REP. OF KOREA: South Korea’s Independence Day, celebrated yesterday (August 15), has come and gone and not one of the imprisoned trade unionists was granted a special amnesty by either President Kim Dae-jung or his government, even though many citizens and a majority in Parliament were pushing for it. The IMF had organised its second International Day of Action for South Korea in late June, as well as a letter campaign during the last two weeks, calling for the release of Dan Byung-ho, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and over 50 South Korean trade unionists who have been in prison on account of legitimate trade union activities. In early July, two imprisoned leaders of the Daewoo autoworkers’ union were released as a result of the international campaign. On the proposal of the IMF-affiliated Korean Metal Workers’ Federation, the KCTU is now organising a nation-wide rally – still to be confirmed, but probably during the last week of August – to protest the government’s repression of trade unionists and its refusal to grant amnesties to the imprisoned workers. In September, a delegation from the International Labour Organisation will visit South Korea to follow up on ILO recommendations to the government regarding the imprisoned trade unionists. The IMF would like to take this opportunity to thank its many affiliates who participated in the International Day of Action and the recent letter campaign. Both have received wide media coverage, internationally and within South Korea itself, and certainly none of this has fallen on deaf ears.

AUSTRALIA: The strike at Dayson, an Australian operation of Trane, the world’s third largest air-conditioning manufacturer and one of the principal businesses of American Standard Companies Inc., is now in its 12th week. Although workers at Dayson have chosen the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union to represent them, the company has refused to speak with the union, much less negotiate, and threatened to sign individual contracts. Moreover, management fired seven workers, all union members, including two union delegates, and refused to accept a recommendation by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, which has criticised the company over its conduct. In a letter to Frederic M. Poses, the chairman and CEO of American Standard Companies Inc., the IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, has demanded the “immediate and unconditional reinstatement of the fired workers and the resumption of negotiations with the union to resolve the outstanding issues,” saying that Dayson’s actions are extremely grave violations of internationally recognised labour rights. The IMF is urging its 207 affiliated organisations worldwide, representing 25 million metalworkers – many of whom are consumers of American Standard products, to take all possible measures to assist their AMWU colleagues at Dayson in Australia.

EUROPE: As most readers will know, parts of central and eastern Europe have been hit by torrential rains and some of the worst flooding in living memory. The IMF’s Czech metalworkers’ affiliate, OS KOVO, has written to say that the Czech Republic is suffering from the most serious floods in more than one hundred years. Thousands of the union’s members have been directly hit by the situation, and other tens of thousands have been affected indirectly. The president of the metalworkers’ union, Jan Uhlir, has stated that OS KOVO is providing financial means to assist its members, but in addition to this the union has established a special “flood” account for eventual assistance from others. Any help of this kind would be very welcomed. For more information, contact OS KOVO as follows:
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: (420/2) 2446-2483 or (420/2) 2254-0307
Fax: (420/2) 2446-2265 or (420/2) 2254-0278
Websites of metal unions in affected countries which are providing information as well as legal advice to their members are as follows:

• Austria – Gewerkschaft Metall- Textil: www.metaller.at
  
• Germany – IG Metall: www.igmetall.de

CANADA: The IMF-affiliated Canadian Auto Workers have begun collective bargaining talks with the “Big Three” automakers – General Motors of Canada Ltd., DaimlerChyrsler Inc. and Ford of Canada Ltd. The current contracts, which cover 46,387 CAW members, will expire on September 17, 2002. The union has announced that in addition to key demands for job and income security, substantial wage increases and improved time off the job, the need to address the question of a potential plant closure at each of the companies is also a high priority in the negotiations. According to the CAW, it intends to seek a written commitment from the Big Three to investment and jobs in Canada, as well as a commitment from the federal government to get all auto producers who are selling in Canada to increase their commitment to jobs and investment in Canada. However, stated the union’s president, Buzz Hargrove, “no one should misread our concern and our campaign on strengthening the overall industry in Canada as a weakness in our bargaining program.” The CAW will soon announce which of the three automakers will be the target company, for which the deadline for the first agreement is set for midnight Tuesday, September 17.

