GLOBAL: The Engage programme is a policy oriented course that combines academic learning with practical trade union work. It takes place on April 1 – September 30, 2012. The course has two components: the first part is a 3,5 months academic training programme at the Berlin School of Economics and Law and the University of Kassel. The academic programme is then followed by two months of field work during which participants develop a policy project/campaign with a national or international trade union organisation.  

The 2012 course has two thematic priorities:
1. The role of multinational companies in the global economy, and trade union strategies and campaigns of cross border solidarity and networking.  This theme is implemented in cooperation with Global Union Federations.

2. Global income security through minimum wages and social transfers.
This theme is implemented in cooperation with the ITUC and the ILO.

Further information, application form and scholarships at http://www.global-labour-university.org/216.html.

ASIA-PACIFIC: The magazine gives a summary of affiliates’ news and intends to deepen the understanding of the region with feature articles and interviews, explains editor Sudhersan Rao Sarde.

The maiden issue features a report on the shipbreaking industry – the most hazardous industrial activity accounting for hundreds of fatal accidents, an interview with Dr. G Sanjeeva Reddy, Indian Member of Parliament and President of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, and a review of the impact of the triple disaster – earth quake, tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima – on metalworkers in Japan.

GERMANY: Other demands are that trainees are given permanent status, and that older employees are offered to work part time. The employers have so far refused to make a proposal. Negotiations will continue November 21 in Düsseldorf.

A third of all German workers under the age of 35 have never had a permanent job. The IG Metall therefore wants to limit temporary employments, the use of work agencies and precarious working conditions in a new Bargaining Agreement.

At ThyssenKrupp Nirosta in Dillenburg, November 10 a total of 12,200 steelworkers downed tools for the second warning strike. Steel production was stopped in Bremen, Gelsenkirchen, Salzgitter, Peine, Bochum, Ennepetal, Hagen, Remscheid, Siegen and Dillenburg.

3,500steelworkers came to the main manifestation in Duisburg.

In Bremen 1200 employees at ArcelorMittal GmbH stopped work for two hours, and in Bochum 2000 steelworkers gathered for manifestations, the largest one in front of the gates of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG.

On Monday November 14, the center of steel action was in Mühlheim, where employees at Vallourec & Mannesmann, the Pipe works of Mannesmann, Europipe and the Foundry of Friedrich-Wilhelm stopped work for two hours

On November 15 employees in Vallourec & Mannesmann in Düsseldorf-Rath down tools. November 16 it’s the turn of steelworkers in Schmolz-Bickenbach at Herzogenrath Kohlscheid.

The next round of negotiations is planned for November 21 in Düsseldorf.

See photos on the warning strikes on November 15 on Flickr. 

ASIA-PACIFIC: The ITUC has expressed deep concern at recent developments in the negotiations for a TPPTA.

"Time has nearly run out for trade negotiators to show us that this time it is different.  We cannot and will not support a trade agreement that lifts the boats of the 1%, leaving the rest of us washed up on the rocks," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

In a press release issued yesterday the ITUC denounces that "it is apparent that the TPPTA negotiators, while delivering on meetings, have done very little to deliver on trade unions’ well-grounded concerns.  Instead, the TPPTA framework document appears in many respects to be more of the same, if not worse than before.  Indeed, the paragraph on labour omits any mention of an enforcement mechanism, which is found in many existing FTAs and a key demand of the trade unions.  Mechanisms that allow corporations to sue governments over their regulatory decisions, such as a current attack against Australia’s tobacco packaging regulations meant to safeguard public health, remain in place.  Leaked documents on intellectual property and pharmaceuticals appear to sacrifice access to affordable medicines to greater pharmaceutical industry profit by, for example, erecting barriers to cheaper, generic drugs entering the market.  This is not the "21st Century" agreement that working people had in mind.  Indeed, it seems like yet another trade agreement that privileges substantial new opportunities for investors over good jobs for workers." See the full statement here.

In a joint statement issued in 2010, trade unions from Asia-Pacific engaged in the TPPTA called for a well-balanced agreement that "foments the creation of good jobs, protects the rights and interests of working people, leads to long-term, balanced economic development and promotes a healthy environment".

IMF affiliates in Asia-Pacific and the Americas expressed similar concerns in August this year and demanded that the creation of quality jobs and the promotion of fundamental labour standards be made explicit goals of the TPPTA.

 

TURKEY: 62 locked-out members of Birlesik Metal-IS, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, have been holding picket action outside of GEA Klima Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (ATR) in Gebze, Turkey for more than four months demanding their reinstatement and a respect for workers’ rights.

The workers, whose contract is up for renegotiation December 31, 2011, report a heavy police presence at the plant. The company claims the workers were dismissed because they took part in illegal strike action. Birlesik Metal argues the dismissals are due to their union membership. Two separate court investigations petitioned by GEA and the union respectively have observed that workers have not taken any illegal strike action.

An international delegation will visit locked-out workers at GEA ATR to show solidarity and pledge global support and action. The delegation is part of a world conference on labour rights to be held in Istanbul November 18-20, sponsored by Labourstart.

