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.
29 August, 2011Producing steel is a dangerous task at the best of times. When workers are faced with intense heat during ten months of the year problems become even greater. Despite this fact the safety performance at the ArcelorMittal LaPlace Steel Plant in New Orleans, USA is steadily improving, as discovered by a visiting group of experts from the ArcelorMittal Joint Global Health and Safety Committee.
23 August, 20112000 production workers and 500 white collar and maintenance workers in the factory in Busan in Korea belonging to Renault Samsung Motors decide to join IMF affiliate Korean Metal Workers' Union. The company totals 5650 employees, and has a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year.
30 August, 2011On August 29 the Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA) rallied in front of the office of the employment agency Adecco in Kaluga, Russia. The action marked the beginning of the union campaign against precarious work.
30 April, 2012The IMF and Ford signed an International Framework Agreement (IFA) in Detroit on April 25. It is the first IFA with an automotive company outside of Europe.
30 April, 2012In the International Labour Organization's annual report on global labour conditions released March 30, the UN agency predicts that European social unrest will heighten this year as governments continue to forge ahead with ill-advised austerity policies. It also forecasts that over 202 million people worldwide will be unemployed in 2012.
30 April, 2012Governments must focus on creating decent, sustainable jobs and protecting workers' rights to end the current economic crisis, says Global Unions in a 2012 May Day message.
24 May, 2012IG Metall has built on its wage increase successes by agreeing additional bonuses for agency workers in the metal sector.
21 May, 2012IG Metall reached an agreement for metalworkers in Baden-Württemberg on May 19, paving the way for a 4.3 per cent wage increase in its manufacturing sectors across the country. The agreement also improved codetermination rights on regulating agency labour and job security for apprentices.
17 May, 2012The Workers' Support Centre (Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador, CAT), an NGO that defends labour rights in Mexico, has been subjected to harassment since 2008. The IMF and human rights organisations are calling for the authorities to guarantee the lives of CAT members.
