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ITF workshop in Guatemala puts the focus on workplace HIV policies
17 March 2010
The ITF held its first HIV workshop in Central America at the end of last month, prompting the mainly women participants to focus on ways of putting HIV and AIDS on the workplace agenda.
The workshop, attended by 35 participants from 19 different unions, met in Guatemala City, Guatemala, from 23-25 February. There, union leaders, women’s network members and union educators discussed ways of developing workplace policies on HIV and AIDS and including the issue in collective bargaining agreements. More than half the participants were women.
Unions shared best practice and developed plans for long term work on HIV and AIDS. A Honduran union, for example, explained how it had succeeded in including a clause on HIV in its collective bargaining agreement and outlined their hopes for improving entitlements for workers with HIV. Meanwhile, a union in El Salvador described how it would develop educational materials on HIV and run a course to raise awareness of the issue and Guatemalan union stated that they would aim to obtain medical insurance for HIV positive workers.
Asif Altaf, ITF HIV/AIDS coordinator, commented: “The ITF, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization and Danish union, 3F, will continue to work with all Central American unions to help them in their efforts to develop strong HIV/AIDS policies.
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