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Hundreds of thousands of Australian workers will take to the streets 15 November to protest the Howard government&rsquo;s proposed reforms to industrial relations, reforms that are expected to be tabled in Parliament by late October. Called a National Day of Community Protest, the event is being coordinated by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and will feature a satellite link-up to hundreds of locations across Australia spelling out the loss of workers&rsquo; rights if the reforms are adopted. The nationwide Union Meeting, as it is billed, is expected to become a one-day national strike against the union-smashing measures being put forward by Prime Minister John Howard following the Conservatives new majority in the Parliament&rsquo;s Senate.

Australians to Protest Labour Reform 15 November

This is the first issue of the e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS. The e-bulletin will be a regular feature in the ICEM&rsquo;s information strategy on the pandemic. Emphasis will be on workplace issues. It contains news on international governmental organisation such as the ILO and its Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS &ndash; UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation &ndash; WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The e-bulletin features news from the ICEM and other Global Unions as well as business organisations. It also gives links to useful websites and materials for union activists who want to deepen their knowledge and broaden their activities to fight HIV/AIDS. 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of activities, some have formal agreements with companies; others run education and awareness programmes at the workplace. To spread the information on new agreements and campaigns and to build on best practices 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. 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an e-mail to press@icem.org. Please put &lsquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rsquo; 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 http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr or http://www.google.com/language_tools. 
 
 
Revised Statoil Global Agreement Contains HIV/AIDS Clause 
 
The ICEM and its affiliate NOPEF renewed the Global Agreement with the Norwegian gas and oil producer Statoil. The agreement, which was ICEM&rsquo;s first when signed in 1998 and has since been reviewed and renewed twice, now contains a clause on HIV/AIDS. The clause stipulates that &ldquo;the company provides a clear and supportive policy on HIV/AIDS and that this policy is effectively implemented throughout Statoil&rsquo;s operations.&rdquo; 
 
In the upcoming review of other Global Agreements and in new agreements, the ICEM will strive to include a clause on HIV/AIDS. 
 
 
Crucial Role of Business Fighting HIV/AIDS 
 
In an interview with Newsweek former US ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who is the CEO of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, stressed the vital role of workplace interventions in the prevention and treatment of the disease. He stated that 95% of all the people in the world who are HIV-positive don&rsquo;t know it and are therefore spreading the virus for the seven or eight years it lies without any symptoms in a person&rsquo;s body. Without voluntary but highly encouraged testing and prevention, the amounts spent on treatment will be a bottomless pit. Companies have to get heavily engaged in prevention and treatment. 
 
While he conceded that Africa is at the heart of the problem, he emphasised that it is not just an African disease. The fastest growing rates of the disease are in countries such as Russia, the Ukraine and India, which because of its large population has the first or second largest number of victims already although the prevalence rate is still low. 
 
The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS &ndash; www.businessfightsaids.org - has a wide range of case studies of the HIV/AIDS policies and interventions of its member companies. 
(Source: Newsweek, 15 August 2005) 
 
 
Global Fund Replenishment Meeting Falls Short of Target 
 
At the replenishment meeting in London at the beginning of September, government donors pledged USD 3.7 billion to the Global Fund. This commitment, which fell short of expectations, will be sufficient to pay for grant renewals during 2006 and 2007 after the two-year review period and also for the 2005 anticipated shortfall, but it will not cover the cost of any new rounds. The total needs, including cost of new rounds, had been estimated at USD 7 billion. It has to be said, however, that some countries could not yet commit themselves because of their budgetary cycles. Such late pledges and a further replenishment meeting in June 2006 might still bring the commitments to a level to allow for another round of financing. With a commitment of USD 600 million so far the US is well below its target of contributing one third of total funds committed. 
 
The relatively low level of support raises questions about the G8 commitment in July to place on antiretroviral treatment by 2010 all HIV patients who need it. In June the WHO reported that one million people received ARV treatment. The target of 3 million people on ART by the end of this year, the 3 by 5 Initiative of the WHO, is unlikely to be reached. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Newsletter, Issue 50 of 7 September 2005) 
The GFO is an independent source of news, analysis and commentary about the Global Fund. The Newsletter is provided free of charge; to receive it send an email to receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org. 
 
