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SERBIA: Following the government-ordered police raid on the offices of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions on May 19, several trade unionists have now been arrested. Branislav Djuric, vice-president of the AFITU and coordinator of Alliance for Change in Nis, was detained on May 26. Earlier, on May 24, police arrested Djordje Pasagic, who is the regional representative for the union and an Alliance for Change coordinator in Kraljevo, and on May 25, Dragan Veselinovic, a leading AFITU activist at Electronic Industry Nis, was taken into custody. 
The AFITU, objecting strongly to the intimidation and harassment of the union and its activists, has pressed for their release and called on the workers and public to help them resist such persecution. The union demands the right for all those living in Serbia today "to live as the rest of the civilised world, in a free, democratic country with a developed economy," and rejects the regime's treatment of its activists as criminals. 
The president of the AFITU, Dragan Milovanovic, has tried to recover the union's archives and equipment from the police after the break-in of May 19, but to no avail. He is also a leader of the Alliance for Change and has faced charges by the Serbian government. "We are determined to continue our work, even in these very difficult conditions," said Milovanovic.

Trade union activists of the AFITU are being treated like common criminals.

Serb police arrest trade unionists

EUROPE: May 25, 2000, has been proclaimed the first joint "Steel Action Day" for European steelworkers, with demonstrations organised in numerous production sites throughout Europe. As the 50-year-old European Coal and Steel Community Treaty expires in July 2002, workers want to see concrete steps taken to safeguard the European steel industry before this date. 
According to the European Metalworkers' Federation, key demands being made by steelworkers are for: 
- creation of binding and representative work structures, in which employers and workers can agree industrial, trade, research and social policy; 
- commitment from the European Commission to consult employees and employers on all questions of industrial, research as well as social policy in the steel sector; 
- inclusion of issues relating to protection of work, health and environment into research work for product and process innovation; 
- retention of the code on subsidies to protect the European steel industry from unfair competition, with binding environment and social standards being enforced; 
- strengthening of the instruments for forecasting future development, with information and consultation through the European Commission becoming more effective; 
- extension of social policy measures to accompany any necessary restructuring steps in the sector and affected regions; 
- increasing the number of skill-raising and training programmes, to ensure development of human resources in this sector.

Europe's steelworkers make demands on the European Commission, Parliament and Member States.

Urgent action needed

GENEVA: Just a reminder of the sculpture exhibition organised by the IMF for metalworker artist Jean-Claude Hug. The show opens today, May 22, in the Hall of the Pillars at the International Labour Organisation, in Geneva. It will run until June 9. An opening party is being given in the Hall of the Pillars tomorrow, May 23, starting at 6:30 p.m., at which the IMF and the artist would be happy to welcome all those wishing to attend. 
Download pictures of Jean-Claude's sculptures by clicking on "Publications" on this website. See associated link for further details.

The IMF is sponsoring exhibition of metalworker artist.

Sculptures on show at ILO

SERBIA: The IMF has just received shocking news from the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions that state authorities have shut down the union. Police stormed into the Belgrade headquarters of the AFITU, confiscating all their materials (documents, archives) plus every piece of office equipment, and has forbidden the union to use its offices. No reports have been made of injuries or arrests. The offices of the AFITU's newspaper, "Worker's Word", were also broken into, and everything from articles for their next issue to a scanner and even their paper clips disappeared. The union's president said that although conditions are very difficult, they are determined to continue their work. 
Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, condemning these heavy-handed tactics of the state, declared that "such actions are unacceptable for all democratic-thinking people. Milosevic is attempting to silence the voice of workers in order to keep his dictatorship alive. When you start shutting down the independent press and trade unions, you must be running scared." The IMF general secretary believes that Milosevic may think the end of his regime is nearing and is resorting to drastic means to keep it afloat. 
Earlier this week in Belgrade, under the Serbian government's orders, police squads broke into and took over the editorial offices of several independent media.

The government of Serbia ordered the confiscation of union materials and equipment.