GLOBAL: According to a new list published by Unctad (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), 29 of the world's 100 biggest economic entities are transnational companies (TNCs). The Unctad survey ranks countries and TNCs on the basis of value added, a measure used to calculate countries' gross domestic product. (Unctad defines value added as the sum of salaries, pre-tax profits and depreciation and amortisation.)

Among metalworking TNCs which ranked highest in the world economy for value added were General Motors, Ford Motor, DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, Toyota Motor, Siemens and Volkswagen. GM, with value added of US$56 billion, is just smaller than the economy of Pakistan ($62 bn) but larger than Peru ($53 bn). Ford ($44 bn) and DaimlerChrysler ($42 bn) are bigger than the economy of Nigeria ($41 bn), with GE following closely at $39 bn.

Commenting on the Unctad survey, the general secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation, Marcello Malentacchi, said it was not acceptable for so much power to be concentrated in so few hands. "The accumulation of economic power by TNCs shown in this survey," stated Malentacchi, "is dangerous for democracy and development, as it reaches beyond the control of governments and democratically-elected parliaments."

"This is one aspect. The other one, making the situation even worse," he added, "is the fact that this group of TNCs is responsible for most of the daily transfer of capital which takes place through the stock market, producing an enormous wave of speculation, and not many jobs."

The IMF general secretary said that the recent scandals with Enron, World.com, various international accounting firms, ABB, Ebner, etc. were but a few examples of how laws are bypassed, ignored and deliberately violated just because TNCs rule the market, and politicians worldwide, in the name of neo-liberalism, have given up their right to exert control over capital.

"Once again," added Malentacchi, "so-called free market forces have proved to be useless for the people. Fifteen of the 29 TNCs concerned are operating in our sectors, and our top priority must be to negotiate Code of Conduct agreements with all the 15 as soon as possible. A Code of Conduct can at least guarantee a minimum standard wherever the TNC is operating."

(Note: See also Marcello Malentacchi's website opinion column on TNCs of August 19, 2002.)

URUGUAY: A spate of general strikes has hit Uruguay as the country’s main trade union centers and workers protest the government’s failed economic policies and the escalating crisis there. In a bid to halt the economic recession, which is in its fourth year, and to avoid contagion from neighbouring Argentina’s on-going economic crisis, the Uruguayan government recently announced a decision to make cuts in public spending and last week closed banks in an attempt to stop people from withdrawing their savings. Marching workers have demanded an increase in wages and public spending as well as cash to prop up the country’s faltering banking system. The recession in Uruguay has left a fourth of the population unable to meet basic food needs and pay bills. Unemployment is at 15.6 per cent of the workforce.

CANADA: The IMF-affiliated USWA reports that on July 30 a majority of the unionised employees at Stelco Inc.’s Hilton Works in Hamilton, Ontario, voted to approve the terms of a new, four-year collective contract reached between the union and company management on July 26. The ballot result was 71 per cent in favour, with 3,621 out of more than 4,000 unionised workers voting. The agreement, which will be in place until July 31, 2006, contains a substantial increase in retirement pensions, with the pension for a 30-year employee taking early retirement to rise by 44 per cent over the four-year contract period. The pension increase was one of the union’s key bargaining objectives and is the largest in the history of Hilton Works. With regard to wages, the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) and premiums, the existing $1.40 COLA float will be rolled into the wage scale immediately and will generate $1.20 an hour in further increases over the life of the roll-in. Also, future COLA payments will be rolled into the wage scale during the life of the agreement. A wage increase of 15 cents an hour will take effect in the second year of the agreement and night shifts will carry a 10-cent-an-hour premium. Tradespeople and crane operator positions will be upgraded. At Stelco’s wholly-owned subsidiary Stelco-McMaster Ltée in Quebec, however, USWA members rejected by 98 per cent the company’s “final” offer because it fell far short of the agreement reached at Hilton Works. Strike action began with the expiration of the existing contract, at midnight on July 31. The highly productive Stelco-McMaster plant produces billets, special quality bars and reinforcing bars for shipment to North American and offshore markets. Stelco Inc. is Canada’s largest steel producer, with an annual steelmaking capacity of 6.2 million tons. Note: Figures are in Canada dollars, with the current exchange rate at 1 CAD = 0.634380 USD.

