22 December, 2008New Metal World reports about recent U.S. elections and hope for change inspired by Barack Obama, gives a special report about mechanical engineering, and profiles Gab-Deuk Jung, KMWU president, and his union fight for workers' rights.
GLOBAL: Barack Obama's decisive victory as the next President of the United States inspired hope among working people both in America and abroad. In battleground states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 trade union volunteers took time off work to help convince Americans to vote for change. "U.S. Election: hope and change" gives an insight on how Obama's victory became possible.
Mechanical engineering is of vital importance to most other manufacturing sectors and yet, until now its organizing potential and strategic role has been frequently overlooked by trade unions. Metal World's special report describes the situation and challenges for unions in one of the most important and oldest engineering disciplines.
Gab-Deuk Jung, President of the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), enjoys reputation of a man who meets adversity with decisiveness and courage. Many times he was imprisoned for participation and organisation of union strike actions.
Regarding the currently pending charge of illegal strike and obstruction of business Jung believes it has to do with employers' resistance to industry-wide collective bargaining: "By saying that the strikes are illegal they argue that industry-level bargaining has nothing to do with workers' wages and conditions, that it is political." Read the interview with Gab-Deuk Jung.
Metal World also includes all the latest news and photos from the IMF and its affiliates around the world.
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