BOSNIA: 3,300 workers at Bosnia’s largest steel maker, Mittal Steel Zenica, who went on strike on August 1, were ordered back to work two days later after a municipal court ruled that the union had not met all legal conditions before proceeding to strike.

Members of the Trade Union of Metalworkers (TUM) launched the largest strike Bosnia has seen since the 1992-95 war after collective bargaining talks that started in June broke down. Workers are demanding a minimum wage of 2.50 Bosnian marka ($1.83 USD) per hour, up from the current 2 marka hourly wage. The union also wants night and overtime bonuses in line with a regional collective bargaining deal.

The court denied management’s move to have the strike deemed “unfounded”, which leaves a window of opportunity for the union to correct any illegalities and restart the strike.

“The International Metalworkers’ Federation fully supports the efforts of Mittal Steel Zenica workers fighting for a decent wage and improved conditions,” said IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi. “It is clear that the hard work and skills of the workers have made this plant extremely productive and profitable, yet the company refuses to share the rewards of their labour.”

Mittal Steel Zenica has a production capacity of 800,000 tonnes of metal annually and is a unit of the world’s largest steel maker, Arcelor Mittal.

AUSTRALIA:  Confirming the worst fears of workers and their unions, Ford Australia announced on July 18 its intention to discontinue the production of a six-cylinder engine at its plant in Geelong by 2010. The plant, one of Ford's oldest operating in Geelong since 1925, produces a locally designed in-line six-cylinder engine used in its Falcon Ute and Territory vehicles.

According to IMF-affiliated Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), the announced 600 jobs losses would not only seriously affect Ford workers and their families, but could also result in at least 3,500 more additional jobs disappearing in local car parts and service industries.

Among others, reasons provided by the company to justify the plant closure include low sales, the rising value of Australian dollar, the introduction of tougher car emission standards and a cut in tariffs on imported cars from 10 per cent now down to 5 per cent by 2010.

"The Federal Government should be speaking directly with Ford headquarters to negotiate a package to save these jobs and in the long term they need to wake up and start supporting Australian manufacturing with things like research and development assistance and reviewing our tariffs and Free Trade Agreements," said AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver.

SOUTH KOREA: About 22,000 members of the Korean Metalworkers’ Union (KMWU) went on strike for two to six hours over a period of July 18-24 demanding improvements in the minimum wage, collective bargaining power, trade with subcontractors and labour security.

Agreement was reached on July 25. Worker gains include:

• An 8 per cent increase in the minimum wage, set for next year at 900,000 won ($985 USD). The new wage applies to all employees, including temporary and migrant workers.
  
  
• Management agreed to inform the union 70 days before any planned corporate division, merger or sale and execute the plans with the consent of the union.
  
  
• Companies agreed to provide fair terms to subcontracting firms.
  
  
• The union and management will set up a joint committee to secure employment in the metal industry.

The KMWU is positioning itself for industry-wide negotiations, but four automakers, Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Daewoo and SsangYong Motor, which account for about 60 percent of the 143,000-strong membership, have refused to engage in recent discussions for fear of “double bargaining.”

GLOBAL: Trade unions opposed new proposals in World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks on manufactured goods in the last week, arguing the new “coefficient” for developing countries would seriously impact on employment and sustainable development.

In a joint statement of trade unions from 12 countries in Latin America and regional trade union organisations, including the regional office of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and in an earlier statement from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), unions expressed their opposition to the proposed new text.

The proposal, put by the chair of the Non- Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) Group on July 17, would lead to average tariff cuts of around 60 per cent for developing countries, bringing the average tariff levels down to 12 per cent, a level so low as to undermine prospects for industrial development in many developing country economies.

In addition, the proposed flexibilities on tariffs that would allow developing countries to shield and develop specific labour intensive sectors, such as textiles and clothing, leather and footwear, plastics, paper, rubber, metals, automobile and furniture, are so minimal they would provide little employment protection for vulnerable workers, further reducing development prospects.