 
Mozambique/South Africa: Catastrophic AIDS Death Toll Among Miners 
 
The level of mortality from AIDS among Mozambican miners in South Africa has reached catastrophic levels, according to the Mozambican Deputy Labour Minister. In the last four years at least 2,500 Mozambican miners had died of AIDS. This figure almost certainly understates the true mortality, since it only includes known cases of the disease. There are currently about 46,000 Mozambicans working in South African mines. The article states that some South African mining companies have adopted discriminatory practices, immediately repatriating miners when they are known to have been infected. Miners who suffer this fate die in Mozambique and are thus not included in the South African figures. 
(Source: www.allafrica.com from Agencia de Informa&ccedil;ao de Mo&ccedil;ambique, 13 September 2005) 
 
 
ILOAIDS Website 
 
Visit the website of ILOAIDS, which was re-designed in the course of the year. 
www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/index.htm. 
New features include a step-by-step guide to workplace action, a registration facility to keep you informed of events and new materials and a 24-hour news service focusing specifically on HIV/AIDS in the world of work. You can also find the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and World of Work in some 20 languages.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 1

In the 1990s, the ICEM led the global labour movement by innovative use of the early Internet for instant and effective solidarity. The Wall Street Journal, in a front page 1999 article, said the ICEM &ldquo;is changing the face of traditional labor protests by moving strikes, pickets and other union actions into cyberspace.&rdquo; A mining house spokesman admitted in the same article it was the advent of labour activists &ldquo;trying to globalize via the Internet.&rdquo; 
<img height="86" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/icem-logo.jpg" width="100" alt="" />
The 20-million-member Global Union Federation launched a new and improved website this past weekend, effectively and seamlessly tying together countless struggles, issues, and worker-related facts on all things relevant in the ICEM&rsquo;s six major industrial sectors as well as the world of labour with a new website that replaces the global labour movement&rsquo;s initial, trend-setting static website. 
 
The new site maintains the same address as the old: http://www.icem.org, and visitors are welcome to explore the ICEM&rsquo;s topical website. 
 
The site provides information in ICEM&rsquo;s seven statutory languages&mdash;English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish and Russian. 
 
&ldquo;We are proud to present our affiliates, firstly, with a practical and useful website as an aid to built strong trade union structures,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;The new website takes full advantage of the most modern communication technologies to support and advance our work with our affiliates.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM website contains a wealth of materials and documents on current ICEM projects and campaigns such as Contract and Agency Labour, HIV/AIDS relief, Gender Issues, Health/Safety and Sustainable Development, Global Framework Agreements and Global Union Networks. In easily accessible archives are all ICEM News Releases, InBrief newsletters, Circulars (direct action calls), and other ICEM documents and information from past events. All materials are indexed by ICEM regions and major industrial sectors, and by individual country as well. 
 
ICEM sectors: Energy including Oil, Gas and Nuclear; Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals; Mining/Diamonds and Gems; Pulp and Paper; Rubber; and Materials, which includes Glass, Ceramics and Cement. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s website design is compatible with the many and varied web browsers available. This means the site can also be read on small-screen and mobile information technology. Conversely, the website has been deliberately designed to allow easy access and easy download for the many workers of the world in regions where only slow internet service exists. 
 
The ICEM, based in Brussels, has 420 affiliated trade unions in 125 countries.

ICEM Introduces New, Advanced Website

Contents: 
 
1. Algeria - Drop-in Assistance Center for Sexual Harassment Victims 
2. Bayer Honored as Top Company for Working Mothers 
3. Women Expose Rapes by Military Regime 
4. Colombia - Message from Beatriz Chinchilla 
5. FNV Netherlands - Women and Development Project Evaluation Asia 
6. International Transport Federation ITF - Women's Conference 
7. Rwanda - Women's Leadership Spreads to Villages 
8. South Africa - New Equality Inspectors 
9. Spain - Workshop on Sharing Domestic Responsibilities 
10. United Nations Human Development Report 
11. UNIFEM - Progress of the World's Women 2005 
12. UN Division Dialogue on Violence Against Women 
13. United States - Women's Health Resources 
14. World Bank - Equity and Development 2006 
15. World March of Women 

