April 28 is a day to commemorate the 2 million workers who die, the 1.2 million who are injured, and the 160 million who fall ill each year due to unsafe, unhealthy, or unsustainable work and workplaces. AIDS is among the principal causes of death and illness amongst workers and as such, form one of the main focuses of the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers.
Last year, on the initiative of the Global Unions, April 28 became an opportunity to campaign for a G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS (the ‘G8’ or ‘Group of 8’ is composed of government representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US). The Global Unions have relaunched the HIV/AIDS Campaign to convince heads of state attending the G8 Summit in Germany next June to create a G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS. Such a working group would serve to make AIDS a regular feature of G8 decision-making agendas, rather than an issue that is sporadically touched upon.
EI encourages its affiliates to join the advocacy efforts to put HIV and AIDS on the decision making agenda of the G8. To this end, the Global Unions have developed a model letter to deliver to the German Embassy in your country. It is available at:
English http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.EN.pdf French: http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.FR.pdf Spanish: http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.SP.pdf German: http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ba.GE.pdf
We ask you to send this letter by post and to send a copy by email to Lucien Royer of the Global Unions (royer@tuac.org).
However, there are also other actions which can be carried out:
a) organise a delegation to deliver your letter in person to the Embassy; b) mail a slightly modified version of your letter to some or all of the other G8 embassies in your country (wherever this is possible or realistic); c) issue a news release or some other public statement about your activity; d) organise a rally on or before 28 April to highlight trade union demands for universal access to treatment and development of an AIDS vaccine; and e) attempt to include references to HIV/AIDS and the call for the working group in government resolutions commemorating the 28 April “International Commemoration Day (ICD) for Dead and Injured Workers”.
For more information please see the News Release on the G8 Working Group Campaign at: http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpT_9Ca.EN.pdf.