UNITED KINGDOM: Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary, said as Ford shortlisted potential bids they must involve the union in the decision making process not just accept the highest bid and go. He also called on the government to make sure it played its part in securing the future of the iconic British brands with around 19,000 directly employed jobs and at least twice that in the supply chain.

"There are no ifs, buts, ands or maybes here. We want full involvement. We want clear decisions securing the jobs of all our members now and in the future along with their pay and pensions plus the futures of all Ford plants in the UK," said Mr. Woodley. "To ministers the message is clear. If manufacturing in this country matters, and it does, they have got a responsibility not to walk away and adopt a 'market rules ok' attitude."

In a five-point plan, Mr. Woodley called on Ford to:

1. Work with Unite to agree the future of Jaguar Land Rover production and development sites as well as the relevant Ford Blue Oval sites in the supply chain including the decisions on who to sell to.

2. Set out as the basis for any sale the continuation of vehicle production, design and development at the existing Jaguar Land Rover production and development sites.

3. Make it a condition of sale that a minimum 10 year service contract with the Ford Blue Oval and other current suppliers be agreed.

4. Retain a sizable financial stake in any new company established to take over Jaguar Land Rover to ensure such a long term contract.

5. Write into the conditions of sale that existing arrangements for trade union recognition and bargaining continue and that the workforce terms and conditions of employment including current pension arrangements are protected.

"We are very clear. We want the right answers from Ford and any potential bidder to all these points," he added.

BRUSSELS: An International Metalworkers’ Federation delegation is in Brussels and London this week, explaining and presenting evidence to the European Commission on how an independent Mexican trade union has been the target of government repression and attacks by the transnational Grupo Mexico.

Mexican government repression has included arbitrarily withdrawing legal recognition from Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, the elected general secretary of the Mexican Miners’ Union (SNTMMSRM) and other elected leaders based on forged evidence, and filing baseless criminal charges again Gómez and the union, disproved by an audit of the union’s finances conducted by an international auditing company.

Other actions included: deploying military and security forces against the union, resulting in the deaths of three union members; granting overnight recognition to a pro-company union and holding “elections” in which workers were forced to vote publically in front of company officials; refusing to punish the Grupo Mexico officials responsible for the deaths of 65 miners in the explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in February 2006.

In addition, there are serious allegations that Grupo Mexico may be behind the recent murder of Reinaldo Hernández González, and the detention and torture of 20 SNTMMSRM members in Nacozari, Sonora State, Mexico.

An IMF representative and trade unionists representing the Mexican Miners’ Union (SNTMMSRM), the United Steelworkers (USW) and Unite met with a range of European officials including Erika Mann, chair of the European Parliament-Mexico Parliamentary Delegation, to ask the EU to try and use the forthcoming EU-Mexico joint parliamentary delegation in Brussels to end these attacks.

Juan Luis Zuniga, one of the IMF delegation and member of SNTMMSRM National Committee, explained, “We have come to Europe to ask for your help in ending these repeated attacks, we would like assurances from the Mexican government that the persecution of trade union leaders will stop and that Mexican workers can enjoy basic human rights.”

IMF Director of Union Building and Projects Fernando Lopes, who is with the delegation, added, “In the past few years the EU-Mexico have established a close and long lasting relationship, we would like to see that relationship used not just for economic co-operation but as a way of furthering social justice and human rights.”

USA:  On October 25 the American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization’s Committee on Freedom of Association. AFL-CIO claims that the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Republican majority of which is appointed by the US President George W. Bush, violates workers’ fundamental rights.

According to the AFL-CIO, over recent years through its decisions the NLRB has: 
– shrunk its coverage of certain workers; 
– limited the rights of workers who are protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA); 
– strengthened management's prerogative to discriminate against, harass, and intimidate workers; and 
– refused to apply the "few meaningful remedies available" under the NLRA.

The AFL-CIO accuses the NLRB of eviscerating workers' fundamental rights during the course of the Bush Administration. According to the complaint the NLRB has removed entire groups of workers from the definition of employee including university teaching and research assistants, workers with disabilities, and temporary and contract workers.

In addition the AFL-CIO points out that substantial delays by the NLRB in issuing decisions further undermines workers’ fundamental rights.

To correct the situation the AFL-CIO is asking the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association to direct the United States to “take all necessary steps to restore, in law and in practice, the rights of workers to have full freedom of association and engage in effective collective bargaining.”

CANADA:  The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union and Magna International Inc. signed a historic agreement that that creates a new kind of relationship between Canada’s largest automotive employer and Canada’s largest private sector union. "With this agreement, Magna and the CAW will develop a new way of working together,” Hargrove said in signing the agreement. “It will strengthen the CAW’s ability to support auto parts workers at an incredibly challenging time, but in a way that also strengthens Canada’s auto industry.”

