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<img height="39" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" />
A 14-day tyre strike by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Lastik-İş in Turkey ended Friday night, 13 June, and workers at three multinational rubber companies were back on their jobs for the afternoon shift on 14 June. 
 
The strike ended when a two-year accord was reached between the union and the three employers, who jointly represent the tyre industry in talks. The companies include Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, and Pirelli.
<img height="120" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="120" />
The 13 June bargaining was the first set of negotiations since the strike began on 31 May. Talks first began on a renewal labour agreement for 2008-2009 at the four tyre factories in September 2007. 
 
The two sides agreed to a 14% pay increase for the year 2008, and an increase equaling the Turkish rate of inflation for 2009. In 2007, the Turkish rate of inflation was 8.39% and is expected to rise above that this year. Lastik-İş had sought a 12% wage hike for the first six months of 2008, with increases matching the inflation rate in each six-month period through 2009. 
 
All levels of social benefits will also increase by the inflation rate over the life of the labour agreement. The ICEM considers the 2008-2009 Turkish rubber agreement a major achievement, considering wage and social benefit gains were stymied in the late 1990s and early years of this decade due to strike bans imposed by the Turkish government.
<img height="158" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0805Turkey3.jpg" width="160" />
Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t make any concessions, we preserved our contractual and work-rule provisions, and we posted substantial economic gains,&rdquo; stated Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. &ldquo;The decisiveness of our union members at these four factories was effective and ultimately proved successful in bargaining.&rdquo; 
 
The four tyre plants, which saw workers return to work at 16h00 on 14 June, include: two of US-based Goodyear in Izmit and Adapazari, and one each operated by Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, a joint venture between Japan-based Bridgestone and the Turkish Sabanci Group, and by Italian-based Pirelli. Both of the latter two are located in the city of Izmit.

Turkey’s 14-Day Rubber Strike Ends with 14% First year Wage Gain

<img height="39" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" />
Tensions are mounting with ICEM Nigerian affiliate PENGASSAN against Royal Dutch Shell&rsquo;s holdings in the country. Shell Petroleum Development Co. Ltd. (SPDC) is embarking on major retrenchments in its upstream sector, by merging four oil and gas businesses into a single entity. 
 
PENGASSAN, the senior staff union in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas sector, has threatened to strike Shell&rsquo;s operations if the company continues to ignore labour law and undermine the union&rsquo;s collective agreement regarding social dialogue over redundancies. Shell is a 45% partner with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) in the various operations, but serves as operating partner. 
 
The controversy arises out of Shell&rsquo;s desire to lop 2,000 of 7,000 white-collar jobs without national level dialogue, as well as demanding that workers re-apply for their jobs in the consolidated company. 
 
According to PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile, the company is selectively targeting for layoff union members who are close to full retirement, but not fully there.
<img height="180" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0805BayoOlowPenGS.jpg" width="120" />
PENGASSAN Gen. Sec. Bayo Olosohile
To qualify for full pensions, a senior staff member must be at least 45 years of age and have 15 years of service. 
 
&ldquo;We maintain that these retrenchments, first and foremost, must be voluntary and elective,&rdquo; said Olowoshile, adding that 1,000 workers have expressed interest in redundancy packages. &ldquo;But we also question why Shell has only targeted the middle and lower ranks for retrenchment, while whole levels of top managers are unaffected.&rdquo; 
 
Olowoshile said Shell has pierced the integrity of the national collective agreement, as well as the union&rsquo;s constitution, by addressing the redundancies at branch level, rather than with PENGASSAN&rsquo;s national secretariat. 
 
Olowoshile also said Shell is creating discord in the communities of Nigeria&rsquo;s oil patch. &ldquo;Local citizens are becoming disoriented because they feel that Shell has now taken steps that will curtail job opportunities.&rdquo; 
 
In a 4 June letter to SPDC that gave notice of possible industrial action, the union calls the company&rsquo;s retrenchment exercise &ldquo;insensitive to the public and national interest.&rdquo; In February, Nigeria&rsquo;s National Assembly called for a halt to SPDC&rsquo;s unilateral decision to retrench. And more recently, the NNPC has come on record, stating only those who have reached the retirement age, or who volunteer to be made redundant, should leave.
<img height="60" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/NigeriaFlag.gif" width="120" border="1" />
PENGASSAN awaits a SPDC&rsquo;s response and a meeting with union leaders on the national level. The SPDC concern is a major issue before the union&rsquo;s five-day Strategy Planning Synergies Conference, meetings involving the union&rsquo;s 80-member Central Working Committee, which begins today in Ogun State. 
 
