GLOBAL: Following the death of a worker at a Gerdau plant in Spain on September 5, workers and their unions at Gerdau plants around the world took united action demanding improvements in workplace health and safety.

A 28-year-old subcontracted metalworker called Aitor, died on September 5 after being trapped at chest level between one car and a casting piece at the Sidenor Gerdau plant in Basauri, Spain.

In Spain, all plants of Gerdau-Sidenor stopped their production for one and a half hours on September 6 with demonstrations in the front gates of the plants, and received good coverage of the action in the media:

• http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20100907/219326/es/La-plantilla-Sidenor-exige-que-acabe-alta-eventualidad-empresa
• http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/805669/0/
• http://www.deia.com/2010/09/06/economia/los-trabajadores-de-sidenor-reclaman-un-cambio-de-protocolo-en-los-puestos-mas-arriesgados–

In Colombia the workers conducted a minute of silence at the Gerdau plants in Tuta and Duitama, as shown in the photos publish on the IMF website here.

In Canada a minute of silence was held at plants in Selkirk, Manitoba, Whitby and Cambridge, Ontario.

A minute of silence was conducted in all the plants of Gerdau in Chile at Aza, Matco, Armacero and Salomón Sack.

In Brazil, most of the plants were IMF affiliates CNM/CUT and CNTM/FS are present a minute of silence was conducted and a bulletin on the issue was distributed to members.

Since the creation of the Gerdau Global Workers’ Committee in 2006 the workers, supported by the International Metalworkers’ Federation, have been trying to gain recognition from the company of the global committee so as to discuss improving workplace health and safety at all Gerdau plants.

BULGARIA: Metalworkers in Bulgaria organized by the trade union "Metalicy" affilitated to the IMF once again held their traditional sports games on September 1 to 5, 2010 under the motto "Mobilizing globally against precarious work".

The union organized and disseminated a poster and T-shirts promoting the importance of secure jobs to the mostly young workers participating in the event.

AUSTRIA: On September 30, IMF affiliated PRO-GE and GPA-djp will commence wage negotiations in the metal industry demanding an increase of wages and a reduction in working time.

Traditionally, the wage negotiations in the metal and mining sector set the trend for all other sectors in Austria. Rainer Wimmer, chief negotiator for the PRO-GE, is clear, "The right signal to the workers after the economic crisis is decent and fair wage and salary increases."

The first round of negotiations for about 165,000 employees in the metal sector will be held on October 14, 2010 at the Austrian Economic Chamber, in Vienna. The negotiations are expected to be tough this year, with the employers’ representatives making it clear they want cheaper labour, claiming the 1.45 per cent increase negotiated in 2009 was unbearable.

During the difficult period of the economic crisis a lot of employees, especially workers in the metal industry, lost their jobs. However, there are again signs of positive developments. "Now we need to send the workers through fair wage and salary increases positive signals. We must let them partake in the profits now being generated again," said Wimmer.

The schedule for 2010 collective bargaining in the Austrian metal sector is set.  Unions will send their official demands to the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) on September 30.  Two bargaining sessions will follow on October 14 and October 21. A final remedial session is planned for November 5.

GERMANY: The decision to start warning strikes was made by IG Metall on September 20 and is in reaction to the steel employers refusing to put in an offer in the collective bargaining negotiations. The first warning strike will start on September 22 and continue throughout this week.

Oliver Burkhard, district leader for IG Metall in North Rhine-Westfalen, strongly criticized the employers’ behaviour in the ongoing negotiations. "We need a fair solution and no refusal – this is our principle and we expect this from the employers too. This is the first round during the upswing. So we will show with the warning strikes that we are able and willing to fight for more money, equal conditions for agency workers, and fair conditions for trainees and elderly workers," he said

 IG Metall is making several demands:

• A pay raise of six per cent
• The same pay for agency workers as for regular workers
• Easing the burden on elderly workers

The warning strikes will start on September 22 in Salzgitter, Dortmund and continue on September 23 in Duisburg, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld, Remscheid, Witten and also on September 24 at several locations.

MEXICO: The International Commission for Labour Rights (ICLR) today announced their next step in the campaign for legal recognition of the leadership of the National Miners and Metalworkers’ Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), known as Los Mineros. The ICLR will file a brief to the Mexican Supreme Court in the case of Los Mineros, in which a ruling is pending over recognition of democratically elected General Secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.

