20 October, 2011In June 2012 in Copenhagen, the affiliates of the IMF, ICEM and ITGLWF will found a new unified global union for the industrial workers of the world. The unions are taking a bold step towards a new era of global solidarity and to fight for a model of globalization that is based on social justice.
20 October, 2011The IMF World Congress in 2009 took place in the middle of a global financial and economic crisis. In a difficult situation, metalworkers' unions renewed their commitment to organize and build stronger unions, fight for trade union rights and join the forces of workers to build a counterweight to transnational corporations (TNCs). This article summarizes the IMF's work in the key priority areas during the past two years.
20 October, 2011A new issue of Metal World - the last - went to print and is published on the IMF website.
20 October, 2011On October 3 the lower house of the Belarus parliament adopted in the two readings the bill 'On Making Addenda and Amendments to Some Laws of the Republic of Belarus'. This bill, among other things, makes foreign financial support and financial aid to NGOs (including unions) completely illegal and further complicates arranging of mass protests and actions.
20 October, 2011UAW's tentative four-year agreements with Ford and Chrysler focus on jobs and investments. If accepted by 67,000 USW members at Ford and Chrysler, thousands of new jobs will be created.
19 October, 2011The International Metalworkers Federation is calling on Government and business leaders to back steel industry workers to ensure future success. The call comes amidst a number of high profile companies announcing closures or job losses that could undermine the future sustainability of the steel industry. Recent announcements have included 1,300 job losses at BlueScope Steel in Australia, the permanent closure at Liege (Belgium) and the idled blast furnaces in Florange (France) and Eisenhüttenstadt (Germany) by ArcelorMittal.
19 October, 2011With escalating costs of living and shrinking purchasing power, Vietnamese unionists feel the need to strengthen their collective bargaining to improve and sustain living standards for workers.
18 October, 2011Broad strike activity accelerated a positive wage agreement in the Austrian metal sector. On October 18 Austrian trade unions PRO-GE and GPA djp, the Salaried Employees, Print, Journalism, Paper Union, emerged from bargaining on behalf on 170,000 metal and industrial workers with positive results.
10 November, 2011UNTMRA thanks unions for their international support and solidarity, which helped to bring the strike to a successful conclusion after more than 25 days. The union says the struggle increased unity among metalworkers at the national level.
10 November, 2011US unions scored an important victory on October 8 when voters in the state of Ohio in a referendum overwhelmingly rejected a Republican Senate Bill to limit public sector workers' collective bargaining rights.
