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Zenroren’s newspaper reports on the
union federation’s Jan. 25 protest against Nissan’s elimination of jobs, a
demonstration that included two representatives of Mexico’s Authentic Labor
Front (FAT), as well as representatives of France’s General Confederation of
Labor (CGT). Nissan is run by the French company Renault; the FAT organized a
Nissan subsidiary. UE facilitated the contact between the Japanese and Mexican
union federations.
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About 5,000 angry unionists responded to the call of the
All-Japan Metal and Machinery Information Workers’ Union, affiliated to UE’s
ally Zenroren (the National Confederation of Trade Unions), against job cuts
at Nissan. The Japanese auto maker since last year is run by France’s
Renault. It was one of the largest protests targeted at one company in recent
Japanese history. The French automaker’s three-year restructuring plan
involves closing five plants and reducing Nissan’s workforce by 21,000,
including 16,000 in Japan and 1,500 in the United States. Rengo, the main
union at Nissan, accepted the Renault-Nissan plan and did not join the
protest.
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GIANT GERMAN UNION
FIGHTS FOR HIGHER WAGES
AND
RETIREMENT AT 60
Talks between Germany’s powerful electrical and metal union
and the employers have been adjourned until March 6 after it became clear the
two sides were far from agreement. UE’s German sister union, the powerful
IGMetall, has put in a claim for a 5.5 percent wage hike this year for the 3.4
million unionized workers in the engineering and allied industries. The claim
is all the more important as it becomes traditionally the model for other
unions’ wage claims.
The employers say they are "shocked" by the claim,
which they did not believe would be more than 4 percent and have offered 2.6
percent. The union says it has based its claim on 3.5 percent rise in
productivity, 1.5 percent inflation and 0.5 percent to fund early retirement
for union members. IGMetall, the world’s largest individual union, last year
won a 3.6 percent pay award following a 6.5 percent pay claim. Union president
Klaus Zwiekel says IGMetall’s claim is "a policy which will promote
jobs," as the union also wants retirement at age 60. Four million
employees, about 10 percent of the workforce, are unemployed.
The engineering employers say that the union’s pay claim is
too high but they have now accepted talks on early retirement.
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COMES
INTO FORCE
SOON
French unemployment has fallen sharply and now stands at 10.6
percent of the labor force. The rate of fall has surprised all economists.
Reducing the high unemployment rate was the main priority for the Socialist
coalition administration when it was elected to a five-year term in mid-1997.
Meanwhile, the administration’s 35-hour-week legislation is
due to come into effect soon. The law, which reduces the working week by four
hours without loss of salary, has been held up by a court over the complicated
issue of overtime payments.
The law affects companies with more than 20 employees. A
second bill, currently under discussion, extends the scope of the 35-hour week
to companies with 20 or fewer employees and is set to be effective on Jan. 1,
2002. Companies reducing the working week and creating jobs will receive state
aid. Federal and municipal employees and people working in hospitals will be
covered by a separate law. Since 1982 the legal working week has been 39
hours.
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COSATU, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, has
started a program of "mass action" to "raise public
awareness" and protest against high unemployment. COSATU has started a
campaign of demonstrations and picketing to culminate in a nation-wide strike
of its 1.8 million members in May. The protests will cover all sectors and
notably the automotive and metal industries. A series of strikes is threatened
for later this year.
Since the end of the racial discrimination apartheid policy in
1994, the new administration has passed several labor laws to protect workers
but COSATU has severely criticized recent legislation to implement wage
restraint and flexibility. The union federation says the administration is
liberalizing the economy too quickly and not doing enough to curb job losses.
Unemployment is estimated at 35 percent.
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UE News - 02/00
