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GLOBAL: According to a new list published by Unctad (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), 29 of the world&#039;s 100 biggest economic entities are transnational companies (TNCs). The Unctad survey ranks countries and TNCs on the basis of value added, a measure used to calculate countries&#039; gross domestic product. (Unctad defines value added as the sum of salaries, pre-tax profits and depreciation and amortisation.) Among metalworking TNCs which ranked highest in the world economy for value added were General Motors, Ford Motor, DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, Toyota Motor, Siemens and Volkswagen. GM, with value added of US$56 billion, is just smaller than the economy of Pakistan ($62 bn) but larger than Peru ($53 bn). Ford ($44 bn) and DaimlerChrysler ($42 bn) are bigger than the economy of Nigeria ($41 bn), with GE following closely at $39 bn. Commenting on the Unctad survey, the general secretary of the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation, Marcello Malentacchi, said it was not acceptable for so much power to be concentrated in so few hands. &quot;The accumulation of economic power by TNCs shown in this survey,&quot; stated Malentacchi, &quot;is dangerous for democracy and development, as it reaches beyond the control of governments and democratically-elected parliaments.&quot; &quot;This is one aspect. The other one, making the situation even worse,&quot; he added, &quot;is the fact that this group of TNCs is responsible for most of the daily transfer of capital which takes place through the stock market, producing an enormous wave of speculation, and not many jobs.&quot; The IMF general secretary said that the recent scandals with Enron, World.com, various international accounting firms, ABB, Ebner, etc. were but a few examples of how laws are bypassed, ignored and deliberately violated just because TNCs rule the market, and politicians worldwide, in the name of neo-liberalism, have given up their right to exert control over capital. &quot;Once again,&quot; added Malentacchi, &quot;so-called free market forces have proved to be useless for the people. Fifteen of the 29 TNCs concerned are operating in our sectors, and our top priority must be to negotiate Code of Conduct agreements with all the 15 as soon as possible. A Code of Conduct can at least guarantee a minimum standard wherever the TNC is operating.&quot; (Note: See also Marcello Malentacchi&#039;s website opinion column on TNCs of August 19, 2002.)

The accumulation of such power is dangerous for democracy and development says the IMF.

Marcello Malentacchi's opinion column

VW Code of Conduct                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Many TNC&#039;s hold more power than countries

GENEVA: IMF general secretary Marcello Malentacchi comments on the recent spate of "corporate misdeeds" in his newly-published opinion on the IMF website.

He says that although the old-fashioned bosses were too paternalistic and did not care much for democracy in the workplace, most of them at least planned for the long-term, in order to secure the future of their company and its workers - not like today's CEOs whose "main concern appears to be driving up stock values so they can cash in on stock options."

Malentacchi urges the entire trade union movement to fully support the U.S. AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney, who recently stated that the trade unions would no longer tolerate the greed of new capitalism. 

Read the entire opinion on the associated website link.

Workers' jobs and pension funds must be secured.

Marcello Malentacchi's new opinion

IMF GS condemns bad ethics of new capitalism

REP. OF KOREA: The International Metalworkers' Federation has appealed to the South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, and his government to grant a special amnesty on August 15 - Korea's Independence Day - to Dan Byung-ho, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

Dan is in prison on account of his trade union activities and on July 11 was sentenced to a one-and-a-half-year jail term. There have been strong international trade union campaigns not only on his behalf but also for the release of all imprisoned trade unionists in Korea.

In his letter to Kim Dae-jung, the IMF's general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, says that Dan Byung-ho is in prison "for trade union activities which in all democratic countries are considered perfectly legal, and which form the basis of the International Labour Organisation's core conventions." Malentacchi strongly urged the South Korean president to "do everything in your power to bring about the release of Dan Byung-ho through the Special Amnesty on the Republic of Korea's Independence Day, on August 15, 2002. We would also appeal for the release, on this same occasion, of all South Korean trade unionists who have been jailed for their trade union activities."

Malentacchi is also asking IMF-affiliated organisations to write to President Kim as well. The IMF general secretary says that "if we all step up the campaign with a request for a special amnesty for Dan on August 15, there is a chance for a positive result."

It is an established custom for the Korean government or president to grant a mass amnesty on the August 15 Independence Day.

The IMF and its affiliates are calling on the South Korean president to grant a special amnesty to the jailed leader of the KCTU.

