17 February, 2012IG Metall puts rights of precarious workers at centre of its collective bargaining this year, along with demands for a 6.5 per cent wage increase in the metal and electrical engineering sector and permanent contracts for young people completing apprenticeships.

16 February, 2012IMF U.S. affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) announced that General Motors Corp. (GM) workers will receive approximately US$ 7,000 in profit-sharing based on results of 2011 earnings. European Metalworkers Federation (EMF) insists GM should develop a long term sustainable business plan for the GM owned Opel/Vauxhall in Europe.

14 February, 2012In a trial in Turin Eternit owners, Stephan Schmidheiny and Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, are found guilty in thousands of deaths and are sentenced to 16 years of jail. The case is unprecedented and can be exemplary for other producers and distributors of deadly asbestos worldwide.

9 February, 2012On February 7 workers of the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan went on indefinite strike. They demand compensation for rising contributions to the government insurance fund.

1 February, 2012860 employees of an Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, northern Romania, went on an indefinite strike after the management refused to sign a new collective agreement with the same conditions for 2012.

31 January, 2012If there is not a motivated and objective reason for a job being temporary, it is permanent, the Finnish High Court ruled on January 24. The fact that a work agency client company assignment is time-limited is not a sufficient reason.

30 January, 2012In a letter to the president of Colombia, the USW and Unite trade unions call for an investigation into the brutal killings of Mauricio Redondo (USO) and Víctor Manuel Hilarion (SINTRAPAZ).

30 January, 2012Stefan Löfven, president of the 355,000 member IF Metall, was elected the Swedish Social Democratic Party acting president after Håkan Juholt resigned on January 21.

25 January, 2012On January 1, 2012, Rio Tinto's aluminium subsidiary Alcan locked out 780 members of United Steelworkers at its smelter and refinery in Alma, Québec. The company refuses to negotiate limits on contract work.

20 January, 2012Unilever workers stage ten-day strike actions at food and cleaning products company Unilever UK sites January 18-28 to protest against planned pension cuts. A strike fund has been launched.