Serb police shut down independent union

GERMANY: The German metalworkers' union, IG Metall, is preparing a three-year-long debate on the future. It starts in November this year, and a first round will be ready by April 2001. Thereafter, a second round of discussion on a future programme will take place. A "Congress on the Future" is planned for the first half of 2002. 
"IG Metall must keep in top form for the future," says its president, Klaus Zwickel. "Our debate must be socially and politically influential, but it must also be aimed at changing ourselves." 
The background is the ongoing transformation of society into a service society, worldwide globalisation and increasing individualisation. Trade unions have to review their policy and structure in a self-critical way. 
Zwickel says there will be no taboos in the debate. On the contrary, all questions and demands from IG Metall's members, as well as non members, will be discussed. Scientists and organisations outside the trade union movement will also be invited to take part in the debate. One of the objectives is to make IG Metall more attractive to new groups of workers, and workers who are not organised today. 
IG Metall has 2.8 million members.

IG Metall gives green light for debate on the future.

A debate without taboos

GENEVA/BANGLADESH: Since the adoption of Convention No. 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour by the 87th session of the ILO General Conference, in June 1999, 15 countries have, to date, proceeded to its ratification: Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Finland, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Jordan, Malawi, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovakia, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States. 
Now a nationwide trade union campaign has been launched in Bangladesh by the national trade union center - the Bangladesh Free Trade Union Congress (BFTUC) - pressing the government to add its name to this list of countries which have resolved to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. 
Officially, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reports that there is a total of 6.3 million children in the country between the ages of 5 and 14 who work for pay, and are not enrolled in school. This represents about 12 per cent of a total workforce of over 51 million. Approximately 1.9 million are below 10 years of age. Bangladesh, with an overall population of over 87 million, is one of the world's poorest countries, and the reason so many children work is due to this poverty. 
Making the situation even more shocking is the fact that 70 per cent of these youngsters labour in hazardous conditions and abuse of child workers is common. 
The trade unions as well as government and non-governmental organisations are implementing programmes to combat the problem of child labour. At the same time, the BFTUC is organising campaigns, demonstrations, press conferences, discussion groups and information distribution to the public to get their support for ratification of ILO Convention No. 182. 
ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, dating back to 1973, has also not been ratified by Bangladesh.

Trade unions are pressing the government to ratify ILO Convention No. 182 on worst forms of child labour.

Bangladesh unions oppose child labour

This might sound crazy to most readers. But I think it is time to help the employers get organised internationally. They need it, and so do we. 
Why? Simply because it is necessary to have social dialogue at international level aimed at bringing some order to one of the most crucial issues which will dominate working life for the next few decades, and that is workers' rights. 
If we have a representative and strong counterpart, it would be much easier to discuss and to come to agreement on fundamental issues. 
Let me tell you what happened last week at the ILO, to illustrate what I mean. 
There was a tripartite meeting for one of the most industrialised sectors -- Manufacture of Transport Equipment. These sectoral activities organised by the ILO are very important for us, as this is the only place where workers and employers can confront one another and argue at international level. 
The purpose of these meetings is to discuss a document, normally prepared by experts, and then to draw conclusions and make recommendations to the Governing Body of the ILO. There are also possibilities to submit special resolutions for consideration. All this takes place under a normal negotiating procedure that is familiar to all trade unionists and employers. 
Last week's meeting was no exception. Thanks to very good preparation by the ILO as well as capable and experienced negotiators on all sides, the meeting ended with two very important documents which were accepted and will be submitted to the ILO Governing Body. 
However, on a couple of points in the discussion there remains some doubt, and we need to talk this over with a representative organisation for employers in the metal industry. 
The first of these points is the question of social dialogue. The employers adamantly refused to make any reference to good experiences resulting from the European Works Councils. I think the employers should just ask the more than 300 companies which have already negotiated agreements on EWCs so they can know that experience so far has been positive in most cases. 
No one believes that EWCs will solve all problems, but they can definitely contribute to the development of social dialogue at enterprise level. This should encourage the employers to extend the dialogue to international level as well. 
The second point, where the employers' reaction was even more in contradiction with policy adopted by many companies, is their refusal to allow any reference to promotion of health and safety standards and to the protection of women. Here, we need also mention that the spokesperson for the employers at the meeting openly said that the company she works for was already implementing ILO labour standards with no restrictions! 
Now, the conclusions, the resolution proposed by the IMF delegation, along with a special report on the discussion will be submitted to the Governing Body in November 2000. Then it will be up to the three partners to implement them. 
We all share a responsibility vis-à-vis all people employed in this sector as well as to those depending on it. And this would be much easier to fulfil if we could continue the discussion with a valid, strong and representative counterpart. 
Employers, get together and get organised!!!

Employers, unite!!!!

