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USA: The IMF-affiliated IUE-CWA reports that, on May 19, the first union proposal was made in national negotiations as the 14-member Coordinated Bargaining Committee of General Electric unions opened bargaining with General Electric in New York City. 

The IUE-CWA president, Edward Fire, who also chairs the CBC, proposed that GE reinstate two workers who were fired at the GE-owned Johnson Technology for their organizing activity. The National Labor Relations Board has issued charges in both cases. Saying that this issue had to be dealt with and resolved in these negotiations, Fire said that "at its core, General Electric has always been and remains, anti-union." 

Fire and IUE-CWA/GE Conference Board chairman, Art Smith, outlined the major issues in the negotiations. Key among them are pension increases and job security. Fire called for "substantial" pension improvements for current and future retirees, as well as improvements in health care with no cost shifting.

"There will be no givebacks in the new IUE-CWA GE three-year contract," Fire stated. "If General Electric continues to insist that IUE-CWA members accept the massive concessions in health care cost shifting GE has talked about, our members are prepared, and will strike."

The 14-member CBC unions open national negotiations with General Electric.

GE negotiations get underway

CHINA: The China Labour Bulletin reports that on May 9, 2003, a court in Liaoyang, northeastern China, handed down harsh prison sentences to Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, the two independent metalworker activists who were arrested in March 2002 and kept in detention since then for their part in a peaceful workers' demonstration. Yao, 52, has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, and Xiao, 57, to four years.

At their trial, which took place on January 15, 2003, both men were charged with "illegal assembly" and "subversion of state power" for leading a mass protest against alleged corruption at the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory, which led to the plant's bankruptcy, and against missing and unpaid wages and other benefits, including pensions. 

In late March 2002, the IMF joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in filing a formal complaint with the International Labour Organisation's Committee on Freedom of Association against the government of the People's Republic of China for violations of the principles of freedom of association. Since then, the IMF has written protests to the president of China and to the government-sponsored All China Federation of Trade Unions. In March 2003, the Governing Body of the ILO, of which China is a member, called upon the Chinese authorities to release all Liaoyang workers still in detention and to drop any outstanding charges against them.

Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang receive long prison terms for their participation in a peaceful workers' protest.

Background information

Chinese metalworkers sentenced

DENMARK: 530 delegates at the recent Extraordinary Congress in Odensee of the Danish Metalworkers' Federation (Dansk Metalarbejderforbund) unanimously voted for a merger with the Danish Telecommunications Federation.

The newly-amalgamated union, which keeps the name Danish Metalworkers' Federation, has 150,000 members, of whom 137,000 come from the metalworkers and 13,000 from the telecom union. Previous to the merger, Dansk Metal already had among its membership 12,000 in the IT and electronics sector.

The new federation has set up an IT secretariat, as well as a permanent department for equality issues.

Commenting on the merger, Dansk Metal's president, Max Baehring, said that "this measure will give us a stronger negotiating position and point of departure for improving working conditions in the branch."

The telecommunications union has been incorporated into the Danish Metalworkers' Federation.

Union merger in Denmark

GERMANY: In a bid to gradually introduce the 35-hour workweek for its members in the metal and electrical industry in eastern Germany, IG Metall staged walkouts in four auto plants on May 5. Targeted were three Volkswagen plants and one Opel plant. 

IG Metall, the IMF-affiliated German metalworkers' union, says that 13 years after the country's reunification, it's time for further steps to be taken towards realising the same working and income conditions for employees in the eastern part of the country as their counterparts in the west. Although weekly base pay is the same, the 310,000 metalworkers in the east have a 38-hour workweek, as opposed to the 35 hours worked in the west.

Contract negotiations between IG Metall and employers in the eastern German metal and electrical industry will begin in mid-May, but the union is nevertheless preparing a vote for a possible strike in early June.

Warning strikes kick off IG Metall campaign to put metalworkers in the east on par with those in the west.

East German metalworkers seek shorter workweek

GERMANY: Among steps being taken by the German metalworkers' union IG Metall against Gerhard Schroeder's "Agenda 2010" reform plan is its participation in an action week, from May 12-17, organised by the German trade union confederation DGB with its member unions. 

The announced reforms contained in the German chancellor's programme, which was presented to Parliament in March, caused an uproar among the country's trade unions due to the planned dismantling of three major elements of German social security:
<ul>
<li>unemployment benefits to be levelled down to welfare and shortened,
<li>protection against dismissal to be reduced,
<li>health-care costs to increase.
</ul>
The unions have strongly condemned Agenda 2010 as an attack on what has been achieved in more than a century of combined efforts by the trade unions and social democracy. A spokesperson for IG Metall said reforms were needed that would bring growth and contribute to job creation, but this was not the case with Agenda 2010.

In a letter to the Social Democratic and Green members of Parliament, IG Metall president, Klaus Zwickel, has accused Schroeder of breaking promises not to touch such social measures, made at IG Metall's Future Congress in June 2002, in discussions with trade union presidents immediately after last September's elections, and in a meeting with the IG Metall Executive in February 2003.

