English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

AUSTRALIA: &nbsp;Confirming the worst fears of workers and their unions, Ford Australia announced on July 18 its intention to discontinue the production of a six-cylinder engine at its plant in Geelong by 2010. The plant, one of Ford&#039;s oldest operating in Geelong since 1925, produces a locally designed in-line six-cylinder engine used in its Falcon Ute and Territory vehicles.According to IMF-affiliated Australian Manufacturing Workers&#039; Union (AMWU), the announced 600 jobs losses would not only seriously affect Ford workers and their families, but could also result in at least 3,500 more additional jobs disappearing in local car parts and service industries. Among others, reasons provided by the company to justify the plant closure include low sales, the rising value of Australian dollar, the introduction of tougher car emission standards and a cut in tariffs on imported cars from 10 per cent now down to 5 per cent by 2010.&quot;The Federal Government should be speaking directly with Ford headquarters to negotiate a package to save these jobs and in the long term they need to wake up and start supporting Australian manufacturing with things like research and development assistance and reviewing our tariffs and Free Trade Agreements,&quot; said AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver.

As many as 600 workers will be out of work at one of the oldest Ford facilities in Australia by 2010, further 3,500 other jobs will also be lost.

Ford announces job cuts in Australia

GENEVA: This issue of Metal World turns our attention to Africa where Zimbabwean metalworkers working full-time, live on the streets unable to afford transportation home.

In the days leading up to a national stay away on April 3 and 4, IMF staff moved underground in Zimbabwe interviewing workers and union leadership who were willing to risk their lives for a living wage. This issue's feature is dedicated to those brave unionists, and provides a first hand account of the shocking daily life of metalworkers teetering on the brink of survival. 

Metal World's Special Report takes a closer look at the IMF's work on building sustainable unions in Africa and addresses the serious challenges facing these unions. The report argues that sector unions do not have a future in Africa, but rather "workers, their unions and the IMF must focus our resources and efforts into building self-sustainable unions that are not dependant on outside sources of funding and are better able to demand changes that will result in the sustainable development of the region."

This issue's news covers Mexico's partial victory, the first Boeing World Conference, GM-Europe's day of action, Turkey's bloody May Day, and much more.

The magazine will soon be getting a new look. Please participate in the IMF Metal World survey at <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org">www.imfmetal.org</a>.

Metal World is published four times a year and is available free of charge. To be added to the Metal World mailing list, email: <a href="mailto:info@imfmetal.org">info@imfmetal.org</a>. Metal World is also available on the IMF website for download.

Issue focuses on Zimbabwean workers and building sustainable unions in Africa.

Download Metal World No. 2 2007

Metal World Africa issue now available

GLOBAL: With private equity funds spending over US$725 billion on company buyouts in 2006, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) has published a booklet entitled "Workers' Guide to Private Equity." The 36 page A5 brochure is aimed at trade unions and their members around the world and sets out in accessible language what private equity is, how it operates and the dangers it represents to workers and unions. The IUF points to possible strategies in bargaining with the private equity funds who are becoming increasingly significant players as owners and employers. It explains how a specific political environment of deregulation has made it possible for the funds to expand globally, and how political action can contain the funds. Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Swedish, a pdf of the booklet is available on the IUF website <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/www/documents/A%20Worker&#039;s%20Guide%20to%20Private%20Equity-e.pdf">here</a>. Alternatively, single and bulk orders for copies of the booklet can be purchased from the IUF with details on prices available on the IUF website <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&amp;uid=default&amp;ID=4231&amp;view_records=1&amp;ww=1&amp;en=1">here</a>. Further information on private equity can be found at the IUF website at: <a href="http://www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch">www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch</a> The IMF works with the IUF and other global union federations on the issue of private equity, including organising a conference on the issue with IUF and Union Network International (UNI) on November 16, 2006.

IUF publishes trade union guide on private equity buyouts -- what it is, the dangers it represents to workers and possible strategies to tackle the issue.

Private equity must be reigned in

New workers&#039; guide to private equity

INDONESIA: 1,300 workers from the IMF affiliate, Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI), are fighting PT Livatech to pay outstanding wages of four months salary and termination bonuses, as stipulated under Indonesian labour law.

