English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 59px" width="390" />

	The current propensity by multinationals to lock-out Canadian workers when they refuse cutbacks to their work standards continues. On 5 May, Evraz North America, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Evraz Group, locked out 105 union members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 551 in Camrose, Alberta.

	The lockout comes three months after expiration of a prior labour agreement and more tellingly, comes during a boom cycle of steel pipe manufacturing, with the Camrose mill residing squarely and profitably inside the booming bitumen oil production fields of western Canada.

	Evraz is seeking elimination of the defined benefit pension scheme for new employees, cuts in retiree benefits for future pensioners, and has offered pay rates in a new three-year contract that are less than what it agreed to at union-represented tubular pipe factories in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Calgary, Alberta, late last year. The company also seeks to slash vacation benefits in Camrose.

	Meanwhile, due to an acute shortage of skilled workers in the Canadian tar sands, the Camrose factories have been unable to hire enough metalworkers to operate around-the-clock operations and even before the lockout, the company has been stretched thin in meeting existing orders from oil- and gas-producing firms.

	&ldquo;It is completely unfathomable that workers in the oil and gas industry working in the hottest economy in North America are being attacked and threated to give back long fought gains,&rdquo; said CAW National Representative Todd Romanow.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 157px" width="390" />

	Todd Romanow

	Last year, the United Steelworkers (USW) set up a global <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4346-Steelworkers-Form-a-98Unity-Councila-for-Evraz-Metal-Mine-Workers">Unity Council</a> for workers and their unions of the Evraz Group. In a message to USW Local 6673 in Calgary and USW Local 5890 in Regina, Romanow wrote:

	&ldquo;At the heart of this attack is the removal of our defined benefits plan and retiree benefits for future employees but make no mistake, the fight is bigger than that as it is an attack from a multinational conglomerate on working people and the middle class.&rdquo; He added it is &ldquo;all in the name of corporate greed and insatiable profits.&rdquo;

	The Evraz Group is controlled by holding companies connected to the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of UK&rsquo;s Chelsea football club of the English Premier League. It is Russia&rsquo;s largest steelmaker, operates iron ore and coal mines throughout the world, and is North America&rsquo;s largest producer of tubular pipe and second largest maker of steel plate.

	In Camrose, a facility Evraz got in 2007 with the US$2.3 billion acquisition of US-based Oregon Steel Mills, the company operates two pipe mills, one making 16-inch piping and casing for drilling and transport of oil and natural gas, the other producing large-diameter pipe used in transmission lines.

Evraz Pipe Unjustifiably Locks Out Canadian Auto Workers Unionists

Oil industry multinationals employ over 12,500 workers in the Meta Region of Colombia, mostly by outsourcing work to contractors. These precariously employed workers are subject to poverty wages, exhausting working hours including working 49 days consecutively, and other sub-standard working conditions, all in clear violation of Colombian law and international minimum standards. 
 
Colombian Senator Robledo has described the workstations of the Puerto Gait&aacute;n oil fields as more like concentration camps, with overcrowded tents, water shortages, malnutrition, unhygienic sanitation, and degrading treatment. Oil contractor Pacific Rubiales conducts a public disinformation campaign in which it describes trade union USO as &ldquo;armed criminals, forcing work stoppages&rdquo;. 
 
The fight back against this untenable situation began on 19 July with mass demonstrations and work stoppages in the Puerto Gait&aacute;n and Campo Rubiales installations. Protestors were met with violent police brutality. Key support and action has been supplied by ICEM affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO), which traditionally has organised employees of Ecopetrol, Colombia&rsquo;s listed state-owned oil company. Along with Ecopetrol, the contractors employing the Meta region oil workers are providing services for Canadian-based Pacific Rubiales, and CEPCOLSA, a subsidiary of Spanish-based CEPSA. 
 
