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The ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) in the US has mounted a voracious campaign against Germany&rsquo;s BMW Group to preserve 68 auto-parts warehousing jobs in Southern California. The campaign to stop the outsourcing of family-supporting parts distribution jobs from a BMW warehouse in Ontario, California, has stretched eastward across America and now has gotten very active support from Unite the Union in the UK and IG Metall in Germany. 
 
In early June, the 7,500-member IBT Local 495 of Covina, California, was told by North American BMW that it intended to terminate a collective agreement upon expiration on 31 August and outsource the jobs of Teamster members to an un-named logistics provider. Instead of rolling over and negotiating severance packages, the union and its members fought back. 
 
They began a pressure campaign that has seen trade unionists and supporters handbilling BMW auto dealerships across the US, and Local 495 has zeroed in specifically on the Jackson Lewis LLP law firm. Jackson Lewis is a union-busting legal firm that regrettably BMW North America retained for anti-worker services in industrial relations. 
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The IBT has gained support and mobilisation of other American unions at BMW&rsquo;s five parts distribution depots in the US, as well as from trade unionists at BMW workplaces in Europe. 
 
The union has established a lively website entitled <a href="http://www.bmwultimatemisery.com/ ">&ldquo;BMW: The Ultimate Misery&rdquo;</a> and produced a video from a spirited 26 July protest in front of the Jackson Lewis law offices in Los Angeles. (View the <a href="http://vimeo.com/26990405 ">video</a> here.) 
 
Earlier, on 21 July, a Day of Action was held in not only BMW&rsquo;s US warehouses, but also inside BMW facilities in the UK. Workers wore stickers supporting the California Teamsters and passed out leaflets demanding that BMW not destroy California jobs. Members of the International Longshoremen&rsquo;s Association (ILA) at an import distribution centre in the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey two years ago successfully fended off outsourcing, as did United Auto Workers (UAW) members at a BMW parts warehouse in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. 
Both unions now assist the California workers in resisting closure. IBT local unions in America&rsquo;s eastern states are handbilling BMW dealerships on a daily basis. The Ontario warehouse workers use weekends away from the job to draw attention to BMW&rsquo;s unfair decision by handbilling dealerships up and down the US West Coast, from Southern California to the state of Washington. 
<img alt="" src="" width="308" height="161" />
Teamsters handbilling in Seattle
In the UK, Unite Assistant General Secretary and head of Manufacturing, Tony Burke, is now spearheading a petition drive aimed at BMW&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC). Unite members are demanding that an extraordinary meeting of the EWC meeting slated for 10 September be moved up to August in order to place the scheduled Ontario closure squarely on the agenda. They want BMW to reverse the North America decision. 
 
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll continue to expand this campaign inside the US and internationally in the weeks to come,&rdquo; said Local 495 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Lennox. &ldquo;Working with other US unions and now with unions in Europe, we&rsquo;re convinced that we&rsquo;ll get a positive resolution for our members and that means retaining our jobs.&rdquo; 
 
The Ontario, California, warehouse handles 200,000 auto parts for just-in-time delivery to BMW car dealerships and other auto-supply outlets on the West Coast. The ICEM believes such work is best done by experienced and direct-employed BMW workers and urges the German company to retain loyal Teamster members for the good of its business and to preserve family-sustaining jobs.

US Teamsters Ardently Resist BMW’s Auto Parts Outsourcing

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The ICEM on Friday, 19 November, expressed hope that 29 miners were still alive inside the Pike River Coal Ltd. mine following a methane gas explosion on the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand. The miners, some of whom are members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), are believed to be trapped two kilometers inside a horizontal shaft of the Brunner coal seam in the Paparoa Range, near the town of Atarua. 
 
&ldquo;We are shocked and saddened by this terrible accident,&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, who travelled to Greymouth, 50 kilometrers away, to offer direct support to family members. &ldquo;We pray that a speedy rescue takes place and that the men successfully reach the surface alive and into the warmth of their loved ones,&rdquo; said Warda. 
 
This morning, 21 November, rescue efforts into the mine were stalled due to continued high levels of gas build-up. Tests conducted through a ventilation shaft yesterday revealed a large heat source 1,500 metres underground, indicating that a fire might be still raging. 
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EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
The blast happened Friday afternoon, New Zealand time, following an electrical malfunction that shut the mine&rsquo;s two large ventilation units. The subsequent explosion was so powerful that a fireball was seen coming from the ventilation shaft. An electrician ventured into the main shaft of the mine to check the outage at the same time the blast occurred. He continued, only to come upon an equipment operator who had been thrown from his machine. 
 
