UNI Signs Pact with G4S, Top Global Security Company

The global union, UNI, has signed an agreement with G4S, the world’s largest security corporation. The agreement makes clear that all of G4S’s 570,000 employees, spread across more than 110 countries, have the right to organize unions in a free and fair atmosphere. The pact also states that G4S will follow international and national labor law in its relations with its employees.

G4S is the second largest private employer in the world and the largest U.K. multinational corporation. The agreement, the first between a global union and a U.K. corporation, paves the way for improvements in the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers, including many in the Global South. Improvements in employment conditions and wages negotiated by local unions pursuant to this agreement will have a “positive effect,” not only on G4S employees, but the communities where they live and work.

In addition, UNI and G4S have reached a settlement regarding an OECD complaint filed by UNI. Workers in Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will see immediate improvements, thanks to the settlement, the union said. Philip Jennings, UNI general secretary, added: “We welcome this agreement as a first for a British employer in the service sector. A global company working with a global union is the way forward for a sustainable business model.”

Millions of Migrant Workers Face Wave of Massive Layoffs

As the global economic crisis worsens, millions of migrant workers face layoffs, wage cuts and downgraded working conditions in the countries that employed them, the International Labor Organization (ILO), said on Dec. 17. “Past experience makes it painfully aware that migrant workers, especially women workers and those in irregular status, are among the hardest hit and most vulnerable during crisis situations,” said a statement from ILO director- general Juan Somavia.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency’s regional office for Southeast Asia released the statement on the eve of International Migrants Day on Dec. 18. Somavia said that at least 100 million men and women have left home to find work in another part of the world.

In October, Somavia had warned that the financial crisis could lead to record global unemployment with 20 more million people out of work by the end of 2009. He appealed to governments in host countries to assess their labor market needs before resorting to general layoffs of migrant workers.

Auto Workers Treated Harshly in Bush Loan to Industry

While applauding President Bush’s offer to give carmakers a bridge loan totaling $17 billion, the United Auto Workers complained that the auto workers were being singled out for additional, unfair conditions. Bush is demanding that the UAW lower wages, pensions and other benefits to the level of Japanese auto companies operating in the United States by Dec 31, 2009.

To satisfy conservative Republicans in Congress, the union had previously made damaging concessions. In its 2007 contract, it accepted a two-tier provision to pay new hires $15 an hour (instead of $28), with no defined pension plan and dramatic cuts in their health insurance. The UAW also agreed that healthcare benefits for existing retirees would be transferred from the auto companies to an independent trust. The union has hardly any leverage to resist deep concessions that weaken it. It cannot risk a refusal to comply with any provisions of the loan and face the charge that it is helping to destroy the auto industry

The Bush rescue package gives General Motors and Chrysler until March 31 to come up with restructure plans to make them companies viable. By then, the problem will be in the hands of President Obama, who will have to decide whether an industry that employs more than three million people can be restored to health or left to die.. The UAW, while promising cooperation, is hoping that Obama will come up with solutions that eliminate provisions aimed at undermining the union..

Woolworth Closes Its Stores, 30,000 Jobs Lost in Britain

After 117 years, F. W. Woolworth is closing its remaining 400 five-and-dime variety stores in Britain. The news that 30,000 Woolworth jobs would be lost has jolted officials of Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union. The stores will be closed between Dec. 27 and Jan. 4.

“We have been informed by administrators that the leases of up to 300 stores will be sold. This is terrible news, as it means that our members will remain redundant and not transferred to the new owners of these 300 leases as they are announced,” said John Gorle, a Usdaw national officer. He said he was talking with administrators to “secure the best possible terms for our members with regards to pensions, holiday pay and the speed of receipt of redundancy pay.”

CEO Roger Farah said in a statement announcing the closings: “This will enable us to focus on growing our profitable athletic and specialty retailing formats, including Foot Locker, Lady Food Locker, Kids Foot Locker Champs Sports and the Northern Group of apparel stores.”

New Health-Care Strike Begins in Algeria

Algeria’s health-care workers walked off the job on Dec. 13 in pursuit of a 300 percent pay rose and other gains. The protesters had promised to strike if demands were not met, after a similar action taken last month. Representatives of the five participating groups declared the walkout a success, claiming their call had been headed in the capital and provincial towns alike.

“The whole university hospital community is working together in this protest to put forward our social demands,” said Professor Noureddine Zidouni, chairman of the National Union of Medical Science Teachers and Docents (SNPDSM). “We are providing a minimum of service, and under no circumstances will patients suffer because of the stoppage. Urgent care will not be put off to s later date,” he added.

Acknowledging that the wage demands of striking doctors go beyond the ability of the health ministry to pay, Lyès Merabet,general secretary of the National Public Health Practitioners’ Union, stressed that the doors to dialogue remained open and that compromise was possible if the authorities would come forward.

Another Wal-Mart Is Unionized in Quebec

Over 150 Wal-Mart workers in Hull, Quebec, have become the ninth group of Canadian “associates” to join the largest private sector union after a Dec. 17 decision by the Quebec Labor Board awarded bargaining rights for the Hull location to the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. “After nine times, the message coming from Wal-Mart workers in Canada to Wal-Mart executives in Bentonville, Ark. couldn’t be louder or clearer,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.

The Dec. 17 decision affects Hull’s main store and comes three and a half years after the union originally made an application for certification The store’s adjoining Tire and Lube Express was certified as separate bargaining unit in 2005. The labor relations process for the main store was drawn out by several legal challenges by the company.

The union is hoping that negotiations between the two Hull units and Wal-Mart will begin soon, but bargaining dates have yet to be scheduled. UFCW Canada is the nation’s largest private sector union with over 250,000 members from coast to coast.

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