KOREA, REPUBLIC: The Korean Metal Workers’ Federation (KMWF) has informed the IMF of the tragic death by self-immolation on January 9 of Bae Dal-ho, a 50-year-old worker and trade union member at Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, in Changwon, southeastern Korea. Bae, who had worked for 21 years at the shipbuilding company and with a family to support, took the decision to commit suicide after Doosan not only fired him and others for participating in strike action last May but had also convinced a court to provisionally seize Bae’s property assets and wage compensation. He had not received any pay for over six months. A committee of trade unions has blamed Bae’s death on the company’s harsh treatment of him and its anti-union activities. They called the provisional seizure of Bae’s assets “a new kind of trade union suppression”. The KMWF and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have taken their campaign against the company nationwide, staging a number of protest actions in metropolitan areas since January 9. In a letter of protest to the president of Doosan Heavy Industries, Park Yong-sung, the IMF’s general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, urged him to take “appropriate action leading to immediate reinstatement of those Doosan workers dismissed for union activities and to halt all anti-union activities of your company.” The unions say they will continue to fight for Bae and over the issue of privatisation of public enterprises. Doosan bought Korea Heavy Industries and Construction from the government in 2001. Act now!
Use the Urgent Action Appeal feature at the LabourStart website, and submit a protest to Doosan’s president, Park Yong-sung, in seconds!

On February 15, trade unions across Europe will take to the streets of major cities to demonstrate against the imminent war that Bush and Blair intend to launch against Iraq, to prevent a “bigger” war, as they claim. The political leaders of eight European countries who recently signed a letter in support of the American Administration’s position will face tough questions from their own people. Demonstrations, surveys and polls show that European public opinion is definitely and increasingly against the war. Actually, antiwar opinion is growing all over the world, including in the USA. Participants in the recently concluded World Social Forum in Porto Alegre expressed a unanimous antiwar view at practically all events, small and large alike. It was not an expression of pacifism, but rather a broad rejection of this particular war prospect. It was a strong signal to the USA that world security must be governed by the United Nations, and not unilaterally by a “superpower”. Expressing this opinion against a war in Iraq must not be confused or mixed up with the battle to defeat terrorism, by all means, including war if necessary. The UN must be the only authority to decide what and when action is necessary. Also, the UN must ask the influential Arab countries to put pressure on Saddam Hussein to comply with the resolutions which have been adopted by the UN but ignored by the Iraqi government. Saddam Hussein is a terrible dictator and, like with all dictators, must be removed, but we cannot accept that millions of innocent civilians in Iraq and elsewhere will have to pay the price for the atrocities he has committed. On February 15, in Bern, the Swiss trade unions and other NGOs are organising a demonstration. I am going to join it. I hope you have the chance to do the same in your country.

BELGIUM: The trade unions represented at the Arcelor Cockerill-Sambre plant in Liège have called for a 24-hour strike to begin on February 6 at 9 p.m. The FGTB Metal and the Christian Metalworkers CCMB, both of which are affiliated to the IMF, say their walkout is in protest at the decision by the steelmaker to freeze investment at the plant. This will be the first in a series of strikes being planned since the January 24 announcement by the steel group of restructuring plans which would see a freeze on investment at four of its European blast furnaces and a decrease in steel-producing capacity of 8 million metric tons by 2010. Arcelor, the world’s largest steelmaking group, was formed in 2002 with the merger of Luxembourg’s Arbed, Spain’s Aceralia and France’s Usinor. It has a workforce of 106,000 worldwide and a production in 2002 of approximately 44 million metric tons of steel.

USA: In a major recruiting victory in the U.S. South, the IMF-affiliated United Auto Workers union has won the right to represent 3,100 workers at two plants in North Carolina operated by DaimlerChrysler’s Freightliner unit. The UAW has long campaigned to represent workers at the two DaimlerChrysler-owned factories. A majority of workers at the plants — in Cleveland and Gastonia — approved a “card check” voting process, in which they signed a card indicating support for unionisation. UAW president, Ron Gettelfinger, said that “card check elections are a fair and democratic way to find out whether workers really want a union.” Workers at Freightliner’s truck assembly plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina, who have been UAW members since 1990, played a key role in supporting the organising drive in Cleveland and Gastonia. Source: UAW, Detroit News, just-auto.com