The two manage to escape 108 metres up a ladder inside the ventilation shaft. But the 29 other miners, ages 17 to 62, were entrapped deeper inside. The 17-year-old was working his first shift inside the two-year-old mine. A telephone line was found to be working inside the mine, but there was no answer to numerous calls. 
 
The Pike River mine is the largest underground coal mine in New Zealand and part of the mine is beneath Paparoa National Park. It employs 140 staff, 71 of whom are union members of the EPMU. 
 
Pike River Coal Ltd. is a 14-year enterprise that mines premium hard coal for coking and ultimately steel-making. It is 31% owned by New Zealand Oil &amp; Gas Ltd., 7% by India&rsquo;s Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., and 8% by Singapore-based Saurashtra World Holdings Pvt. Ltd. The remainder is traded on New Zealand and Australian bourses. 
 
The company made two major shipments this year &ndash; one in February 2010 of 20,000 tonnes, the other in September 2010 of 22,000 tonnes &ndash; to Port Bedi, India, for exclusive use by Gujarat. It exports also to China, Korea, and Brazil. The mine has reserves of 17.6 million tonnes. 
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In recent months, Pine River installed a hydro-monitoring system inside the mine that uses a water canon to blast coal off working faces. The company was also seeking funding for a second ABM20 continuous mine machine it hoped to install. Two years ago, start-up production was delayed after collapse of the newly-built ventilation shaft. 
 
The company&rsquo;s CEO, Peter Whittall, said air compressors were pumping fresh air down the ventilation shaft in hopes that trapped miners were in a nearby rescue area. Whittal has headed the company for only seven weeks and was previously served five years as Pike River&rsquo;s general manager of mines. Before that, he managed various BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal operations in New South Wales, Australia. 
 
Despite rescuers not able to enter the mine today, drilling of a 15-centimetre vertical hole did commence in order to get a camera and possibly supplies down. 
 
The EPMU&rsquo;s Little said in Greymouth, &ldquo;Inevitably there are questions. We don't have an incident like this without there being reasons. There will be a time when we will need to get answers.&rdquo; 

The 29 trapped miners include 24 New Zealand nationals, two Australians, two UK citizens who are Scotsmen, and one South African. The equipment operator who found safety in the aftermath of the blast, 24-year-old Daniel Rockhouse, has a brother, Ben, who is one of the 29. The grandfather of the two passed away Friday evening. 
 
New Zealand has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

Hope Still Alive for 29 Trapped Inside Pike River’s New Zealand Coal Mine

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The ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly held a discussion panel entitled &ldquo;Cutting Emissions - Transforming Jobs,&quot; exploring the links between the economic, environmental, and social crises. The 7 December panel was part of a trade union-sponsored side event at COP16 and was held at the Universidad del Sur in Canc&uacute;n, Mexico, under the general banner &quot;World of Work.&quot; 
 
Several high-profile trade unionists gave their perspectives on how to preserve and create decent, sustainable jobs, and the role of trade unions in fighting climate change. 
 
Shoichiro Kaneko, IMF-JC/JBU of Japan, emphasized the progress that nation has made in controlling carbon emissions through technological advances, and the support offered to the proposed climate fund. However, he expressed concern about the potential for carbon leakage if a new accord does not include all the major emitters and is not enforceable. 
<img src="" width="233" height="166" alt="" />
Left to right: ICEM's Brian Kohler, CFMEU's Michael O'Conner, ITUC's James Howard, IMF-JC/JBU's&nbsp;Shoichiro Kaneko
Michael O'Connor, National Secretary-elect of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) told of how his union had forged a working relationship with environmental groups to unlock the economic potential for a new pulp and paper mill in Tasmania.
He said the key was to remember that a trade union represents workers, and to ensure that their voice is heard. 
 
James Howard of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) elaborated on ITUC's policy of Just Transition. Far from simple, a Just Transition will only be achieved through research, dialogue, union-employer agreements, strong social programmes, investments in industry, and training and education of workers. 
 
The keynote speaker was Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), part of the Japanese official negotiating team in Canc&uacute;n. He presented a very frank resume of the ongoing climate talks. 
<img src="" width="276" height="160" alt="" />
Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and CFMEU's Michael O'Connor
Besides explaining Japan's position (Japan believes that the Kyoto process does not have sufficient country support to prevent carbon leakage) he also explained the status of many of the important main track and subsidiary body discussions. As of 7 December, the unusual situation has evolved of the high-level talks commencing while the ad-hoc working groups have not completed their tasks. 
 
