MEXICO: For the first time since its recognition last year the new Section 308 of the IMF affiliate National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSRM or Los Mineros) managed to reach a collective bargaining agreement with Johnson Controls Interiores y Servicios (Resurección) in Puebla, Puebla.

The agreement stipulates a 4.9 per cent wage increase plus a lump sum 2.6 per cent direct payment to each worker. Other benefits include school aid payments ranging from 600 to 650 pesos (US$50 to US$55) per child, an additional day of bereavement leave, and increases in life insurance benefits for natural death from 12,000 to 35,000 pesos, (US$1,000 to US$3,000) and for death in an accident at work, from 12,000 to 45,000 pesos (US$1,000 to US$3,800).

Significantly, 60 per cent out of 800 workers in the new union Section are women, many of them married with children and will get henceforth better and stable job protection in comparison to the earlier situation when their interests were neglected by the company favoured yellow union.

In the general assembly of members of Section 308 where the Negotiating Committee reported the results of the negotiations, several colleagues took the floor to say that progress achieved is much higher than in previous years, when under a company union they got a laughable annual increase of one or two per cent and, when they asked why, were told to be quiet because "this is a government matter."

In this situation for the last four years the JC workers  in Puebla sought for support in their attempts to organize an effective union, for which they suffered attacks, harassment and threats from the Puebla and federal labour authorities and from groups of thugs hired by the protection contract union with apparent complicity of the local management. In the course of their struggle, workers found strong support from both Los Mineros and international organizations of workers, such as the International Metalworkers’ Federation and its other affiliate the United Steelworkers (USW) in the U.S. and Canada. Los Mineros is also an affiliate of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM).

The IMF celebrates the importance of this first victory for the workers and will continue reporting on the developments in Mexico including the situation at the other plant in Puebla where a protection contract with a different union (CROM) exists and workers fight for recognition of their real representative trade union.

NEW ZEALAND:  The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to the workplace, relaxation of the fairness tests on dismissals, empowerment of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, and to transfer public holiday days without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day’s sick leave.

There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).

Click to sign the EPMU’s petition.

"We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents," stated EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which has 7,000 employees.

EUROPE: Entitled "Memorandum of Agreement on Professions and Competences Forecast," the protocol framework is the second that EMF and Areva have adopted, the first being a 2006 Equal Opportunities pact that a European Commission (EC) project now oversees.

The new agreement is intended to forecast and manage career development of Areva staff by providing training, work-life balance, mobility, transfer of knowledge throughout the company, as well as giving a positive work environment across a person’s entire employment career with Areva.

(See the EMF announcement and the 12-page agreement.)

The three-year agreement will be tracked under a separate EC project called Forecasting and Anticipating Competencies in Europe through Social Dialogue (FACES). The protocol calls for an annual appraisal that will "articulate the positioning of the employee in such a way that their qualifications and their payment is in relation to their level of competencies and performance."

The agreement states that such assessments will not conflict with existing national collective bargaining agreements.

It commits the company to develop a training policy in step with the needs of workers "to both preserve and renew competencies in order to have the best possible career evolution." Each of Areva’s 35,000 workers in Europe will have access to 30 hours of training per annum, which can be allotted over three years.

The agreement’s overall monitoring device is a committee of Areva management and the European Works Council Select Committee, which will evaluate and present the results yearly to the EMF.

Areva is a ten-year-old company that was formed through a three-way merger between CEA-Industrie, COGEMA, and Framatome to combine the French Government’s interests in several nuclear power and information technology businesses. CEA-Industrie, (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique or French Atomic Energy Commission) owns about 80 per cent of Areva. The company globally operates in 43 countries and employs 48,000 staff.

Areva designs and builds nuclear reactors and components for nuclear power plants, and it also supplies nuclear fuel, engineering, maintenance, and inspection of nuclear facilities.

NETHERLANDS:  Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen, and De Unie reached a tentative agreement with the Metaal & Techniek industry asssociation, representing 30,000 employers, late on April 6, which now prevents another two weeks of scheduled mobilisation that could have led to industrial actions. A prior agreement in the sector covering metal fabrication, installation, as well as plumbing, heating, and electrical installation expired 1 April.

"The employers didn’t want a fight and we were quickly mobilising toward strike action," said Jan Berghuis, head of the sector for FNV Bondgenoten, who called the pact "trendsetting."

"With inflation expected to be less than two per cent, this is a very good result and it will likely prove very important in the big metal and automotive sectors."

Some 150,000 metalworkers in basic steel and other heavy metal production resume talks through their unions on April 19. The agreement in that sector expires May 1. The automotive sector, where 90,000 workers are employed, has a social agreement expiring on June 1.