PT Livatech owner, Mr. Goh Sing Hing, has closed the factory located in Batam, Indonesia and moved to Malaysia. He is refusing to settle any outstanding balances with the workers.

The International Metalworkers' Federation sent a letter of appeal to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Mr. Abdulah Badawi, urging them to use their considerable influence to resolve the issue.

"The IMF is deeply concerned for the welfare of the workers and their families, and asks that you urge Mr. Goh Sing Hing to settle all outstanding balances immediately and fairly," stated Marcello Malentacchi to the heads of state.

The IMF has learned from the FSPMI that PT Livatech has used police and military forces to attack and intimidate workers rather than settle their debts. This is in direct conflict to a decision handed down by the Indonesian labour court ruling that workers receive the four months salary and bonuses.

The FSPMI plans to continue fighting with scheduled demonstrations in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta this month.

IMF urges Indonesian president to intervene on workers' behalf.

Indonesia Solidarity Letter

Indonesian workers fight for back wages

GENEVA: The International Metalworkers' Federation joined with other global unions to organize a special forum during the International Labour Conference (ILC) to draw delegates' attention to the many abuses of labour rights suffered by precarious workers.Shin Seung-Chul, General Secretary of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions described how dispatch workers in Korea are prevented from joining a union and bargaining with their employer. Chair of the Korean Metal Workers' Union's Kiryung Branch, Kim So-Yun, then updated delegates on the situation in Kiryung Electronics where precarious workers have been on strike now for over 1400 days in a protracted, and at times violent, struggle for regular employment status. The experiences in Korea are typical of how companies are acting throughout the world to evade their responsibilities as employers and pass risks onto workers.  Jenny Holdcroft of IMF explained how IMF affiliates see the explosion of precarious work as a devastating threat to wages and working conditions as it undermines workers' rights to join a union and bargain collectively. She also briefed delegates on steps the global unions have taken to insist that the ILO give greater recognition to the situation of precarious workers in its work, including application of labour standards. Kirill Buketov of the IUF gave a further illustration of the damage wrought by this trend by presenting the employment practices of food multinational Unilever.  In factories producing Lipton Tea, up to 100% of the workforce are now casual or daily hire workers and have no right to join the union, nor to medical benefits, sick leave or annual leave.Jim Baker, Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions summed up the presentations by saying ''This is a key issue which will undermine or even destroy the ILO if it is not reversed.&quot;The ILC delegates present expressed their support for an increased focus on the rights of precarious workers and there was consensus on the need for the ILO to take stock of how Conventions 87 and 98 on the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining can be effectively applied in an employment environment dominated by precarious work.

At a side event to the International Labour Conference, unions showed how precarious workers are being systematically denied their rights to organize and bargain collectively.

