Steelworkers Create Ties with World´s Biggest Worker-Owned Co-Op
Harry Kelber
November 02, 2009
The United Steelworkers (USW) and MONDRAGON Internacional, S.A. have announced a framework agreement for collaboration in establishing MONDRAGON cooperatives in the manufacturing sector within the United States and Canada. The USW and the Spanish-based MONDRAGON will work to establish manufacturing cooperatives that adapt collective bargaining principles to the MONDRAGON worker-ownership model of "one worker, one vote." The agreement was reached on Oct. 27.
"We see today´s agreement as a historic first step towards making union co-ops a viable business model that can create good jobs, empower workers and support communities in the United States and Canada," said USW International President Leo Gerard. "Too often we have seen Wall Street hollow out companies by draining their cash and assets and hollowing out communities by shedding jobs and closing plants."
MONDRAGON was started in 1956 in the Basque rural town of Mondragon by a visionary priest. Today, it has some 100,000 cooperative members in over 260 enterprises and is present in more than 40 countries. The co-op has its own university, bank and social security system. In 2008, it reached annual sales of more than 16 billion euros ($23.5 billion). It is the seventh largest enterprise in Spain and the world´s largest industrial workers cooperative.
Privatization Will Cost Australian Workers up to $2 million a Year
The government´s decision to privatize the ACC Work Account is a cynical move that will transfer up to $200 million a year from workers to the Australian insurance industry, according to the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). The privatization announcement follows a systematic campaign by the government to portray ACC´s accounts as being in a state of crisis, despite the scheme making a billion dollar surplus in the last financial year and receiving a glowing report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"Privatization is not going to reduce levies for workers and businesses. Private insurance companies will need to make a profit from somewhere, and this can only come through higher levies or denied compensation," said Andrew Little, EPMU national secretary.
This a purely political decision, the EPMU said, and the union "has no choice but to work with the Council of Trade Unions and allied groups to mount a campaign to knock it back." EPMU is New Zealand´s largest public union representing 45,000 working New Zealanders in eleven industries.
Five Professional Associations in Jordan Stage Sit-in
A sit-in was staged by five professional associations in Jordan in front of the Prime Ministry with a demand that the professional allowances of their members be increased from 120 percent to 150 percent, in parity with other associations. Members of the veterinary, pharmacists, geologists, press and agricultural engineers associations vowed to continue escalation of their protests until the government meets their demands.
Association leaders said they want the increase in accordance with similar raises received by their peers in the medical and dental associations. "We want to be treated equally. This is unfair to our members," said Salem Falahat, president of the Jordan Agricultural Engineers Association.
"We are planning another sit-in next Tuesday. If need be, we will hold sit-ins on a weekly basis," Falahat said. Meanwhile, Nancy Bakir, Minister of Public Sector Reform, said, after a Cabinet meeting, that association members have the right to stage a protest, but the state budget does not have the allocations to pay for the association´s demands.
Japanese Firefighters May Receive Broader Labor Rights
Japan´s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has been instructed to consider granting fire department personnel the right of association or the right to form labor unions. Workers at police and fire departments, the Japanese Coast Guard and prisons have been legally denied their basic rights under a trade union law originally enacted in 1946.
Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi told union leaders to study the issue, "as we shouldn´t ignore the ILO´s repeated recommendations." He added: "We should proactively press forward with our plan, while gaining consensus from the public and listening to the opinions of those concerned."
The ILO allows its member countries to refuse to grant the right of association to police workers, as well as servicemen and civilian military workers. Many other countries grant fire department workers the right of association. In Britain and France, they are given the right to strike.
Indonesia´s Minimum Wage to Rise by 4.5 Percent
The new monthly minimum wage in Indonesia will be Rp 1,118,009 ($ 117). It has been approved and will be officially announced on Nov. 6 by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo. The new minimum is an increase of 10 percent over that of 2008.
Deded Sukendar, the head if Jakarta´s Labor and Transmigration Agency, said the amount had been adjusted to the 2009 Proper Livelihood survey, which was the reference for setting the minimum wage. The poll had been conducted by the Remuneration Council, which includes representatives from the government, employers and labor.
Sukendar explained that both employers´ associations and labor unions had approved the increase, that took into account 2010´s expected inflation rate of 5.5 percent.
Korean Labor on Collision Course with Government
In two months at the latest, the nation´s largest union, Hyundai Motor labor union, will go on a general strike alongside other Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) members should the government stick to its business-friendly policies, KCTU Lim Sung-kyu said Oct. 29. The chances of such a strike are very high, Lim predicted.
The consensus from the 45,000 member motor union is extremely important as it is the largest and highest-paying branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union, the largest unit of the KCTU. The general strike would be the first of its kind in 12 years.