The accord in light metals and electric-technical provides exceptional training opportunities and investment of such for workers, a key part of the deal. Berghuis also said the unions won language regarding the use of short-term contract labour that specifies this work can only go to labour-hire firms that have collective agreements with the unions.

The 4.45 per cent pay increase will come in four steps over the next 18 months. Berghuis said the only disappointment came in not securing a higher wage or a stipend for young workers. But young workers brought into the sector during the financial crisis will benefit by the 4.45 per cent.

The three unions and Metaal & Techniek industry had been at a bargaining stalemate since late February, and only a week ago mobilisation meetings and union activity indicated there could be a rare Dutch strike in this sector. But a compromise on wages, extending the agreement into a second year, the unions gaining the necessary continuing education and training criteria, and workable language on contract labour means the agreement will be recommended for ratification by all three unions.

CANADA:  The six-year agreement, ratified by 75 per cent of union members on April 3, came after arduous bargaining dating to last November. A prior labour agreement in Québec between the USW and the world’s largest steelmaker expired in February.

The contract will give hard-rock miners and processing-plant workers a 45 per cent pay increase over the six years, inclusive of enhanced bonuses and hefty improvements to the yearly cost-of-living adjustment. The hourly wage increase will average 4.1 per cent per year, and 25.6 per cent over the six years.

Additionally, USW Québec region and local branch negotiators withstood a management affront to create a two-tier pension scheme, with a proposal to cast new hires into a defined contribution plan. Not only did the bargaining units retain a defined benefit pension plan, but they made improvements to it as well.

Workers with 30 years of service will realise a monthly increase of C$210 per month, or 18 per cent, and the union negotiated a 3 per cent increase for current retirees. Steelworkers under the new agreement are employed at the Mont-Wright and Firelake mines near Fermont in northern Québec, along a 400-kilometre rail link, and at an ArcelorMittal pellet plant at Port-Cartier on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"This employment contract reflects the mining boom currently underway in the north coast and Québec region," stated USW Region Five Director Daniel Roy. "It is also the product of difficult negotiations, during which the committee showed determination and solidarity.

"I invite non-unionised mine workers a take a look at what we accomplished at ArcelorMittal Mines."

The labour agreement contains new restrictions on outsourcing by strengthening the union-rostered stability list. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal purchased the iron ore assets in 2006 from Québec Cartier Mining Co., then owned by an investment company. ArcelorMittal produces 40 per cent of Canada’s iron ore output.

BRAZIL: Sten Roar Martinsen, a process operator and full-time union representative from the Kopervik extrusion plant, and Billy Fredeagsvik, also an operator and union representative at Hydro’s Høyanger aluminium smelter, met with workers’ representatives of Brazilian trade unions on March 30 and April 1. Martinsen and Fredeagsvik are representatives of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) on Hydro’s 11-member board.

The mission, according to Norsk Hydro’s website, was to brief Brazilian workers at a former Vale bauxite mine and aluminium smelter and refinery on the structure and principles for trade union dialogue at Hydro, as well as the impact and significance of the GFA that was signed on 15 March.

In late February, Norsk Hydro concluded the purchase of Vale assets in northern Brazil for US$3.5 billion. Those assets include a 51 per cent stake in the aluminium smelter Albrás in Barcarena, Pará state, 57 per cent of the Alunorte refinery, and a 61 per cent stake in the future Companhia de Alumina do Pará (CAP) alumina plant, which will start up in 2012. A Japanese consortium of 17 companies holds the minority stakes in these companies.

Also, on March 30, Martinsen and Fredeagsvik met with union leaders at the former Vale bauxite mine Paragominas. As part of the deal, Hydro bought 60 per cent of the 9.9 million tonne mine, as well as other bauxite mineral rights of Vale in Brazil. Hydro will now call its Brazilian mining assets Mineração Paragominas. Hydro will purchase the remaining 40 per cent in 2013 and 2015 for US$200 million in each year.

The Norwegian board members also discussed local issues with Pará state workers including access to housing in the rural areas, and health and education.

"This was an important first step," said Martinsen, "towards establishing the right framework for including our Brazilian colleagues in Hydro’s internal arenas for dialogue, to ensure that the interests and views of all employees in Hydro are represented in the appropriate forums and decision-making processes."

Added Fredeagsvik, "Through these initial meetings, we have created a solid foundation for further work together. The meetings have been interesting, positive, and highly constructive."

Besides ICEM and IMF, Norwegian trade unions IndustriEnergi and Fellesforbundet are signatory to the GFA.