1. Algeria - Drop-in Assistance Center for Sexual Harassment Victims 
 
The General Union of Algerian Workers, the country's largest labor body, has set up and funded a Drop-In Assistance Center for Female Sexual Harassment Victims. One of the goals of the institution is to break the silence around harassment, and another is to create a non-governmental organization which can tackle harassment more vigorously. However, relatively few of those who visit the center have taken the step of filing complaints against their aggressors. Women are afraid the crime is difficult to prove and they will end up losing their jobs and their livelihoods. In response to these difficulties the National Committee of Working Women and human rights groups have been conducting a campaign in recent months to convince women to take harassers to court.
 
2. Bayer Honored as Top Company for Working Mothers 
 
Bayer Corporation has been recognized by Working Mother magazine as one of 100 best companies in the United States for working mothers for the third time. Bayer was honored for its policies and programs in connection with childcare, culture, flexibility, parental leave, women's advancement, total compensation, work-life culture and family friendly programs. The complete list of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers is available on the magazine's site <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/mainstory.html">www.workingmother.com/mainstory.html</a> 
 
 
3. Burma - Women Expose Rapes by Military Regime 
 
Burmese female activists working to expose the military regime's systematic violence against women, including rape as a tool of counter-insurgency, won an international women's rights award from the Gruber Foundation. Women from the Shan Women's Action Network and the Women's League of Burma traveled to New York and Washington to raise awareness around the globe about human rights violations under the Burmese military dictatorship. In 2002 women in the activist network published the report License to Rape which detailed the incidents of rape since 1996 as part of the military's crackdown on ethnic dissidents. According to the report 83 percent of the rapes were committed by officers, and women who dared speak out were fined, detained, tortured or killed. Many women have fled the civil strife that embroils Burma and settled in neighboring countries. These groups have banded together in exile to help other survivors. Many initially joined student and ethnic organizations along Burma's borders in Thailand, India and Bangladesh. Later they started to focus on protecting female refugees and fighting to make women a respected part of the pro-democracy movement. Burma has kept Aung San Suu Kyi, a leading democratic opposition leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, under house arrest since she and her supporters were attacked by government-affiliated forces in 2003. She has been detained numerous times since 1990, when her party, the National League for Democracy, won 80 percent of parliamentary seats in the last elections held in Burma. 
 
 
4. Colombia - SINTRAELECOL Women's Committee - Message from Beatriz Chinchilla 
 
The national women's committee of SINTRAELECOL Colombia carried out the first regional meeting in the Atlantic coast region from 15 to 17 September, attended by 25 women from the electric power sector, mothers from the community, independent women and university workers, together with 5 men from other unions. The committee worked on free trade agreements, HIV/AIDS and work-related illnesses, gender and women's participation in politics, and social energy. 
 
 
5. FNV Netherlands - Women and Development Project Evaluation Asia 
 
FNV Netherlands has carried out extensive evaluation of its women and development projects with Asian trade unions. The report is available both in English and Spanish and can be requested from ICEM - ask <a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">carol.bruce@icem.org</a>. 
 
 
6. International Transport Federation ITF - Women's Conference. 
 
ICEM participated in the Women's Conference organized by the ITF on 22 and 23 September where the changing transport workforce in terms of gender and globalization was examined. The transport workforce is losing its character of male dominance in particular jobs, sometimes due to restructuring. In addition there are now less typical male operational transport jobs and more jobs that are in white-collar, technology-driven fields. In the ITF the fastest growing sector for women's jobs is road transport, although much of this employment is office-based. There are many overlaps between ICEM and ITF, including in the oil industry and more and more in logistics. ICEM and ITF have a strategic alliance in oil and gas. We will be working together on women in the oil industry and women offshore. 
 