Workers call on ILO to improve rights of precarious workers

The universal and fundamental right of workers to form and join independent trade unions and to bargain collectively with their employers is the basis of trade union organisation. The IMF has always given the highest priority to fighting against the repression of trade unions and the violations of workers' and human rights. Binding intergovernmental rules in order to implement the core labour standards remain a fundamental demand of the IMF.  The core labour standards of the ILO must be integrated both into the agreements of the WTO and in bi- and multilateral trade and investment agreements.  In order to monitor the ILO standards in the WTO agreements, the existing ILO monitoring mechanisms need to be strengthened and extended, as demanded in 2008 in the ILO Declaration on Social Justice in a Globalized World.  These demands will require stronger efforts from the IMF and its affiliates, together with other GUFs, the ITUC and TUAC. We have to become more visible, particularly in voicing our support of trade unionists who face grave risks including intimidation, assault, abduction, imprisonment, and even murder.It is the main responsibility of the community of states and national governments to finally put into practice binding and sanctionable intergovernmental rules in order to enforce and implement a social dimension of globalization.  Commitment of companies, such as IFAs, may represent an additional protection for workers.In the age of globalisation, not only has the opportunity for international solidarity action increased, but its role in the fight for the advancement of  trade union rights has become much more critical. Solidarity action is only as powerful as the collective force behind it. To be effective, it requires a two-pronged strategy, on one hand to put pressure on governments that systematically violate trade union and human rights, and on the other to take action against the anti-union behaviour of companies. For this purpose, it is particularly important to put pressure on employers along the companies' supply chain.Furthermore, employers must not be allowed to profit from labour laws that render them immune from prosecution for violations of fundamental rights, as is the case in the Republic of Korea, where the criminal code also allows companies to sue unions and seek incarceration of union leaders under the charge of &quot;obstruction of business&quot;. Such situations require carefully designed actions based on a systematic and close collaboration between the IMF, its affiliates, the other GUFs, TUAC and ITUC. Most important, however, is international workers' solidarity with a strongly committed organisation at the local level, failing which, no international solidarity action can be effective.The IMF and its affiliates must go beyond mere coordination. Campaigns to effectively respond to violations of workers' rights by TNCs or certain countries and regions must be promoted and led by the IMF. To make this possible, affiliates must be fully committed to mobilising their members and be capable of implementing common strategies in the context of their respective countries, which includes ensuring a communication flow to their members to support their mobilisation efforts. We can only respond to rights violations as soon as they arise if we have an effective system and membership support and understanding. IMF will collaborate with its affiliates and with other GUFs, TUAC, ITUC and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) to:<ul><li>Enforce the protection of worker and trade union rights through IFAs, OECD guidelines, ILO instruments, and trade agreements that include the ILO core labour standards and social minimum standards as well as sanctions in case of non-compliance to complement mobilisation efforts on the ground; </li><li>Develop strategies and promote joint actions to achieve binding intergovernmental regulations on the enforcement of minimum social standards. This will include mobilizing and additional efforts at international and national levels to promote the universal respect in law and practice of the ILO's fundamental Conventions;</li><li>Expose governments and companies that exploit workers and violate trade union rights, and develop issue-specific solidarity actions to reduce precarious work, subcontracting, two-tier wage systems, and legislative initiatives that seek to undermine workers' rights;</li><li>Disseminate information about trade union rights abuses immediately and effectively through a rapid response system;</li><li>Establish solidarity networks locally, regionally and internationally;</li><li>Establish a solidarity page on the IMF website to serve as a resource for solidarity action and information, including ILO complaint guidelines and campaign status updates, news and other materials; and</li><li>Provide affiliates and partners with information on actions, outcomes, evaluations of achievements, and strategies for future work regarding the advancement of trade union rights.</li></ul> IMF will assist its affiliates to ensure that:<ul><li>Rapid response is organised to any TNC attack on workers' rights through information and mobilisation of the employees of the same company in all its countries of operations, and united action is taken while also pursuing cooperation among the IMF affiliates in these countries.</li></ul> IMF affiliates will:<ul><li>Mobilise their members in support of unions fighting company-sponsored unions, anti-union legislation, union-busting tactics and industrial relations disputes;</li><li>Ensure that immediate information on rights violations is fed into the IMF's rapid response system, and that there are timely updates on developments and local actions;</li><li>Commit themselves to actively participate in campaigns developed by the IMF and take joint actions with other national unions and other like-minded social actors;</li><li>Include rights issues in training and educational materials to ensure that solidarity actions and rights awareness reach the shop-floor; </li><li>Publicize rights abuses, solidarity efforts and action taken internationally; and</li><li>Ensure that no benefit guaranteed to the employees of a TNC in one country is based on an attack on the rights of its employees in another country.</li></ul>

