3 October, 2011The Miners' Union reports that workers at the Sierrita mine have been locked out and the site has been occupied by other workers, in a conspiracy between the government and the company. The union has called for the immediate withdrawal of the occupation force and called on the employer to respect the agreement reached in August.
30 September, 2011Indonesian unions and NGOs gathered at the end of September 2011 to step up their fight against contract and agency labour in Indonesia.
23 September, 2011Workers of the Zaporozhye Ferroalloy Plant in Eastern Ukraine picketed in front of the government office in Kiev protesting against job cuts at the plant. Their union works closely with local and national authorities to find a solution to the acute jobs crisis.
22 September, 2011On September 20 the Swedish metalworkers' union IF Metall filed a bankruptcy petition against the ailing Swedish automaker SAAB at the local district court. The decision was taken unanimously at a video conference meeting of the IF Metall office, the Trollhättan local and the SAAB section.
21 September, 2011ArcelorMittal has announced the idling of its 2nd blast furnace in Florange, France, from October 3, 2011 for an unspecified duration. The IMF affiliates in France, the FGMM-CFDT, FO Métaux, FGM-CGT, and CFE-CGC criticise the decision.
15 September, 2011Fujitsu workers launch a 24 hour strike in Manchester and Crewe over pay disputes and discrimination against a union representative.
15 September, 2011On August 27-28 the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) and the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW) held a workshop in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, for union activists from an array of plants in the region.
14 September, 2011A first-of-a-kind collective agreement took root in Germany's solar energy manufacturing industry on 1 September. It was then that a labour contract took effect between IG Metall and three subsidiaries of Bosch in the state of Thuringia, making it the first collective agreement in Germany's solar power industry.
13 September, 2011TVT is a television channel run by the ABC Metalworkers Union, affiliated to the CNM/CUT. TVT is the first trade union television channel in Brazil.
13 September, 2011Organizing new workers is never easy but in the United States it's tougher than most places. Participants at an Alcoa Global Unions meeting got to experience first- hand the challenges facing the US unions. The attendees from unions in Australia, Canada, Iceland, Brazil, Suriname, and United Kingdom, took part in an organizing drive assisting the United Steelworkers (USW) as part of their activities. The target company Traco is a subsidiary of Alcoa and employs around 450 workers. Incidentally "Here we go again" was the title of union busting materials Alcoa used in one of its plants and seems apt to use during this organizing drive.