In 2003 GEA signed an international framework agreement with the IMF that established full respect and compliance with internationally-recognized worker and trade union rights at its operations and those of its business partners.  The agreement was renewed in 2007. 

Birlesik and the IMF are calling on GEA to respect its commitment to uphold internationally recognized labour rights and meet with Birlesik representatives immediately to find a resolution.

IMF affiliates and global union partners are urged to support GEA workers in Turkey and send letters to (please cc: [email protected]):

Mr. Jürg Oleas, CEO
GEA Group
Peter-Müller-Str. 12
40468 Düsseldorf, Germany
fax: 0049 211 91363 2201

Jan Siebert
GEA Heat Exchangers GmnH
Dorstener Str. 484
44809 Bochum, Germany
email: [email protected]

KOREA: 94 dismissed workers will be rehired within one year, and their years of service will be recognized. The dismissed will also receive a compensation of 20,000,000 Korean won (18,000 US$) each for the one-year suspension period (the workers will have to withdraw their class action lawsuit and unfair labor action suits against the company). The union and company management will also drop all criminal and civil charges and damages claims against each other.

The KMWU union at Hanjin Heavy Industries started its strike on December 20, 2010 after the company announced plans to lay off 400 workers. The company then obtained 230 "voluntary resignations" among the dismissed. In the end 170 workers were fired. Some of these accepted the company’s severance package, but continued to support the KMWU and hoped for reinstatement.

Kim Jinsuk started her sit-in protest on the top of the giant shipyard "Crane 85" on January 6. On November 9 she will have been 308 days atop the crane.

The Korean National Assembly recently made a conciliatory proposal, and urged the company to reinstate 94 laid-off workers within a year, with compensation. Hanjin Heavy Industries Chairman Cho Nam first accepted the proposal. Also KMWU responded positively, and on October 11 the two sides met to iron out remaining issues, such as dropping criminal lawsuits against Kim Jin-suk and recognition of years of service for reinstated workers. The company however stalled, and on October 20 walked out of the negotiations.

A provisional agreement between KMWU and Hanjin Heavy Industries was finally reached November 9 at the company headquarters on the lines of the conciliatory proposal of the Korean National Assembly. KMWU negotiators were KMWU President Park Sang-chul, KMWU Busan-Yangsan Regional Branch Chair Mun Cheol-sang and KMWU Hanjin Heavy Local Chair Cha Hae-do.
 
The same day Hanjin Havy workers were briefed of the provisional terms at the gates of the shipyard. KMWU then planned a workers’ assembly for the members of the KMWU Hanjin Local to consider the agreement and vote on it. On November 10, the provisional agreement was passed unanimously, and Kim Jinsuk came down from the crane. She is currently in the hospital to recover from her ordeal.

POLAND: When does a focus on safety become a hazard itself? That’s the issue that management and local unions are trying to find common ground on at a steel plant in Poland. Concerns by local union leaders centre on the number of safety initiatives introduced to improve standards. The Joint Global Health and Safety Committee (JGHSC) of ArcelorMittal recently visited the plant and believes that the expertise in the local joint health and safety committees hold the key to a solution.

During the site visit at Dabrowa Gornicza the JGHSC got to see firsthand just what difference recent investments had made in the plant. In particular good standards in housekeeping, changing facilities and lighting formed a good overall impression of the areas visited. The areas identified by the JGHSC for improvement included awareness of the need to use correct personal protective equipment, an evaluation of the sighting of some of the safety signage and also improving systems for contractor management.

ArcelorMittal is the largest steel producer in Poland, employing more than 12,000. It supplies 70 percent of Poland’s domestic steel demand and has 11 production facilities. The Dabrowa Gornicza facility is one of two big steel plants, the other being in Krakow. It first started production in 1976 as a state-owned enterprise. Since joining the ArcelorMittal group over $US1 billion has been invested into the plant.

Rob Johnston, Executive Director at the IMF commented during the visit "The standards and conditions that we saw in the plant don’t match with the overall safety performance. A genuine concern of the union is that workers are feeling stressed by management trying to over-manage workers in frustration at past safety performance. The local joint health and safety committee must play a more prominent role and use its capacity and knowledge to find a balance and simplify the different programs being used".

The JGHSC also held conference calls with sites previously visited to get an update on improvements. These included a number of sites in the United States, Turbaro (Brazil), Zenica (Bosnia) and Vanderbijlpark (South Africa). All of the sites are continuing to work on the previously developed action plans. A review of the work of the JGHSC is now available in English and shortly also in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. The next meeting of the JGHSC will be held January 17-18 in Asturias, Spain.

The JGHSC welcomed Andrea Husen-Bradley from the European Metalworkers’ Federation and Sherman Crowder from the United Steelworkers to its team. Tony Murphy and Jose Wagner have stepped down from the committee and the members wish them well in their new endeavors.    

BRAZIL: Metalworkers in unions affiliated to Força Sindical in the state of São Paulo were due to go on strike on November 7 but the strike was called off as the union reached agreement with four employer groups on a 10% pay rise.