What this means for the final outcome is difficult to guess, but progress has been made on some important issues. Japan, of course, believes that efficient energy use in its manufacturing industries and investment in new technologies is one of the key paths forward. 
 
Brian Kohler of the ICEM and Kan Matusuzaki of IMF presented ICEM and IMF policies, the outcomes of the World Conference on Sustainability held in June along with the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), and a discussion paper on &quot;Anticipating Change&quot; that examines how the proposed climate fund could be a starting point for discussions on industrial policies and worker participation in such areas as training. 
 
The ICEM-IMF World of Work event was well attended, and feedback following the event was extremely positive.

ICEM, IMF Forum at Climate Conference Presents Industrial Perspectives

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ICEM ve Uluslararası Metal İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu (IMF), ekonomik, &ccedil;evresel ve sosyal krizler arasındaki ilişkileri ele alan, &ldquo;Emisyonu Azaltmak &ndash; İstihdamı D&ouml;n&uuml;şt&uuml;rmek&rdquo; konulu ortak bir panel d&uuml;zenledi. 7 Aralık'taki panel, COP16 &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, &ldquo;Emek D&uuml;nyası&rdquo; genel başlığı altında, Meksika'nın Cancun kentindeki Universidad del Sur'da ger&ccedil;ekleşti. 
 
İnsana yakışır ve s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilir istihdamın korunması ve yaratılması ve iklim değişikliğiyle m&uuml;cadelede sendikaların rol&uuml; konusunda bir&ccedil;ok tanınmış sendikacı g&ouml;r&uuml;şlerini dile getirdi. 
 
IMF Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko, &uuml;lkenin teknolojik ilerlemeden yararlanarak karbon emisyonlarının denetiminde kaydettiği gelişmeyi ve &ouml;nerilen iklim fonuna verilen desteği vurguladı. Ne var ki, Kaneko, yeni anlaşma b&uuml;t&uuml;n b&uuml;y&uuml;k emisyon kaynaklarını kapsamayacak ve uygulanabilir nitelik taşımayacak olursa, karbon sızıntısının s&uuml;rebileceği kaygısını dile getirdi. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="166" />
Soldan sağa: ICEM'den Brian Kohler, CFMEU'dan Michael O'Conner, ITUC'tan James Howard, IMF-Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko
Avustralya İnşaat, Orman, Maden ve Enerji Sendikası (CFMEU) Ulusal Sekreteri Michael O'Connor, Tasmanya'da yeni bir k&acirc;ğıt ve k&acirc;ğıt hamuru fabrikasının ekonomik potansiyelini ortaya koymak i&ccedil;in &ccedil;evre gruplarıyla kendi sendikasının nasıl bir &ccedil;alışma ilişkisi kurduğunu anlattı. 
 
O'Connor burada dikkat edilecek noktanın, sendikanın iş&ccedil;ileri temsil ettiğini hatırlamak ve iş&ccedil;ilerin sesinin duyulmasını sağlamak olduğunu s&ouml;yledi. 
 
Uluslararası Sendikalar Konfederasyonu'ndan (ITUC) James Howard, ITUC'un Adil Ge&ccedil;iş politikası konusunu ele aldı. Adil Ge&ccedil;iş hi&ccedil; de basit bir s&uuml;re&ccedil; değildir; ancak araştırma, diyalog, sendika-işveren anlaşmaları, g&uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; sosyal programlar, sanayi yatırımları ve iş&ccedil;ilerin eğitimiyle ger&ccedil;ekleşecektir. 
 
Ana konuşmacı, Japonya'nın Ekonomi, Ticaret ve Sanayi Bakanlığı'ndan İzura Kobayaşi idi. Kobayaşi devam eden iklim g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerini a&ccedil;ık s&ouml;zl&uuml; bir tavırla &ouml;zetledi.
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="128" />
İzura Kobayaşi ve Michael O'Connor
İzura Kobayaşi, Japonya'nın g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;n&uuml; (ki Japonya, Kyoto s&uuml;recinin karbon sızıntısını &ouml;nleme konusunda yeterli &uuml;lke desteğine sahip olmadığı g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde) a&ccedil;ıklamasının yanı sıra, &ouml;nemli bir&ccedil;ok &uuml;st d&uuml;zey g&ouml;r&uuml;şme ve &ouml;zel &ccedil;alışma gruplarının &ccedil;alışmaları hakkında bilgi de verdi. 
 