The explosion of mass protests moved the Colombian government, notoriously compliant in the repression of trade unions, to hold a tri-partite forum on 3 August, chaired by Vice-President Angelino Garz&oacute;n. The forum created nine working groups to assess the various issues over 15 days and reach conclusions leading to a settlement of the conflict. Unfortunately and predictably not one recommendation of the 15-day working groups has been enacted. Instead unions have been hit with fierce persecution. Contractors MR, Intricon, and Medell&iacute;n Electricians ended the employment of 70 workers who had been involved in the 19 July mobilisation. Another contractor Duflo SA instructed employees to cancel their union membership, under threat of dismissal. 
 
The failure to implement any of the roundtable recommendations was met with protest from the local Puerto Gait&aacute;n community, who blocked all major roads leading into the municipality on 19 August. The local community&rsquo;s discontent was then compounded when the oil companies began hiring new staff, without employing anybody locally. 
 
The Ministry of Social Protection claims to have made 162 visits to the region, but has never met with USO or with the outsourced workers, and has only met with high level company officials on a handful of occasions. In a clear indication of the government&rsquo;s allegiance, from September the administration of President Santos will deploy a military battalion to be stationed in the community, which will in fact have its military vehicles fuelled by the local multinationals. 
 
Pacific Rubiales posted annual profits of US$218 million in 2010. 
 
During this labour conflict, 4,000 workers joined USO en masse in the Meta region. In the past year, over 16,000 contract workers have joined USO throughout Colombia.

Colombian Oil Workers Fight Back Against Mass Persecution

The initial findings from a global survey of ITGLWF affiliates show that there has been a sharp increase in the use of Contract and Agency Labour in the textile, garment and leather sectors. 
 
In Cambodia, ITGLWF affiliates the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) and the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia (NIFTUC) believe that contract and agency workers now account for 41-45% of the garment workforce. They also report that workers on short term contracts are more likely to be forced to work overtime whilst also receiving remuneration and benefits of a standard lower than their permanent colleagues.&nbsp; The length of contracts has also changed dramatically in the last 12 months. Previously six-month contracts where the most common contract length for CAL workers however this has now decreased to three months, while some are as short as one month. 
 
In Kenya, there has been an even sharper increase in the use of contract and agency workers. In the last 12 months the Kenyan Shoe and Leather Workers Union (KSLWU) has recorded a 50% increase in the use of CAL.&nbsp; Joseph Bolo, General Secretary of the KSLWU outlines the union&rsquo;s reaction to these increases &ldquo;The footwear sector is now using outsourced firms to provide the bulk of their employees. We are already organising with such employers and have signed recognition agreements with two firms employing about 600 employees.&rdquo; 
 
In Faisalabad, Pakistan, two ITGLWF affiliates have reported a 37% increase in the use of contract labour in the last 12 months whilst in Malawi the Textile Garment Leather and Security Services Workers Union has recorded a 20% increase in the last year, nearly all of whom have been women. 
 
In fact, all respondents to date have indicated that it is women workers who make up the majority of contract workers. They also agree that contract workers are facing even greater levels of exploitation than permanent employees such as forced overtime, non-payment of the minimum wage, and no social security provision amongst other issues. 
 
Unions have also indicated that their ability to organise workers is fundamentally undermined by employers dismissing organised contract workers or failing to renew only the contracts of union members. Added to this the industry standard of intimidation and other forms of repressing freedom of association, unions report they are finding it extremely difficult to organise contract workers. 
 
The ITGLWF is continuing to collect data from affiliates in the Americas, Asia, and Africa on the use of Contract and Agency Labour and will publish the full findings in early 2012.

Sharp Spike in Use of Contract, Agency Labour in Textile, Garment, Leather Sectors

Globalisation is not just about how things are made, bought and sold. It's also about people and their rights. Precarious work is rapidly becoming the biggest obstacle to the respect of workers&rsquo; rights worldwide. Every day, more and more workers find themselves in precarious jobs where they have no right even to join a union, let alone to bargain collectively with their employer. 
 
On 7 October unions across the globe will participate in the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) and will raise their voices to stop the devastating spread of precarious work, which has been identified as one of the primary focuses for action in 2011 by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
 
Materials and details of the campaign are on the campaign site <a href="void(0);/*1316097811111*/">http://www.wddw.org</a>/. In previous years, affiliates of IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF have mobilised strongly around this date and are urged to contribute to global pressure against precarious work by participating in this year&rsquo;s WDDW. 
 
