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GENEVA: In his latest website opinion column, the IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, says that a list published every December by the Financial Times of the world's most respected transnational companies - many of which are in the metal sector - gives no credit at all to the workers who contribute so largely to making the companies successful. 

Not all relevant factors are taken into account either. Malentacchi writes that "in order to bring justice to such a list, we should also ask TNCs about their social policy and their social behaviour." 

Click on the associated link to access the full text of this latest opinion column.

The Financial Times' hit parade of well-respected transnational companies omits important criteria.

Marcello Malentacchi's latest opinion column

How about a black list for TNCs?

SERBIA, REP. of YUGOSLAVIA: The Nezavisnost Metalworkers' Union has appealed for international solidarity support from the IMF and its affiliates regarding the repeated and serious violation of trade union rights at two factories of Ikarbus - AD and IMT - in Novi Beograd, a district of Belgrade. 

According to Nezavisnost, Ikarbus - a bus and specialised vehicle assembly plant, the biggest manufacturer of buses in Yugoslavia - is actively trying to destroy the trade union by preventing all union activity in the two factories, including not allowing the collection of union fees or the use of any facilities at the plant for trade union work. Constant harassment of trade unionists, through such means as dismissal and job transfer, is another tactic of the company to discourage the trade union, as well as management's refusal to provide any information to the union about the general work of the plant. 

In support of Nezavisnost, the IMF is asking its affiliates to condemn these violations of trade union rights at Ikarbus and write letters of protest to company management and to the government of Serbia.

The largest bus manufacturer in the Yugoslav Republic is trying by all means to destroy the trade union.

Serious violations of union rights at Ikarbus

SLOVENIA: After putting considerable pressure on employers during recent collective bargaining for Slovenia's electrical industry, the IMF-affiliated SKEI, which represents workers in this sector, has agreed in principle to a wage increase of 2.7 per cent, from January. The deal must still be ratified by both the trade union members and the employers' organisations. 

As employers had resisted the wage increase, SKEI organised media coverage, a protest meeting, a 2-hour warning strike at state level on January 30 and had planned a four-day general strike for the entire branch beginning February 19.

After three weeks of collective bargaining, Slovenian employers bend to pressure.

SKEI succeeds on wage deal

NABLUS: The International Metalworkers' Federation was appalled to learn of the air attack by the Israel Defence Forces of the headquarters offices of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Nablus on February 17. Miraculously, no one was killed, but the building, which was erected with the support of the international labour movement, suffered heavy damage. 

In a protest letter to Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel, the IMF's general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, expressed strong concern at the attack and the destruction of buildings belonging to trade unions and other civil society organisations. "The damages caused by the Israeli airforce to the PGFTU building," declared Malentacchi, "will not help restore the climate of reciprocal trust which is necessary for a peaceful development in the region." 

The IMF has called on the Israeli government to investigate all the circumstances behind this air attack on the PGFTU and to take immediate action to compensate the organisation for the damages to their property and head office.

The IMF condemns the shelling by Israel's airforce which partially destroyed the PGFTU headquarters building.

Palestinian trade union offices attacked

INDIA: The IMF South Asia Office reports sources stating the Steel Authority of India, the world's 13th largest steel company, is planning to slash its workforce by over 16,000 by the end of March 2003 in a bid to reduce manpower costs. The 10 million-tonne state-owned steel producer employs 148,000 workers at its four manufacturing facilities and other plants across India. 

The company has been trimming its huge workforce in stages through voluntary retirement schemes. In the past three years alone it has already cut manpower by 26,000, and a top management official stated the company is aiming for a workforce of 100,000 by the year 2005.

Steel Authority of India plans large workforce reductions in a bid to cut costs.

16,000 Indian steel jobs to go

GENEVA: Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, comments on his recent visit to Korea in his latest opinion column. He says that although the January 22 international day of solidarity for the release of all imprisoned Korean trade unionists was a huge success, the outcome has not been so great. 

Since the worldwide joint protest action, Kim Dae-jung and his government, instead of releasing jailed trade unionists, have even added more to the prison rosters. But, says Malentacchi, "the IMF is not going to let up." 

Click on the associated link to read the entire opinion.

The IMF will not let up its international pressure on Kim Dae-jung.

Marcello Malentacchi's opinion column

Message from Korean trade unionists: thank you

I have a message for everybody from Dan Byung-ho and Mun Sung-hyun. They thank all those who contributed to making January 22nd THE day in the fight for trade union rights in South Korea. They were very impressed with all the activities the world over. 

