coal Mine in Xinzhou city, in China&rsquo;s northern Shanxi province. A few days earlier, on 28 October, in Jiangxi provice at the Lingzian colliery, at a township-owned mine, floods poured into mine shafts, taking the lives of nine miners. One worker was rescued, but only after three days. 
<img height="257" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/04miningsafety.jpg" width="240" />
On 26 October, nine perished in northwest Shanxi province, also because of flooding. This occurred at the Yaotou coal mine near Weinan City. The mine is a registered private mine, with annual output of 60,000 tonnes. 
 
A day earlier, on 25 October, a small, illegal mine was rocked by an underground explosion, killing 11. That happened at the Yuejin coal mine, Chongqing, southwest China. The board chairman, local manager, and two other senior managers were arrested a few days after the explosion. 
On 22 October, a newly dug transport tunnel at the Yinying coal mine in Taiyuan, northern China, collapsed, killing 13 people living in row houses above the mine. Some of the dead were miners and family members. The incident occurred in the middle of the night and no one was working the mine at the time. 
Also on 22 October, three Chinese miners died and seven were injured following an explosion inside a township-run mine at Puqian in Hengfeng county, northeastern Jiangxi province. The miners were 285 metres underground performing maintenance work. On 13 October, 19 miners were buried alive after a gas explosion caused a massive coal slide that came rumbling down a 30-metre-wide tunnel. This also occurred in Jiangxi province. Some 261 miners managed to escape the deadly accident at the Jianxin colliery. 
<img height="132" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/China.png" width="300" />
Jianzin also was the mine that claimed the lives of 49 miners in 2003 from a gas explosion, and in August 2006, five were killed from a blast. 
 
On 7 October, eight died, including three rescue workers, following flooding of the Chankeng mine in Fujian province. And a day earlier, on 6 October, ten miners died from a methane explosion at the Shunxing mine in eastern Yunnan province. The mine was legal but a week prior to the blast, a county mine safety inspector had ordered Shunzing to suspend production in order that the mine&rsquo;s shafts undergo repairs. 
 
Last year, China saw a 2.04 death rate for every one million tonnes of coal mined. Total Chinese coal production is expected to top 2.5 billion tonnes this year, with annual production growth this year over last year expected to be 11.5%. SAWS, on 1 November, announced it was soliciting public submissions on a draft plan regarding 604 safety production standards to go into effect between 2007 and 2010. The proposed standards are in 10 work sectors, including coal mines, non-coal mining, and chemicals and fireworks production.

Mine Deaths Continue to Plague China, State Work Safety Administration

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&nbsp;World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007 
Leadership is the theme for World AIDS Day 2007. The ongoing campaign slogan of the World AIDS Campaign is &ldquo;Stop AIDS &ndash; Keep the Promise&rdquo;. 
 
Unions can demonstrate leadership at every level &ndash; in the workplace, in their own governing bodies, in women&rsquo;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. 
 
At the end of October, the ICEM has sent out its own campaign leaflet together with material from UNAIDS/World AIDS Campaign. The leaflet in English, French, Spanish, German and Swedish is also available on the dedicated section on HIV/AIDS at <a href="/72-HIV-AIDS">/72-HIV-AIDS</a>. 
 
Further campaign material and ideas can be found at <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>, the website of the World AIDS Campaign. You can also find resources on the website of UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a> and at ILOAIDS <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>. 
 
Union leaders, gathering in Bangkok, 22-24 November for the 4th ICEM World Congress, will pledge to fight HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world. 
ICEM calls on its affiliates to take the lead in campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
Report back to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Send campaign materials and pictures. This will be published in the e-bulletin. 
<img height="37" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="26" />
ICEM Regional Workshop on Medical Insurance 
All the coordinators from 12 sub-Saharan African countries participated in an ICEM regional workshop in Johannesburg in October. 
 
The purpose of this 5th workshop for national coordinators was to explore the role of medical insurance schemes in covering treatment of HIV/AIDS for workers and dependents. 
 
Participants examined the funding of schemes, aspects of the coverage of medical insurance schemes, employer-provided schemes, relationship and effects on public health systems and the role of unions in negotiating health insurance schemes and their participation in the governance of these schemes. 
Participants highlighted the need for Know-your-Status campaigns as the key to prevention. Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) can, however, only be encouraged if universal access to treatment is in place and where human and labour rights such as job security, non discrimination and non stigmatisation were strong. 
 
Large companies, especially in the mining sector, had generally good schemes which included HIV/AIDS services for workers and also for dependents. Gaps were identified in the coverage of contract workers and in the lack of schemes at small and medium-size enterprises. Limitations of the schemes were also highlighted. These challenges included the cost to members as a proportion of their wages and that coverage often did not cover workers once they were no longer employed. 
 
While private company schemes provide coverage and, in remote areas, often are the only health services available, participants acknowledged that, as unionists, we must also advocate the strengthening of the public health sector. 
<img height="37" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="26" />
News from Affiliates
ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in Tanzania, TUICO and TAMICO, have finalised their VCT Counsellors&rsquo; training programme. From 30 July to 26 August, seven unionists followed an intensive programme at the Muhimbili Health Information Centre. The course, with a total of 160 hours on 20 training days, included lectures and practical training sessions at the hospital, a practicum in the field and advanced skills training following the experience from the practicum. 
 