Meanwhile, a PENGASSAN threat of strike against US-based Chevron&rsquo;s upstream operations has diminished, following dialogue last week that relieved some of the serious safety concerns plaguing workers. And regarding Chevron downstream operations in Nigeria, the union is continuing to meet with Nigerian equity partners to obtain the 60% stake that the American company is selling.

Nigeria’s PENGASSAN Threatens Strike Action Against Shell over Unilateral Job Cuts

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A 14-day tyre strike by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Lastik-İş in Turkey ended Friday night, 13 June, and workers at three multinational rubber companies were back on their jobs for the afternoon shift on 14 June. 
 
The strike ended when a two-year accord was reached between the union and the three employers, who jointly represent the tyre industry in talks. The companies include Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, and Pirelli.
The bargaining on 13 June&nbsp;was the first set of negotiations since the strike began on 31 May. Talks first began on a renewal labour agreement for 2008-2009 for the four&nbsp;tyre factories in September 2007. 
 
The two sides agreed to a 14% pay increase for the year 2008, and an increase equaling the Turkish rate of inflation for 2009. In 2007, the Turkish rate of inflation was 8.39% and is expected to rise above that this year. Lastik-İş had sought a 12% wage hike for the first six months of 2008, with increases matching the inflation rate in each six-month period through 2009. 
 
All levels of social benefits will also increase by the inflation rate over the life of the labour agreement. The ICEM, the Global Union Federation covering the chemicals, rubber, plastics, and pharmaceutical sectors, considers the 2008-2009 Turkish rubber agreement a major achievement, considering wage and social benefit gains were stymied in the late 1990s and early years of this decade due to strike bans imposed by the Turkish government.
<img height="178" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0805Turkey3.jpg" width="180" />
&nbsp;Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan 
 

&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t make any concessions, we preserved our contractual and work-rule provisions, and we posted substantial economic gains,&rdquo; stated Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. &ldquo;The decisiveness of our union members at these four factories was effective and ultimately proved successful in bargaining.&rdquo; 
 
The four tyre plants, which saw workers return to work at 16h00 on 14 June, include two of&nbsp;US-based Goodyear&nbsp;in Izmit and Adapazari, and one operated by Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, a joint venture between Japan-based Bridgestone and the Turkish Sabanci Group, and the other owned by&nbsp;Italian-based Pirelli. Both&nbsp;the Bridgestone&nbsp;and Pirelli plants&nbsp;are located&nbsp;in Izmit.

&nbsp;
June 9,&nbsp;2008 
 
 
Viktor Turmanov 
President 
Coal Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU) 
117 Posysheva Street 
83000 Donestsk 
UKRAINE 
 
Dear Brother Turmanov, 
 
It was with great sadness that the ICEM learned this morning of the major explosion at the state-owned mine near Yenakiyevo in the central Donbass region of the Ukraine yesterday. We understand that the miners endangered are members of your proud Trade Union, and I write to offer the ICEM&rsquo;s condolences for those who have died, and our greatest hope that rescue efforts will succeed for those who still might be alive inside the mine. 
 
We understand that this particular mine is a low-yielding producer of coal, thus we question why the government even had the mine in operation. Certainly any mining operation that produces coal in Ukraine should and must have the proper methane detection devices and other modern safety equipment in place, and we wonder if this was the case of the mine near Yenakiyevo. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation for the Mining and Energy sectors, stands behind PRUPA in calling on the new Minister of Coal and other Ukrainian authorities to conduct a full investigation into this tragedy. 
 