Nihai sonucu tahmin etmek zor, ama bazı &ouml;nemli konularda ilerleme kaydedildi. Japonya, elbette, imalat sanayilerinde verimli enerji kullanmasının ve yeni teknolojilere yatırım yapmasının ilerlemeyi sağlayan ana y&ouml;ntemlerden biri olduğu g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde. 
 
ICEM'den Brian Kohler ve IMF'den Kan Matusuzaki her iki k&uuml;resel federasyonun politikalarını ve Uluslararası Tekstil ve Deri İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu'yla (ITGLWF) birlikte Haziran'da d&uuml;zenlenen S&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilirlik &Uuml;zerine D&uuml;nya Konferansı'nın sonu&ccedil;larını a&ccedil;ıkladılar. Ayrıca, &ldquo;Değişimi &Ouml;ng&ouml;rmek&rdquo; konusunda bir sunum yaptılar. 
 
ICEM ile IMF'nin Emek D&uuml;nyası adlı etkinliğine katılım iyiydi ve panel son derece olumlu tepkiler aldı.

İklim Konferansı&#039;ndaki ICEM-IMF Forumunda Sanayiye Yaklaşım Tartışıldı

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ICEM Swedish affiliate IF Metall launched a new campaign &lsquo;Strong Together&rsquo;, 20 November, to highlight the strength of their local trade union reps, and to illustrate that there is power in unity. That message was made with members picking up cars at the locals in the cities of Kiruna, Ume&aring;, Eskilstuna, Trollh&auml;ttan, Gothenburg and Malm&ouml;. 
 
&ldquo;Alone you cannot lift a car, but together we can,&rdquo; said Jan Thelin, a shop steward at LKAB mine in Kiruna, and one of the members who lifted a car. &ldquo;Imagine what more members can do together!&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="141" height="146" />
The campaign will be continued until the IF Metall Congress in June 2011. See videos of the events and further information on the campaign <a href="http://www.ifmetall.se/ifmetall/home/home.nsf/LUUnique/CADBBFCAB43A8C90C12577E000299F9D?OpenDocument">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
The first group of IF Metall members to be the focus of the action was the 14,500-strong health and safety representatives. Those representatives conducted a hazard investigation before the lift.

IF Metall Campaign &#039;Stronger Together&#039;

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ICEM Nigerian affiliate the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is demanding the immediate release of its 10 members who were aggressed and arrested at work at 10.30am last Thursday, 25 November. 
 
The employees of oil multinational Halliburton did not know who the armed men were who arrived at company offices in Lagos, after attacking the security guards at the entrance. The men were officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), investigating the bribery and corruption scandal around Halliburton and the multi-million dollar bribes paid to top government officials in exchange for the contract to build Africa's first liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny, Rivers state. 
<img src="" width="100" height="150" alt="" />
PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun
It is widely suspected that the bribery and corruption reached the very top levels of government and the establishment in Nigeria, including three former presidents. This is another reason why PENGASSAN are angered by the arrests of their members. 
 
PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun said, &ldquo;Many Nigerian names appeared on the Halliburton investigating list in the United States and Nigeria. Names of three former heads of states, Late Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen.Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd) and President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as the ministers of Petroleum under their regimes were implicated as recipients of bribes. Why is it that it is only innocent Nigerians that the EFCC picked?&rdquo; 
 
Those arrested and brutalised by the EFCC are Jarvis Peter, Hans Kempeneers, Liliy Adiogu, Lawal Yakubu, Iseoluwa Ogundele, Efe Collins, Isa Saibu, Barnabas Iroegbulem, Chi-Ukpai, and Theodore Okonkwo. 
 
The association also condemned the barbaric nature with which the anti-corruption agency carried out its operations at Halliburton office on November 25, 2010, by beating the workers and molesting the female staff, which have been reported by Branch Chairman of the union Abel O. Agarin.

Police Brutally Arrest Innocent PENGASSAN Members

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Plastics and packaging members of New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) won&rsquo;t be taking further industrial action against Sealed Air&rsquo;s Cryovac subsidiary. A week ago, on 22 November, 117 workers at a plastic bag and food packaging factory in Porirua ratified a two-year wage settlement that will bring them 3.19% pay gains for both 2010 and 2011. 
 