“The disconnect between the discussions on development strategies and the creation of decent work in developing countries on the one hand and the NAMA proposals is enormous and cannot result in a pro-development outcome of the Doha Round,” said the trade unions.

A copy of the joint statement of Latin American trade unions is published on the IMF website and the ITUC statement can be seen at the following link: http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?article1322

USA: National collective bargaining talks between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the U.S “big three” automakers kicked off on July 20 in Detroit, Michigan. The current four-year contracts, which cover more than 720,000 active and retired UAW members, will expire at midnight on September 14, 2007. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger and his bargaining teams met with Chrysler on July 20, and General Motors and Ford on July 23. Busloads of UAW active and retired members rallied outside the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources to mark the day and show their union pride. At a news conference following the Chrysler meeting, Gettelfinger was quoted as telling reporters, “We’re going into these negotiations as we do every set of negotiations, which is to look out for the interests of our active and retired membership,” noting, “job security is very important to us, and the American automobile industry is very important to this country. So when we fight to preserve jobs, it helps our nation as a whole.”

SOUTH AFRICA: A new three-year collective agreement was reached by metal unions and employers in South Africa on July 13, after protracted negotiations and three days of strike action by 260,000 metalworkers across the country.

The agreement was reached by IMF affiliates the National Union of Metal Workers (NUMSA), which represented the majority of the workers, and the Metal and Electrical Workers' Union (MEWUSA) and four other metal unions with the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation (SEIFSA), which represents 9,000 engineering companies.

A significant victory for workers in the engineering, auto, tyre and rubber sectors, the agreement paves the way for the implementation of a new five-grade job structure, an employees share ownership scheme and will generate more employment opportunities and skills development.

The employers' federation also agreed in principle to increase wages, effective from July 1, by 9 per cent for the lowest paid workers and 8 per cent for the advance A grade level, and by 8.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent in the year 2008 and 2009 respectively.

The parties to the agreement will also resume investigations on the structure and timing of apprentice wage rates and annual wage increases.

NUMSA general secretary Silumko Nondwangu described the agreement as an "unprecedented deal which surpasses all other negotiated settlements in most sectors".

CHINA: A new Labour Contract Law was approved by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in China on June 29 to take effect in 2008. The law strengthens protection of workers’ rights and may particularly benefit the millions of migrant workers in China who currently endure endemic violations of their rights. The Labour Contract Law confirms that all individual workers have the right to a written employment contract that complies with minimum wage and safety regulations, requires redundancy payments upon termination for many workers and places limits on the use of temporary employment, making it more difficult to terminate contracts. The new law also provides for workers’ representatives to negotiate collective contracts at the workplace through the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), which is controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. According to the law, if the ACFTU has not established a branch at an enterprise, the workers may elect their own representative to negotiate a collective contract with management, but only under the guidance of the ACFTU. “While we welcome the new labour law in China, without proper implementation and rigorous enforcement it may not result in real improvements for workers. Furthermore, without the right to independent trade unions, workers have limited means to ensure their rights are respected,” said Marcello Malentacchi.

BRAZIL: The national metalworkers' confederation (Confederación Nacional de Metalúrgicos – CNM) has announced that the Taubaté Metalworkers' Union, affiliated to CNM/CUT, suffered another attack during the night of Monday 2 July. At approximately 22.20, five shots were fired at the porter’s lodge. Fortunately, nobody was hit, as the security guard was not in the lodge when the shots were fired.

The Military Police and the Technical Police arrived at the scene and identified the bullet cartridges found there.

The vice president of the Taubaté Metalworkers' Union, Isaac do Carmo, said that this was yet another attack on trade union freedom and autonomy by the opposition that is due to contest the trade union elections this year.

"We are on the eve of elections to the union, which is one of the most important and representative in the state of São Paulo and the metalworking industry in Brazil. This behaviour shows the opposition is desperate and unable to conduct a political debate with the workers on the shopfloor and that it has opted for psychological and physical intimidation," said Isaac.