Please pass our sincerest condolences to the families of the miners who perished, and know that the ICEM stands with our affiliated Trade Union PRUPU in demanding safe and secure workplaces inside the Ukrainian mining industry. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter To Ukrainian PRUPU Union on 8 June Mine Tragedy

The ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers in the Mining and Energy sectors, has expressed deep concern over the mine tragedy in the central Donbass region of the Ukraine that occurred yesterday. The Geneva-based federation of trade unions understands the Karl Marx mine near Yenakiyevo to be a low producer of coal and questions whether necessary safety and methane-detection equipment were in place at the time of the blast. 
 
The ICEM has reached out to one of its mining union affilates in the country, the Coal Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), whose members work this particularly mine. The mine produces a low-yield tonnage of coal each day and has a steep gradient of coal veins, which could enhance safety risks if proper safeguards are not met. 
 
&ldquo;We understand this particular mine is barely economically viable, and we question why this mine was even operating,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Certainly any mining operation that produces coal in Ukraine should and must have proper methane detection devices and other modern safety equipment in place,&rdquo; he added.
<img height="115" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Ukraine.png" width="250" />
This is the second major mine tragedy to have occurred in the Ukraine in the past seven months, and the ICEM calls on the government of the country to take immediate steps toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
In the ICEM letter to PRUPU today, the Global Union Federation expressed condolences to the families of miners who have died and extended &ldquo;our greatest hope that rescue efforts will succeed for those who might still be alive inside the mine. 
 
&ldquo;The 20-million-member ICEM stands behind PRUPU in calling on the new Minister of Coal and other Ukrainian authorities to conduct a full investigation of this tragedy.&rdquo; 
 
The Geneva-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) represents, on a global level, 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, including some 125 national unions in the mining sector.

ICEM Expresses Concern over Latest Ukrainian Coal Mine Blast

In this issue the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin gives information on the procedure leading to the ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. It also takes up the International AIDS Conference, to be held in Mexico City in August.
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The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already 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 hiv.aids@icem.org. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome.
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
ILO Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work 
 
In March 2007, the Governing Body of the ILO decided to place on the agenda of the International Labour Conferences for 2009 and 2010 an item intended for &ldquo;the development of an autonomous Recommendation on HIV and AIDS in the world of work.&rdquo; 
 
The ILO has begun work towards the adoption of a Recommendation in 2010. Under the Constitution and Standing Orders, five reports have to be prepared within specific time limits, with each report to contain specific information. The first report, called a &ldquo;Law and Practice Report,&rdquo; provides an overview of national and international measures taken with respect to HIV/AIDS. This report was published and sent to governments in January 2008. 
 
The Law and Practice Report, which is available at <a href="http://www.ilo.org/aids">www.ilo.org/aids</a>, also contains a questionnaire to which governments, in consultation with employers&rsquo; and workers&rsquo; organisations, are to provide replies to the ILO by the end of July 2008. Consultation usually occurs through national trade union centres. 
The ICEM calls on its affiliates to get fully involved in this process and make sure that substantive replies, with comments which reflect the views of workers, are provided in time. It is only in this way that the second report, which will be prepared by the ILO on the basis of the replies received, reflects the views of workers and their unions. It is worth noting that workers&rsquo; organisations may also provide their comments directly to the ILO. 
(The item above appeared already in the May issue of the e-bulletin. Because of the importance of the campaign, it is repeated here) 

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17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, 3 &ndash; 8 August 
 
The International AIDS Conference (IAC), organised by the Geneva-based International AIDS Society, takes place every two years. The last one was organised in Toronto in August 2006. The Conference is the largest meeting on HIV/AIDS worldwide. Some 25,000 scientists, politicians and activists are expected to participate in the event. This year&rsquo;s IAC is first ever held in Latin America. 
 
Conference organisers are developing a wide variety of plenary sessions around the theme, &ldquo;Universal Action Now.&rdquo; In addition to these sessions there are satellite meetings, exhibitions, and the Global Village. 
 
It is important that union HIV/AIDS activists participate in this event so that labour&rsquo;s voice is heard. In Toronto, the labour movement was well represented, highlighting the impact of HIV and AIDS on the workplace and emphasising the role of workers&rsquo; organisations in fighting the pandemic. 
 