Legal recognition, or toma de nota, for Napoleón Gómez was first withdrawn by the Mexican Labour Secretariat in 2006. After the decision was overturned in court early 2008, Gómez was re-elected to serve another term by a May 2008 Los Mineros Convention. On 24 June 2008, the Mexican Labour Secretariat once again denied the ‘toma de nota’ to Gómez, on the grounds that his election was not in accordance with the constitution of the trade union.

It is unacceptable for the Mexican state to interfere in the internal workings of democratic independent trade unions such as Los Mineros, removing their right to autonomy. The Court’s decision in this case will set a vitally important precedent on the freedom of Mexicans to freely exercise their right of association and to organise, outlined in ILO Convention 87.

The filing of the brief was formally announced at a press conference this morning in Mexico City, organised by Los Mineros. The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) fully support this latest development, as part of the overall campaign for labour rights in Mexico.

"We will maintain pressure on the Calderón government until our joint affiliate Los Mineros achieves justice" stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina.

The Amicus Curiae brief to be filed by the ICLR is supported by a strong network of human and labour rights organisations around the world, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers (CALL-ACAMS), among many others.

View the brief and prior ICLR report here: http://www.laborcommission.org/reports.htm

BRAZIL: Workers in São Bernardo do Campo and Taubaté, affiliated to CNM/CUT – an IMF affiliate, achieved a 10.28 per cent wage increase on September 19, the biggest wage increase from carmakers on record in Brazil after a series of warning strikes.

Automakers Ford, Scania, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz agreed on September 19 to the claim made by the workers at their union meeting held the day before. The agreement includes a 10.28 per cent increase and a R$2,200 (US$1,270) bonus. Their demands for the increase to be back-dated to September 1 and made in one payment were also accepted.

With inflation running at 4.29 per cent, the 10.28 per cent increase represented a real increase of 6.26 per cent, the largest real increase ever in the sector in Brazil.

"This achievement is further proof that ABC metalworkers know how to work, but also know how to negotiate and to struggle," said the president of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union, Sérgio Nobre. "It is an extraordinary bench-mark, the highest of this category of metalworking and compatible with the good economic times faced by automakers and also for the country," he said.

The same composition of wage increase will go to the workers in São Carlos (CGTB-Volkswagen) and Tatuí (Força-Ford), also represented by a CNM/CUT affiliate at the negotiating table.

Elsewhere, metalworkers at Renault and Volvo stopped work and achieved a 10 per cent increase and R$4,200 bonus (US$2,400). The proposal was accepted at Renault on September 17 and at Volvo on September 20 by the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union, affiliated to the CNTM/FS, also an IMF affiliate.

The allowance will be paid in two parts of R$2,100 – one on September 24 and another on October 8. The wage increase of 10.08 per cent will be applied to wages in September, and embeds a real increase of 5.55 per cent (+4,29 per cent inflation). The average wage for these workers is lower than the auto workers in São Paulo.

The agreement benefits about 4,000 workers and opens the wage campaign in 2010 for the auto workers of the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers.

Metalworkers at Volkswagen in Sao Jose dos Pinhais decreed an indefinite strike on September 19 to demand wage increases. The decision to strike was taken to protest against the company for not proposing a salary increase. The strike at Volkswagen will be held in shifts. According to the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union, the 4,000 directly employed workers and the company’s 1,600 subcontracted workers will join the movement.

In Camaari, Bahia, organized by CAMAÇARI, a union not affiliated to the IMF, about 10,000 Ford workers signed an agreement on September 20 with an increase of 9.4 per cent of nominal wages.

SWEDEN: At the regular annual meeting of the SKF World Union Committee on September 14 to 16 in Gothenburg, union members reported on a range of measures that had been negotiated with the company at national and plant level to reduce the impact of the economic crisis on employment. Measures such as shorter working time and leave banking had enabled the company to weather the downturn in 2009 and maintain employment levels, ensuring that qualified and experienced workers remain in place now that orders are starting once again to increase. Although redundancies did take place in many countries, these were fewer than would have been the case without the special negotiated measures being taken.