The agreement signed on October 15, called the Framework of Fairness, will allow Magna employees to participate in secret-ballot votes regarding membership in the CAW. It also establishes an innovative new structure for labour relations involving workplace elections and referenda; a multi-faceted dispute settlement process; and the use of final-offer arbitration instead of work stoppages to settle contract disputes.

The Framework of Fairness is not a collective agreement. It is a set of principles that will govern the process whereby Magna workers vote on union membership, negotiate and approve their contract, and resolve concerns. Once fully implemented, the Framework would cover up to 18,000 Magna production employees working in about 45 manufacturing facilities in Ontario.

“Magna and the CAW have established an effective working relationship through our existing unionized facilities, and through our participation in joint industry initiatives like the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council,” said Hargrove.

Magna employees at each plant will have the chance to vote (in secret-ballot elections supervised by independent officials) on whether to approve a new contract and join the CAW. If a majority of workers in a facility support CAW membership, then that plant will be covered by a new CAW-Magna national collective agreement, and its employees will join the CAW. The national contract, CAW membership, and subsequent changes negotiated to that national contract must all be approved by Magna employees through secret-ballot votes.

Magna International is the world’s most diversified automotive supplier, with 83,000 employee working in 23 countries, including over 20,000 in Canada.

The CAW currently represents over 25,000 production employees working for independent auto parts firms, including in three Magna facilities.

BRAZIL: The IMF Working Party on Trade met in Brasilia on 26-28 September 2007. Parallel meetings were held with Government and employers’ representatives and with the leadership of the IMF affiliates in Brazil, in consideration of the key role that this country is playing in trade negotiations and in the G20 alliance. Developments in the negotiation of bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – between USA and South Korea, Panama and Peru, Canada and South Korea, and the Mercosul and the EU — were the focus theme of the agenda.

The impasse in the Doha Round negotiations raised concern for the inadequate consideration that negotiators are showing of the development and employment repercussions, particularly in more vulnerable countries, the quality of jobs that increased trade may generate and the respect of fundamental rights.

Trends in trade with China and the fast growing role of this country in Asia, Africa and Latin America were discussed. The trade policy of the European Union was analysed in the light of the differing positions and interests of its member countries.

A panel composed by leading members of the Brazilian business community and the chief trade negotiator Minister Roberto Azevedo gave the WP members the opportunity for a lively debate on the trade, social and labour agenda of Brazil and the G20. At a meeting with Minister Luiz Dulci the social and labour market policies and the measures against poverty adopted by the Brazilian Government were analysed.

In their conclusions and recommendations WP members reiterated the importance of regular exchanges between the IMF affiliates, and of improved collaboration with other GUFs and with the ITUC Geneva office. Survey and analysis of China’s trade should be continued in all regions. Dialogue should be promoted between IMF affiliates of Mercosul and EU countries on trade negotiations. A sectoral focus should be adopted in future analysis of FTAs. The IMF should demand an extension of the deadline and a review of negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The next meeting should be held in India to continue dialogue with G20 countries. Dialogue on priorities and methods for the achievement of the trade union demand for the respect of labour rights to be incorporated in trade rules needs to be further developed among IMF affiliates.

Presentations and materials from the meeting are available on the IMF site.

USA: Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) employed at General Motors’ plants in the U.S. have voted in favour of ratifying a new four-year contract that commits GM to produce new products at existing US facilities and bans plant closings and outsourcing of work for the life of the agreement.

The new agreement was approved by 66 per cent of production workers and 64 per cent of skilled trades workers.

Other contract details include:

• Workers will receive a $3,000 signing bonus followed by a lump sum bonus of 3% or 4% for each year of the contract in lieu of a wage increase.

• GM will make about 3,000 temporary employees permanent at the current assembly wage.

• Retirees will receive both an increase in basic pension benefits and a lump-sum payment in the first year of the agreement.

• Entry-level workers at GM in non-core job classifications such as material movement, general stores management, and kitting and sequencing, will be paid under a new, lower wage and benefit structure.

• GM will contribute more than $35 billion to a new Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), to be managed by the UAW, which will establish an independent trust fund to pay retiree health benefits. The trust will cover current retirees and current active workers.

• GM will contribute $15 million towards the establishment of the National Institute for Health Care Reform, a joint labour-management effort to improve the affordability, accessibility and accountability of the U.S. health care system.

The new contract covers more than 73,000 active workers at GM and more than 269,000 GM retirees and 69,000 surviving spouses. It will expire on Sept. 14, 2011.

The UAW has yet to reach a contract agreement with the other two American automakers, Chrysler and Ford. The union and Chrysler reached a settlement Oct. 10 after a six-hour strike, however the agreement must still win approval from the rank-and-file. Talks with Ford continue.

AUSTRALIA: Cochlear workers fighting for the right to union representation in Sydney, Australia are the latest group of workers to tell their real stories on camera for a television ad showing the devastating impact the government’s anti-union industrial laws have had on workers.