It is the effective denial of precarious workers&rsquo; rights to join a union and bargain collectively that leaves them most vulnerable to exploitation. Some precarious workers are formally excluded from the coverage of national labour legislation, while others have rights on paper, but no rights in fact because laws are not enforced. And others are too afraid to exercise their rights because they could lose their jobs at any minute. 
 
The result is that millions of workers throughout the world and whole categories of employment are effectively being excluded from the reach of ILO Conventions 87 and 98. IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF have been pushing for the ILO to do more both to identify exactly how precarious workers are being denied their rights to join a union and bargain collectively and to work with governments to remove those barriers. 
 
Now the Workers&rsquo; Bureau of the ILO (ACTRAV) is inviting unions from around the world to participate in an International Workers&rsquo; Symposium which will take place at the ILO headquarters in Geneva from 4-7 October 2011. The aims of the Symposium are to: 
<ul>
 <li>Examine economic and legal trends and developments in precarious work</li>
 <li>Discuss trade union strategies and responses</li>
 <li>Identify economic and social policies to combat precarious employment</li>
 <li>Identify innovative approaches to close regulatory gaps (through International Labour Standards).</li>
</ul>
 
Unions wishing to attend the Symposium should contact <a href="void(0);/*1316097928721*/">bodemer@ilo.org</a>.

Fighting Precarious Work Globally

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="54" />
International pressure &ndash; both inside and out of Georgia &ndash; caused a change of course last week by police and political authorities in the aftermath of belligerent 15 September strike-breaking at Euroasian Steels in Kutaisi. Not only were over 30 sacked workers offered their jobs back, but police questioned the Indian managing director and two aides at Euroasian, also known as Hercules Steel, on 29 September.
The next day the top boss was sacked. 
 
Meanwhile, three strike leaders &ndash; Emilo Gumberidze, Irakli Iobidze, and Malkhaz Gogiava &ndash; who were jailed by police on bogus charges were released after serving ten-day sentences in the Kutaisi jail. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4673-Georgian-Trade-Union-Leaders-Jailed-for-Passing-Drug-Test">ICEM report here</a>.) 
 
They immediately called Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union President Tamazi Dolaberidze and pledged their continued support to the union. On 30 September, the new acting managing director of Hercules personally called each of the three to offer them their jobs back. The reversal gave Hercules metalworkers renewed momentum following the strike&rsquo;s crushing and that registered both with Georgian workers and about 130 Indian workers employed at the rolling mill.
<img alt="" src="" width="275" height="160" />
Georgia's Police Break Strike in Kutaisi, 15 September&nbsp;
Several points of global and internal civil pressure caused deep embarrassment to Georgia. There also was high-level diplomatic pressure involved, especially after an international delegation that included the ICEM and top leaders from Poland&rsquo;s Solidarnoş&ccedil; exposed the fact that the Indian workers at Hercules may be treated worse than anyone else. 
 
They live eight to a room in a dormitory adjacent to the mill, their passports were being head by the senior boss, and their salaries are sent back to India. It is believed that the top boss, Raji Kumar Sureika, was sacked because he was holding the passports. 
 
The strike last month by 200 Hercules metalworkers was sparked after the Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Union gained written support from a majority of the Georgian workers and then requested labour-management dialogue. After several weeks, the request was ignored and the strike started, including hunger strikes by four workers in front of the mill. 
 
Two days into the strike, police violently broke it up and literally <a href="/en/4-Chemicals-Pharmaceuticals/4667-ICEM-Scorns-Blatant-Police-Repression-in-Putting-Down-Georgian-Metal-Strike">forced workers</a> back to their jobs. Workers are angry that the two-year-old start-up mill has no salary schedule, no health and safety plan, and pays no overtime. Following last week&rsquo;s good news, the ICEM-affiliated Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Union again called on Hercules to enter peaceful, construction negotiations. 
 