As in Toronto, the Conference in Mexico will be preceded by a Labour AIDS Forum organised by the Global Union AIDS Programme. The Labour Forum will prepare union representatives for their role in the IAC and will deal with topics such as the challenges at the workplace and raising resources at national level. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Botswana Mine Company Launches HIV Survey 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Botswana Mine Workers' Union (BMWU) is involved in an HIV prevalence survey launched by BLC mine to determine whether current prevention efforts are effective. 
 
The exercise will enable the company to have data on the size and distribution of the epidemic among its workforce, and also to help management assess the dynamic and growth of the epidemic since the last survey in 2003. It will also enable BCL to re-plan its interventions, including resource mobilisation for the programmes if the outcome indicates that the current prevention efforts have been ineffective. 
 
The survey of all employees is an anonymous exercise and is not a substitute to voluntary counselling and testing. 
 
(Source: Africa News, 29 May from The Reporter, Botswana) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
South African Military AIDS Policy Faces Court Challenge 
 
The South African military's blanket exclusions of HIV positive members is not medically justified and ignores government policy. A lawyer for the South African Security Forces Union, which is attempting to force the military to review its HIV/AIDS policy, said the army had failed to implement its own and the government's policies. 
 
&quot;The HIV policy adopted by the cabinet in relation to the military and the Department of Defence is not consistent with the policy implemented by the SANDF (South African National Defence Forces),&quot; lawyer Gilbert Marcus told a hearing at the high court in Pretoria. &quot;The cabinet has adopted a policy that HIV status should not exclude candidates from appointments to the SANDF, although it may preclude their appointment to positions that require extreme physical fitness.&quot; 
 
President Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang are respondents, alongside the military. 
 
According to Marcus, the SANDF has admitted that some 23 percent of its members are HIV positive. &quot;It is simply impossible at this stage to have an HIV-free defence force. The question is how we accommodate this.&quot; 
 
(Source: Pretoria News, 15 May) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
PEPFAR Re-authorisation 
 
Treatment clients from free clinics run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in South Africa, Botswana, and Rwanda lobbied US legislators to ensure that access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment remains a key component of PEPFAR. 
 
The PEPFAR legislation, which is up for re-authorisation by the US Congress, currently requires that a minimum of 55% of funds be spent on treatment, a provision that has been completely removed from the re-authorisation bill. The group also calls for a significant increase in PEPFAR's treatment goals &ndash; up only 50% in the re-authorisation despite a 330% increase in overall PEPFAR funding. 
 
PEPFAR was the result of the 2003 State of the Union pledge to bring two million HIV positive Africans and others into treatment and prevent seven million new HIV infections via a five-year, $15 billion US-funded program. It currently operates in 15 focus countries and claims to support antiretroviral treatment for 1.4 million people worldwide. 
 
(Source: Africa News, 10 May) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
The World Bank&rsquo;s Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS 
 
A World Bank report says African countries must continue to champion HIV prevention efforts to slow and reverse the rate of new infections. According to the report &ldquo;The World Bank&rsquo;s Commitment to HIV/AIDS in Africa: Our Agenda for Action, 2007-2011,&rdquo; for every infected person starting antiretroviral treatment, another four to six become newly infected, even as regional figures show falling prevalence in some countries. 
 
&ldquo;With AIDS the largest single cause of premature death in Africa, we can&rsquo;t talk about better, lasting development there without also committing to stay the course in the long-term fight against the disease,&rdquo; said Elizabeth Lule, Manager of the Bank&rsquo;s AIDS Team for Africa (ACTafrica). 
 
With this new Agenda for Action, the Bank is moving away from its initial &ldquo;emergency response.&rdquo; It would commit at least US$250 million a year over the five-year period for HIV/AIDS initiatives built on strategic objectives. It will also establish a grant incentive fund of US$5 million annually to promote capacity building, analysis, and HIV/AIDS project components in key sectors. 
 