In addition to the upcoming Action Week, IG Metall and other unions made their objection to Agenda 2010 the focus of their protests during May 1st marches throughout the country. Many more rallies, petitions, distribution of information, Internet discussion between union members and members of Parliament are being organised, and alternative proposals are being put forth. The culmination of trade union protest will take place on May 24 with a nationwide action day by all DGB member unions.

The German trade union movement plans protest action and alternative proposals to the chancellor's reform agenda.

Unions battle Schroeder

Did you know that a metalworker in the USA has to work 1 minute to be able to buy 1 litre of unleaded petrol? Whereas he or she has to work 5-6 minutes to buy 1 litre of petrol in France, South Africa or Sweden. In the Czech Republic, he or she has to work 12 minutes, in Brazil about 25 and over 1.5 hours in Belarus.
Source: The IMF publication "The Purchasing Power of Working Time - An International Comparison." Sector: Basic Metals.

Do you know

Did you know that a metalworker in Australia, France or Ireland has to work 3-4 minutes to be able to buy 1 kilo of potatoes. Whereas he or she has to work 25-30 minutes to buy 1 kilo of potatoes in Colombia, Croatia or Malta, and almost one hour in the Philippines.
Source: The IMF publication "The Purchasing Power of Working Time - An International Comparison." Sector&gt; Electrical Machinery and Apparates.

Did you know that a metalworker in Austria, Japan or Great Britain has to work 5-6 hours to be able to buy a pair of shoes? Whereas he or she has to work 26-27 hours to buy a pair of shoes in Guatemala, Romania or Bangladesh, and 41 hours in Ukraine.
Source: The IMF publication "The Purchasing Power of Working Time - An International Comparison." Sector: Motor vehicles.

Did you know that a metalworker in Canada, Finland, Germany or the USA has to work 3-4 minutes to be able to buy 1 kilo of sugar? Whereas he or she has to work ten times as long to buy 1 kilo of sugar in Bulgaria, Colombia or India. 
Source: The IMF publication "The Purchasing Power of Working Time - An International Comparison." Sector: Machinery and Equipment.

GENEVA: IMF's budget and programme of activities for 2005 were approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting on December 15 and 16, 2004. Lively discussions took place on a number of topics during the meeting including the issue of trade and development, China, congress preparations and the recent US elections. A report from the Ad Hoc Working Group on Trade, Finance and Development Policies outlined issues such as promotion of workers' rights, strategies to influence government policy and international institutions and the establishment of fair rules to govern globalisation. Jean Ziegler, Professor of Sociology at the University of Geneva, also addressed the Executive on globalisation, transnational companies (TNCs) and the role of financial institutions. "The one hundred largest TNCs increase sales and profits each year, but create fewer and fewer jobs," said Zeigler, arguing that the neo-liberal capitalist system destroys jobs rather than creates them and that it undermines the sovereignty of nation states. Göran Johnsson, Swedish Metalworkers' Union, reported from the Ad Hoc Working Group on China, including information on what activities IMF affiliates are currently engaged in with Chinese workers and trade unions. The report led to a lengthy debate about how IMF should position itself in relation to China. While all were in agreement on the importance of the issue, counter arguments were presented on whether to work with the existing unions or to focus attention on supporting independent worker organisations. The 31st IMF World Congress was also on the agenda, including proposed changes to IMF Rules and Motions. The changes were supported by the IMF Executive and will now be taken to Congress for consideration. Presenting the Secretariat Report, IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi discussed International Framework Agreements, the recent ICFTU Congress, reported on recent events that have occurred around the world and mentioned IMF's involvement at the next World Social Forum. At the meeting the following new members were welcomed to the IMF Executive: <ul><li>Kjell Bjørndalen (Fellesforbundet, Norway) replacing Max Baehring, retired. </li><li>Sanjay Wadavkar (SMEWFI, India) replacing K.S. Samantrai, deceased. </li><li>Nobuaki Koga (IMF-JC, Japan) replacing Katsutoshi Suzuki, retired.</li></ul> Erkki Vuorenmaa was elected President of the IMF Shipbuilding Department, replacing Kjell Bjørndalen. The IMF also welcomed the following newly affiliated members, whose applications to join the IMF were unanimously supported by the IMF Executive: <ul><li>Finnish Electrical Workers' Union, with 31,203 manual worker members in the electrical installations, energy and telecommunications sector, of which 2,443 members are in the metal sector. </li><li>Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union (SATU), a manual workers' union which has 3,500 members in sectors such as automobile, engineering, electrical, non-ferrous metals, construction, mining, water and security guards.</li></ul> The next meeting of the IMF Executive, focusing on the draft Action Programme and other Congress matters, will be in Geneva on February 22, 2005.

International trade and development, China and preparations for Congress were just some of the topics of lively debates at the recent IMF Executive Meeting.

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