EPMU members had engaged in three weeks of industrial actions in late October and November that caught the attention of the ICEM. (An InBrief report from two weeks ago can be seen <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4109-EPMU-Members-Strike-Sealed-Air-Subsidiary-in-New-Zealand ">here</a>) 
<img alt="" src="" width="222" height="148" />
EPMU's Tim Awatere
Sealed Air&rsquo;s original wage offer of 2% for a one-year contract drove workers to take strike actions, which included a one day walkout on 8 November and a ban on all short-notice overtime work. 
 
&ldquo;This is a good outcome for EPMU members, highlighting the financial benefits of belonging to a union collective agreement,&rdquo; said EPMU Organiser Mark James. &ldquo;Our members took a stand to get a fair share in the company&rsquo;s increasing profits so this is a result they can be proud of.&rdquo; 
 
The Sealed Air Cryovac factory, on New Zealand&rsquo;s North Island north of Wellington, produces plastic bags primarily for the meat industry, as well as packaging for other food manufacturing.

New Zealand EPMU Members Win Pay Gains with Sealed Air

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For over a decade in Singapore, it had been common practice for employers to reduce salaries of workers by 10% once they turn age 60. That practice is now coming to a screeching halt as trade unions, in a united front, have convinced employers that the practice is degrading and discriminatory. 
 
Seven unions over the past several months, including the Chemical Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (CIWU) and the Metal Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (MIWU), have now negotiated an end to the cut-at-60 practice in an important labour development on the island-nation. 
 
Over 34,000 workers will this year no longer have to witness pay cuts just because they reach age 60. The recent initiative was not instituted by law, but rather came from a strong public urging to employers by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) General Secretary Lim Swee Say and Singapore Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="66" />
Under some of the negotiated agreements, workers age 60 or above must undergo performance-based indicators to retain their salaries, but in others they do not. The MIWU had elimination of the practice incorporated in all collective agreements. That affected 11,000 senior workers for the good. One union, the Singapore Airport Terminal Service Workers&rsquo; Union, will have the no-cut-at-60 language finalized in December, with payment of salaries that were cut back to January 2010 restored. 
 
Other unions that have succeeded in eliminated the practice include the NatSteel Employees&rsquo; Union, the Singapore Bank Employees&rsquo; Union, the DBS Bank Staff Union, and the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore. Elimination of the practice at scores of private-sector employers by the CIWU affects 4,500 senior chemical and petrochemical workers. 
 
The practice began in 1999 when the retirement age was raised to 62 in that year. The Retirement Age Act was then amended to give legal status to the cut-at-60 practice. 
 
NTUC Deputy Secretary General Heng Chee How said it was encouraging that a great number of companies from many different industries and sectors had reviewed with unions the regressive practice and decided to end it.

United Singapore Unions Achieving Voluntary End to Pay Cuts after Age 60

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Len McCluskey won election last week as the future General Secretary of Unite the Union. On the day his election was made official, 24 November, he told a packed news conference that mass resistance was needed to stem the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government&rsquo;s planned public spending cuts, as well as repressive anti-trade union laws that have set into the UK. 
 
&ldquo;I am not interested in subtlety,&rdquo; he told reporters. &ldquo;I understand what is happening to ordinary working people &ndash; their jobs are being lost, their families and the future of their children are being threatened, their houses are being repossessed, and they are looking around for someone to give them help. 
 
&ldquo;The very fabric of our society is being dismantled before our very eyes and we have a duty to lead a resistance against this attack. It is slaughter by stealth.&rdquo; McCluskey expressed urgency that progressive forces in the UK build &ldquo;an alliance of resistance.&rdquo; He said the planned Trades Union Congress (TUC) manifestation for March 2011 must be &ldquo;so big it rocks the establishment and makes them step back.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="145" height="151" />
Future Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey
The 61-year-old McCluskey, currently an Assistant General Secretary of Unite, won election in October and November mail balloting of union members in the UK and Ireland over three other candidates. He will succeed Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley when Woodley steps down in December 2011. The 1.6-million-member union&rsquo;s other Joint General Secretary &ndash; Derek Simpson &ndash; will retire next month. 
 
McCluskey captured 101,000 votes to easily defeat Jerry Hicks (52,000 votes), Les Bayliss (46,000), and Gail Cartmail (39,000). A former Liverepool dock worker, McCluskey rose up through the ranks of the Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (T&amp;G), first as a senior shop steward on the Liverpool wharf in 1968 and later, in 1979, as a national T&amp;G officer. 
 
In 1990, he became National Secretary for T&amp;G&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; group, leading negotiations in several sectors, including building materials, paper and packaging, building services, and the process industries. In 2004, he was promoted to National Organiser for all the service industries, including public services, construction, and the voluntary sector. 
 