(Source: World Bank Press Release, 14 May) 
 
Comment by the editor of the e-bulletin: 
While this long-term commitment is laudable, it is surprising that after the Global Union/World Bank consultations on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa in Washington in December 2007, workers&rsquo; organisations or trade unions are not even mentioned among the organisations which were consulted in devising this new strategy. It is also surprising that the World Bank stresses the importance of providing people with integrated health services when its policies over years have helped to dismantle public health systems. 
 
Following the consultations last December, the ICEM is pursuing a selective approach, in the sectors it represents, to get its affiliates involved in projects financed by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. The objective is to devise effective workplace activities and capacity building for unions. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
ILO Says Caribbean Making Progress on AIDS in Workplace 
 
The &quot;Saving Lives, Protecting jobs&quot; report (see e-bulletin no. 32, May 2008) indicates that 70 enterprises in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago have implemented policies and HIV/AIDS education programmes to promote responsible sexual behaviour, and reduce the level of discrimination faced by people living with the disease. 
 
The report shows a 34% increase in awareness about HIV/AIDS services on the job among workers in the tourism, manufacturing, banking, and finance sectors, as well as taxi drivers. Guyana's largest employer, the Guyana Sugar Company, has been lauded for sustaining the initiatives it implemented five years ago.
It has adopted an HIV/AIDS workplace policy and offers HIV services to workers and managers. An official of the Guyana Trade Union Congress said that 78% of partnering enterprises in Guyana have allocated official working hours to HIV/AIDS education during the last six months. 
 
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were also praised for their efforts to target members of the informal economy. The governments of both countries have adopted national policies on HIV/AIDS and recently Trinidad and Tobago took it a step further by launching a National Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS. 
 
The ILO report, however, pointed out that despite the progress being made in some countries, the region continues to grapple with rising levels of infection, even as treatment reaches more people. The Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world, after Sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
(Source: Caribbean Media Corporation website, Bridgetown, 21 May) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
Commentary: Dropping the Ball 
(The following is an abbreviated version of an article which appeared in the Global Fund Observer No. 87, 17 April 2008. It was written by Wycliffe Muga, a Kenyan journalist who is the BBC World Service&rsquo;s &ldquo;Letter from Africa&rdquo; correspondent) 
 
If you stopped an ordinary man in the street here in Kenya and told him that there is a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria which gives money to help Kenya fight the three diseases, he would probably be pleasantly surprised. For not many people here have any idea that such a fund exists. 
 
And if you then told him that at present, Kenya is only receiving about half of the money it could receive from this fund &ndash; not because the money is being diverted to private bank accounts, but because the people charged with preparing proposals and submitting them to the Fund have been unable to come up with proposals which are acceptable &ndash; the likely response would be one of outrage. 
 
In a country where far too many people die of the diseases which this money is intended to fight, anything less than a perfect proposal prepared well in advance would seem like criminal negligence. 
 
For each of Rounds 1 through 6, the Global Fund's announcing of its &ldquo;Call for Proposals&rdquo; led to a flurry of activity in most developing countries: CCMs met, task teams were put together and consultants were sought. As the deadline for proposal submission got closer, people got more and more frantic. 
It was largely because of this &ldquo;controlled chaos&rdquo; that the Fund agreed two years ago that the Call for Proposals will always be on March 1. Thus, people know months beforehand when the Call will be issued. The idea is to enable CCMs to spend those extra months planning what their forthcoming proposals will focus on and seeking technical support. 
 
So it came as a real surprise when one month AFTER this year's Call for Proposals, rather than two months BEFORE it, UNAIDS headquarters sent out an email to UNAIDS offices around the world, instructing them to take action supporting CCMs as they prepare their proposals and seek technical support. 
 
This was not some unexpected deadline which was arbitrarily imposed on the CCMs. It is a deadline that comes around every year, on a date that is known well in advance. How can it possibly be justified that this great effort is being made this late in the day? 
 