The general strike would be in protest against the government abolishing the practice of having employers pay the wages of full-time union employees and to allow only one negotiation channel for unions at a single workplace. At the first round of talks, participants hoped to reach an agreement on changes by Nov. 25.
To learn about workers and their unions in other countries, read our weekly "The World of Labor." www.laborsvoiceforchange.org
"We see today´s agreement as a historic first step towards making union co-ops a viable business model that can create good jobs, empower workers and support communities in the United States and Canada," said USW International President Leo Gerard. "Too often we have seen Wall Street hollow out companies by draining their cash and assets and hollowing out communities by shedding jobs and closing plants."
MONDRAGON was started in 1956 in the Basque rural town of Mondragon by a visionary priest. Today, it has some 100,000 cooperative members in over 260 enterprises and is present in more than 40 countries. The co-op has its own university, bank and social security system. In 2008, it reached annual sales of more than 16 billion euros ($23.5 billion). It is the seventh largest enterprise in Spain and the world´s largest industrial workers cooperative.
Privatization Will Cost Australian Workers up to $2 million a Year
The government´s decision to privatize the ACC Work Account is a cynical move that will transfer up to $200 million a year from workers to the Australian insurance industry, according to the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). The privatization announcement follows a systematic campaign by the government to portray ACC´s accounts as being in a state of crisis, despite the scheme making a billion dollar surplus in the last financial year and receiving a glowing report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"Privatization is not going to reduce levies for workers and businesses. Private insurance companies will need to make a profit from somewhere, and this can only come through higher levies or denied compensation," said Andrew Little, EPMU national secretary.
This a purely political decision, the EPMU said, and the union "has no choice but to work with the Council of Trade Unions and allied groups to mount a campaign to knock it back." EPMU is New Zealand´s largest public union representing 45,000 working New Zealanders in eleven industries.
Five Professional Associations in Jordan Stage Sit-in
A sit-in was staged by five professional associations in Jordan in front of the Prime Ministry with a demand that the professional allowances of their members be increased from 120 percent to 150 percent, in parity with other associations. Members of the veterinary, pharmacists, geologists, press and agricultural engineers associations vowed to continue escalation of their protests until the government meets their demands.
Association leaders said they want the increase in accordance with similar raises received by their peers in the medical and dental associations. "We want to be treated equally. This is unfair to our members," said Salem Falahat, president of the Jordan Agricultural Engineers Association.
"We are planning another sit-in next Tuesday. If need be, we will hold sit-ins on a weekly basis," Falahat said. Meanwhile, Nancy Bakir, Minister of Public Sector Reform, said, after a Cabinet meeting, that association members have the right to stage a protest, but the state budget does not have the allocations to pay for the association´s demands.
Japanese Firefighters May Receive Broader Labor Rights
Japan´s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has been instructed to consider granting fire department personnel the right of association or the right to form labor unions. Workers at police and fire departments, the Japanese Coast Guard and prisons have been legally denied their basic rights under a trade union law originally enacted in 1946.
Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi told union leaders to study the issue, "as we shouldn´t ignore the ILO´s repeated recommendations." He added: "We should proactively press forward with our plan, while gaining consensus from the public and listening to the opinions of those concerned."
The ILO allows its member countries to refuse to grant the right of association to police workers, as well as servicemen and civilian military workers. Many other countries grant fire department workers the right of association. In Britain and France, they are given the right to strike.
Indonesia´s Minimum Wage to Rise by 4.5 Percent
The new monthly minimum wage in Indonesia will be Rp 1,118,009 ($ 117). It has been approved and will be officially announced on Nov. 6 by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo. The new minimum is an increase of 10 percent over that of 2008.
Deded Sukendar, the head if Jakarta´s Labor and Transmigration Agency, said the amount had been adjusted to the 2009 Proper Livelihood survey, which was the reference for setting the minimum wage. The poll had been conducted by the Remuneration Council, which includes representatives from the government, employers and labor.
Sukendar explained that both employers´ associations and labor unions had approved the increase, that took into account 2010´s expected inflation rate of 5.5 percent.
Korean Labor on Collision Course with Government
In two months at the latest, the nation´s largest union, Hyundai Motor labor union, will go on a general strike alongside other Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) members should the government stick to its business-friendly policies, KCTU Lim Sung-kyu said Oct. 29. The chances of such a strike are very high, Lim predicted.
The consensus from the 45,000 member motor union is extremely important as it is the largest and highest-paying branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union, the largest unit of the KCTU. The general strike would be the first of its kind in 12 years.
The general strike would be in protest against the government abolishing the practice of having employers pay the wages of full-time union employees and to allow only one negotiation channel for unions at a single workplace. At the first round of talks, participants hoped to reach an agreement on changes by Nov. 25.
To learn about workers and their unions in other countries, read our weekly "The World of Labor." www.laborsvoiceforchange.org
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