USA: The IMF-affiliated IUE-CWA reports that, on May 19, the first union proposal was made in national negotiations as the 14-member Coordinated Bargaining Committee of General Electric unions opened bargaining with General Electric in New York City. The IUE-CWA president, Edward Fire, who also chairs the CBC, proposed that GE reinstate two workers who were fired at the GE-owned Johnson Technology for their organizing activity. The National Labor Relations Board has issued charges in both cases. Saying that this issue had to be dealt with and resolved in these negotiations, Fire said that “at its core, General Electric has always been and remains, anti-union.” Fire and IUE-CWA/GE Conference Board chairman, Art Smith, outlined the major issues in the negotiations. Key among them are pension increases and job security. Fire called for “substantial” pension improvements for current and future retirees, as well as improvements in health care with no cost shifting. “There will be no givebacks in the new IUE-CWA GE three-year contract,” Fire stated. “If General Electric continues to insist that IUE-CWA members accept the massive concessions in health care cost shifting GE has talked about, our members are prepared, and will strike.”

ARGENTINA/GENEVA: A variety of investigations are trying to shed light upon the Argentinean military regime of 1976-1983. Some of these investigations focus on the disappearances of trade unionists. One case regards the Mercedes Benz plant in Argentina, where 14 people disappeared in the years 1976-1977. In this connection, individual journalists and surviving relatives have raised allegations against José Rodriguez, president of the IMF-affiliated Argentinean trade union SMATA, claiming that he played a role in the disappearances. José Rodriguez, who has been an IMF Executive Committee member since 1973, strongly denies the allegations. The allegations and resulting debate are provoking reports about the issue in a vast number of public media outlets. Following this, not only José Rodriguez, but also the International Metalworkers’ Federation and IMF affiliates are being implicated in the different allegations. Subsequently, the Executive Committee, which met in Geneva on May 14, 2003, decided to suspend José Rodriguez from his post on the Executive, pending the outcome of the allegations against him. The IMF Executive Committee also clearly stated that José Rodriguez has the right to be considered innocent until the opposite has been proven.

CHINA: The China Labour Bulletin reports that on May 9, 2003, a court in Liaoyang, northeastern China, handed down harsh prison sentences to Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, the two independent metalworker activists who were arrested in March 2002 and kept in detention since then for their part in a peaceful workers’ demonstration. Yao, 52, has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and Xiao, 57, to four years. At their trial, which took place on January 15, 2003, both men were charged with “illegal assembly” and “subversion of state power” for leading a mass protest against alleged corruption at the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory, which led to the plant’s bankruptcy, and against missing and unpaid wages and other benefits, including pensions. In late March 2002, the IMF joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in filing a formal complaint with the International Labour Organisation’s Committee on Freedom of Association against the government of the People’s Republic of China for violations of the principles of freedom of association. Since then, the IMF has written protests to the president of China and to the government-sponsored All China Federation of Trade Unions. In March 2003, the Governing Body of the ILO, of which China is a member, called upon the Chinese authorities to release all Liaoyang workers still in detention and to drop any outstanding charges against them.

DENMARK: 530 delegates at the recent Extraordinary Congress in Odensee of the Danish Metalworkers’ Federation (Dansk Metalarbejderforbund) unanimously voted for a merger with the Danish Telecommunications Federation. The newly-amalgamated union, which keeps the name Danish Metalworkers’ Federation, has 150,000 members, of whom 137,000 come from the metalworkers and 13,000 from the telecom union. Previous to the merger, Dansk Metal already had among its membership 12,000 in the IT and electronics sector. The new federation has set up an IT secretariat, as well as a permanent department for equality issues. Commenting on the merger, Dansk Metal’s president, Max Baehring, said that “this measure will give us a stronger negotiating position and point of departure for improving working conditions in the branch.”

GERMANY: In a bid to gradually introduce the 35-hour workweek for its members in the metal and electrical industry in eastern Germany, IG Metall staged walkouts in four auto plants on May 5. Targeted were three Volkswagen plants and one Opel plant. IG Metall, the IMF-affiliated German metalworkers’ union, says that 13 years after the country’s reunification, it’s time for further steps to be taken towards realising the same working and income conditions for employees in the eastern part of the country as their counterparts in the west. Although weekly base pay is the same, the 310,000 metalworkers in the east have a 38-hour workweek, as opposed to the 35 hours worked in the west. Contract negotiations between IG Metall and employers in the eastern German metal and electrical industry will begin in mid-May, but the union is nevertheless preparing a vote for a possible strike in early June.