The ICEM commends the leadership of the Georgia Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), and Tamazi Dolaberidze, for mobilising to organise, and the Global Union Federation pledges to remain active on the global front over the ever-reocurring abuse of trade union rights in Georgia.

Calm Restored as Georgian Metalworkers Rehired

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The 10th Quadrennial Delegates&rsquo; Conference of ICEM affiliate Ghana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (GMWU) was held in late August in the Brong Ahafo regional capital of Sunyani in late August. GMWU leaders from the West African nation covered a wide range of issues including skills training, mining and sustainability, expatriation, and state investment and regulation in mining. 
 
The Delegates&rsquo; Conference also reiterated its support and continued campaign efforts for ratification and implementation by the government of Ghana of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Meeting under the banner &ldquo;Blending the Interest of Stakeholders in the Mining Industry Towards Operational Excellence,&rdquo; delegates elected Kwarko Mensah Gyakari as National Chairman and Prince William Ankrah, ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Vice President, as General Secretary. 
<img src="" width="150" height="174" alt="" />
General Secretary Prince William Ankrah
Also elected were Abdul Moomin Gbana, First Vice Chairman; Philomena Aba Sampson, Second Vice Chairperson; Eric Kwabena Gyimah, Deputy General Secretary; Fred Aniagyei, First National Trustee; James Ackah, Second National Trustee; and William Bart Plange, National Chaplain. 
 
GMWU also elected an 11-member Finance Committee. All office bearers, including Finance Committee members, were sworn in Ghana Trades Union Congress General Secretary Kofi Asamoah. 
 
The GMWU expressed displeasure with the recent shedding by the government of its 10% stake in certain gold mining companies. With gold extraction a major component in the nation&rsquo;s economy, the union pledged to combine with civil society groups to reduce foreign capital in favour of Ghana private of public investment in the major mining conglomerates. 
 
The union sided with Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor who has protested Ghana&rsquo;s divestiture of 10% stakes in Newmont Gold&rsquo;s Ahafo and Akyem projects, Noble Mineral&rsquo;s Bibiano project, and AngloGold Ashanti development at Obuasi, Iduaprim, and Teberebie. Removal of such state involvement runs contrary to the Mining law of 1986 (PNDC Law 153) and the Minerals and Mining Act 20. 
 
GMWU also made it clear to reporters covering the Conference that with the current high price of gold, now is the time to introduce a windfall tax on the commodity. 
 
General Secretary Prince Ankrah did commend the government for putting in place the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GEITI), but urged the government to adequately fund the body in order to carry out its mission. 
 
A major topic at the Delegates&rsquo; Conference regarded remuneration in mining, and the fact that inequality exists between what is paid expatriates and Ghanaian nationals who are in the same job grades and possess the same skills. 
 
On sustainability, GMWU again expressed displeasure that the major mining houses have allowed a gulf to exist between indigenous communities and their leaders. Ankrah said mining companies in general had failed to honour past commitments regarding infrastructure, and many are non-compliant with environmental standards. 
 
He also criticized mining companies for failing to take into account the input of workers regarding health and safety. 
 
The Delegates&rsquo; Conference pledged that the GMWU would continue to engage with the Ghana Chamber of Mines and its industry captains to ensure that qualified Ghanaians are given opportunities and skills development to take up senior positions in the mining sector.

Ghana Mine Workers Conducts Successful Delegates’ Conference

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Union members of ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) began a strike on 1 September against Anchor Glass Container Corp. at nine US plants. The 140 USW-represented workers are mould makers at Anchor, the US&rsquo;s third largest glass bottle and container manufacturer behind Owens-Illinois and Saint-Gobain Containers. 
 
Workers went on strike immediately after expiration of a prior labour agreement due to regressive and ill-willed contract proposals by the Tampa, Florida-based company. Specifically, Anchor seeks to create a two-tiered health care and pension plan, as well as more excessive out-of-pocket health care costs borne by workers. Wages are also an issue in the dispute. 
<img alt="" src="" width="157" height="136" />
Photo: Mike Perleberg-Eagle 99.3
Privately-held Anchor issued a threatening statement at the outset of the strike saying it would continue glass-bottle mould work without the USW members. The company used high US unemployment and economic uncertainty as a warning against the strike. 
 