Everybody dropped the ball here &ndash; the civil society groups that pressured UNAIDS to take action, but didn't do so until well after the Call for Proposals; UNAIDS itself, for not getting moving on this until it was pushed by the civil society groups; and those many CCMs that delayed strategizing regarding their Global Fund applications until months later than they should. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Aids20ribbon.jpg" width="25" />
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions 
 
The Global Union AIDS Programme is organising an HIV/AIDS African Regional Consultative and Planning Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 12-13 June. The ICEM will be represented by Project Management Assistant Paula Ndessomin. 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS Update (No. 42 of 1 May 2008), the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) gives a detailed analysis on travel restrictions against people living with HIV. The creation of an International Task Team is a critical opportunity to move towards the elimination of all travel restrictions against HIV-positive people.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

<img height="39" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" />
Twenty delegates from ten nations attended meetings in early May in Lom&eacute;, Togo, intended to lay the groundwork for dissolution of the former World Federation of Industry Workers&rsquo; (WFIW&rsquo;s) Pan African Federation of Industry Workers into the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Region. 
 
Resolutions were passed to that effect, and full integration of the two regional structures will occur at next week&rsquo;s ICEM regional meeting in Accra, Ghana. The meeting was attended by Italo Rodomonti, former WFIW General Secretary and ICEM Vice President, and Rayford Mbulu, ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Region Chairman, who also is President of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia.
<img height="110" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Togo.png" width="240" alt="" />
Togo&nbsp;
Among some of the resolutions passed includes a recommendation to establish networks within the ICEM region to counter the power of multinationals, and one asking the ICEM region to encourage synergy within countries between former WFIW trade unions and ICEM affiliates. Also, a recommendation was passed requesting observer status for the former WFIW regional unions on the ICEM&rsquo;s Presidium, Executive Committee, and Sub-Saharan African Regional Women&rsquo;s Committee. 
 
Former WFIW delegates attending the meetings came from Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leon, Morocco, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Rodomonti from Belgium and Jan Voets from ACV Hout en Bouw, also 
of Belgium.

Structure of Former WFIW Absorbed Into ICEM’s Sub-Saharan Africa Region

<img height="39" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" />
Zonguldak is the capital of Turkey&rsquo;s hard coal region, an area in the West Black Sea region of the country. First production of coal was in 1848, after the mineral was first discovered by a soldier named Uzun Memet in 1845. 
And it was there, on 26-28 May, in which ICEM affiliate Genel Maden-İş co-hosted the 16th National Coal Congress of Turkey, called by union President Ramazan Denizer of the Zonguldak Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (Genel Maden-İş). ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda delivered the opening address. 
 
The Congress was also hosted by the Zonguldak Branch of the Mining Engineers Chamber, a 10,000-member organisation of mine technicians and engineers. The Zonguldak Branch numbers 1,200 engineers.
<img height="200" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0805Turkey2.jpg" width="300" alt="" />
Manfred Warda Speaking at the Turkey's Hard Coal Conference
Warda gave a detailed presentation on recent developments in the global coal industry, and presented conclusions from the late 2007 International Coal Mining Conference in Calcutta, India. The underlying fact, he said, is that while energy prices continue to increase, the demand for hard coal escalates. 
 
&ldquo;Subsidies for coal mines must be a joint decision by governments and by tax-payers as insurance against a future downturn,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;Without secure domestic coal production, we cannot secure our future energy supplies, and the security of our jobs and the industry.&rdquo; 
 
Warda then announced that the ICEM is in full support of 5,000-member Genel Maden-İş&rsquo;s position for more jobs in the growing production pits of Zonguldak. In the 1960s, 65,000 miners worked in the area. Today, that employment figure is 10,000. 
 
Turkey&rsquo;s hard coal production is 20 million tonnes per year, with 5.5 million tonnes used in domestic steel production.
<img height="173" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0805Turkey1.jpg" width="260" alt="" />
At grave of Semsi Denizer (At right, Maden-Is President Ramazan Denizer, younger brother of Comrade Semsi Denizer)
The ICEM General Secretary&rsquo;s visit drew large press attention, with Warda doing a live television broadcast. The visit also was personal for him, because he was present in Zonguldak in 1991 during a mass strike and protest march conducted by Genel Maden-İş. The ICEM leader visited the grave of strike leader Semsi Denizer, as well as to a memorial erected on behalf of the 4,500 miners who have perished in the region&rsquo;s mine pits.

