ITALY: Fiat Auto informed Italian metalworkers’ unions yesterday (October 9) it will lay off 8,100 workers, about one-fifth of its domestic workforce, as part of the automaker’s latest restructuring plan. Although job cuts had been rumoured for some time, the figure is even higher than expected, and all but one of Fiat’s six assembly plants in the country will be affected by the job losses. According to a company statement, it will place 5,600 workers (5,000 in car assembly jobs and 600 in components) on a one-year layoff scheme in December 2002, and another 2,000 will go in July 2003. The jobs of 500 long-time workers approaching retirement will also be part of the plan. Reacting to Fiat’s announcement, the unions will begin protest action by staging a four-hour strike in all company facilities on October 11.

GREAT BRITAIN: Speaking today, October 8, to participants at the IMF Seminar on Organising Non-Manual Workers, taking place in Eastbourne, UK, the general secretary of the IMF, Marcello Malentacchi, described organising as the "lifeblood of the labour movement. Organising the unorganised has always been a priority for trade unions throughout their history," stated Malentacchi, "and it is also a top priority of the IMF's Action Programme. The changing world of work and attacks from all sides on labour strength and unity make this challenge even more pressing today."

With a few exceptions, metal unions have traditionally been less well represented in the non-manual occupations. As manufacturing becomes more and more technology-intensive, however, the trend for non-manual occupations to increase and even outnumber those of production workers in a number of countries is expected to accelerate. In the USA and Japan, for example, approximately 60 per cent of the workforce is in white-collar occupations, and in Germany and Sweden, the rate is about 45 per cent.

Discussions at the IMF seminar will focus on recruiting programmes which have been implemented in different countries, examining new tools and strategies in a globalised economy, and assessing the current situation. Guidelines will be worked out for organising policies for non-manual workers and the possibility of recruiting projects will be discussed. "Our mission," states the IMF general secretary, "is to work towards the creation of a more unified metalworkers' movement – in other words, find a good balance between the interests of manual and non-manual workers."

Represented at the seminar are IMF-affiliated unions from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.

BRAZIL: Congratulating Luiz Inácio da Silva – “Lula” – on his victory in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, the general secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, Marcello Malentacchi, said that “the metalworkers of the world are all looking forward to the day you will be elected president of the great country of Brazil. This is a great moment for the entire trade union movement of the world, and we want to express all our solidarity and support for the final round in three weeks’ time.” Lula, the candidate of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), or Workers’ Party, received close to 47 per cent of the ballots cast in yesterday’s (October 6) voting, far ahead of his nearest challenger, and just short of the minimum 50 per cent needed for an outright victory. A former metalworker, Lula became the leader of the metalworkers’ union of Sao Bernardo, outside Sao Paulo, in the mid-1970s, and even though strikes were banned under the then military dictatorship, he played a leading role when Brazil’s first strikes for ten years – over union demands for better wages and working conditions – erupted at the Swedish Scania truck factory in May 1978. In 1980, he participated in the launching of the Workers’ Party, and in 1986 was elected to Congress. A second and final round of voting in the presidential election will take place on October 27. Main issues in the election have been the country’s sluggish economy, a 10 per cent unemployment rate, the drop in wages and high crime rates.

THE AMERICAS: The IMF Working Group on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has held its fourth meeting, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with regard to the FTAA process and the potential impact of the FTAA on the metal industry in the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, the FTAA agenda is much more than just cutting tariffs; it is about financial deregulation, privatisation of public services, dismantling of social security systems and the destruction of collective bargaining. Against the backdrop of the passage this summer of fast-track legislation in the USA and the upcoming elections in Brazil, discussions at the meeting centered on the current status of the FTAA negotiations and on industrial policy within the context of regional trade agreements. The metal industry accounts for an important part of trade flows in the Americas, thus metalworkers’ interests are directly at stake in the FTAA process. The information and analysis produced by the IMF Working Group on these negotiations has contributed to an increased level of awareness on trade and development issues among affiliates in the region and is widely used in educational activities. What is also important is to transform this into union action. An example of this is the plebiscite against the FTAA in early September in Brazil, supported amongst others by trade unions, which resulted in an overwhelming rejection of the FTAA. Generally, public opinion is wary about the FTAA negotiations and increasingly mistrustful vis-à-vis trade policies of developed countries. The Group said there was a need to interact, discuss and coordinate union strategies within the IMF framework, all the more so as the elections in October in Brazil and next spring in Argentina will see the emergence of a new political constellation in the Americas. The work of the IMF regarding the FTAA and other similar trade deals is a contribution to the wider debate in the IMF on an alternative economic programme, and addressing industrial policy issues is part of that effort. The proposed agreement for the FTAA, which accounts for approximately 40 per cent of the world’s GNP, is scheduled for completion in 2005.

CANADA: Two down and one more to go. After striking a deal with General Motors, the IMF-affiliated Canadian Auto Workers reached a provisional contract settlement yesterday, September 30, with the second of the Big Three automakers, Ford Motor Co. Following closely the contract agreed at GM on September 17, and ratified on September 22, the three-year contract at Ford Canada will offer workers a 3 per cent wage hike in both the first and second years of the agreement, and 2 per cent in the third year. Workers will also receive a signing bonus of C$1,000 (US$631), 28 hours of additional paid time off – which will create 200 new jobs at Ford, a vacation bonus of C$1,500 (US$948) in each year, and improved health care benefits. A most important union issue in the negotiations – concerning the closure of an Ontario light truck plant – was resolved when the company agreed to delay the plant closure and to retrain 900 of the plant’s 1,400 workers for a new shift at a nearby Ford minivan plant. The remaining 500 workers are expected to accept retirement incentive packages. A ratification vote will be held for the CAW’s 13,000 Ford members on October 5 and 6. Contract negotiations with DaimlerChrysler will follow shortly. Note: In the ratification vote held on October 5 and 6, 92.7 per cent of CAW Ford members cast a ballot in favour of the new contract.

