TRADE UNIONS CAN DO MUCH MORE TO FIGHT HIV/AIDS

Nov 29, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The celebration of the World AIDS Day December 1st for Safety and Health at work is an integral of the global strategy on Occupational Safety and Health. Several Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) reflected on their positive experiences in supporting the prevention and control of HIV in the Caribbean region expressed their support to the zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
The trade unions role in the fight against HIV/AIDS is often neglected. The disease is not always recognized as a workplace issue. This is why the work of the trade unions on HIV/AIDS is so important. I was personnel attack when said “trade unions can do much more to fight HIV/AIDS.”
The role of trade unions to educate and inform workers about HIV/AIDS, I am sincerely grateful to the Honorable Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy as Minister of Health at that time who addressed the “Global Transport Workers and HIV/AIDS” Caribbean sub-regional workshop on 4th June 2007. He had pointed out some of the foregoing and issued a call to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), saying “The things I ask you to advocacy that can break the back of the HIV pandemic”.
I want to give recognition to the fact that trade unions are doing a tremendous amount work. But, having said that, I feel that in the global response to HIV/AIDS, the potential of trade unions is underused, trade unions can do much more. I believe trade unions should get a lot more of the resources, financial and otherwise, that are available at the national, regional and local level. Many donors make use of funding structures such as the global fund and PEPEAR. These mean trade unions often have to compete for resources at the national level, and it’s not always easy.
They are often occupied on a day-to-day basis with job security, health and safety and salaries. It is not always possible to deliver HIV/AIDS work if additional resources are not made available. There is an amazing capacity for trade unions to mobilize. This is not always given enough recognition by donors. Sometime there is a difficulty where there are several trade union centers in one country there is not always a unity of purpose. However on this issue we have been fortunate, as usually differences can be overcome. It is important to look at how the world of work can coordinate itself, to agree joint submissions and divide financial resources. There needs to be real human resources to implement and plan for these activities.
The trade unions need focus on prevention; they can negotiate access to treatment at the workplace. It requires a lot of negotiation, for time off from work, looking at how trade unions deal with sick leave and similar matters. I have seen that collegiality from trade unions organizing around this issue and supporting each other, particularly when trying to negotiate with management.
When HIV/AIDS is part of the collective agreement, this is often the strongest tool. With treatment, it is possible to continue to lead a working life. It be well established collective bargaining agreement often leads to a reduction to absenteeism, and more willingness to go for voluntary testing and counseling, because confidentiality and job security are assured.
The workplaces where more than 90 per cent of workers have gone for voluntary Counselling and testing are those where there is an agreement to say confidentiality is respected, and there will be access to treatment. This does not mean that the treatment must be paid for by the employer there could be a link with a public hospital, or other mechanism. When the HIV/AIDS policy and programme is negotiated by workers and employers, it should not just an employer driven programme.
In high prevalence countries, there’s much greater awareness of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue, through force of circumstance. Employers and trade unions have responded specifically to keep businesses going and to protect jobs. In low prevalence countries, there’s a sense that the workplace is not as important as a Centre for intervention, that the issue is something for Non- governmental Organizations (NGOs) or the government to deal with. I fundamentally differ with that approach I am trying to advocate that HIV/AIDS is a global concern for all workplaces.
My message to the workplaces that think it is not their concern is that they have a responsibility to act now. By the time their think prevalence is high, it is far too late to respond. We have a collective responsibility to have an absolute sense of urgency. If employers think that it does not affect them, this is just a problem for the Caribbean, they are making a big mistake. We are seeing outbreaks in some country new infections have gone up. Prevalence may be low, but when infections are going up it means we are not doing enough about prevention is still main responsibility. It is our duty to have a sense of urgency about the preventative work. “After Sub-Saharan Africa the Caribbean has highest HIV prevalence than any other region in the World with 1 percent of adult population infected”. Source UNAIDS.
Epidemic Status in the CaribbeanCountryEstimated PLHIVAdult HIV PrevalenceBahamas6,2003.0 %Barbados2,2001.2 %Belize3,6002.1 %Cuba6,2000.1 %Dominica Republic62,0001.1 %Guyana5,9001.2  %Haiti120,0002.2  %Jamaica27,0001.6  %Suriname6,8002.4  %Trinidad & Tobago14, 0001.5  %Total226, 900.
Globally, the trade union movement has tried to have a harmonized response. Perhaps we need to acknowledge there can be a different way of organizing to access resources and respond even more effectively.
The role of trade unions in implanting the recommendations will be very important. It will be dependent on employers and unions engaging with the content.
I want to emphasize the issue of using this monumental challenge as an opportunity to access resources. Take time to look at the issue. Please do not send junior members and staff to discuss on HIV/AIDS at important meetings at national policy level. We need a union voice at national level as part of national HIV/AIDS structures, we need senior union voices.
The lesson learned in our Caribbean region through many struggle, that is why we have to see it through. We cannot do the job halfway, making sure the policies are implemented, but have to find ways to overcome these obstacles, and to create opportunities.
The newly adopted ILO Recommendation No. 200 on HIV and AIDS and the world of work is the first international labour standard on HIV/AIDS and one of the few human rights instruments to address the epidemic directly. Our role is to promote this instrument among the wider HIV/AIDS community and highlight that, from now on, (a) national response to HIV/AIDS must include the workplace, and (b) workplace action on HIV/AIDS must respect the new Recommendation.
Sherwood Clarke
General President
Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union

 

 

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