Access to background info on Korean situation

IMF appeals for Dan&#039;s release

BRUSSELS: The annual report by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions documenting trade union rights violations and repression worldwide is out.

The 2002 ICFTU Survey, which covers the period from January to December 2001 and 132 countries and territories across the globe, reports 223 cases of murdered or "disappeared" trade unionists in 2001, or an increase of 14 over the previous year. In Colombia alone, there was a record number of 201 assassinations or disappearances.

Also because they stood up for workers' rights against the state or unscrupulous employers, some 4,000 trade unionists were arrested, 1,000 injured and 10,000 lost their jobs. The survey points out the stubborn anti-democratic stance of certain states and the fierce competition in the global economy, trends which can best be fought through international trade union solidarity.

To read the complete report or to search for information concerning a particular country, download the ICFTU Annual Survey 2002 on the associated link. The report exists in English, German, French and Spanish.

The ICFTU Survey 2002 reveals an increase in the assassination of trade unionists.

ICFTU Annual Survey 2002

Repression against trade unions continues to rise

REP. OF KOREA: On July 23, unionised workers at Kia Motors voted by a two-thirds majority to ratify the collective bargaining agreement reached on July 19 between union negotiators and management at South Korea's No. 2 automaker.

After a month-long partial (12-hour-a-day) strike over improved wages and bonus payments, workers accepted the company's offer of a monthly pay hike of 9.1 per cent, or 95,000 won (US$82.18), and a "performance" bonus of 150 per cent of the monthly wage plus 800,000 won (US$692). In addition to this, each worker will receive a special incentive bonus of 1.5 million won (US$1,292).

Other key points in the settlement include:<ul>
<li>union access to company business information to be extended;
<li>union shop to apply to R&amp;D and sales department;
<li>time alloted for union activities to be increased for shop stewards;
<li>regarding the 40-hour workweek, Kia to follow the parent company Hyundai or the government's formal legislation (current working conditions and wages levels would be maintained);
<li>women's maternity rights to be strengthened.
</ul>
The deal secured by the Kia union, a member of the IMF-affiliated Korean Metal Workers' Federation, is similar to that reached back in June at Kia's parent company, Hyundai Motor, where workers also took industrial action in order to achieve their goals.

After a month-long strike which began on June 24, the Kia Motors workers' union and company management reach settlement in collective bargaining.

Kia workers approve deal, end strike

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Negotiations for a new collective agreement between the IMF-affiliated Steelworkers' Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT) and Caribbean Ispat Limited, a subsidiary of Ispat International Group, the world's 8th largest steelmaker, have reached a stalemate after a long series of meetings. The contract is to cover the period November 1, 2001, to October 31, 2004.

Among the unresolved items, the management of Caribbean Ispat Limited has proposed:<ul>
<li>a 9% wage increase for the 3 years 2001 - 2004;
<li>cuts in sick leave and vacation leave;
<li>the introduction of random drug testing;
<li>changes to the selection, employment and promotion policy;
<li>low increases in cost items such as meal allowance, travelling and shift premiums;
<li>very little or nothing for cost-of-living allowance.
</ul>
The union's demands include:<ul>
<li>a 12% wage increase over the 3-year period;
<li>enhanced/consolidated cost-of-living allowance;
<li>enhanced medical plan and improved medical benefits for retirees;
<li>improved pension benefits;
<li>paternity leave;
<li>computer loans;
<li>training and retraining;
<li>vacation loans.
</ul>
The president of the union, Grafton Woodley, has put the membership on alert, not ruling out the possibility of strike action. SWUTT is the recognised majority union for both weekly- and monthly-paid workers at Caribbean Ispat Limited.

Trinidad and Tobago steel union threatens strike action if agreement is not reached.

Ispat collective talks at impasse

BELARUS: After long efforts on the part of the Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, and his government to do away with the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB), the union's leadership decided to give in to the intense pressure and on July 16, in Minsk, elected Leonid Kozik, deputy head of Lukashenko's presidential administration, as the FTUB's new president. Kozik is unknown in the trade union movement.

Authorities have been increasing their pressure on independent trade unions in Belarus and interfering in their activities in an attempt to split, weaken and destroy their structures. Included in such government moves was the suppression of the check-off system, suspension of social dialogue, support to "company" unions or to any union which would distance itself from the FTUB.