The union was attacked for the first time earlier this year, on June 5, when bombs were thrown at the union office and the union received an anonymous phone call making death threats against the union president, Valmir Marques da Silva.

GLOBAL: The International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) have signed an international framework agreement (IFA) with Brunel, a Netherlands-based international recruitment and service provider specialised in deploying skilled workers in the fields of engineering, ICT, legal, finance and insurance and banking. By signing the agreement, Brunel formalised its commitment to ensuring fundamental human rights by working with labour and the IMF. The agreement, which initially applies to Brunel’s operations which fall within the scope of the IMF, includes specific reference to the core labour Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the right to equal pay, no forced or child labour and no discrimination. The IFA provides for abstention from anti-union discrimination and commits on working against corruption. Brunel also commits to equal opportunity recruitment practices, continuous skills development and to ensuring that remuneration is better than, or at least equal to, conditions set forth in national legislation and collective bargaining agreements. Brunel also expects suppliers and subcontractors to adhere to the ILO conventions, with non-compliance resulting in sanctions, including withdrawal from future contracts. The agreement came in response to the Howard Government’s use of temporary migrant labour to undercut wages and conditions in Australia. “Under the Howard Government, temporary migrant labour has been terribly exploited through large agency fees, excessive costs for poor quality housing, dismissal when workers become injured, threat of deportation if they join the union and poor wages and conditions,” explains AMWU president Julius Roe. “While strongly supporting immigration on the basis that migrant workers have full citizenship and other rights, the AMWU has sought to expose the plight of these migrant workers and tried to reach collective agreements with companies that seek to use temporary migrant workers,” he said. “The agreement with Brunel ensures that temporary migrant workers are only used where absolutely necessary and that they receive training, equal wages and conditions and union and collective agreement protection. Given the international nature of employment in this sector, an international agreement with the support of the IMF was essential,” he said. A copy of the agreement is published on the IMF website.

SOUTH KOREA: Members of the Korean Metalworkers’ Union (KMWU) kicked off a series of rallies against the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (Kor-US FTA) in central Seoul and regionally on June 29. In Seoul 20,000 workers, farmers and students, under the umbrella of the Korean Trade Union Confederation (KCTU) and the Korean Alliance against the Kor-US FTA (KoA), voiced their opposition to the agreement, which was signed by Korea and the U.S. on Saturday June 30. The Kor-US FTA, which is yet to be ratified by the US Congress and Korean unicameral National Assembly, will pit both Korean and U.S. workers against one another in a race to the bottom, while enabling capital mobility and financial speculation. The agreement fails to include meaningful protection of fundamental workers’ rights and is based on a system where economic growth is achieved through the destruction of good jobs, increased casualisation of employment, and by undermining universal health care and other public services. Prior to the rallies on Friday, the KMWU held a series of regional and national strikes against the Kor-US FTA, expressing its serious concerns about the impact the FTA will have on its members. Employers have since filed damages claims for economic losses, resulting in the government investigating 67 KMWU officers and issuing 27 arrest warrants against KMWU leaders, including its president, first vice president, general secretary, and 14 regional branch chairs. On June 28, 110,000 KMWU members across the country downed tools, including KMWU Hyundai Motors Branch union members in Ulsan who halted production at 12.30. Workers at Hyundai Motors had been the focus of attacks by government, employers and press for striking against the FTA. To avoid a violent crackdown at a mass rally, the workers gathered in nine areas throughout the plant complex for smaller rallies near their lines. About 9,000 KMWU members struck on June 25 in Chungcheong and North Jolla regions, and over 20,300 workers in Seoul Metropolitan region and Kwangju/South Jolla province took strike action on June 26, and 38,000 workers went on strike in Yeongnam region on Wednesday. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC), joined with the IMF and several of its affiliates and others in sending letters of solidarity to the KMWU on the occasion of its first national strike since becoming an industrial union.