 
7. Rwanda - Women's Leadership Spreads to Villages 
 
In Rwanda women hold nearly 49 percent of the seats in the lower house of parliament. Several women are cabinet members, including the minister of justice. A woman is deputy police chief and another heads the National Reconciliation Commission, which has been working to ease the country's deeply entrenched ethnic wariness lingering from genocide. Much of the women's rise in power is due to the absence of men. As a result of the conflict women outnumber men 7 to 1. Now as the country struggles to rebuild, political organizers are pushing for more women to take charge of local government in hopes of extending women's political gains into the future. Marte Sabre is head of the Rwandan Women's Caucus and runs country-wide workshops for women to teach lobbying and campaigning techniques as well as media relations. She says that while women are making strides in leadership, they still cope with maintaining family responsibilities and overcoming deeply ingrained gender stereotypes that keep men as head of the household. Domestic violence remains a real concern in Rwanda. Female politicians are aware of the importance of gender development for men. Before the genocide about 10 percent of women were literate. Now the figure is over 50 percent. The next step is to transform the numbers into real influence that will transform women's lives. Many women suffer the wounds of war, including rape and physical violence as well as the trauma of witnessing the deaths of family members. The spread of HIV/AIDS continues, with 13 percent of Rwandans infected, although many do not get tested. Life expectancy fell to 39 in 2003 from 45 in 1990. 
 
 
8. South Africa - New Equality Inspectors 
 
The South African Department of Labour is going to set up a roving team of inspectors to ensure compliance with the Employment Equity Act. The team should be in place by November. Inspectors are currently undergoing training and will undertake unannounced inspections on companies and government departments with an aim to ensuring compliance with legislation. The legislation requires employers with 50 or more employees to draw up equality plans, display them on notice boards, and discuss them with either workers or their representative trade unions. The team of inspectors will operate like a special task force. The Department has taken this step to improve enforcement of equity legislation. The Department has indicated that companies who fail to comply with the equity laws could be prevented from bidding for lucrative government contracts in the future. 
 
 
9. Spain - Workshop on Sharing Domestic Responsibilities 
 
The Pamplona local council will organize workshops for women and men geared to sharing domestic responsibilities. The point will be for women to learn to do the tasks generally done by men and vice versa. The women's workshop will include plumbing and heating, electricity, bricklaying and other domestic repairs. The men, on the other hand, will learn cooking and baking, cleaning and dishwashing, and mending clothes and ironing. The courses are free and open to 15 participants. 
 
 
10. United Nations Human Development Report 
 
The UN Development Programme UNDP released the 2005 Human Development Report on 6 September, a report well known for its human development index, a ranking of 177 countries on the basis of performance on health and education, in addition to per capita income. This year's report focuses on global aid, trade and security policies and their respective roles in lifting the world's poorest people out of poverty. It highlights the world's unfair trade practices which undermine the livelihoods of those who survive on less than 1 USD a day. Poverty is the obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Human Development Report can be downloaded from http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005 and is also available in other languages. 
 
 
11. UNIFEM - Progress of the World's Women 2005 
 
Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty makes the case for an increased focus on women's informal employment as a key pathway to reducing poverty and strengthening women's economic security. It provides the latest available data on the size and composition of the informal economy and compares national data on average earnings and poverty risk across different segments of the informal and formal workforces to show the links between employment, gender and poverty. It looks at the costs and benefits of informal work and their consequences for women's economic security. It also provides a strategic framework with good practice examples for how to promote decent work for women informal workers and shows why strong organizations of workers in the informal economy are vital to effective policy reforms. This should be a call to make poverty history. The report is available at www.unifem.org. 
 
 
12. UN Division Dialogue on Violence Against Women 
 
The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women is hosting a three-week online dialogue to combat violence against women. It will go until 14 October 2005. The online discussion is intended to provide a forum for activists around the world to feed into and help inform the UN work to combat violence. Visit the website to see reports from expert groups on data and statistics, good practice, consultations on key issues and action, a guidance for NGO inputs and the UN Secretary General's report, including the outline of the study. <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm">www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm</a>. 
 
 
13. United States - Women's Health 
 
The US Department of Health and Human Services publishes a newsletter on women's health which can be accessed at www.womenshealth.gov. It is also available in Spanish at www.womenshealth.gov/Spanish/ 
 
 
14. World Bank - Equity and Development 2006 
 
Inequality of opportunity, both within and among nations, sustains extreme deprivation, results in wasted human potential and often weakens prospects for overall prosperity and economic growth, concludes the 2006 World Development Report, the World Bank's annual publication. To correct this situation and reduce poverty more effectively, Equity and Development recommends ensuring more equitable access by the poor to health care, education, jobs, capital, and secure land rights, among others. It also calls for greater equality of access to political freedoms and political power, breaking down stereotyping and discrimination, and improving access by the poor to justice systems and infrastructure. For more information about this report see www.econ.worldbank.org/wdr. 
 
