SPAIN: Workers at Sidenor/Gerdau plants throughout Spain conducted a 24-hour strike on May 8 in protest of the company’s move to increase working hours by 40 hours annually per worker, beginning in 2009. More strikes are expected if negotiations fail to bring a resolution.

In 2003, unions bargained for a gradual reduction of hours down to a maximum of 35-hours per week by the year 2008. When Gerdau took control of Sidenor in 2005, the company vowed to respect all rights and benefits negotiated by the unions.

This round of bargaining is the first with Gerdau since the company took over Sidenor. After two months of unsuccessful negotiations the unions have decided to take collective action.

Sidenor/Gerdau workers are represented by the Federación del Metal del Sindicato ELA (ELA-Metala), the Federación del Metal, Construcción y Afines de UGT — (MCA-UGT), and the Federación Minerometalúrgica de Comisiones Obreras – FM/CC.OO, which are all affiliates of the International Metalworkers’ Federation.

CHILE: After 20 days on strike, Codelco contract workers returned to their jobs after an agreement was reached between government representatives, the CUT and the Confederation of Copper Workers (CTC).

The agreement that ended the strike includes the payment of a $300,000 (650 USD) advance and a $500,000 (1086 USD) productivity bonus for 2008 and the creation of two committees. The first will review the agreements reached last year with contractors on health benefits, pay, education and housing. The second will study implementation of the Law on Subcontracting.

Contract workers have been on strike because of the company’s failure to implement the framework agreement negotiated in 2007 after a strike of more than 30 days that mobilised the entire country.

GENEVA: On May Day 2008 the International Metalworkers’ Federation jointly with global union federations and the ITUC hosted the Night of Labour Films Shorts. Similarly to last year, films were shown in the historic cinema Grütli, in downtown Geneva.

Anna Biondi from the ITUC opened the event and welcomed visitors, mentioning that over 50 films were submitted by unions around the world showing a clear sign of growing interest of the unions towards films and video as a powerful tool for the labour movement.

She also took the opportunity to announce that the ITUC would be setting up a Labour Films channel online and encouraged unions and union federations to submit their work to the ITUC to be part of the exciting project.

Around 100 people attended the event, some of them filmmakers whose work was being shown. Opinions differed greatly, some of the comments made by moviegoers can be seen below. Everybody agreed that the event should grow and expand with the years to come:

“It was a good variety of films and the difference of the messages as well. It is moving and very inspiring.” — Caroline Jacobsson, EMF

“It was an interesting way of celebrating May Day by watching how the workers in different parts of the world act, even if they have to work in more horrible conditions than ours, we as well should not leave the thing flying away we should make steps forward, we can’t loose the social guarantees that were earned at high price in the past and just let them go.”– Geneva student

“This is a great way to make again people feel what the international trade union movement is about; it is very a good beginning of something good that could last on YouTube and on other websites, the IMF has done a great job in taking this initiative.”– Jim Baker, ITUC

You may make your own opinion about the event by watching on-line all of the films shown during the Night of Labour Film Shorts! You’re welcome to send your comments to us.

TURKEY: The Labour Union Confederation (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK) and the Turkish Confederation of Labour (Turk-Is) will launch complaints against Turkey with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Courts on Human Rights (ECHR) following Thursday’s brutal attack on May Day demonstrators in Istanbul.

Turkish police used batons and pepper spray, tear gas and water cannons on workers gathered in front of labour union halls and crowds marching to Taksim Square where they had planned to lay carnations in memory of the 37 workers killed by police during May Day 1977. May Day celebrations in Taksim Square have been banned by the government, however other celebrations such as New Year’s Eve and other demonstrations are allowed to take place there.

This year, thirty-eight people were injured and 530 were arrested. DİSK headquarters in Şişli was under blockade and was full of gas due to teargas attacks by the police who were targeting trade union leaders and workers inside the headquarters waiting to begin the demonstration. Because of the police blockade, trade unionist, members of political parties and workers (approximately 1500 people) could not leave the building for several hours. A union official said the first police attack came without warning while people were sitting outside the building waiting. By 2 pm that day, DİSK called off the march to Taksim Square due to the intense police violence.

“The government's hostility towards labour and the working class was clearly visible on May 1", DISK President Süleyman Çelebi said. “They turned İstanbul into a prison. They applied all kinds of unimaginable violence and to the workers, treating them inhumanely. Now every square, the whole of Turkey, has become Taksim. Our struggle will continue”, he added.

