17 April, 2012Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS), an ICEM affiliate, conducted a two-week tour of activities in Switzerland in April, educating trade union colleagues on the grave violations of work rights abuses by Holcim Cement of contract workers in India's Chhattisgarh region.

16 April, 2012These contracts deny workers the internationally recognised rights to the freedom of association and collective bargaining, impose long working hours, low pay, poor working conditions, abusive treatment and little access to health and maternity benefits and pensions because they are not permanent employment contracts.

20 February, 2012The Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) reject changes to labour law in Spain and start continuous mobilization. On February 19, hundreds of thousands of people went to the streets in 57 cities in their first major show of anger over the reforms.

17 February, 2012IG Metall puts rights of precarious workers at centre of its collective bargaining this year, along with demands for a 6.5 per cent wage increase in the metal and electrical engineering sector and permanent contracts for young people completing apprenticeships.

16 February, 2012IMF U.S. affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) announced that General Motors Corp. (GM) workers will receive approximately US$ 7,000 in profit-sharing based on results of 2011 earnings. European Metalworkers Federation (EMF) insists GM should develop a long term sustainable business plan for the GM owned Opel/Vauxhall in Europe.

1 February, 2012860 employees of an Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, northern Romania, went on an indefinite strike after the management refused to sign a new collective agreement with the same conditions for 2012.

31 January, 2012If there is not a motivated and objective reason for a job being temporary, it is permanent, the Finnish High Court ruled on January 24. The fact that a work agency client company assignment is time-limited is not a sufficient reason.

20 January, 2012Unilever workers stage ten-day strike actions at food and cleaning products company Unilever UK sites January 18-28 to protest against planned pension cuts. A strike fund has been launched.

20 January, 2012The complaint of the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union (SME) against their government will be considered in both Canada and the United States under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) side agreement on labour cooperation.

24 February, 2012On February 21 Belarus customs officers got Gennady Fedynich off the train, asked him to fill the customs declaration and conducted a thorough personal search. They found nothing illegal.