Preface

3. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IN ACTION

3.3 Defend and protect workers rights

1. OUR MISSION

2. THE WORLD TODAY

2.1 Profits over people

2.2 Unemployment and job insecurity

2.3 Unions under attack

2.4 Fundamental workers´ rights denied

2.5 Spreading influence of Transnational Corporations

2.6 World trade system in disarray

2.7 An unsustainable future

2.8 Alliances, resistance and opportunities

3.1 Build strong national trade unions

3.1.1 Organise the unorganised

3.1.2 Strive for trade union unity at the national level

3.1.3 Build unions through education, training and effective exchange of information

3.2 Strengthening collective bargaining

3.3.1 Fight for trade union rights

3.3.2 Fight for Equal Rights

3.3.3 Fight for safe workplaces

3.4 Build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations

3.4.1 Strengthening union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs

3.4.2 Advance fundamental rights through International Framework Agreements

Throughout the world, people are meeting and mobilising against the destructive effect of unbridled capitalism, all-out deregulation and corporate abuses; they call for the promotion of democracy, human rights, and social justice.  Various social and political movements have rejected the neo-liberal consensus and are following a different path. The World Social Forum process that started in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil is still the largest and most inclusive space where alliances can be built and joint initiatives taken with different social actors. In the last decade, real political change has taken place in some countries, most notably in Latin America, where democratic and progressive governments have come to power and have challenged the neo-liberal economic model by renationalizing their key natural resources and using its profits to benefit the many and not just the few. Numerous movements and networks that play an important role in local and global politics have emerged, creating spaces of dialogue and common action, and building broad-based coalitions. There is now a window of opportunity for the world's progressive social forces to get together and come up with alternatives to neo-liberal policies.  Alternatives dedicated to sustainable development, human rights, gender equity and the protection of individual and collective rights in the economy offer opportunities for solidarity and alliances for working people everywhere.

A globalised economy could benefit workers throughout the world and improve prospects for social progress and sustainable development.  However this will not happen by following a deregulation agenda.  The growing inequalities between and within countries generated by neo-liberal policies and free trade show that workers are not receiving an equitable share of the wealth they create in society.  Unsustainable commercial and production practices, spurred on by unregulated globalisation, have caused risks posed by industry, public health concerns, environmental preservation, and climate change to move to centre stage.  Climate change is a threat to sustainable development and will affect human well-being, industrial activities, and employment.  It is not just a concern for the developed countries, which still account for most greenhouse gas pollutants. The rapid, energy-intensive growth in China, India and other fast-moving industrialising economies is also contributing to the increase in green-house gas emissions. Global warming is now widely acknowledged to be the most critical environmental issue facing humanity.  There is strong scientific evidence that most of the warming observed is attributable to unregulated economic activities and consumption based on a massive and excessive exploitation of natural resources, which also results in widespread industrial pollution.  Fast growing emissions caused by transport, industries, and fossil fuel power plants are made possible by a globalisation that is promoted by neo-liberal policies, including a huge increase in free trade and the associated transportation costs. Production regardless of costs to the environment and the costs of recycling and disposal is prevalent.  There is a scientific consensus that immediate measures such as cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases, a stop to the destruction of forests (especially rain forests), and a change in agricultural production towards  biologically-based systems is essential.Furthermore, trade in dangerous wastes such as chemical and other industrial residues including nuclear power stations must either be strictly regulated, or should be stopped. Today, such wastes are often dumped by industrialised countries in developing countries.  The latter accept these practices for the short term and minimal income they provide.  There is much evidence that the receiving countries often cannot handle the wastes in a safe and proper manner. Frequently, they are stocked in open spaces where children and poor women go in search of the wherewithal for survival.The global fight for environmental protection must take employment implications and opportunities fully into consideration. Whilst environmental protection has a cost, there is a huge potential for job creation in metal industries, particularly in those related to alternative energies, construction, and fuel-efficient transportation. Creation of stable, safe, and good jobs must be put at centre of the response to the environmental crisis. These jobs must be based on production of goods and services that are useful and accessible to everyone in the community.  Because many environmental problems have their roots in the workplace, workers are in a unique position to contribute to solutions.  Moreover, the role of trade unions, especially industrial unions, needs to be strong at the sectoral level where special attention must be given to auto, steel, aluminium, aerospace and power generation, which are all  fundamental for the future of our economy.  Finally, these positive developments will only happen if trade unions all around the world and their allies fight against neo-liberalism and for effective national industrial development policies.Globalisation and its social impact is an important factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other new epidemics.  As a result, these epidemics. cannot be addressed as an isolated issue, but only in the context of trade, investments, the employment relationship, and social protection. Less developed countries with high levels of poverty and inequality are especially vulnerable. As a result of the policy pressures from international financial institutions, poverty amongst the most economically marginalized groups is deepening. This affects both the spread and the response to the epidemics.  Unions are key actors at the workplace; they can protect workers and develop agreements with employers to promote access to care and treatment, and to prevent discrimination.  Trade unions also play a wider social and political role within civil society, which seeks to alleviate poverty and deprivation by raising wages, living and social standards. A global arms race, which stirs up tensions and conflicts across the world, also threatens a sustainable future. World military spending has increased by 45 per cent since 1998. The struggle to secure access to vital supplies of energy and other raw materials is a major factor contributing to this military build-up.  At the same time these limited resources are depleted by wasteful and unnecessary production and growing populations. On the other  hand,  investment in much-needed education and health programmes, and in official development assistance has lagged behind.