International Metalworkers’ Federation affiliate, Birlesik, is a member of DİSK and participated and supported May Day labour activities in Turkey. The IMF received reports that approximately 150 of those arrested were Birlesik and DİSK members.

Mexico: Grupo Mexico has decided to close the Cananea mine because of the strike that began on 30 July 2007. The courts have declared the strike to be legal.

Grupo Mexico issued a statement announcing the closure of the mine. It said that the nine-month-old strike has led "the company to close the mine and pay off employees in accordance with the law".

The miners' union believes the announcement is purely tactical. The union's secretary for Political Affairs, Carlos Pavón, said the announcement of the closure of the company Mexicana de Cananea and the offer to pay off the workforce was "tactical". He added that: "we all know the strike is legal, so they can't do a thing. They're only trying to frighten the workers".

He explained that the company is not legally allowed to close unilaterally because a collective employment contract is in force. The company would have to ask the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal for permission to close the mine.

The union spokesperson said that the workers remain calm and are aware of what is happening. He said that Grupo Mexico "had expected the courts would accept its appeal against the legality of the strike, but things did not turn out as it expected and it is now clutching at straws".

Approximately 1,300 unionised workers are employed at Mexicana de Cananea, which is considered to be one of the biggest mines in the world.

This May Day the international labour movement will host a Night of Labour Film Shorts to showcase union films from different sectors and parts of the world that tackle issues important to working people.

"More and more, unions around the world are using film and video to explain issues, motivate membership, persuade policy makers and educate the public," said Anna Biondi, Director of the International Trade Union Confederation Geneva Office and Secretary of the International Labour Organisation Workers’ Group, who will open the event on May 1, 2008.

The programme will include film shorts from Australia, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the UK and feature the documentary Morristown: In the Air and Sun by Anne Lewis. Filmed in the mountains of east Tennessee, interior Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Morristown presents a working class response to globalisation, migration, factory flight and the organised demand for economic and social justice.

The struggle for equal pay (Equal Pay Story: Scenes from a Turbulent History), the fight for fundamental human rights (Freedom Will Come – The Story of Mansour Osanloo, An Injury to One: The Mexican Miners’ Struggle for Union Independence) and trade union efforts to secure improved working conditions (1 er novembre 2007: les chantiers de Zurich en grève, Our Story Our Dream) are just some of the themes of the film shorts.

"A common theme in all of these movies is how working people go about securing and defending their rights, pay and conditions, in the hope of improving their lives," explained Ms Biondi. "These stories speak to us all, in every part of the world."

WHAT:       A Night of Labour Film Shorts

WHERE:    Grütli Theatre, Rue du General-Dufour 16, Geneva

WHEN:       May 1 from 19h00 to 22h00

RSVP:        Admission is free, please RSVP by April 28 to ensure available seating call +41 22 308 5050 or email: [email protected]

The full programme and further information is at: www.imfmetal.org/labourfilms

FRANCE: Vallourec, a world market leader in the field of seamless tubes, on April 9 signed an "Agreement on the principles of responsibility" with the Vallourec European Works Council and the IMF.

The agreement states:

1. Wherever the Group is located, Vallourec applies the international conventions and national laws and respects the national cultures and local customs.
2. In its position as a company of international standing, Vallourec aims in particular to respect human rights and the universal fundamental principles that protect the dignity, respect and liberty of the employees.

An annex to the agreement specifies the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation covered by the agreement. The conventions included cover areas such as the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, no forced labour, no child labour and the right to equal remuneration and no discrimination.

The agreement also states that, "Vallourec demands the observance of these fundamental rights from its suppliers and sub-contractors, and integrates these criteria into its evaluations."

To monitor the agreement it is agreed that the General Management shall report annually to the European Workers Council on complaints received during the year and the corresponding measures taken.

The Vallourec Group supplies tubes to the oil and gas, power generation, mechanical engineering, petrochemical, automotive and steel architecture sectors. Head quartered in France, Vallourec employs 18,000 people and has plants in Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America.

A copy of the agreement in English, French and German is available on the IMF website.

GLOBAL: Metalworker trade unions from around the world are calling on the Mexican Government and mining company Grupo México to end their repression of independent trade unions in Mexico.

The country’s largest mining company, Grupo México, and the Mexican government, first under President Fox and now under President Calderón, have systematically and repeatedly violated Mexican law and international standards in an attempt to crush the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM).

Attacks on the union have included withdrawing legal recognition of the union’s democratically elected General Secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia and other elected leaders based on forged evidence and issuing baseless arrest warrants against Gómez. The government and Grupo México have attempted to divide the union by granting overnight recognition to a pro-company union and holding elections in which workers were forced to join its ranks. Meanwhile, Grupo México seemingly is able to murder, torture, intimidate and abuse workers with complete indemnity.