PORTO ALEGRE: What is the role of the Global Union Federations in relation to transnational companies? In a meeting, open to the public, five federations came together to discuss this topic. Renato Martins, ICEM regional office, laid out his organisation’s two fronts in facing the actions of the transnational companies: pursuing global framework agreements and establishing “workers’ networks” within the international corporations. “These networks are connected over the Internet, they share experiences and they can have a dialogue with senior company management.” Stuart Howard, assistant general secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), stressed that a globalised world increased the need for local level trade unionists to have support from an international level. “But transnational companies won’t listen to us unless we can mobilise, unless we can develop concrete international solidarity actions to hit them, to hurt them. This is a challenge, which is partly met by making rank-and-file members more aware of what is happening in other workplaces, in other countries.” Jorge Campos, the IMF regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, presented how the IMF works through World Company Councils, sectoral meetings, educational activities, etc. He also presented the IMF’s work in achieving International Framework Agreements. In addition to the IMF, ICEM and ITF, the PSI and UNI also took part in the seminar. Do you want to know more about International Framework Agreements? Have a look at www.imfmetal.org/ifa.

ROMANIA: The IMF Romanian affiliate National Metalworkers’ Federation (U-Metal) has informed the IMF that the Samus Electrolux Union, a member of U-Metal, is having difficulties in its on-going collective bargaining negotiations with the local Electrolux management, in Satu Mare. U-Metal reports that the local management of the company is refusing to negotiate in good faith and is not willing to compromise or in some way find a solution to the deadlock in the bargaining talks. The IMF has written to Hans Stråberg, president and CEO of Electrolux, at the company’s corporate headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, to ask for his intervention in order to overcome the situation and find a solution acceptable to both sides.

PORTO ALEGRE: A seminar at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre set out to explore the potential — and the limits — of recent alliances between trade unions, non-governmental organisations and social movements. This issue is on the agenda for many trade unions — also international ones like the IMF and the other Global Union Federations — in light of “new organisations” gaining power and attracting interest from young people. The seminar, which attracted 250 visitors, was organised by the NGO “Focus on the Global South”, and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. As the moderator pointed out, many of the new and old organisations share the rejection of neo-liberal globalisation, criticism of the World Trade Organisation, etc. In a number of countries — exemplified by Germany, where the trade union movement, Attac and another NGO recently submitted a joint declaration to the federal government — they begin to speak with one voice. However, old demarcations still exist. The IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, first of the panellists to speak, stressed the fundamental democratic and representative nature of trade unions, that is not guaranteed for NGOs. “But I would like to argue,” said Malentacchi, “that we must not continue to let such thinking divide us. Just as there are some less than perfect NGOs, the same may be said of the trade union side. “Nonetheless, we must choose our allies carefully, no matter where they come from, to ensure that they are sincerely dedicated to our social, political and economic goals, and that they are backed by a democratic mandate.” He gave examples of successful cooperation between trade unions and NGOs and said he believes these alliances must be reinforced. Malentacchi also urged the audience not to forget that there are organisations other than NGOs which are sympathetic to trade unions: “I am referring to the UN system, and organisations such as the ILO, WHO, UNCTAD, FAO, UNEP, etc. We must insist that the economic institutions of global governance begin a close and effective cooperation with them.” Trevor Ngwane, of the South African Anti-Privatisation Forum, vehemently argued that the South African trade union congress Cosatu should break its ties with the ANC (African National Congress), which, in his opinion, had betrayed the working class. In the debate which followed, and which now tilted to discussing South Africa more than the trade unions versus NGOs, both representatives of the Cosatu, the metalworkers’ trade union Numsa (affiliated to Cosatu and the IMF) and the IMF general secretary objected to Ngwane’s stance. The discussion back on track again, a man from the audience met with much approval by claiming that trade unions were increasingly transforming themselves “from the inside”, more and more relating to a changing society with less manual workers, more non-manual workers and with atypical workers — part-time working, or in the informal sector – becoming the norm. He called this phenomenon “the new social unionism”. The Numsa general secretary, Silumko Nondwangu, while not ruling out alliances with NGOs, made the policy of the union he represents very clear: “Trade unions – given their position at the workplace, their representativity – must provide leadership to other social movements. Not vice versa.”

