An international fact-finding team has arrived in Canada to examine an ongoing dispute at Swedish retail giant IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia, store. The team is tasked with investigating the situation at the store, where 350 workers have been locked out by the company, and then reporting its findings back to a Swedish and international audience.
The United States government is set to bring a case against telecoms giant T-Mobile for violating U.S. labour law.
The National Labor Relations Board announced that they would bring a case related to the illegal dismissal and disciplining of two T-Mobile workers - Josh Coleman and Ellen Brackeen - because of their union activity. The government only takes such an action when there is reasonable cause to believe that the case has merit.
The North American private security and surveillance multinational, Brinks, suffered a setback in court after being ordered to reinstate 4 cash in transit escort workers in Medellin: Silgado Bustamante Pérez, John Sergio Montoya Ospina, Faber Arbey Alvarez Mejía, and José Alexander Jaimes Escalante, due to violation of their constitutional rights including freedom of association.
Social partners from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary gathered two days in Prague to discuss how to improve social dialogue, collective bargaining and industrial relations.
Since the last week of October 2013, postal workers in Morocco have demonstrated, staged sit-ins, gone on hunger strike and participated in a one-day nation-wide general strike to support their Trade Union FNPL-UMT in their negotiations with the Poste Maroc management. The strike on 1 November had a near 100% participation rate of postal workers. Their reasons are that management took unserious bargaining positions and ignores the legally binding accord signed between themselves and the FNPL-UMT.
Transparency International has analysed national whistleblowing systems in 27 EU member states. They find that only four countries (Luxemburg, Romania, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) have legal frameworks for whistleblower protection that are considered to be advanced. Of the other 23 countries, 16 have partial legal protections for employees who report breaches and the remaining seven countries have either very limited or no legal frameworks.
The Ministry of Labour in Peru has proposed that Prosegur be fined 74,000 soles (19,321 Euros) for breaching the law in using substitute workers during the recent successful strike by Prosegur workers. Workers have constitutional rights in Peru, one of which outlaws the use of outside labour in this form to undermine a strike. The company used 36 workers in this way during the strike, 18 of whom were brought in from outside Lima. They had their accommodation and food paid for and were paid over and above the normal rates for the workers.
The Finnish post and logistics union PAU has called for industrial action in the sector after the employers' association proved itself incapable of bargaining seriously concerning wages, job security and restructuring in the postal sector. The industrial action comes in the form of an additional work and overtime ban, meaning workers are called to carry out only assigned-shift duties and nothing more.
PCS (Public and Commercial Services union) members who work for multinational Atos delivering privatised UK government contracts are striking this week in a row over pay. About 2,000 staff who administer medical examination and who deliver IT support for customers such as the BBC will be involved in the action tomorrow (5 November).
UNI Europa Finance Conference - Finance for the Future - Making Finance Work for People - Athens, Greece – 24-25 October 2013
Following an event widely regarded as particularly effective, energizing and interactive, the UNI Europa Finance Conference has issued three statements
A Statement was issued by UNI Europa Finance, and endorsed by the participants.
It puts forward a strong position:
