1 febrero, 2012860 employees of an Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, northern Romania, went on an indefinite strike after the management refused to sign a new collective agreement with the same conditions for 2012.

31 enero, 2012If there is not a motivated and objective reason for a job being temporary, it is permanent, the Finnish High Court ruled on January 24. The fact that a work agency client company assignment is time-limited is not a sufficient reason.

30 enero, 2012In a letter to the president of Colombia, the USW and Unite trade unions call for an investigation into the brutal killings of Mauricio Redondo (USO) and Víctor Manuel Hilarion (SINTRAPAZ).

30 enero, 2012Stefan Löfven, president of the 355,000 member IF Metall, was elected the Swedish Social Democratic Party acting president after Håkan Juholt resigned on January 21.

25 enero, 2012On January 1, 2012, Rio Tinto's aluminium subsidiary Alcan locked out 780 members of United Steelworkers at its smelter and refinery in Alma, Québec. The company refuses to negotiate limits on contract work.

17 enero, 2012Thanks to national and international trade union solidarity, the Ecopetrol president has reinstated USO president Rodolfo Vecino and revoked the ten-year ban on holding office also placed on him by the company.

17 enero, 2012As UK industrial production fell 3.1 per cent on the year up to November 2011 -- and clocked up the ninth consecutive monthly fall, Unite the union relaunches its strategy to help rebuild and revive UK manufacturing, called "2020 Vision".

11 enero, 2012Workers at the Caterpillar-owned Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) plant in Ontario, Canada were locked out on New Year's Eve when the union contract expired, after they overwhelmingly voted to authorize strike action unless management withdrew drastic concession demands.

20 febrero, 2012A study commissioned by Caterpillar European management has raised concerns among workers and unions that two production zones could be moved possibly to Poland.

20 febrero, 2012Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, February 11-12, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.