 
15. World March of Women 
 
The World March of Women has published a document critical of the Millennium Development Goals, providing a feminist vision of the 8 goals. It makes suggestions to improve the indicators and to really eliminate poverty as well as violence against women. See www.marchemondiale.org/en/index.html - which is also available in French and Spanish. 
 

<hr />
To add a colleague or a friend to this distribution list, send her or his e-mail address to carol.bruce@icem.org, mentioning &quot;Add to ICEM women's news list&quot; in the subject line. 
 
To unsubscribe from the ICEM news list, send an e-mail to carol.bruce@icem.org, mentioning &quot;Unsubscribe ICEM women's news list&quot; in the subject line.
&nbsp;

ICEM Women’s bulletin No. 5 – October 2005

Click <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GoodyaerAsia2005.ppt">here</a> for an ICEM Powerpoint presentation on the current world situation within the tyre market,&nbsp;the challenges for Goodyear and the regional problems for Goodyear in Asia.
&nbsp;

ICEM Powerpoint presentation on Goodyear world-wide and Goodyear in Asia

An emotional battle by paperworkers affiliated with Turkish union Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is in Izmit against the government of Turkey's plan to privatize a paper producer has gained the full support of the 20-million-member ICEM. Over 700 members of the ICEM-affiliated union together with family members have occupied the Izmit location of Turkish Cellulose and Paper Factories (SEKA) now since 20 January. 
<img height="364" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/seka1.JPG" width="228" />
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs 
at rally in Izmit 
The workers, buoyed by strong community support, are resisting an 8 November 2004 decree by Turkey's High Commission of Privatization that would essentially shut their factory. That closure met a temporary reprieve late in January when the Ninth Administrative Court in Ankara suspended the decree until the High Commission submits further arguments for privatization. 
 
In the meantime, the government has tried to diffuse the mass mobilization aimed at keeping the paper factory open by transferring 250 workers to another SEKA factory-a mill that has not operated in 22 months-and employing another 180 in Izmit for three to four months removing equipment. Turkish privatization law would then mandate SEKA to offer minimal pay to the other workers for a 10-month term as temporary workers. 
 
This is unacceptable to Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is, and to the ICEM. 
 
Speaking at a rally of workers and community supporters in Izmit on 10 February, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs sent a clear message to the Turkish government. &quot;Rather than investing in bribes to workers to give up their jobs and in unemployment costs, the government should make a relatively modest investment to make this company viably sound that will preserve the livelihoods of a loyal workforce.&quot; 
<img height="233" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/seka2.JPG" width="350" />
Affiliate Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is is receiving 
vast community support in Izmit to keep a paper mill open. 
The Turkish union believes an investment of US$5-6 million in SEKA would allow the company to produce various grades of paper making the company globally competitive. 
 
Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is is critical of the government for spending huge sums of money over the years on consultative fees to determine the exact valuation of SEKA rather that machine investment. Galvanized now by support from workers, their families and the Izmit community, the union is prepared to continue the plant occupation until the government rescinds the privatization decree.

Workers Resist Privatisation, Vow to Keep Paper Mill Open

<hr />

<img height="50" alt="" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/globalunions.gif" width="50" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The organisations below operate the joint web site 
Global Unions: 
<a href="http://www.global-unions.org">http://www.global-unions.org</a>.
<hr />
<a href="http://www.ei-ie.org">EI (Education International)</a> 
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5, 1210 Brussels, Belgium 
Tel: ++32-2-224.06.11 
Fax: ++32-2-224.06.06 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:Hheadoffice@ei-ie.org">headoffice@ei-ie.org</a>
&nbsp; 
<a href="http://www.bwint.org">BWI (Building and Wood Workers' International)</a> 
 
54, Route des Acacias, CH-1227 Carouge GE, Switzerland 
Tel: ++41-22-827.37.77 
Fax:++41-22-827.37.70 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:info@bwint.org">info@bwint.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.ifj.org">IFJ (International Federation of Journalists)</a> 
 