FINLAND: The 18th Congress of the Finnish Metalworkers' Union, which opened Sunday, May 14, in Tampere, the industrial heartland of Finland, has elected Erkki Vuorenmaa to replace retiring president Per-Erik Lundh. Vuorenmaa has worked for the union 24 years, the last eight of which he headed the Organising Department. Lundh currently still represents the Nordic countries in the IMF Executive Committee. 
In his opening speech, Lundh emphasised the union's promotion of the long-term interests of its members through tri-partite cooperation, but he warned the Finnish government not to tear up a compromise agreement on a proposal for a new labour law. In the fight against unemployment, vocational training remained essential, and solidarity must continue to be the underlying principle in all union activities. Only a globalised trade union movement could balance globalised capital, he declared, and core labour standards had to be incorporated into international trade agreements, which the Finnish Metalworkers were actively promoting in the IMF and EMF. 
The Finnish prime minister, Paavo Lipponen, commended the union for its contribution to the renewal of Finland's metal industry. The union, he said, has been shouldering responsibility far beyond the metalworkers, to workers in general and the society as a whole, earning respect within the country and internationally. 
The IMF's general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, stated that free markets cannot solve the problems of our times. "We must globalise the social dimension," he insisted. To achieve this, trade unions have a role to play alongside governments and employers. Malentacchi called for a reform in the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO, so that social dialogue should be extended to all levels. "The IMF Congress in 2001 will discuss globalisation and what kind of union structures we need... We must link our trade union work inside companies to our international work," he continued. Malentacchi expressed his gratitude to Finnish Metal for its exemplary support for IMF organising and education projects, as well as to Per-Erik Lundh who had admirably represented Nordic countries in the IMF, and looked forward to continuing cooperation with the union's new leadership.

Erkki Vuorenmaa is taking over the helm from Per-Erik Lundh.

Finnish metalworkers elect new president

MACEDONIA, Former Yugoslav Republic of: Two days of constructive talks took place in Skopje on April 27-28 during the Balkan Conference on the Stability Pact. Thirty-one metal unions from West, Central and Southeast Europe participated in the meeting, which was jointly organised by the International Metalworkers' Federation and the European Metalworkers' Federation. 
The focal point of the discussions was the stability pact and the role of the trade unions. The philosophy of the pact, backed by the European Union, World Bank, other donor organisations and international institutions, is very clear: "We help people who are prepared to work with one another in concrete projects." So cross-border, cross-ethnic cooperation is the essential principle for this pact, and it implies overcoming divisions created by the various wars which have occurred in the former Yugoslavia, rejecting and fighting against all nationalistic policies and avoiding any sort of propaganda which may create biases against the 'other'. 
The conference emphasised the limitations and opportunities of the stability pact. 
With regard to its limitations, not enough place is given to the importance of jobs and the role of the trade unions in the reconstruction process. The issue of work is 'confined' to the domain of civil society. 
As for opportunities, the stability pact has a clear political dimension and gives guidelines for action in different areas including: reconstruction, infrastructure, democratisation, refugees, human rights and vocational training. 
The conference evaluated very positively the decision of the European Trade Union Confederation to establish a working group on the stability pact with the task of drawing up a Social Charter. All IMF affiliates and metal unions in the region are urged to work together with this group in order to offer suggestions which may add to their information and offer useful input. Information about the activities of the pact will be periodically sent out by the IMF. A final conference document will be published taking into consideration the input of participants.

Skopje was the venue for an IMF/EMF Balkan conference to discuss the stability pact and the role of the trade unions.

Stability pact is focus of Balkan meeting

NORWAY: Early this morning, May 9, three hours before the strike in the private sector was to be expanded, the LO national trade union center and the employers' organisation accepted a bid from the state mediator for a new collective contract. 
The deal, tentative until balloted by union members on May 24, runs for two years and gives the workers an hourly rise of 1.50 Norwegian kroner ($0.18). It is double as much as in the previous agreement, which was rejected by the workers in a ballot. The lower-wage earners are getting an hourly rise of 3.50 Norwegian kroner, which also is double that of the rejected agreement. The additional four days of vacation (making it five weeks altogether) will be introduced more rapidly, with two days already in 2001 and two days in 2002. The employers have also accepted union demands for funding for further education. 
For background information, see previous IMF news items.

Today, 84,600 private sector workers are going back to work.

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