A similar programme was run for affiliates in South Africa. 
 
With the financial support from the project for national programmes, several countries implemented new activities (see also e-bulletin 23/24 of August/September). 
 
In Nigeria, NUPENG and PENGASSAN conducted a successful mobilisation for voluntary counselling and testing at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company among workers and members of the community. The campaign over four days in July resulted in 677 people being tested. 
 
In Uganda, UMMAWU organised a training workshop for union representatives and a peer educators&rsquo; course in September. 
 
MUZ and NUCIW of Zambia held two three-day peer educators&rsquo; workshops in July and August. 
 
Very encouraging developments can also be reported from Sierra Leone where the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union took the initiative to submit a programme and was included in the project. So far UMU conducted two peer educators&rsquo; training workshops for shop stewards and community leaders in Daru Town and Tongo Field. 
 
UMU is also actively engaged with the social partners in the drafting of an HIV/AIDS policy for the mining sector.
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Global Fund: Debt2Health Initiative 
 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched a &quot;Debt2Health&quot; initiative that could generate substantial funds. The initiative is a form of debt conversion, in which Western governments that are owed money by developing countries agree to cancel a portion of the debt on condition that the developing countries in question invest money in Global Fund-approved programmes. 
 
In the first Debt2Health implementation, the German government forgave 50 million Euros in debt by Indonesia, and Indonesia committed to investing the local equivalent of 25 million Euros in Global Fund programmes in Indonesia. Over the next four years, Germany plans to generate a total of 200 million Euros for Global Fund programmes through this initiative. The Global Fund hopes to enter into future Debt2Health agreements with Kenya, Pakistan and Peru. Further details are available <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/D2HMechanisms.pdf">here</a>. 
 
(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>) 
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Still Losing the AIDS Fight 
Excerpts from an article by Richard Holbrooke, President of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: 
 
&ldquo;On the day you read this column, an estimated 12,000 people worldwide will contract HIV. Ninety percent of them will not learn that they are infected until full-blown AIDS hits them &ndash; in 2015. Until then, those people will unintentionally spread the virus that lies silently within each of them. 
 
But on Dec 1, the 19th annual World AIDS Day, political leaders and international health officials will, once again, tell the world that although the fight is far from over, progress is being made. The fight is indeed far from over &ndash; but don&rsquo;t believe the second half of such statements. 
 
It is heartening that more than 2 million HIV-positive people are on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. But real progress must be measured by the only criterion that ultimately matters: Is the number of people who are HIV-positive declining? The answer is a resounding no. As a strategy to defeat HIV/AIDS, focusing primarily on treatment will never succeed. The only way to reverse the spread of HIV is to focus on prevention. 
 
Here is my challenge to the international health community: This year, tell the truth on World AIDS Day. Admit that we are still losing. Advocate strategies that emphasise prevention and detection, based on the successful &ldquo;opt-out&rdquo; testing systems being tried in Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi.&rdquo; 
 
(Source: Washington Post, 9 October) 
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New Technical Support Publication by the GTZ BACKUP Initiative
The German GTZ BACKUP Initiative has published a guide on where technical support for capacity development of Global Fund recipients is most needed, who is able to provide it, and how to make best use of it. 
 
The guide, entitled &quot;Accelerating action: A technical support guide to develop capacity and to benefit from global health financing,&quot; is intended for use by professionals working on HIV, TB and malaria projects that are financed by the Global Fund, World Bank, and other such mechanisms. The publication is available at <a href="http://www.gtz.de/backup-initiative">www.gtz.de/backup-initiative</a>. 
 
(Source: gtz website) 
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Botswana Continues Anti-AIDS Efforts
As far back as 2001, at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly, President Festus Mogae stated that his nation was threatened with extinction. Almost 40% of the population were infected with the virus and people were dying at a chillingly high rate. 
 
A year later, Botswana became the first country on the continent to provide antiretroviral drugs free of charge. 270,000 people are infected. Today, over 90,000 patients are receiving treatment. This is close to the figure of all of those infected for whom treatment is medically indicated. 
 
While Botswana, with an adult prevalence rate of 24%, is still among the most affected countries, the trend has been downward for many years. A programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been expanded; voluntary counselling and testing is encouraged as a critical entry point for all HIV/AIDS response programmes. 
 
Botswana now channels most of the international assistance it is receiving into prevention efforts. 
 
(Source: VOA, 9 October) 
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 30 and 31 of 1 and 15 October) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports, among others, on its World AIDS Day Campaign for which a 16-page brochure was produced with guidelines for campaign activities. 
 
In September the ITF organised a planning workshop in Kolkata to extend its project in South Asia for another three years beyond the end of 2007. South Asia is facing a fast growing pandemic. 
 
In its most recent newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) introduced its new World AIDS Day Initiative called &ldquo;One Hour on AIDS&rdquo;. Learners around the world will benefit from lessons on AIDS on the same day, 30 November. EI is putting together a kit specially designed for teachers - <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>.

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