Committee members had the opportunity to put questions to the management prior to the meeting, which were addressed by SKF CEO Tom Johnstone. In his presentation to delegates, Johnstone stressed the importance of the strong cooperation between management and the unions which managed to minimize the impacts of the crisis on workers. He further stated that without this cooperation there would have been more job losses. However, he also put an emphasis on the need for flexibility with new hires predominantly being temporary agency workers.

Discussing the future challenges for unions in SKF, Committee members identified outsourcing and precarious work as important, with the need for more information sharing and better communication between the members of the committee. The World Union Committee committed to strengthening the network between meetings.

UNITED KINGDOM: The British economy can’t survive on services alone – it needs a coherent and strong manufacturing strategy, Unite, an IMF affiliate, told the Trades Union Congress in Manchester on September 15, 2010.

Unite Assistant General Secretary, Tony Burke called for a 10-point plan to kick-start the manufacturing sector which generates £160bn to the UK economy and contributes 46 per cent of export earnings.

Speaking at the TUC’s Congress, he said, "We can see other countries, such as France and Germany, defending their strategic manufacturing base against the ravages of private equity speculators, and providing support where necessary to manufacturing companies. We should be following the same strategy here."

Tony Burke castigated the coalition government’s decision to withdraw the £80 million loan for Sheffield Forgemasters as a key example of what was wrong with the so-called current manufacturing strategy in UK.

Tony Burke outlined Unite’s vision for a revitalized manufacturing sector stating it is about creating the right economic climate and supporting training and education. Unite tabled a motion at the TUC Congress contained ten points including:

• defending strategically important industries, such as chemical and pharmaceuticals, steel, and the car and defence industries
• continued financial support through interventionist policies
• maximizing the opportunities that the low carbon revolution offers
• building up the UK’s science capability.

Michael Leahy, general secretary of Community and president of the IMF Steel and Non-Ferrous Department, was elected as the next TUC President at the TUC Congress on September 17.

MEXICO: On September 16, the Mexican Miners’ Union (SNTMMSRM), affiliated to IMF, carried out the 15th National Miners’ Forum of Section 65 in Cananea, Sonora under the motto "In defense of life and the dignity of workers and their families".

Over a thousand workers were present at the Forum, along with local and other sections of the Mexican Miners’ Union and a delegation of the USW headed by Jim Robinson and Manuel Armenta. IMF regional representative Jorge Almeida also attended and confirmed IMF’s support and solidarity with the miners.

The Forum coincided with national celebrations of the bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico and was held by the union in Cananea on this day to support the striking miners who, one week earlier, suffered the latest round of violent attacks.

At 5:30am on September 8 approximately 600 scabs and Federal Police in plainclothes attacked the striking Mexican Miners’ Union members at the Cananea copper mine owned by Grupo Mexico.

In a letter to the Mexican authorities, IMF once again condemned the violence being perpetrated against the Mexican Miners’ Union and urged the government to reflect on the 200^th Day of Independence how the workers of Mexico have little to celebrate while their rights are being repressed in this way.

At the Forum, Los Mineros watched a video message of the message of its General Secretary, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, who referred to the long struggle in the mining town of Cananea, and the union’s readiness to continue to support and strive to achieve a solution to conflicts.

After the event, some of the participants found the glass windows of their vehicles destroyed, yet another example of the violence against the workers.

 

BRAZIL: Union meetings on September 17 will decide the future for 8,000 workers at Renault and Volvo, located in São José dos Pinhais and the industrial city of Curitiba. The meetings could trigger a 48-hour shutdown.

This strike measure will be taken if the workers reject the proposed pay deal from automakers, presented on September 16 during the negotiation meeting with the Metalworkers’ Union of Greater Curitiba, a union affiliated to CNTM-Força Sindical, which is one of two Brazilian unions affiliated to the IMF.

The union says that the companies’ offer does not reach the demands of workers. The companies have offered a 9 per cent wage increase, plus a bonus payment of R$2,200 (US$1,280) and a floor wage starting in R$1,508 (US$880).

The workers have demanded a 10 per cent wage increase (including replacement of inflation and real growth) and a R$4,200 (US$2,450) bonus and R$1,578 (US$920) increase to the base wage.