Upon the merger in 2007 of T&amp;G and Amicus, forming the UK and Ireland&rsquo;s largest trade union, Unite, McCluskey was appointed Assistant General Secretary, playing a leading role in developing the union's organising strategy, and currently he is AGS for industrial strategy.

Britain’s Unite the Union Elects Len McCluskey as Next General Secretary

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In late October, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union made a bold statement that it would unequivocally reject concessionary contract proposals from auto parts manufacturers. It drew a line in the sand with noon-hour demonstrations at over 100 employers in the province of Ontario. (See ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4084-Canadian-Auto-Parts-Workers-Hold-Day-of-Action ">here</a>.) 
 
Well, that line is fast proving to be a brick wall in which the no retreat mantra is being used against companies that seek worker givebacks in collective agreements. In the days and weeks after the 27 October manifestations, CAW local branches at two auto-parts suppliers have not only brought the national union&rsquo;s militancy into practice, but managed to carve out meaningful job security gains in renewal agreements. 
 
At Magna&rsquo;s Integram Seating plant in Tecumseh, Ontario, CAW Local 444 and its 725 members used a strike deadline to beat back threats to a collective agreement. A strike would have shut auto-assembly production at a nearby Chrysler minivan factory in Windsor, and that was something Integram managers needed to avoid. 
<img alt="" src="" width="360" height="51" />
The result was a two-year collective agreement that even though freezes wages, does grant two lump-sum bonus payments for workers. It also includes a cost-of-living adjustment in the final quarter of the second year, with a commitment to include cost-of-living increases in the subsequent labour agreement. What&rsquo;s more, improvements were made in post-retirement benefits, including age reduction from 60 to 55 for workers with 30 years service to qualify for full pension benefits. 
 
Ironically, the threat of an Integram strike and shutdown at Chrysler actually protected Local 444&rsquo;s future right to strike. Magna sought to tie the plant into the Framework of Fairness Agreement, a joint CAW-Magna 2007 arrangement that prohibits strikes at new company facilities in exchange for fair play regarding organizing efforts. Local 444 rejected imposition of that framework in this labour agreement. 
 
The other CAW success story occurred at thriving and ever-expanding Martinrea International, a Canadian-based metal-stamping chassis and frame supplier that also sells other auto parts to Chrysler, Ford, GM, and Volkswagen. At two Ontario plants of the company, Ridgetown and Dresden, CAW Local 127 since September had faced deep contractual reductions, including pay cuts from C$21-per-hour to C$14, elimination of the pension plan, cuts to health benefits, and to paid time off. 
<img alt="" src="" width="119" height="205" />
The 375 union members at the two plants rejected the company&rsquo;s backward proposals at a 30 October union meeting, and sent a strong message that Martinrea did not need relief and that Local 127 would set an example for the CAW&rsquo;s Auto Parts Workers&rsquo; United campaign. 
 
The result was Martinrea completely backed off the concessions and the union won first-ever job security language. Even though the three-year agreements at the two plants contain no wage increases, Local 127 won guarantees that neither plant would face shutdowns or reductions-in-force, and also guarantees that future engineered products will not be outsourced but done in the CAW-represented plants. 
 
The new labour agreements at Martinrea stand as testament that CAW workers will have a voice in production decisions. 
 
The CAW&rsquo;s auto-parts campaign &ndash; one of unyielding rank-and-file belief that contractual retreat does not guarantee job security &ndash; is taking hold in Canada and serves as an excellent example of grass-roots activism meant to resist social cuts and preserve living and work standards. Congratulations, CAW!

CAW’s Auto Parts Campaign Paying Off

Archive

US Teamsters Ardently Resist BMW’s Auto Parts Outsourcing

Hope Still Alive for 29 Trapped Inside Pike River’s New Zealand Coal Mine

ICEM, IMF Forum at Climate Conference Presents Industrial Perspectives

İklim Konferansı'ndaki ICEM-IMF Forumunda Sanayiye Yaklaşım Tartışıldı

IF Metall Campaign 'Stronger Together'

Police Brutally Arrest Innocent PENGASSAN Members

New Zealand EPMU Members Win Pay Gains with Sealed Air

United Singapore Unions Achieving Voluntary End to Pay Cuts after Age 60

Britain’s Unite the Union Elects Len McCluskey as Next General Secretary

CAW’s Auto Parts Campaign Paying Off

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