Tentative new contract between UAW and General Motors19 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.
ITUC protests rights violations at Hercules Steel in Georgia19 September, 2011The ITUC sent a letter to the president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili protesting rights violations on the part of the Georgian-Indian company Hercules Steel as well as the Georgian authorities. Earlier the workers of the metal plant were forced to go on strike. In response the administration, aided by the government, launched a campaign of repression.
French metalworkers in row with ArcelorMittal21 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.
Bosch Curitiba Workers on Strike22 June, 2011Metalworkers have rejected management's profit sharing proposal.
New cooperation delivers union organizing results in India20 June, 2011An International Metalworkers' Federation's organizing project in India results in 15,000 workers in the steel industry joining a union.
Global unions launch campaign for Quality Public Services21 June, 2011On June 23, UN Public Services Day, the Council of Global Unions launches its Quality Public Services--Action Now! campaign. The aim is to advance quality public services for all people through unprecedented coordinated solidarity action across borders.
NEWU commemorates National Health and Safety Day22 June, 2011The National Engineering Workers Union (NEWU) joined ZCTU to commemorate Health and Safety Day on 6 June 2011, under the theme 'Save Our Rights, Save Our Economy and Our Jobs'.
NEWU achieves a twenty percent wage increase for workers2 July, 2011The twenty percent wage increase that has been awarded to workers in the engineering, iron and steel industry has been welcomed with mixed feelings. Some union members think the twenty percent is a job well done as it meet the mandate given to the National Engineering Workers Union (NEWU), that the negotiators may not accept anything less than a twenty percent increase. For others, a much higher increase was needed as the new wage minimum still means that workers of the lowest grade get half of what is required to earn at the level of the poverty datum line.
GE union members approve four-year pact5 July, 2011General Electric (GE) workers in America ratified a four-year labour agreement in late June that now sets a pattern for 15,200 unionised GE workers in the US.
Judgement stops blocking union access to workers in Australia5 July, 2011The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) won a definitive judgment from Fair Work Australia on 24 June that grants the union right of entry to lunch rooms at Rio Tinto's Alcan aluminium smelter in Bell Bay, Tasmania. The ruling ends months of legal wrangling and should serve as a precedent against employers from blocking legitimate union access to workers on job sites.
