GM Europe to Cut 5,000 Jobs in Four Countries

General Motors Europe is seeking to eliminate 5, 000 jobs — about one-tenth of its European workforce — in a new round of cost cuts as the top U.S. carmaker aims to stem steep losses in declining auto markets. What is on the table is a plan for 5,000 voluntary layoffs in West Europe, says Jean-Marc Ruhland, a CFDT union member of the European works council at GM.

GM Europe employs about 55,000 staff after a previous round of job cuts in the European sector, which included the closing of a PSA Peugeot Citroen. The job cuts will affect auto plants in four countries Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. The hardest hit will be the Antwerp plant in Belgium with the loss of 1,300 jobs.

Labor unions from various countries are expected to meet March 13 in Frankfurt to coordinate actions, but at the moment, they are still in a negotiating phase. “We want to guarantee there will be no closings in West Europe until at least 2020; we want that the departure premiums will be calculated on the same basis all over Europe, with the same safeguards,” a union spokesman explained.

Foreign Investors Balk at Accepting Core Labor Standards in Trade

While advisers to Bangladesh¹s Commerce Ministry have recognized that duty-free access to U.S. markets hinges on respect for labor rights, some foreign investors are putting the country’s future at risk by undermining its ability to measure up on this core issue, says the Global Union, representing workers in the garment industry.

But foreign investors from Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand have publicly warned that allowing the formation of trade unions in Export Processing Zones would hold back further investment. They claim that freedom of association was not mandatory at the time they established their operations, and that to allow unions now would cause problems.

“Such comments are disgraceful, and show incredible contempt for Bangladesh. In reality, the prolonged suspension of trade union rights could endanger the country’s export industry,” said Neil Kearney, general secretary of the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation. The Bangladesh government is conducting a study on how to ensure standard labor practices at the workplace.

Polish Teachers Union Calls for Education Services for All Children

The teachers’ union (ZNP) has called on the Polish government to ensure that comprehensive early childhood services are provided to all young children in the country. This would help create equal opportunities for all children and contribute to their physical, social, cognitive and emotional development.

Currently, only about 30 percent of young children in Poland have access to early childhood education. This is far below the regional average and the Barcelona targets set in 2002. According to these targets, by 2010, countries in the European Union should provide early childhood education services to at least 90 percent of the children aged between 3 and the compulsory school age and to at least 33 percent of the children under 3.

ZNP is particularly concerned about the closure of many pre-schools, mostly in rural areas and about the unavailability of these schools in many parts of the country. The provision for pre-school education is decentralized to local authorities, who do not receive sufficient funding from the national government. They have cited lack of funds as the main reason for shutting down the pre-schools.

Turkish Unions May Strike to Oppose Changes in Social Security Law

A two-hour warning strike has been planned by unions for March 14 to protest against the government’s proposed reform of Turkey’s social security and health insurance law. In 2006, the Constitutional Court overturned the existing social security and health insurance law. An amended draft of the measure was proposed, which the unions vehemently oppose on the grounds that it erodes the rights of workers and make Turkey even less egalitarian.

The amended legislation, which has to be approved by Parliament, would raise the retirement age for both men and women to 65, and people would have to pay social contributions for 9,000 days before being entitled to a pension. The Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK) has condemned the plan, arguing that presently over 10 million people have no health insurance whatever.

KESK has accused the Turkish government of spending only around 10 percent of its budget on social security, compared to up to 30 percent in European countries. In response to the draft, the Turkish Confederation of Trade Unions of Workers (Turk-Is) has declared that it represents a loss of all the rights the workers have gained. Mustafa Kumlu, president of Turk-Is, has called for rejection of the draft.

ExxonMobil Victimizes Union Staff at Nigerian Oil Fields

Mobil Oil Nigeria Pfc., a 100 percent subsidiary owned by U.S.-based ExxonMobil, has declared war on the Nigerian oil workers’ union PENGASSAN. It has fired several of the union’s top leaders, including representatives of the union¹s bargaining committee. It has also unilaterally discharged shop stewards and workers identified with the union. The company seeks to conduct its production operations with a non-union staff.

Through much of 2007 and 2008. Mobil Oil did negotiate with the union over severance pay involving 40 workers, Some intermediate agreements were made, but implementing the results was elusive, the union claims. Many of the full-time white-collar employees have been replaced with contract and agency workers.

Bayo Olowoshile, general secretary of PENGASSAN, says: “These recent actions [of Mobil Oil] are pre-meditated attempts to victimize and harass union officers and frustrate legal justice. They amount to a serious breach of labour agreements, national industrial law and global labour standards.” The union is an affiliate of ICEM, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy. Mine and General Workers, has pledged to work for the reinstatement of Nigerian oil union leaders.

Three­Hour Strike by Greece’s Largest Union Causes Disruption

Striking garbage collectors pelted riot police with trash March 12 during labor protests that disrupted flights and caused continued power outages across Greece. The scuffles occurred outside the Labor Ministry in Athens, as 5,000 demonstrators marched to Parliament in the latest of a string of protests against a planned overhaul of the country¹s debt-ridden pension system.

Passing the unpopular reforms is the first major test for the governing conservatives since their re-election by a narrow margin six months ago. A week-long strike by municipal workers has left thousands of tons of uncollected trash on streets throughout Athens‹a problem made worse by large quantities of garbage disposed during the carnival weekend.

The three-hour work stoppage by the country’s largest union, CSEE, coincided with a debate on the pension reforms by lawmakers at the committee level. Lawyers, doctors, teachers and civil engineers are also on strike to protest the draft pension reforms.

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