GERMANY/USA: A “Social Responsibility Principles of DaimlerChrysler” has been signed by top management of DaimlerChrysler and by representatives of the DaimlerChrysler World Employee Committee, on behalf of the International Metalworkers’ Federation. It is the second framework agreement to be agreed in the world’s automotive industry. Signing the agreement for the company were Jürgen E. Schrempp, chairman of the board, and Günther Fleig, human resources and labour relations director. For the DaimlerChrysler World Employee Committee and the International Metalworkers’ Federation were Erich Klemm, who is chairman of the DaimlerChrysler Enterprise Works Council, European Works Council and World Employee Committee, and Nate Gooden, vice-president of the United Auto Workers of America and director of the UAW’s DaimlerChrysler Department. In the agreement, DaimlerChrysler acknowledges its social responsibility, which it believes will be an important factor for the company’s long-term success, and supports the principles on human and workers’ rights and the environment which form the basis for the United Nations’ Global Compact initiative. The company says it will work towards preventing an irreversible process of globalisation by showing “the human face of globalisation, among other things by creating and preserving jobs.” It also expects its suppliers to apply comparable principles as the basis for mutual relations. Speaking for the World Employee Committee, Erich Klemm stated it was the first time a global standard for basic employee rights and working conditions had been set at DaimlerChrysler and that “staff throughout the world are assured they can organise in trade unions and thus independently assert their rights.” The DaimlerChrysler “Principles” are based on the core labour standards established by the International Labour Organisation. The text of the agreement can be accessed on the associated links, in German and in English. Note: In June 2002, the first framework agreement for the automotive industry (and the second one for the overall metal industry) was signed at Volkswagen. The first framework agreement for the metal industry was signed at Merloni Elettrodomestici, in December 2001.

GERMANY: IG Metall, the IMF’s 2.7 million-strong German metalworker affiliate, reached an agreement on September 24 with Volkswagen AG for a new collective contract covering some 105,000 autoworkers at the company’s six plants in western Germany. The two-year deal provides for a monthly wage increase of 120 euros (US$117) beginning October 1, 2002, to be followed by another pay hike of 3.1 per cent from February 1, 2003, and 2.6 per cent on February 1, 2004. Workers will also receive a one-time payment of 400 euros (US$391) in May 2004. The union’s chief negotiator, Hartmut Meine, said the agreement was a good result, as good as the one reached for the metal and engineering industry in May, and with adjustments to fit the specific needs of the company. VW negotiates directly with IG Metall, rather than via Gesamtmetall, the employers’ association for the metal and engineering industry. The current collective agreement will expire on September 30.

AUSTRALIA: In an update on the situation at Dayson Pty Limited, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union reports it has won an interlocutory injunction to stop the company from dismissing 11 workers who, since early June, have been on strike at the company’s Rydalmere plant in support of a union enterprise agreement. Dayson – a subsidiary of the U.S. air-conditioning transnational Trane, one of the principal businesses of American Standard Companies Inc. – has now given notice that it intends to close down the Rydalmere plant because a feasibility study had shown it was not viable. The union has argued that the company breached the Workplace Relations Act by discriminating against the workers because of their union membership and because they were engaged in protected industrial action. The Court found the union only had an arguable case with regard to discrimination for union membership and has issued an injunction until the case goes to trial on November 18. Although workers at Dayson chose the AMWU to represent them, the company has been refusing to speak with the union, much less negotiate, and fired the workers, all union members, including two union delegates.

THAILAND: Viwat Pantsra, president of the Thai Auto Industry Labour Federation, has announced his union will petition the government and parliament for a law limiting the number of workers on contract jobs to no more than 30 per cent of the permanent staff at a workplace. The union leader likened contract work to “a form of slavery. Workers put in that kind of job have no job security and no welfare, unlike those on the regular payroll. It’s just unbelievable that our auto industry is growing rapidly but the workers who help it grow are being taken advantage of,” he said. The auto industry union, a member of the IMF-affiliated Confederation of Thai Electrical Appliances, Electronic, Automobile and Metalworkers (TEAM), says that employers are increasingly resorting to contract workers to cut production costs and that the hiring of contract workers in many of Thailand’s auto plants had become common practice. There will also be a move to demand that contract workers receive the same benefits as permanent workers.

GREAT BRITAIN: Derek Simpson, the newly-elected general secretary of Amicus-AEEU (Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union), has announced that the union will scrap the no-strike agreement it has with Honda Motor Co. It is expected that such peace agreements the union has with other companies may also be thrown out. Simpson says that the “right to strike is a fundamental human right. To deny workers that right does nothing to improve industrial relations; it only makes them worse. We are dealing with Honda urgently and will give other deals urgent scrutiny.” The AEEU won recognition for collective bargaining rights for 4,000 workers at Honda’s Swindon plant in December 2001, after years of company resistance to recognising a union. The AEEU and the Manufacturing Science and Finance union – both of which are affiliated to the IMF through its British Section – merged on January 1, 2002, to form the super union, Amicus, with a membership of approximately 1.2 million, the biggest trade union organisation in the UK private sector and manufacturing industry.