International Press Centre, Residence Palace, Bloc C 
155 Rue de la Loi, 1040 Brussels, Belgium 
Tel: ++32-2-235.22.00 
Fax: ++32-2-235.22.19 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:ifj@ifj.org">ifj@ifj.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.imfmetal.org">IMF (International Metalworkers' Federation)</a> 
 
54 bis, route des Acacias, Case Postale 1516, 1227 Geneva, Switzerland 
Tel: ++41-22-308.50.50 
Fax: ++41-22-308.50.55 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:info@imfmetal.org">info@imfmetal.org</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.itf.org.uk">ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation)</a> 
 
49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR, United Kingdom 
Tel: ++44-20-74.03.27.33 
Fax: ++44-20-73.57.78.71 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:mail@itf.org.uk">mail@itf.org.uk</a> 
 
 

<a href="http://www.itglwf.org">ITGLWF (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation) 
</a> 
Rue Joseph Stevens 8 (b&ocirc;ite 4), 1000 Brussels, Belgium 
Tel: ++32-2-512.26.06 or 512.28.33 
Fax: ++32-2-511.09.04 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:office@itglwf.org">office@itglwf.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.iuf.org">IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association)</a> 
 
Rampe du Pont Rouge 8, 1213 Petit-Lancy, Switzerland 
Tel: ++41-22-793.22.33 
Fax: ++41-22-793.22.38 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:iuf@iuf.org">iuf@iuf.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.world-psi.org">PSI (Public Services International) 
</a> 
BP 9, F-01211 Ferney-Voltaire CEDEX, France 
Tel: ++33-450.40.64.64 
Fax: ++33-450.40.73.20 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:psi@world-psi.org">psi@world-psi.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.union-network.org">UNI (Union Network International)</a> 
 
8-10 Av. Reverdil, 1260 Nyon, Switzerland 
Tel: ++41-22-365.21.00 
Fax: ++41-22-365.21.21 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:contact@union-network.org">contact@union-network.org</a>
 
<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org">ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation)</a> 
 
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5, 1210 Brussels, Belgium 
Tel: ++32-2-224.02.11 
Fax: ++32-2-201.58.15 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:internetpo@icftu.org">internetpo@icftu.org</a>

 
<a href="http://www.tuac.org">TUAC (Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD) 
</a> 
26 Avenue de la Grande-Arm&eacute;e, 75017 Paris, France 
Tel: ++33-1-55.37.37.37 
Fax: ++33-1-47.54.98.28 
E-mail: <a href="mailto:tuac@tuac.org">tuac@tuac.org</a>
<hr />
<img height="65" alt="" hspace="10" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/Gurnlogo.jpg" width="65" align="top" /> 
 
All the above organisations are also involved in <a href="http://www.gurn.info">GURN</a> 
(<a href="http://www.gurn.info/">The Global Union Research Network</a>)

Contact details for the Global Union Federations, ICFTU and TUAC

Under Construct

Privacy Policy

&quot;The ending of child labour - and particularly of its worst forms - is an urgent task for trade unionists everywhere,&quot; said Fred Higgs today. Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
<img height="228" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/childlab1.jpg" width="150" alt="" />
Photo: Yamina De Laet - ICEM
&quot;Child labour is found in a number of ICEM industries,&quot; he emphasised, &quot;notably in the very hazardous sectors of mining, diamond and gem polishing and building materials. Our global agreements with multinational companies always insist on full compliance with the standards against child labour set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In the gem sector, we are committed to work together with employers, governments and the ILO to end the use of child labour.&quot; 
<img height="173" src="/wp-content/uploads/articles/childlab2.jpg" width="250" alt="" />
Photo: Yamina De Laet - ICEM
Today is the first World Day Against Child Labour, launched by the ILO. Delegates to the 175-nation International Labour Conference in Geneva are today discussing the recently released ILO report &quot;A Future Without Child Labour&quot;. 
 
246 million children are involved in child labour, the report says. That is one in every six of the world's children aged between 5 and 17. Of these, some 179 million - one child in every eight - are still exposed to the worst forms of child labour, which endanger their physical, mental or moral well-being. 
 
