17 August, 2011An unbroken chain of solidarity and staunch resolve by all 157 members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2228 staved off contract concessions in Canada recently. On 8 August, union members ratified a three-year agreement with Sandvik Materials Technology Canada, a subsidiary of Swedish industrial giant Sandvik AB, with an 80.6% vote, ending a successful strike that began on 13 July.
16 August, 2011A new report launched by ArcelorMittal, European Metalworkers' Federation, United Steelworkers, and the International Metalworkers' Federation reviews how unions and management have been working together globally to deliver better safety results for ArcelorMittal. The report called "Together for Safety, Global Agreement, Local Impact", chronicles the work undertaken since signing the Steel industries first ever global agreement on Health and Safety.
15 August, 2011After a strong and resolute campaign nearly 70 BMW warehouse workers in Southern California, USA got their contracts renewed for another half year. The workers, members of Teamsters Local 495 got their jobs back through an active campaign involving International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and IMF affiliates Unite the Union in the UK and IG Metall in Germany. An important role was played by the BMW European Works Council.
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.
15 September, 2011In an unprecedented show of solidarity workers from Suzuki Powertrain India, Suzuki Castings and Suzuki Motor Cycle India started a sit-in strike from September 14 afternoon in support of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) Workers. All plants are located in the Gurgaon - Manesar area in the state of Haryana.
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.
22 September, 2011After 23 months of resistance, the Mexican Electricians' union SME, that staged for over 7 months a protest camp at the central plaza in Mexico City, the "Zocalo", won it's show-down with the government of Calderon in the run-up to Mexico's Independence day, September 16, Mexico's most important national holiday.
22 September, 2011Early September, Honda workers in Mexico obtained legal recognition to register STUHM (Sindicato de Trabajadores Unidos de la Honda de Mexico) as their union. The company opposes the organization and prefers the protection union that has blocked independent unions at the Honda site in Jalisco, Mexico for 26 years. Honda workers now denounce the company's continued repression and intimidation against the union and the workers wanting to join.
19 September, 2011Global union organizations held their second annual meeting in Istanbul on September 8 and 9 in the presence of union representatives from both Turkey and across the world, and called on the Turkish government to change its legislation to guarantee basic rights of workers.
19 September, 2011The UAW reached a tentative new agreement with US automaker General Motors on September 16. The agreement covers almost 50,000 GM workers in the USA. Talks continue for UAW's 41,000 members at Ford and 26,000 members at Chrysler.
