30 August, 2011IMF affiliates from countries in Asia-Pacific and the Americas met in Geneva on August 29 to discuss the ongoing negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. A joint trade union strategy was defined to make the creation of quality jobs and the promotion of fundamental labour standards an explicit goal of the agreement.
30 August, 2011On Monday, August 29 autoworkers in Sao Jose de Pinhais, Brazil voted in favour of the new agreement negotiated by the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers Union, member of the IMF affiliate Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores Metalúrgicos/Força Sindical.
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.
20 October, 2011A new issue of Metal World - the last - went to print and is published on the IMF website.
20 October, 2011On October 3 the lower house of the Belarus parliament adopted in the two readings the bill 'On Making Addenda and Amendments to Some Laws of the Republic of Belarus'. This bill, among other things, makes foreign financial support and financial aid to NGOs (including unions) completely illegal and further complicates arranging of mass protests and actions.
20 October, 2011UAW's tentative four-year agreements with Ford and Chrysler focus on jobs and investments. If accepted by 67,000 USW members at Ford and Chrysler, thousands of new jobs will be created.
19 October, 2011The International Metalworkers Federation is calling on Government and business leaders to back steel industry workers to ensure future success. The call comes amidst a number of high profile companies announcing closures or job losses that could undermine the future sustainability of the steel industry. Recent announcements have included 1,300 job losses at BlueScope Steel in Australia, the permanent closure at Liege (Belgium) and the idled blast furnaces in Florange (France) and Eisenhüttenstadt (Germany) by ArcelorMittal.
19 October, 2011With escalating costs of living and shrinking purchasing power, Vietnamese unionists feel the need to strengthen their collective bargaining to improve and sustain living standards for workers.
18 October, 2011Broad strike activity accelerated a positive wage agreement in the Austrian metal sector. On October 18 Austrian trade unions PRO-GE and GPA djp, the Salaried Employees, Print, Journalism, Paper Union, emerged from bargaining on behalf on 170,000 metal and industrial workers with positive results.
21 October, 20117000 Suzuki workers return to work after an intense and violent 14-day struggle that ends at the country's largest car maker.