PORTO ALEGRE: A two-day preparatory Trade Union Forum was held in conjunction with and preceding the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. Being the second trade union gathering of its kind, some 500 people met in a huge tent. During the two days — the first with temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius, the second with rain pouring down — about 60 interventions were made by trade unionists from countries around the globe, including Japan, Bangladesh, Norway, France, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Canada and Chile. Several IMF affiliates from Latin America took the floor.

Salvatore Castro

Common themes of the short speeches were the issue of war in the Middle East, the crisis in Venezuela, release of debt burden for developing countries, the WTO, and a reform of the international financial institutions (IFIs). Everyone congratulated Brazil on the election of Lula. The Trade Union Forum was organised by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Jean-François Trogrlic, CFDT, France, said there was a clear risk that trade unionists in Porto Alegre would keep repeating the same things every time, and also asked for more substance. The trade unions should work towards reform of the IFIs, TNCs and free trade.

Marcello Malentacchi

Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, presented similar thoughts and urged the trade unions to start developing an alternative economic programme. The IMF also proposed that work begin immediately after the conclusion of the 2003 World Social Forum to ensure

• that the Global Unions’ Trade Union Forum become a permanent part of the World Social Forum;
• that the Global Unions under the leadership of the ICFTU develop strategies and activities for building effective alliances with other civil society movements;
• that the Global Unions under the leadership of the ICFTU develop a programme of alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation.

“I was not entirely happy about the meeting, I must admit,” explains Malentacchi. “There were far too few Global Union Federations present, and during the two days little was said about trade union issues. That’s the reason the IMF made this proposal.” Several other trade union organisations endorsed the IMF proposal, which will be formally submitted to the ICFTU. “Porto Alegre presents trade unions with a tremendous opportunity to meet, discuss and learn, and to interact with other organisations. It is due time that we all help each other go from talk to action,” says Malentacchi.

GLOBAL: Seeing Porto Alegre as an alternative to the World Economic Forum, and an opportunity to open up the debate about globalisation from a social perspective, the IMF has sent a delegation to the third World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, January 23-28. In debates, interviews, etc. the IMF wants to make clear that:

• In accordance with its Action Programme, the IMF will be producing an alternative economic programme, based on a Tobin Tax on cross-border currency transactions, cancellation of external debt for the poorest countries, a social dimension to trade and a total reform of the International Financial Institutions.
• The IMF is pursuing International Framework Agreements, to lay down the rules of conduct for transnational companies.

Prior to the World Social Forum, the IMF and other Global Union Federations (GUFs), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) will be meeting to discuss and coordinate the trade unions’ stand at the forum. This meeting will make a statement, soon to be found via a link from this page. The IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, will be a panelist at a seminar called “Trade unions and social movements: New alliances against new forms of capitalism?”, organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. There will also be a meeting where trade unions will discuss “Globalisation with jobs and dignity” with other social organisations and the ILO. The World Social Forum came about as a response to the “other” forum – the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. The objective of the WSF is to bring together organisations representing various segments of civil society and provide them with the opportunity to organise a counterweight to the economic power which is in the hands of a few. This year, more than 35,000 delegates are expected to take part in the forum in Porto Alegre.

CHINA: The International Metalworkers’ Federation is deeply concerned about charges of subversion which have been brought against Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, workers’ representatives in the four-year campaign against corruption, mismanagement and the resultant bankruptcy at the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory. The metalworkers had been demanding a basic living allowance, pension and back pay. Yao and Xiao and fellow workers, Pang Qingxiang and Wang Zhaoming, were detained in March 2002, and during this time their rights were repeatedly violated. Pang and Wang were finally released on bail in December. In letters of protest to the president of the People’s Republic of China, Jian Zemin, and to the chairman of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, Wang Zhaoguo, the IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, stated the Liaoyang workers were only exercising their rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining as guaranteed by the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions No. 87 and 98, and that as a member of the ILO, China had to guarantee its workers these established rights. Malentacchi also wrote in his letter to the All China Federation of Trade Unions that instead of assisting Yao and Xiao in their dispute with the factory management or supporting them now in their cases before the courts, “the ACFTU has abandoned them to a system that continues to ignore even the most fundamental workers’ rights. Indeed, far from helping these workers, the ACFTU has actually worked against them and added to the unfounded allegations they face.” The IMF joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in a formal complaint last March with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association against the government of the People’s Republic of China for violations of the principles of freedom of association. The trial against the two activists opens today, January 15.