GLOBAL: A “Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships at Volkswagen” was signed on June 6, in Bratislava, Slovakia, by Volkswagen management, the IMF and the Volkswagen Global Works’ Council (GWC). The Declaration states that the principles of core labour standards – which are defined in a number of conventions of the International Labour Organisation – will be assured within Volkswagen, and is the outcome of negotiations between the company, the IMF and representatives of the VW GWC. It is the first framework agreement for a worldwide player in the automotive industry. Commenting on this highly important agreement, Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, stated that it was “another milestone in the relationship with Volkswagen and its policy to negotiate and sign voluntary agreements with trade unions,” and he strongly urged other transnational companies in the metal industry “to follow the example of Volkswagen and get into negotiations with the IMF for a similar agreement.” Volkswagen created a European Works’ Council long before a directive was passed by the European Union. The company also established the GWC on a voluntary basis in 1998, followed by an official agreement in 1999. The VW Declaration deals with the freedom of association, collective bargaining, prohibition of child work and forced labour and non-discrimination, as well as remuneration, health and safety and working time. Company management will report to the GWC and its Steering Committee, and in cases of reported violations, one of the two will become active and discuss ways to solve the problems. The IMF’s coordinator for the VW Global Works’ Council is involved in this discussion and will bring in the position of the IMF and its affiliated unions. Robert Steiert, of the IMF head office, stated that the Declaration “will not have its largest impact at existing Volkswagen workplaces, where the provisions should already be at hand, but is most important for workers at plants to be built or taken over by Volkswagen, especially in lesser-developed countries.” The full text of the agreement, which is applicable to the entire Volkswagen group – Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Rolls-Royce Bentley, Lamborghini, Auto-Europa – can be accessed on the associated links, in ten languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovakian). In December 2001, Italy’s three national metalworkers’ unions, representing also the IMF, signed a framework agreement with Merloni Elettrodomestici.

GENEVA: The IMF-Fiat World Council, which held a two-day meeting in Turin, Italy, in April to discuss the outlook for the auto industry and specifically the situation at Fiat, has concluded that not only is economic globalisation and restructuring of the automotive industry continuing but intensifying competition and widespread production overcapacity are putting increasing pressures on auto manufacturers and their workers. In recent years, a wave of mergers, acquisitions and alliances have swept the industry, with the Fiat Group vehicle companies also caught up in this trend, particularly through the cross-shareholding arrangements between Fiat and General Motors. In view of these developments, the World Council has made the following recommendations:

• An IMF-Fiat World Steering Group (WSG) should be formed.
• The WSG should include representatives from all world regions in which IMF affiliates have members in Fiat Group operations.
• An internet/fax-based communications network for union representatives will be set up within the Fiat Group’s operations.
• WSG priorities should include:
  – ensuring solidarity support in collective bargaining struggles;
  – promoting effective information exchange and cooperation, especially in collective bargaining and union building;
  – working towards the implementation of a code of conduct for Fiat Group operations;
  – assisting in union building and organising projects within the Fiat Group’s operations around the world.

GREECE: The IMF-affiliated Hellenic Federation of Construction Equipment Operators recently signed a collective agreement they bargained for equipment workers in the technical works’ sector. In addition to a 2 per cent cost-of-living adjustment for the previous year, other provisions agreed to in the contract include the following pay increases:

• basic wages – 6 per cent from January 1, 2002;
• rent allowance (for those working away from home) – from 190.76 euros to 220 euros;
• children’s allowance – from 5 per cent (one child) up to 10 per cent, for those having 3 or more children;
• height allowance – from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, and from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent, according to distance from ground of operator’s booth;
• sea allowance – 5 per cent to 10 per cent for equipment operators on platforms at sea.

Agreements for the other sectors in this branch – manufacturing, commercial and ship repair, quarries/lignite mines, stone/marble quarries – are still being negotiated. The union says that the main problems which currently concern not only their branch but all workers in Greece are the reform of social security, unemployment and labour relations.

TURKEY: In latest developments concerning the strike at the Yonca shipyard in Tuzla/Istanbul, it appears that the shipbuilding company and the Turkish state have joined forces in an attempt to break the strike through intimidation of the workers and their trade union, Limter-Is. The union informed the IMF that on May 16, the Turkish central security forces and gendarmerie raided their headquarters, arrested the Limter-Is president, Kazim Bakis, and searched his home. Later, on the same day, the union’s deputy-president, Hakki Demiral, the general secretary, Haci Yapici, and five of the strikers were arrested in their homes. To condemn such pressure against the strike, the trade union confederation DISK and a number of its affiliates staged a protest demonstration on May 18, with the result that on the following day another trade union officer from Limter-Is, plus four more strikers were arrested. All those detained have now been released. Limter-Is had resolved to take strike action in late April following Yonca’s refusal for more than two years to recognise the union’s organising and bargaining rights at the shipyard, even though the courts have ruled in favour of the union. (See associated link for background information on the strike.) In another recent, dramatic incident at the shipyard, two workers lost their lives due to the failure on the part of the employer to ensure that all necessary safety measures had been taken.