ICEM Forefront at Turkey&#039;s Hard Coal Conference

<img height="39" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" />
A statement distributed at the US shareholders&rsquo; meetings of ExxonMobil and Chevron by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), representing 30,000 workers at some ten oil and related enterprises connected to the Southern Oil Co., demands that the multinationals cease their lobbying efforts for an ill-advised Hydrocarbons Law in the Middle East nation. 
 
The IFOU also called on the world to support passage of a new Labour and Social Security Law in Iraq, and for the world community to press for repeal of two draconian decrees inside Iraq. The 1987 Public Law No. 150, a Saddam-era decree still enforced by the occupational forces, prohibits workers employed in the public sector, including ICEM sectors oil, gas, and electric generation and distribution, from joining or forming unions. 
 
And the occupation&rsquo;s own Decree No. 8750 severely limits trade unionism in Iraq by prohibiting trade unions from holding funds, and denies unions the legitimate right to collect dues and maintain assets.
<img height="266" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/0801hassanJumaa.jpg" width="200" />
IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad 
In the statement, IFOU President Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad said: 
 
&ldquo;The Ba&rsquo;athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect and continues to be enforced against us. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted, and assassinated. Our rights as workers are routinely violated. This is an attack on our rights and the basic precepts of a democratic society. It is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.&rdquo; 
 
In a four-point demand, IFOU seeks withdrawal of all foreign troops; passage of the Labour and Social Security law; an end to meddling in Iraq&rsquo;s economic affairs by the US, UK, International Monetary Fund, and energy multinationals; and an end to efforts to pass the oil law, a measure that will pour further profits into the pockets of oil companies, while denying the Iraqi people the necessary funds to rebuild their country. 
 
The ICEM also believes the Iraqi people are the ones who should decide and control their oil resources and revenues.
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In a mid-May letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) also called for passage of the 2006 draft labour law, which was drafted with the assistance of the ILO. ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder said the Iraqi government must allow for a pluralistic trade union framework, and said the proposed law is consistent with core global labour standards.

Iraqi Oil Union Makes Case at Shareholders’ Meet of Two US Supermajors

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At its bi-annual Congress last month, ICEM affiliate Paper &amp; Printing Federation of Thailand (PPFT) elected Amnuay Iemraksa as President of the 6,000-member union. She is the strong and energetic local branch leader at a Kimberly Clark mill in Pathumtahni and is the first woman to lead PPFT, which has members in many paper and paper-related companies across Thailand. 
 
Elected Secretary-General of PPFT was Witaya Inwan, a leader at Rank Group&rsquo;s SIG Combibloc, who played a vital role last year in the reinstatement of Thaneth Jhanluechai at that packaging plant in the Rayong industrial area.
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PPFT's Witaya Inwan and Amnuay Iemraksa
The two are joined on the union&rsquo;s Executive Committee by Sommai Saranjit, another woman who is the leader of a plant-level union at Norske Skog&rsquo;s Singburi Newsprint Mill in Amphur Muang. She led a very successful set of talks at that mill late in 2007, in which Norske Skog management agreed to prohibit all contract labour in production, while limiting only specialized contractors in the performance of maintenance work. 
 
They are joined on the committee by brothers and sisters from the English-speaking newspaper, the Bangkok Post. They include Sister Jarinporn Niyom, and Brothers Worachit Jangsrisook and Prajak Krongsri.
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&nbsp; 
Elected the plant-level President at the Kimberly Clark mill in 2006, Amnuay Iemraksa led a highly successful set of negotiations there a year ago at a primary mill, which produces 135,000 tonnes of paper per year. Those talks gained rights for contract workers to be made permanent when regularized workers retire. She said her main goal as leader of PPFT is to organise more workplaces into the PPFT, to forge greater unity among the plant-level unions of the union, and to win rights for contract and agency workers.

Paper, Printing Federation of Thailand Elects New Activists; Focus Begins on Organising, Contract Wo

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