The World Day Against Child Labour will be held annually, in order to intensify support for the world campaign.

End Child Labour, World&#039;s Unions Say

Four major mining companies are now being targeted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which held its World Congress in Durban, South Africa, last week: 
 
 
RIO TINTO 
 
In Durban today, John Maitland promised &quot;full solidarity and support&quot; for Namibian miners facing a restructuring programme by the world's second-biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. Maitland is the newly-elected President of the ICEM. He is also National Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Australian miners' union the CFMEU, which has been embroiled in a series of conflicts with Rio Tinto, mainly over the company's attempts to deunionise its Australian operations. 
 
Workers at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia have held a series of protests recently over the company's plans to restructure the operation without properly consulting the workers and their union, the ICEM-affiliated Miners' Union of Namibia (MUN). MUN leaders were among the 800 delegates at the ICEM Congress last week. 
 
&quot;The ICEM and the CFMEU will support our Namibian comrades in every way that we can,&quot; Maitland said today. &quot;From our own experience in Australia, we know that when Rio Tinto tries to restructure behind the unions' backs, it is really out to destroy jobs and bust unions.&quot; 
 
Rio Tinto's anti-union tactics were condemned by the Australian Federal Court last Friday. The court found Rio Tinto guilty of breaching freedom of association laws by victimising union reps at its Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia. The company refused to allow three miners there to carry out bona fide union business. It treated the union reps as absent without leave and threatened them with dismissal. In fact, two of them had been attending the Industrial Relations Commission and the third had been at a union meeting. The company has decided not to appeal against the verdict, and may now be fined. 
 
A continuing ICEM global campaign is aimed at persuading Rio Tinto to abandon its anti-union stance, while improving both its environmental record and its treatment of indigenous peoples. The action, conducted in alliance with a wide range of campaigning organisations, includes a special Rio Tinto cybercampaign. 
 
 
PLACER DOME 
 
Last week's Congress unanimously approved the launching of a global ICEM campaign on mining multinational Placer Dome. The Canadian-based company recently retrenched about 40 per cent of its South African workforce and has taken an anti-union stance in a number of countries where it operates. Its environmental record has also been severely criticised (see ICEM UPDATE 63/1999). 
 
Among those speaking for the campaign was Lawrence McBrearty. In Canada, Placer Dome's home country, McBrearty is National Director of the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA). His union represents Placer Dome miners in Ontario. &quot;We have a responsibility as a labour movement to support you in rectifying this injustice,&quot; McBrearty told South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). &quot;Rest assured that the 180,000 steelworkers in Canada and 500,000-plus members in the United States will do everything we can.&quot; 
 
 
INCO and GOLDCORP 
 
McBrearty also told the Congress of two major disputes facing Canadian miners, and asked for global trade union support. 
 
On 14 September, Inco locked out 1,040 USWA members at its nickel mine in Thompson, Manitoba. This followed the union membership's rejection of the company's final offer. The Inco offer did not include any improvements in pensions, wages or benefits. USWA members at two other Inco Canadian operations have suspended their participation in joint labour-management design projects until the lock-out in Thompson is settled. Inco also has production operations in the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Guatemala, France, China, New Caledonia and the United States. 
 
In Red Lake, Ontario, 187 USWA members have been on strike since June 1996 at a gold mine run by Toronto-based Goldcorp. This is the longest mining strike in Canadian history. It began over the company's demand that a stable collective agreement, in place for over 35 years, should be completely rewritten. The effect would have been to reduce all the gains made by the union for its members their over the past 35 years. 
 
&quot;Inco and Goldcorp are two examples of a heartless corporate culture that puts profits before people,&quot; McBrearty told the ICEM Congress. &quot;We will take our members' struggle for justice to the four corners of the globe until we achieve fair and just agreements in Thompson and Red Lake.&quot; 
 
&quot;We will mobilise our affiliates worldwide to communicate their solidarity with the USWA in these two important disputes,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, &quot;and we will use every means to urge both Inco and Goldcorp to reach a settlement with the union expeditiously.&quot;

Unions Target Mining Companies

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Unions Target Mining Companies

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