AUSTRIA: The IMF’s Austrian affiliate, Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil (GMT), will join the national trade union confederation ÖGB in country-wide protests and strikes today (May 6) over government plans to increase the national retirement age. A massive demonstration is also being organised for May 13. Some 1.4 million ÖGB members are mobilising — from public transport, to metal and other industries, teachers, the medical profession, printing press, etc. — for what is expected to be the country’s biggest industrial action in over half a century. Although the trade unions and their social partners had tried to defer changes in the proposed legislation so that a solution of mutual consent might have been found, the government rejected any delay and introduced a draft law to Parliament on April 29. If passed, the legislation will prolong by five years the period for pension contributions — from 40 to 45 years. The president of the Austrian metalworkers’ union, Rudolf Nürnberger, says “the government draft means extensive cuts in future pensions of up to minus 41 per cent.”

GERMANY: Among steps being taken by the German metalworkers’ union IG Metall against Gerhard Schroeder’s “Agenda 2010” reform plan is its participation in an action week, from May 12-17, organised by the German trade union confederation DGB with its member unions. The announced reforms contained in the German chancellor’s programme, which was presented to Parliament in March, caused an uproar among the country’s trade unions due to the planned dismantling of three major elements of German social security:

• unemployment benefits to be levelled down to welfare and shortened,
• protection against dismissal to be reduced,
• health-care costs to increase.

The unions have strongly condemned Agenda 2010 as an attack on what has been achieved in more than a century of combined efforts by the trade unions and social democracy. A spokesperson for IG Metall said reforms were needed that would bring growth and contribute to job creation, but this was not the case with Agenda 2010. In a letter to the Social Democratic and Green members of Parliament, IG Metall president, Klaus Zwickel, has accused Schroeder of breaking promises not to touch such social measures, made at IG Metall’s Future Congress in June 2002, in discussions with trade union presidents immediately after last September’s elections, and in a meeting with the IG Metall Executive in February 2003. In addition to the upcoming Action Week, IG Metall and other unions made their objection to Agenda 2010 the focus of their protests during May 1st marches throughout the country. Many more rallies, petitions, distribution of information, Internet discussion between union members and members of Parliament are being organised, and alternative proposals are being put forth. The culmination of trade union protest will take place on May 24 with a nationwide action day by all DGB member unions.

GREAT BRITAIN/USA: Although the vote in favour of enhanced executive pay won a majority at the April 17th annual general meeting of the British-based news agency Reuters, the unions report the 22 per cent negative vote they achieved was “definitely a good result, especially for a first attempt.” A spokesperson for the British TUC said that the vote came at a time in the UK when institutional investors are under a great deal of pressure to prove they will stand up to investee companies where necessary over governance issues like executive pay. Also, direct approaches to shareholders seem to be paying off. In one letter sent to Reuters shareholders before the annual meeting took place, the president of the IMF-affiliated Communications Workers of America, Morton Bahr, called for opposition to approval of the enhanced executive pay plan. “Executive pay,” said Bahr, “is not simply a cost issue, but also an issue of corporate performance.”

GENEVA/GLOBAL: In this year’s IMF message for the First of May, the IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, stresses the importance of global trade union solidarity. With the many forces which are dividing the world now more than ever, all trade unions have a responsibility, he insists, to build up links so that nations are helped in working towards a sustainable peace. “The international trade union movement must mobilise all its forces worldwide because workers everywhere are in great difficulty, and struggling hard,” says Malentacchi. “In light of the economic crisis, some must fight to keep already achieved rights. Some continue their fight to acquire fundamental rights, such as to belong to a union or to bargain collectively. Many are fighting to build up democracy in their own countries.” On May 1st, all trade union members — wherever they live and whatever they do, no matter their colour or creed — have a responsibility to march in the streets to proclaim their universal values. “Let us seize the day,” declared Marcello Malentacchi, “to show that we are a great movement, across all boundaries.” For the full text of the general secretary’s First of May Message, go to the IMF website Opinion Column on www.imfmetal.org.

Every year, for more than 100 years, the trade union movement worldwide — with few exceptions — has celebrated the First of May. We will commemorate this day again next week. It is a day to be devoted especially to international solidarity, and it is as important as ever before, now when so many forces are trying to divide us. This is especially true after the recent war in Iraq, with tensions so high — not only between some Arabic and Western countries, but also between “coalition” and “non-coalition” countries, and within countries. We all have a responsibility to work together to build up links to make it easier for nations to work together for sustainable peace. Peace can only be built up if sustainable economic programmes, aimed at raising the standard of living of workers and their families, are introduced and practiced in the regions and countries where the need is greatest. The international trade union movement must mobilise all its forces worldwide because workers everywhere are in great difficulty, and struggling hard. In light of the economic crisis, some must fight to keep already achieved rights. Some continue their fight to acquire fundamental rights, such as to belong to a union or to bargain collectively. Many are fighting to build up democracy in their own countries. Let’s not forget the migrant workers and refugees. Some have been forced to leave their countries in search of safety. Others have left their homes to find a place to start a new life for themselves and their families. May 1st is the day all of us must march in the streets to shout that we have the same values. No matter where we live or what we do. No matter our colour or creed. Let us seize the day to show that we are a great movement, across all boundaries. Long live the First of May!