I visited both of them in jail last week. They are in good health and high spirits and are prepared to continue fighting for their rights. 

The first thing that struck me was that both Dan and Mun said they would never have believed that international solidarity could mobilise so many people. They asked me what they can do now to help other people. But before that, we must get them all out of jail. 

If the organisation of such a forceful demonstration of solidarity was a great success, the outcome has not been so great thus far. Publicity is good, especially if it is connected with a big event like the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, but it is not enough if it does not get the expected result. 

Not only are the 47 trade unionists in Korea still in prison, but while we were there to visit them, four more were put in jail without any good reason. At the same time as we were having discussions with the newly appointed South Korean minister of labour, the police were arresting four Daewoo trade union leaders because they had organised a strike against the restructuring of the company a year ago. 

Organising a strike in the Republic of Korea is still a crime for which one can be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, so now there are 51 jailed trade unionists. 

This is the way the Nobel Prize for Peace laureate, Kim Dae-jung, president of the ROK, responds to international pressure. But, the IMF is not going to let up. 

The day before my prison visits to Dan Byung-ho and Mun Sung-hyun, I had the honour and pleasure of meeting Mun's wife and their eight-year-old daughter. I told the young girl that I was going to visit her father and asked if there was something she wanted me to tell him, and she said: "Tell him to come back home." 

Mr. President, Kim Dae Jung, can you look in the eyes of that small girl and tell her why you are still keeping her father in jail? 

She has the right to know. We all have the right to know. 

The entire world is waiting for your answer.

Free jailed Korean trade unionists, now !!

GERMANY: The first bargaining session of the 3.6 million-strong German metalworkers' union, IG Metall, and employers in the metal and engineering industry kicked off yesterday, February 7, in the region of Bavaria. The IMF's affiliate officially confirmed on January 28 that its regional associations would be pushing for a 6.5 per cent wage increase for this year's collective agreement. 

IG Metall's president, Klaus Zwickel, said that the union's pay demand sought compensation for an expected 2 per cent inflation rate, a gain in productivity of 2 per cent, as well as several years of moderate wage gains. He contended the demand was clearly payable as company profits had increased sharply in recent years. 

Wage negotiations in Germany are normally carried out by region, between employers' associations and unions representing entire industries, and negotiating teams coordinate their positions so that pay rates vary little from region to region. 

Collective agreements for the metal and engineering industry will run out at the end of February, to be followed by a one-month no-strike period if an agreement has not been reached.

Negotiations have begun to determine new collective agreement for Germany's metal and engineering industry.

IG Metall demands 6.5 per cent pay increase

ITALY: Interviewed by Reuters at the recent World Economic Forum in New York, Antonio D'Amato, the president of the Italian employers' association Confindustria, stated that his country needed to reform labour laws in order to make it easier for employers to eliminate jobs. He said: "In Italy, you can divorce your wife since the 1970s even with the Vatican there, but you cannot divorce from your workers." 

Last week 600,000 members of the three largest union confederations in Italy, including many IMF-affiliated metalworkers, disrupted production when they went on a four-hour strike in the region of Milan to protest the center-right government's attempts to change Article 18 of the country's labour law and make it easier to lay off workers. 

Under current law, workers who are dismissed without "just cause" can demand to be reinstated. However, if the proposed reform goes through, it would mean any company which has over 15 workers would no longer be required to rehire laid-off employees.

Center-right government wants to make it easier for companies to lay off workers.

Italian workers resist labour law reform

SWITZERLAND: The well-known Swiss independent consumer magazine "Beobachter" (The Observer) awarded on February 2 its 2002 "Prize for Courage" to a female metalworker for her fight for equal rights for women workers. 

Malica Skrijelj, who worked as a lathe operator in a factory in the Swiss canton of Vaud and is a member of the IMF-affiliated Swiss metalworkers' union SMUV, was earning 2,450 Swiss francs (US$1,449) per month, or 1,000 francs ($592) less than her male colleagues who were performing the same work as she. 

In 1998, when Ms Skrijelj first took her case for equal pay to court, it was thrown out. However, with the help of the Swiss metalworkers' union and her lawyer, Malica appealed to a higher court, which recently ruled that her case was clearly one of wage discrimination and ordered the employer to pay her 20,000 francs in complementary wages. 

The Swiss magazine presented Ms Skrijelj, who is Serbian in origin and a single parent, with a check for 25,000 Swiss francs (US$14,790) - the "prize" for her courage in promoting equal rights for women.

Lathe operator fought hard against pay discrimination.

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