On World Aids Day donate to OPSEU’s Live and Let live Fund
On December 1, join people around the world marking World AIDS Day, “Working Together for an AIDS-Free Generation”.
Since 2003 OPSEU has made HIV/AIDS our primary international issue and established the Live and Let Live Fund. Our union is a proud supporter of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. SLF has funded over 700 community organizations in Africa working with those affected by HIV/AIDS. We are also committed to supporting Ontario based organizations that support people living with HIV/AIDS.
On World Aids Day stand in solidarity with people living with HIV/AIDS and donate to OPSEUs Live and Let Live Fund. Our union has seen what a life changing difference grassroots programs can make to the lives of people who are already struggling against incredible odds.
Make a donation today:
Please make cheques payable to: Live and Let Live Fund
Forward to: Fran Borsellino at OPSEU head office, 100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, M3B 3P8.
Canadian Labour Congress World AIDS Day statement: December 1
Ottawa – On this World AIDS Day 2014, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) joins unions from throughout the world in their call for governments to help finish the job in bringing an end to the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Globally, 35 million people live with HIV, and 19 million of these do not know they are HIV-positive. Although HIV infections have dropped by 38% since 2001, there were 2.1million people newly infected in 2013. Young women and adolescent girls are disproportionately at high risk, as more than 4 out of 10 new infections among women occur in 15-24 year olds. There are also 22 million people with the disease who are not accessing life-saving treatment. The figures underscore the critical roles for the world’s workplaces in possible actions to address the pandemic through training and education—both here in Canada and the rest of the world.
In cooperation with the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), the CLC calls on member states of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to step up efforts for implementing the ILO R-200 – HIV and AIDS Recommendation, 2010 [No. 200], concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work (R-200).
The CLC also urges the Canadian government to follow up on its own R-200 assessment that it undertook in 2011, and to support educational programs for workers within Canada and in other countries. The current ebola crisis is a grim reminder of the consequences of sidelining health
systems for preventing, detecting and treating any pandemic, including AIDS. Throughout the world, health systems need to be strengthened, along with better social and financial support of workers who have become victims of AIDS.
The CLC calls on the Canadian government to intervene on the UN negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, in order to incorporate the above issues within existing targets for the ILO Decent Work Agenda and to support the Get to Zero Discrimination strategy by UNAIDS. The CLC and ITUC-Africa have a parntership agreement on joint HIV and AIDS work, and have produced a special issue of its Workers’ Health Network News in time for this World AIDS Day and it is available in English and French.