28 September, 2011Caterpillar, the industrial equipment giant, increased its flexible workforce by 50% between June 2010 and June 2011
27 September, 201140 trade unionists representing workers at Tenaris facilities in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Italy, Japan and Romania met in Zalau, Romania on September 21-23. For the first time since its creation in 2007 in Argentina, Japanese delegates attended.
10 October, 2011In an attempt to enlist shipbuilding workers in Thailand IMF representative met the local union leaders of a large shipbuilding facility in Thailand.
10 October, 2011Unions from around the world, including IMF affiliates, participated in the ILO Workers' Symposium on Policies and Regulations to Combat Precarious Employment on October 4-7, 2011. The Symposium produced a set of recommendations on measures that the ILO should take to reduce precarious work and improve conditions for precarious workers.
6 October, 20112,200 employees in Termini Imerese and 900 Irisbus employees in Avellino risk losing their jobs if Fiat follows through with its decision to close the two plants in southern Italy.
6 October, 2011At the end of last week workers of the Gerdau plant in Cota, Colombia decided to form their own union. They made a formal demand to the Minister of Labour and informed Gerdau of their intention to start bargaining a collective agreement. The management responded with hostility.
6 October, 2011More than hundred union leaders gathered in Bangkok to demand the ratification of ILO Convention 87 and 98, minimum wage increase and decent work
6 October, 2011Mary Pais Da Silva is a 33 year old lawyer, working as coordinator for the Swaziland Democracy Campaign. Currently in Geneva, Switzerland, together with a delegation of six persons from different movements in Swaziland, she wants to set the human rights record straight.
6 October, 2011For the first time the Finnish IMF affiliates presented their national collective bargaining demands together. On October 4, after negotiations broke down, they declared an overtime ban in the metal industry. The Metalworkers' Union and Pro have given notice for a strike beginning October 21.
13 September, 2011ICEM and IMF renewed their global framework agreement with Umicore, the Brussels-based global materials technology group with some 14,400 employees. First signed in September 2007, the agreement has been the basis for joint union-management activities. Representatives of the company, both global union federations and the European Works Council conducted joint missions in China in 2008, in Brazil in 2009 and in South Africa in 2010 in addition to the regular monitoring activities defined in the agreement.
