Trade Union Campaign on the workplaces on Hiv/Aids

Background The programme was initiated by ICFTU-AFRO in 1999 due to the impact ofthe Hiv/Aids pandemic on the working life in Africa as well as on the tradeunion membership. Trade unions lost members, shop stewards and leaders as a result of Hiv/Aids. Since Hiv/Aids have an impact on the whole society, it was not possible to threat it as only a health issue anymore Purpose/objective The objectives have been to increase the knowledge of Hiv/Aids impacton the society including the working life and the trade union movemen increase the shop stewards understanding of the importance of trainingand education in fighting the Hiv/Aids pandemic. Methodology The evaluation team has conducted interviews with persons directly involvedin the programme. Some participants have been interviewed. Documents including activity reports and audited accounts have been carefully studied Key findings The overall findings of this evaluation is that about 500 shopstewards havebeen trained, and that a co-operation between ICFTU and the InternationalOrganisation of Employers (IOE) on hiv/aids have been created. In additiona manual on Hiv/Aids on the workplaces as well as leaflets and brochures been elaborated. A better co-operation between workers and employers organisations has been achieved in some of the countries involved in the programme. The weakness of the programme has been that the number of countries anddonors have varied. The result of this has been that it is not enough resourcesavailable per country. The effect of this is less shopsteward training thanoriginally planned. A substantial amount of money has also been spent on co-ordination of the programme. The evaluation report is generally positive. The report recommend more detailed and clear objectives of the programme in future with more emphasis on collective bargaining. A key proposal in the report is to strengthen the unions capacity to negotiate, so that Hiv/Aids-related issues to a greater is integrated into collective agreements.