The agreement covers 80% of metalworkers and economic advisors to the unions say the agreement will mean a real pay rise of more than 3%.
The agreements reached were in Group 3 (auto parts), Group 2 (SINDIMAQ and SINAEES – machinery and electrical and electronics), Foundry and Group 19-3 (ferrous metals, non-ferrous metal equipment, metal frames, etc.). The agreements apply to employees of metalworking companies in Sao Paulo city, Mogi das Cruzes, Poa, Biritiba Mirim and Guararema.

"We are making good progress with the negotiations and we are expecting to sign an agreement with the other employer groups, including the 10, led by the São Paulo State Employers Federation (FIESP). If this doesn’t happen, we’ll start to bring factories in those groups to a standstill, in accordance with the assembly’s decision", said negotiating committee member Miguel Torres, president of the São Paulo and Mogi das Cruzes Metalworkers Union.

"The negotiations were difficult, because of the world crisis, but the action taken guaranteed a positive result and now we are going to put the pressure on to extend the same agreement to all metalworkers" said Claudio Magrão, president of the São Paulo State Metalworkers Federation.

The annual round of negotiations, which was due to be completed by November 1, involved 800,000 workers in the state, organised in unions affiliated to Força Sindical, the metalworkers confederation, CNTM (an IMF affiliate) and the São Paulo State Metalworkers Federation. There are around 260,000 metalworkers in the geographical base represented by the São Paulo and Mogi union.

The IMF is closely following the development of the situation in the remaining groups that have yet to sign agreements and will keep members informed of the dispute and any solidarity action that may be required.

Uruguay. After 25 days on strike and a 15 month battle to negotiate a collective agreement, Uruguay metalworkers have signed a preliminary agreement after long negotiations with employers and the government.

The National Metalworkers’ Union (UNTMRA) said that the struggle "achieved much greater unity among workers and also pushed the basic rate up to $73 pesos per hour (workers had been receiving 60 pesos per hour). The hourly rates for other categories will go up to 83, 89, 94, 105, 121 and 141 pesos respectively, more than many workers imagined they could achieve. We won a pay rise of 3% plus inflation (the consumer price index, CPI, is approximately 4% to 5%), making a total pay rise of around 7%, to be paid six-monthly. We were aiming for a minimum wage of $14.000 pesos but we achieved more than this", said Juan Alfonso, leader of UNTMRA.

Employers also agreed to take on workers older than 55. UNTMRA explained that the retirement age for men is 60 in Uruguay and they already find it more difficult to get a job by the age of 40. Employers also agreed not to avoid employing young people because of their lack of experience and agreed to encourage the recruitment of workers under the age of 22 in the metalworking sector.

The collective agreement also provides for a worker-employer financed Social Fund to be spent, for example, on education, health care, sports, etc. for workers’ families.

Juan Alfonso said: "We are proud of what we have achieved with this agreement, but also of the support and fighting spirit shown by the workers. Without them we are nothing and would be able to do nothing.

We took a very important step forward in the struggle but we must continue to make progress. Thanks to all the colleagues who circulated news about the dispute and thanks to the unions throughout America, such as FANAMEPSICOP (Peru), CNM/CUT (Brazil), FETRAMECOL (Colombia), Asociación Obrera (Argentina), CONSTRAMET (Chile), STIMAHCS (México), CNMM and CUT MINERA (Peru), Honda Union (México), the French Federation of Metalworkers and all IMF affiliates for their support".

USA: Voters overwhelmingly rejected "Senate Bill 5" passed in the Republican-controlled state legislature of Ohio in March 2011. The bill would have limited bargaining rights of some 350,000 public workers to salaries, workplace conditions and hours, but was held from going into effect pending the results of a referendum.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the defeat of the Senate Bill "is a major victory for working families in Ohio and across  the country."

After the Ohio legislature passed the law in late March, in spite of strong public opposition with demonstrations of thousands in the state capital Columbus, a massive mobilization to repeal the law started. In just a matter of weeks, volunteers from the We Are Ohio coalition collected more than 1.3 million signatures for a referendum on the Bill. When polls showed growing support for a repeal, in August Ohio Governor Kasich offered a compromise, but the deal was rejected.

As the election drew near, unions and community groups knocked on doors, made phone calls and distributed literature around the state.  In the weekend before the referendum alone, volunteers knocked on more than 450,000 doors.

A similar bill was passed in the US state of Wisconsin.

"Today’s win in Ohio has energized and excited Wisconsin workers to recall Wisconsin’s Governor Walker and put a stop to his attack on working families," said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO as reported by CNN.

"I don’t know the last time a fire-fighter, a teacher, a cop or a steelworker caused the economy to collapse," said USW President Leo W. Gerard at a rally before the referendum in Warren, Ohio.

"No one is falling for them trying to pin the economic crisis on the backs of hard-working police officers, firefighters, nurses, librarians and others who serve the public," said UAW Region 2B Director Ken Lortz. "Voters see the Bill for exactly what it is – a blatant attempt at securing power and weakening unions."