Very unfortunately, this pressure appears to have led many leaders of the FTUB to conclude that only an FTUB president close to Lukashenko and the Belarus government would allow the federation to maintain its activities.

Speaking as a delegate at the extraordinary plenum of the FTUB, the president of the IMF-affiliated Belarus Automobile &amp; Agricultural Machinery Workers' Union, Alexander Bukhvostov, stated that "as of July 22 we'll start picketing against trade union rights violations and we invite other unions to join us." Gennadii Fedynich, president of the Radio &amp; Electronics Industry Workers' Union, also affiliated at international level to the IMF, condemned the methods by which the election of the new FTUB president was forced through.

An FTUB congress will be held on July 31. 

Note: The FTUB congress was postponed and finally held in September.

The FTUB leadership elects deputy head of Lukashenko's presidential administration as the trade union federation's new president.

Additional background on Belarus trade union struggle

Belarus union bows to government pressure

CHINA: The International Metalworkers' Federation is deeply concerned about charges of subversion which have been brought against Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, workers' representatives in the four-year campaign against corruption, mismanagement and the resultant bankruptcy at the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory. The metalworkers had been demanding a basic living allowance, pension and back pay. 

Yao and Xiao and fellow workers, Pang Qingxiang and Wang Zhaoming, were detained in March 2002, and during this time their rights were repeatedly violated. Pang and Wang were finally released on bail in December. 

In letters of protest to the president of the People's Republic of China, Jian Zemin, and to the chairman of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, Wang Zhaoguo, the IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, stated the Liaoyang workers were only exercising their rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining as guaranteed by the International Labour Organisation's Conventions No. 87 and 98, and that as a member of the ILO, China had to guarantee its workers these established rights.

Malentacchi also wrote in his letter to the All China Federation of Trade Unions that instead of assisting Yao and Xiao in their dispute with the factory management or supporting them now in their cases before the courts, "the ACFTU has abandoned them to a system that continues to ignore even the most fundamental workers' rights. Indeed, far from helping these workers, the ACFTU has actually worked against them and added to the unfounded allegations they face."

The IMF joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in a formal complaint last March with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association against the government of the People's Republic of China for violations of the principles of freedom of association. 

The trial against the two activists opens today, January 15.

Independent workers' activists from the Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory are being charged with subversion.

Background news item

Special campaign website of China Labour Bulletin

Concern for Chinese metalworkers on trial

<img style="margin-right: 5px" src="" alt="IFAs" title="IFAs" width="89" height="89" align="left" />How do you protect workers rights where legislation is inadequate? How can you ensure respect for the ILO Core Labour Standards in all facilities of a transnational company? And how do you protect the interests of workers where unions are weak or non-existent? International Framework Agreements (IFAs) are a relatively recent tool but one now widely used by the IMF and other Global Union Federations to lay down the rules of conduct for transnational companies. Since they are negotiated on a global level and require the participation of trade unions, International Framework Agreements are an ideal instrument for dealing with the issues raised by globalisation. This is why the International Metalworkers Federation is dedicated to pursuing IFAs in all transnational companies where our affiliates have members. The future direction of International Framework Agreements (IFAs) was the subject of discussion at a world conference in 2006. The recommendations arising from the conference and subsequently adopted by the IMF Executive Committee can be found <a href="../index.cfm?c=14787">here</a>.

In depth: IFAs

List of all IFAs concluded by the Global Union Federations

Indesit (previously Merloni)

Volkswagen

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Leoni

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Bosch

Prym

Renault

EADS

Röchling

PSA Peugeot Citroën

Brunel

Umicore

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Aker

Electrolux

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Srpski

The power of Framework Agreements

A &quot;Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships at Volkswagen&quot; was signed in June 2002, by Volkswagen management, the IMF and the Volkswagen Global Works' Council (GWC). The Declaration states that the principles of the <a href="index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=7799">ILO Core Labour Standards</a> will be assured within Volkswagen. The VW Declaration deals with the freedom of association, collective bargaining, prohibition of child work and forced labour and non-discrimination, as well as remuneration, health and safety and working time. Company management will report to the GWC and its Steering Committee, and in cases of reported violations, one of the two will become active and discuss ways to solve the problems. The IMF's coordinator for the VW Global Works' Council is involved in this discussion and will bring in the position of the IMF and its affiliated unions. The agreement is applicable to the entire Volkswagen group - Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Rolls-Royce Bentley, Lamborghini, Auto-Europa.

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