Produced by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) the ad debuted before the television show Meet The Press on October 14 and began airing in metropolitan New South Wales the following day.

"The company wants us on individual contracts, but we want the union to represent us,” says one of the Cochlear workers to the camera. "We've been told, if we don't like the contract, don't show up for work.”

For the past decade, 260 Cochlear workers who manufacture state-of-the-art hearing devices have been represented by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. This year, the company, Cochlear Ltd, initiated a union-busting drive and used Australia's unfair workplace laws to force employees into a non-union agreement, conditions the workers have repeatedly rejected. These unfair working conditions will come into effect on the 6th of November.

"The laws have taken away our right to choose," adds a Cochlear worker in the 30 second ad.

The IMF and PSI have launched an international campaign in support of Cochlear workers and their right to be represented by the AMWU. To find out more information about this campaign go to: www.imfmetal.org/ListenUpCochlear

UK: A delegation of Indian trade unions, including the Steel, Metal and Engineering Workers Federation (SMEWFI), will travel to the UK to meet with union officials from the GMB and tour a local shipyard.

The mission, organised by the GMB, is an effort to improve health and safety standards in Indian ship breaking yards by providing the opportunity for Indian union leaders representing ship breaking workers to learn more about best practices standards in shipyards in other parts of the world.

Shipyards in India are notorious for being unregulated and lacking even the most basic health and safety protections for the workers. There, it is common practice for men, women and children to dismantle equipment by hand, often in bare feet, exposing themselves to a number of toxic materials, including lead, mercury and asbestos.

The delegation will visit the A&P Tyne yard in Hebburn and discuss health and safety procedures the company follows when repairing and refitting ships on the Tyne. Yards in the UK follow strict regulations to protect workers, the environment and the surrounding community.

“A&P Tyne has decades of experience working in the shipbuilding industry and with input from GMB safety representatives its health and safety record is outstanding. The yard provides the perfect showcase for our Indian colleagues to see best practices,” said Tom Brennan, regional secretary for the GMB. “This visit will equip our Indian colleagues with useful knowledge to go back to the Indian Government and employers to fight for better working conditions,” Brennan added.

The delegation will also meet with Ian McFall from the trade union law firm Thompsons Solicitors to discuss the dangers of asbestos exposure, the devastating effect this has had on communities in the North East, and the need for prevention and compensation.

GMB and SMEWFI are both affiliates of the International Metalworkers’ Federation.

BELARUS:  The Belarusian Parliament is ready to discuss a new Law on Trade Unions in a move that will give a monopoly on power to government-sponsored trade unions in Belarus.

According to a public declaration by the deputy head of Belarusian President Aleksandr G. Lukashenka’s Administration, Natalia Petkevich, a new bill is already developed and will be submitted for consideration by the Parliament during its autumn session, which started on October 2, 2007.

According to REPAM, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, the new bill will only allow trade unions to affiliate workers from similar industrial branches and of similar professions. However the law does not provide a clear indication of who and on what basis the level of similarity is determined, thus creating the possibility of misuse and misinterpretation of the new law. Gennadiy Fedynitch, REPAM chairman, said the new law will deprive workers from joining a union of their choice.

In addition, the draft law also contains a requirement for trade union organizations to have a minimum number of members when seeking national trade union status. At present, REPAM does not qualify for the specified size and is concerned that the new law is a targeted attack to strip the union of its legal status.

REPAM has been a vocal critic of the Belarusian government’s horrible record on human and trade union rights and has filed a complaint against the government with the International Labour Organization.

In a letter to President Lukashenka, IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi urged the Belarusian leader to end his government’s attack on independent trade unions in Belarus and called on the president to “start respecting human and trade union rights in accordance with international obligations assumed by Belarus.”

Unions in Belarus contend that the new law violates international norms and standards and is in breach of the Belarusian constitution.

AUSTRALIA/BELGIUM: Zinifex of Australia and Umicore of Belgium have created the world’s largest producer of zinc by combining their smelting and alloying operations. Nyrstar, the name of the joint venture, will employ 4.500 workers.

The company will be incorporated in Belgium with its operational headquarters in London. Nyrstar will surpass Korea Zinc and Xstrata as the biggest zinc company with an annual production of 1.2 million tons of zinc as well as 250,000 tons of lead.

Umicore, which used to be called Union Minière, was built more than 100 years ago on the copper resources of the former Belgian Congo, and has in recent years changed its strategy towards precious and specialty metals (e.g. take-over of the German OMG, a world leader in car catalysts).  Umicore employs 14,000 workers in 35 countries and has a strong trade union presence (more than 80% of the staff and almost all of the blue-collar workers are unionised), and a well-established social dialogue with a longstanding European Works Council.

In September the International Metalworkers’ Federation, together with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) signed the first International Framework Agreement for a Belgium multinational company.