Too often governments prioritise the interests of TNCs over the interests of workers, which is particularly apparent when it comes to questions of trade. Not surprisingly the current world trading system continues to demonstrate its inability to tackle the issue of sustainable development and address the needs of workers worldwide. Trade unions energetically oppose the current proposals for further liberalisation of trade in manufactured goods, because these would undermine prospects for progress in many developing economies and weaken labour relative to multinational capital in developing and developed economies. While multilateralism is in crisis, there is a proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements that, in most cases, have been negotiated without any trade union consultation and input.  Unfair trade practices and the resistance of governments to incorporating core labour standards in an enforceable manner in trade and investment agreements are intensifying current strains in the multilateral system. Trade can be an engine for economic and social development, but for this to happen current policies and practices must be fundamentally changed. Violations of core labour standards are not only an affront to human rights, but also an economic distortion. They are no different than the distortions caused by unfair subsidies or violations of intellectual property rights, which are subject to WTO sanctions.  China's growing participation in international trade has increased competitive pressures on workers in both developed and developing countries, and breaches of core labour standards.  In particular, the development impact of China's involvement in Africa and Latin America, driven by a need to access energy and mineral resources to feed its rapid industrialisation, has become a major source of concern, as has its currency policy.

TNCs seek to shift their risks and costs onto workers, often with institutional and government support. In addition, offshoring, outsourcing and subcontracting have become an integral part of corporate cost-reduction strategies and affect not only production work but also increasingly high-skilled and well-paid jobs in design, research and development activities. Relocation as well as a large part of green-field investment takes place in countries where, in many cases, there is a very low rate of unionisation, no democratic unions or no unions at all. TNCs have provided employment through direct capital investment, while building complex global supply chains and multi-level networks, which reach out to thousands of contractors and suppliers all over the world.  These networks have made it possible for companies to source goods and services anywhere, reorganise production lines quickly, forcing workers to adapt constantly to new performance requirements, or to leave the country at a moment's notice if a cheaper and more compliant workforce is available somewhere else.TNCs have thus significantly altered the industrial structure within and among countries for their own benefits, including by moving decision-making centres and by transforming the employment relationship on which labour protection systems are largely based.  While it is abundantly clear that TNCs have a significant influence over the working conditions of millions of workers across the world, they refuse to recognize their influence and they argue that they are not responsible for the workers along the supply chain.  TNCs have created a global labour market in which workers from the same and/or different countries are continuously put into competition with each other.  Moreover, the unrestricted mobility of capital allows it to take advantage of differences in wages, working conditions, and labour legislation.  Conflicts of interests are created between groups of workers in different regions, between workers at different worksites, and also within and across countries. Workers are pushed to work faster, cheaper, and for longer hours, which leads to increasing work-related health problems. The TNCs ability to relocate manufacturing and research and development is a threat not only to jobs but also to wages and workers' bargaining power. To date, trade unions have had limited success in challenging the power of TNCs. The relocation process driven by TNCs is taking a heavy toll on workers and many regions are facing the spectre of de-industrialisation. However, industry is a key component of growth, technological and social development, and balanced trade patterns. It is vital for employment. Government policies are therefore needed to promote equitable and sustainable growth, facilitate the adaptation of traditional industries, and encourage the development of new ones.  Unions have a new role to play in this field, linking the social and environmental dimension in their strategy for the benefit of all workers.

Archive

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us