I have heard trade union leaders say that what happens on the stock exchange does not interest the individual worker. This couldn’t be further from the truth these days. The crash of some big U.S. companies clearly shows how so-called casino capitalism, ruthless as it is, uses workers’ money for gambling. And this isn’t happening just in the USA; worldwide the situation is very much the same. CEOs being granted astronomical figures for compensation while their companies are in deep trouble is happening all over – in Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, just to mention a few. In the USA, managers have been able to collect sums such as 3.3 billion dollars as their companies go bankrupt, making 100,000 workers jobless and thousands of shareholders poorer. As trade unions, we never liked the old-fashioned managers who ran their companies in a paternalistic way. For them, workplace democracy and workers’ influence were a burden rather than an asset. But most of them planned for the future, and to secure the company and jobs in the long term. On the other hand, the CEOs involved in these bankruptcies have not planned any longer than their nose. Their main concern appears to be driving up stock values so they can cash in on stock options. They almost make trade unions miss the old-style industrialists. This is why the strong reaction of John Sweeney, expressed on July 30 during his visit to Wall Street, fits perfectly into this. The AFL-CIO represents 13 million workers who together own pension funds worth 6,000 billion dollars. This money is not supposed to feed a few irresponsible CEOs and make some shareholders richer. It represents the only guarantee for the future of millions of people and their families. The same applies all over the world. The funds which are manipulated to enrich a few are almost 100 percent money which has been brought together by workers. By saving money for pensions, workers contribute largely to providing a strong and stable base for economic development. The least we can ask is that our money is used to secure our future when we have no other income. This is why, when John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO say that we will no longer tolerate the greed of short-term speculators and corrupt insiders and will not tolerate companies which overcompensate their executives, the entire trade union movement can only give him its massive and total support. CEOs who commit illegal acts should be severely punished — just like anyone else who breaks the law. But that is not enough. What the most recent spate of corporate misdeeds shows is that we need much tighter accounting rules, and government regulators who strictly apply them.

GENEVA: IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi comments on the recent spate of “corporate misdeeds” in his newly-published opinion on the IMF website. He says that although the old-fashioned bosses were too paternalistic and did not care much for democracy in the workplace, most of them at least planned for the long-term, in order to secure the future of their company and its workers – not like today’s CEOs whose “main concern appears to be driving up stock values so they can cash in on stock options.” Malentacchi urges the entire trade union movement to fully support the U.S. AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney, who recently stated that the trade unions would no longer tolerate the greed of new capitalism. Read the entire opinion on the associated website link.

REP. OF KOREA: The International Metalworkers’ Federation has appealed to the South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, and his government to grant a special amnesty on August 15 – Korea’s Independence Day – to Dan Byung-ho, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Dan is in prison on account of his trade union activities and on July 11 was sentenced to a one-and-a-half-year jail term. There have been strong international trade union campaigns not only on his behalf but also for the release of all imprisoned trade unionists in Korea. In his letter to Kim Dae-jung, the IMF’s general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, says that Dan Byung-ho is in prison “for trade union activities which in all democratic countries are considered perfectly legal, and which form the basis of the International Labour Organisation’s core conventions.” Malentacchi strongly urged the South Korean president to “do everything in your power to bring about the release of Dan Byung-ho through the Special Amnesty on the Republic of Korea’s Independence Day, on August 15, 2002. We would also appeal for the release, on this same occasion, of all South Korean trade unionists who have been jailed for their trade union activities.” Malentacchi is also asking IMF-affiliated organisations to write to President Kim as well. The IMF general secretary says that “if we all step up the campaign with a request for a special amnesty for Dan on August 15, there is a chance for a positive result.” It is an established custom for the Korean government or president to grant a mass amnesty on the August 15 Independence Day.