HUNGARY: The ETUC and its six Hungarian members (LIGA, ASZSZ, SZEF, ESZT, MSZosz and MOSz)  made their voices heard at their euro-demonstration in Budapest on April 9, because governing Europe does not mean social regression. The policies implemented by the European authorities and the national governments to deal with the damage of the crisis are essentially based on austerity measures and fiscal consolidation plans that consist of sharp cuts in public spending, pressure exerted to reduce wages and interference with the independence of collective bargaining. These social regression measures are taken whilst scandalous bonuses continue to be paid.

The European trade union movement clearly stand against these policies and state, that this is not only unfair because the burden is carried only by the ones who are not responsible for the crisis, but also wrong from a economic and strategic point of view.

Many social protest movements have taken place recently in Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Latvia, etc.) to express the anger of workers against austerity measures and to demand social justice . See manifesto

ITALY: April 9 was a great day of mobilization, young people, students and temporary workers rallied throughout Italy,  their slogan was "Our Time is now. Life doesn’t wait". Many young people are tired of the precarious work, housing and economic conditions in which they are forced to live.

A generation without work, underpaid, and forced to do unrecognized and free work and condemned to being depend on their parents called for change. Their demand is for a different country, a country where everyone has an opportunity to study, to work, to invent: a country that invests in research, that values talent and  motivation, that economically supports those who lose their jobs and seeking another, a country that takes a chance on new and ambitious ideas, that believes in personal development, a country that is truly a part of Europe.

There were many events planned throughout Italy but also abroad. In Rome the main event was at Republic Square, the Milan rally was in San Lorenzo, in Turin at  Piazza Vittorio, a parade in Naples at Piazza Mancini and in Florence at Piazza Santo Spirito.

Video: 9 APRILE 2011 : il nostro tempo è adesso !

Video: 9 APRILE 2011 street parade Roma

GENEVA: For the first time since the complaint (no. 2694) was submitted by the International Metalworkers’ Federation in February 2009, the International Labour Organization’s Committee on Freedom of Association debated the issue of Protection Contracts in Mexico and released strong recommendations committing the ILO to investigate the issue further.

The CFA recommends that the government hold constructive social dialogue with employers and unions, including all the complainant unions, IMF, ITUC, SNTMMSRM, SITUAM  and UNT affiliates: STIMAHCS and STRM, to specifically examine:

• How the application of trade union protection clauses, or "exclusion clauses", which have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, undermine workers’ rights to form or join a union of their choice;
• Questions regarding the minimum representativeness of trade unions in order to bargain collectively; and
• Allegations regarding a lack of impartiality on the part of the conciliation and arbitration boards (JCAs) and excessive length of its proceedings.

The Mexican government is requested to report back on the outcome of this dialogue.

The committee also discussed the IMF complaint (no. 2478), ongoing since March 2006, regarding Union Autonomy and persecution of the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (SNTMMSRM). The ILO is calling on the Mexican government to investigate reports of murder, abduction, illegal arrests and violence submitted by the IMF and informs the Committee of its findings.

Also raised by the ILO was the Korean government’s failure to implement necessary measures to protect the rights of precarious workers. The ongoing complaint (no. 2602) submitted by the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the IMF, highlights the plight of "illegal dispatch" workers in Korea who are subcontracted to work at major multinational auto and electronics companies but are denied legal protections under federal labour law due to their contract status. The complaint also argues against the criminalization of industrial action through penal code 314, or "obstruction of business".

The government reported to the ILO that it would be carrying out an investigation to access the state of in-company subcontracting at 29 workplaces. The ILO has urged the government to report back on this investigation, as well as provide additional information regarding existing cases in the complaint, and work towards strengthening the protection of subcontracted, or "dispatch" workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

See the report by the Committee on Freedom of Association here (English, Spanish, French): http://www.ilo.org/gb/GBSessions/lang–en/docName–WCMS_153533/index.htm

PAKISTAN: The Pakistan Metalworkers’ Federation (PMF) released its new video on occupational health and safety and working condition in the Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the top five shipbreaking countries, but like in Bangladesh and India, the workers in the yards need to be organized for achieving workers’ basic rights ant social justice.

The video shows the severe working condition in the Gadani yard where the workers face dangers daily from toxic materials with no proper protection. The employers in the yard are violating the basic law on occupational health and safety, and the unorganized workers have no way to make grievances or improve their working condition. As a result, 175 workers lost their lives between 1992 and 2010 because of major accidents at the yard itself.

The issue of occupational health and safety is one of the topics that will be taken up at the forthcoming International Conference on Shipbreaking that the IMF is holding in Mumbai, India from April 19 to 20.

PMF’s video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb_1a95yrhY

For further information download a background document at: http://www.imfmetal.org/files/11040616464766/Ship-Breaking-Background-Documentry.pdf