SNTMMSRM is an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation and Gómez sits on its Executive Committee.

The IMF, representing 25 million metalworkers in 100 countries around the world, is calling on the Mexican government to:

• Release all union funds illegally seized by the government;
• Lift all charges still pending against Napoleón Gómez Urrutia and other members of the SNTMMSRM;
• Prosecute in a court of law, immediately and transparently, all those responsible in the corruption of documents and facts, and
• Investigate Grupo México’s involvement in the murder of Reynaldo Hernández González and the detention and torture of 20 SNTMMSRM members in Nacozari, Sonora.

These rights abuses are documented in "An Injury to One: The Mexican Miners’ struggle for union independence", a White Paper and an 18 minute video on the situation in Mexico, both published by the IMF. On April 23, IMF affiliates from Europe, Latin America, and Mexico’s NAFTA partners, Canada and the US, delivered the White Paper and documentary to government officials in their respective countries, urging them to raise this issue with their Mexican counterparts.

For more information about the IMF’s campaign for union independence, go to: www.imfmetal.org/Mexico.

Click here to download the White Paper or view the documentary.

SOUTH AFRICA:  A Chinese ship, owned by the large state-owned company COSCO, called AN YUE Jiang arrived on Wednesday, April 16, at Durban, South Africa. The Bleeds newspaper reported it was carrying nearly three million rounds of ammunitions for small arms and AK-47s, about 3,500 mortars and mortal launchers and 1,500 rockets for rocket-propelled grenades. The paper said it had a copy of the ship's cargo documentation, finalized on April 1 three days after the Zimbabwe national election.

A South African government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, had confirmed that there were weapons on board but gave no further details.

The weapons were packed in large red and blue containers piled high on the ship's dock.

The ship came as Zimbabwe began a partial recount of votes from the March 29 elections. It is generally believed that they show Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party clearly losing its majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for the first time.

The recount of 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the Parliamentary elections, which have not so far been officially announced. 

According to the South African President Thabo Mbeki, the 77 tonnes of weapons aboard AN YUE Jiang were legal cargo and would be transported 1,000 miles overland northwards to Zimbabwe.

But Randall Howard general secretary of the South African Transport union (SATAWU), to which the Durban Dockers belong, warned, "as far as we are concerned, the containers will not be offloaded."

An Anglican archbishop argued the arms were likely to be used to crush the Zimbabwe opposition following the disputed March 29 elections. 

Human rights groups had petitioned for a block on the arms and dock workers had refused to unload the shipment.

The IMF Regional Office, in collaboration with other GUF's in the region, is currently engaged in a real solidarity campaign with many civil society organizations and unions in the region to stop the Chinese vessel cargo from using the Angolan port or any other port in the region, to offload Mugabe weapons.  

Letters have been sent to the IMF affiliate in Angola, the national center and the transport union requesting them to work with other civil society organization in the country to put pressure on the Angolan government to prevent the Chinese vessel cargo from using the Angolan port.  

GLOBAL: The International Metalworkers' Federation wrote to the embassies and consulates of China, India, Indonesia, Japan Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam in Geneva this month calling for a ban on the use of asbestos and compensation for workers harmed by asbestos.

Asbestos is the biggest industrial killer of all time and kills thousands from cancer every single week, at least one death every five minutes. In 2003, Asian countries accounted for nearly 50 per cent of global asbestos consumption with China (491,954 tonnes), India (192,033 tonnes), Thailand (132,983 tonnes), Vietnam (39,382 tonnes) and Indonesia (32,284 tonnes) being the largest users. Within the region, only Japan has stopped the use of asbestos, with Korea planning to implement a ban in 2009.

In addition to calling on governments in the region to ban asbestos, the IMF has sent to all affiliated trade unions in Asia a copy of Killing the Future; Asbestos Use in Asia, which was published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) in 2007.

Killing the Future; Asbestos Use in Asia documents the wide-spread use of deadly chrysotile asbestos in a range of industries across Asia, including shipbreaking in India and Bangladesh.

This IMF action is in recognition of April 28, the day when trade unions around the world organise events to commemorate International Workers' Memorial Day. The purpose of the day is to highlight the preventable nature of workplace accidents and ill health, and to promote campaigns and union organisation to improve health and safety at work. It is also a day to remember all those who have died because of their job.

A copy the report Killing the Future is available on the IMF website in English.