Anchor produces glass for the beverage and foods industries. The largest plant that has been hit by the USW industrial action is in Zanesville, Ohio, where 65 workers have struck due to the company&rsquo;s radical rollback proposals. Other Anchor glass plants where work stoppages are in effect include Jacksonville, Florida; Warner Robins, Georgia; Shakopee, Minnesota; Salem, New Jersey, Elmira Heights, New York; Henryetta, Oklahoma; and Lawrenceburg and Winchester, Indiana. 
 
USW negotiators reached a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1109.ross%20usw%20agreement.pdf">settlement with Ross International</a> on 31 August, achieving wage gains for each year in a three-year agreement, protecting pensions and preventing a two-tier benefit plan for new hires. Among other improvements achieved was enhanced language on subcontracting at the company.&nbsp;

USW Glass Workers at Anchor Begin Strike Action

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Building on their first meeting in 2010, just prior to the historic May Day celebrations in Taksim Square, global unions conducted the second meeting of this kind on defending trade union rights in Turkey. Around sixty participants from centers and Turkish affiliates of ITUC, CGU, ICEM, ITF, IUF, PSI, IMF, BWI, ITGLWF and UNI came together in Istanbul at the workshop held on 8-9 September. The meeting also welcomed international NGOs such as Labourstart and Amnesty International who consistently support labour rights in Turkey. The ICEM was present at the workshop through its Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan as well as its affiliates Tes-Is, Petrol-Is, Belediye-Is, Lastik-Is, Kristal-Is, Cimse-Is, Sel&uuml;loz-Is and T&uuml;mka-Is. 
 
The workshop coincided with a critical time, with Turkish trade union legislation under discussions for modification with a view to harmonise it in line with international standards and norms. Turkey was recently criticised by the International Labour Organization over the lack of genuine union rights in the country. &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of the Collective Bargaining Department of ICEM&rsquo;s affiliate Lastik-Is, who is a part of a working group formed by the government to handle possible modifications, updated the workshop participants in a context of the history of Turkish labour legislation. 
 
Participants were informed of individual organising efforts of Turkish unions in cooperation and solidarity with respective global union federations. Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak, Director of the Organizing Department of ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is, presented his union&rsquo;s widely-publicised national level organizing campaign as well as the ongoing organising drive at Standard Profil with the contribution of the ICEM. The other examples showed the value of solidarity between individual unions and their global union federations in getting success in organising and recognition. 
 
The participants discussed international instruments in boosting union organising campaigns. Particular attention was given to global unions&rsquo; immediate actions such as protest letters, coordinating global solidarity and visits of picket lines. Opportunities in using the newly revised OECD guidelines, ILO tools as well as international courts were also reviewed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="259" height="160" />
ICEM's Kemal &Ouml;zkan addresses press conference
Towards the end of the workshop a press conference was organized with the participation of television and newspaper journalists. In a joint press release the global unions informed the Turkish media about the objectives and content of the workshop. Read out by Ron Oswald, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation IUF, the press release stressed that &ldquo;Turkish unions, union leaders from Turkey and representatives of those international bodies present at this meeting have pledged to work together actively and in a sustained and permanent way to support workers' efforts to access those universal rights and to have them universally accepted and respected in Turkey.&rdquo; 
 
The participants were later divided into two groups, as Turkish unions and global union federations to discuss ways to build and promote joint work in Turkey as a base for summary, conclusions and way forward from the workshop. Jim Baker, Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions, summed up discussions and conclusions of the workshop with a way forward. Baker underlined consensus on &ldquo;common action by global unions with their Turkish affiliates and among themselves to improve the quality and increase the effect of practical and concrete solidarity action to strengthen workers and their legitimate, democratic trade unions.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Turkey is a highly critical place in the activities of all global unions, this country is a priority for the whole union movement&rdquo; said ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;The two-day workshop reaffirmed our commitment to reinforce solidarity with the Turkish trade union movement.&rdquo;

Global Unions Unite in Defending Trade Union Rights in Turkey

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A work stoppage and hunger strike by non-regular coal miners in Bangladesh ended on 6 September, three days after the 1,145 contract workers took up strike action again against state-owned Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd. (BCMCL) and its extraction contractor, the China National Import and Export Corp. (CMC). 
 
