6 September, 2011Australian union members of three trade union organisations are livid with the announcement that BlueScope Steel will lop 1,400 jobs in New South Wales and Victoria. Members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), the Australian Workers Union (AWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (ETU-CEPU) met in Wollongong on 25 August and sternly moved to resist all restructuring until further labour-management consultations can occur.
6 September, 2011With the prospect of several millions more job losses in a new worldwide economic downturn, the Global Unions urge the financial institutions and G20 group of countries to put a halt to their 'destructive and ultimately self-defeating economic policies that will lead to a new surge of global unemployment'.
20 June, 2011A tentative collective four year agreement was reached on 19 June in New York City for 15,000 General Electric (GE) workers in the US.
20 June, 2011An International Metalworkers' Federation's organizing project in India results in 15,000 workers in the steel industry joining a union.
1 August, 2011Indonesia's National Court in Central Jakarta finds Indonesian President, Vice President, Head of Parliament and eight Ministers guilty of not implementing the Social Security law for the protection of workers
28 July, 2011The global International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) family last week congratulated the victory by South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to block Brazilian mining group Vale's efforts to invest in the country, and to operate elsewhere in the region.
28 July, 2011In a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, an agency of the United States Federal Government, workers at Swedwood's operation in Danville Virginia voted to be represented by IMF and Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) affiliate, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW).
15 August, 2011After a strong and resolute campaign nearly 70 BMW warehouse workers in Southern California, USA got their contracts renewed for another half year. The workers, members of Teamsters Local 495 got their jobs back through an active campaign involving International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and IMF affiliates Unite the Union in the UK and IG Metall in Germany. An important role was played by the BMW European Works Council.
16 June, 2011For almost 40 days the workers of Paraná, Brazil, were on strike demanding better pay through profit sharing.
15 June, 2011On June 9 and 10, the EMF held it's fourth congress in Duisburg, Germany and celebrated 40 years. The Congress elected new leadership, took another step towards the creation of a European Industrial Trade Union Federation and set out the political agenda for the next four years.