THAILAND: The IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, has written to the president of Auto Alliance (Thailand), Mr. Toshihide Saeki, to express grave concern about the violation of workers’ rights at the company’s auto assembly plant in Rayong. The union at the plant is a member of the IMF-affiliated Confederation of Thai Electrical Appliance, Electronic, Automobile and Metalworkers (TEAM), but since the beginning of this year plant management has been carrying out a campaign of anti-union activities including major violations of the internationally-recognized right of workers to be represented by a union of their choice. On May 16, the situation in Rayong worsened when, in a particularly serious incident of harassment, management suspended four union leaders for allegedly instigating a refusal of overtime on the part of workers. In his letter to Mr. Saeki, the IMF general secretary points out that consultation between union officials and workers on wages, working hours and other working conditions is fundamental to the representation of workers, a right guaranteed by the conventions of the International Labour Organisation. “I urge you,” wrote Malentacchi, “to immediately reinstate the suspended union leaders and halt the company campaign of harassment, intimidation and discrimination and to begin a dialogue with the AutoAlliance (Thailand) union for the establishment of a productive industrial relations climate in the enterprise.” Otherwise, warned Malentacchi, the IMF and its affiliates would be compelled to launch public actions worldwide to counteract the anti-union activities of AutoAlliance (Thailand) management. Auto Alliance International, a U.S.-based transnational auto assembly company, is a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp.

USA: In mid May, after two years of difficult negotiations, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and United Airlines (UAL) reached an agreement for new collective contracts covering over 25,000 UAL employees. Those covered by the new agreements work in ramp services, stores, public contact, food services and security, plus some 500 newly-organised members at Mileage Plus Inc., a wholly-owned UAL subsidiary. According to the IAM, which is affiliated at global level to the International Metalworkers’ Federation, 88 per cent of the Mileage Plus membership, who were voting for the first time, approved their agreement, and over 78 per cent at UAL voted in favour of ratifying their 4.3-year agreements, whose terms include wage and overall compensation improvements “making IAM members at United industry leaders once again.” Base pay for senior ramp workers will increase to $25.06 over the life of the agreement, and for customer service agents pay will rise from $19.74 to $26.02. In 1994, to protect jobs, UAL employees took a substantial cut in pay. The company has an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and is majority-owned by the employees. In March 2002, in separate negotiations, the IAM and UAL concluded a 5-year agreement for 13,000 mechanics and related employees. The IAM is the largest airline union in North America, representing 150,000 air and rail members throughout the U.S. and Canada.

TURKEY: Turkish affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is has informed the IMF of the current debate taking place between trade union and employer organisations concerning a draft law on job security. According to the draft law, employers will not be able to dismiss without valid reason workers who are employed in workplaces with over 10 workers and who have indefinite-term contracts and over six months on the job. The legislation specifies that the following cannot be considered as a just motive for dismissing an employee:

• trade union membership or participation in trade union activities, either outside working hours or, with the consent of the employer, during working time,
• being or seeking office as a workers’ representative,
• instigating or participating in legal proceedings against an employer for rights violations,
• race, religion, sex, civil status, family obligations, pregnancy, political opinion, ethnic or social origin,
• temporary absence from work due to injury or illness.

Birlesik Metal says the most important shortcoming of this draft law is that it does not cover workers where there are 10 or fewer employees. This, says the union, not only violates the priniciple of equality as stated in the country’s Constitution, but also allows employers the possibility to escape legal restrictions by employing no more than 10 workers in the workplace – often by transferring production to subcontractors, or by employing workers on fixed-term contracts. The percentage of workplaces in Turkey with not more than 10 employees was approximately 25 per cent of total employment as of 2000. Employment in the informal sector represents 30-40 per cent. The major violations of workers’ rights are taking place in the informal sector and in small companies in the formal sector. Turkey ratified ILO Convention No. 158 on Termination of Employment in 1995.

GERMANY: Last week, IG Metall agreed a 4 per cent pay rise with employers, thus ending the union’s 10-day strike action for the metal and engineering industry in the key region of Baden-Württemberg. Yesterday and today (May 24), the regions North Rhine-Westphalia, Kueste and Lower Saxony have adopted identical agreements. Under the settlement, the 4 per cent increase will take effect from June this year, followed by a further 3.1 per cent increase from June 1, 2003. A one-off payment of 120 euros (US$109) has also been included, for May 2002. The deal, which goes to December 31, 2003, also includes a scheme in which blue-collar wages and white-collar salaries will be brought together into one wage scale, with only one category of employee (no longer blue-collar and white-collar).

ARGENTINA: On Wednesday, May 22, some 4,000 people staged a protest against President Eduardo Duhalde, decrying his attempt to win billions of dollars in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund. The demonstration in Buenos Aires was the first large union protest against President Duhalde since he assumed office in January, after street riots forced his predecessor from power. The protest outside the Government House was organised by Argentina’s second-largest labour confederation, the so-called CGT “dissident”. In a speech, CGT leader Moyano called on the government to ignore the International Monetary Fund’s demands for further job cuts in the public sector. He blamed the country’s crisis situation on the Fund, adding it was pointless to keep seeking additional money. The protests came as the unemployment rate hit 20 per cent and the Argentine peso continued to decline against the dollar. The IMF has 4 affiliates in Argentina: the Smata and UOM are members of the confederation CGT “dissident”, which organised Wednesday’s protest, and Asimra and Aoma are members of the confederation called CGT “official”.

GREAT BRITAIN: A 24-year-old woman worker at a Nissan plant near Sunderland, who said she was forced from her job when she complained of male workers regularly watching hard-core sex films during the lunch break, has won her claim for unfair dismissal. The young woman was obliged to eat her lunch in the toilet because her male colleagues would not interrupt their viewing of pornographic videos. The female worker, who was one of two women in the plant’s paintshop workforce of 300, was employed on a short-term contract. She told the tribunal that although her contract was not renewed when it ran out last July, all male colleagues with temporary contracts were retained. She said the failure to renew her contract was due to sex discrimination. She was “in the way”. The tribunal will hold another hearing to determine the amount of her compensation. A Nissan spokesman said that the company has an equal opportunities policy and that “every Nissan employee is required to follow a code of conduct.”