The strike originally began on 23 August, but was suspended on 27 August so miners could celebrate the Islamic Eid vacation. In negotiations between the Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union, BCMCL&rsquo;s parent, the Bangladesh Oil, Gas, Mineral Corp. (PETROBANGLA), CMC, the country&rsquo;s Minister of Land, and Dinajpur Province authorities on 5 September, the union won production bonuses and holiday guarantees, as well as assurances that each year 10% of non-skilled workers will see their employment status regularized. 
<img src="" width="280" height="129" alt="" />
BCMCL, the country&rsquo;s only operating coal mine, guaranteed that production bonuses will take effect when coal output exceeds 70,000 tonnes per month. The contract miners, employed by CMC through an arrangement with the Xuzhou Coal Mine Group of China (XMC), also won a four-fold increase in festival allowances, a paid three-day holiday period each for two Eid vacations, and 20 kilos of rice per miner each month. 
 
Regularisation of employment, however, was the major achievement in the August-September strike action. Since CMC began operating the mine the mine in 2005, the contract miners were without many social protections, insurances, and pension pensions. 
 
Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union President Rabiul Islam called the settlement satisfactory, with BCMCL and the Chinese employer accepting a good share of the union&rsquo;s demands. 
 
BCMCL has a recoverable coal deposit of 64 million tones, of which only 1.13 million tones have been extracted since inception of the mine five years ago. The mine produces thermal coal with the bulk of it transported to Bangladesh&rsquo;s lone 250 megawatt electric generating plant.

Contract Coal Miners in Bangladesh Win Guarantees with Strikes

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A first-of-a-kind collective agreement took root in Germany&rsquo;s solar energy manufacturing industry on 1 September. It was then that a labour contract took effect between IG Metall and three subsidiaries of Bosch in the state of Thuringia, making it the first collective agreement in Germany&rsquo;s solar power industry. 
 
The agreement covers 2,500 workers at factories of Bosch Solar Energy AC, Bosch Solar Wafers GmbH, and Bosch Solar Thin Film in the cities of Erfurt and Arnstadt. IG Metal Hesse and Thuringia Region representatives used the effective date of the three-year agreement to distribute leaflets to workers at other solar product manufacturers in central and eastern Germany highlighting details of the Bosch accord. 
<img alt="" src="" width="267" height="160" />
Those companies include Q-cells, Conergy, and Solon, to name just a few. It is the union&rsquo;s hope that the Bosch accord will spur a national collective agreement in the solar manufacturing industry, a sector now encompassing 130,000 German workers. 
 
Labour agreements in renewable energy industries, said IG Metall Regional Secretary Armin Schild, have been &ldquo;a no man&rsquo;s land. This agreement hopefully will become the standard throughout the industry.&rdquo; 
 
Based on the union&rsquo;s metal sector agreement, this first contract contains a bounty of benefits for workers of the three Bosch subsidiaries. Although it contains no set wage increases over the three years, workers will see their pay increase with regular bonuses, performance-based bonuses, and additional compensation for holiday and night-shift work. 
 
The work week will be reduced with full pay from 40 to 38 hours in increments over the three-year term, and overtime work will either be paid in full or employees have the option to convert that overtime to paid time off. And apprentices completing training are assured of at least a one-year fixed-term period of employment. 
 
The three Bosch worksites are relatively new in Thuringia, with Bosch Solar only opening the massive cell and panel plant in Arnstadt a year ago. The agreement is a trendsetting pact within Germany&rsquo;s former eastern states and IG Metall deserves high accolades for achieving this milestone.

IG Metall Breaks New Ground with First Accord in German Solar Energy Sector

Archive