25,000 Zimbabwe Miners Strike with Demand for Higher Wages
Thousands of mine workers in Zimbabwe went on strike for better pay on May 13 after negotiations with employers collapsed, union leaders said.  “This is a national strike which covers the entire country, and so far, 25,000 workers have headed the call to go out on strike,” said Tinago Ruzive, president of the Associated Mine Workers Union of Zimbabwe. “The Chamber of Mines has refused to negotiate with us,” he said.

The workers are demanding 200 dollars a month for the lowest employees, who  earn  $140 a month. Ruzive  said that a labor tribunal had already awarded  a 140-dollar monthly wage to the mine workers, but the national chamber of mines  has instructed its members not to pay out the full increase.  Zimbabwe’s mining sector, which employs 40,000 workers, is showing signs of recovery after an economic crisis that saw hyperinflation erase the value of the local currency, which was abandoned last year.

Most of the mines were placed under maintenance or shut down, due to hyperinflation. Stringent government regulations compelled companies to sell minerals through the central banks.  The country’s economy has been stabilizing since a power-sharing government was formed last year between President Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader  Morgan Tsvangiral, and the U.S. dollar was established as the nation’s currency.

The UAW Wants to Share in ‘Big 3’s’ Financial Success
The United Auto Workers (UAW) is expected to demand that some of its givebacks be reversed during contract talks in 2011, at the expiration of the contract signed in 2007—and modified last year with more concessions as General Motors and Chrysler approached bankruptcy.

The union is now a part-owner of GM and Chrysler through a union  trust fund. Its members are barred from striking against the two auto companies over compensation for the next five years. All told,  hourly workers gave up wages and benefits worth $7,000 to $30,000 each a year during the downturn, the union estimates.

“When there’s equality of sacrifice, there has to be equality of gain,” says Bob King, the UAW’s incoming president. “We want to make sure when things turn around, we share in the upside.”  King  is putting the companies on notice that he expects hourly workers to be given back some of the benefits they surrendered, as the bottom lines of all three companies improve—at least to the extent that  management and other  stakeholders are rewarded.

Greek Unions Call New Strike over Pension Reforms
Greek unions announced they would call a new general strike to protest pension reforms next week,  as government officials waited May  12 for the first installment of a euro 110 billion (US $140 billion) rescue package designed to stave off bankruptcy. Greece’s two main public and private sector unions set a walkout for May  20—a day after Greece must repay some 9 billion  euros (US $11.4 billion), using loans from its Eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund. (IMF)

 Under the government’s pension reform plan, the retirement age will be raised to an average 63 years,  abolishing all incentives to early retirement, encouraging workers to stay on the job longer, separating the health care and pension systems  and having men and women in the public sector  retire at the same age. Unions say that  those earning low wages will suffer the most in. the proposed increase in the retirement ages and pension cuts.

John Monks, general secretary of  the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said, in support of the strikers: “Not less than 16 percent of the GDP will be cut from public sector wages, jobs and expenditures, while taxes will be hiked. As a result, unemployment will be pushed into double-digit figures, and poverty, already hitting 20 percent of the Greek population, will jump further.” Monks predicted that “four years from now, Greece and its citizens will still be shouldering  a mountainous debt of 140 percent of GDP.”

Four Teachers Assassinated in Colombia
Since Jan. 28, four teachers affiliated to the teachers’ association of Cordoba have been assassinated in the Department of Cordoba. The International Trade Union Confederation, as well as its Colombian affiliated unions, have strongly condemned these murders and the constant threats against the leaders and headquarters of the teachers’ union.

During the month of  April alone, two members of the teachers union of Antioquia (ADIDA) have been murdered and an attempt has been made on the life of the union president. Fifty-nine teachers were threatened and harassed during their April 15 march, which was filmed by an official of the Criminal Investigation Department.

In a letter to the Colombian authorities, the ITUC urged  President Alvaro Uribe , his  government and the relevant officials to take every action necessary that these incidents are investigated and that those responsible for these crimes are identified and brought to justice. The ITUC also called for the immediate and effective protection of the teachers under threat as well as the protection of the Adida headquarters.

Spanish Unions to Strike over 5% Wage Cut
Spain’s two biggest unions will stage a one-day sector strike to protest against wage cuts aimed at bringing the federal  budget under control and preventing Spain from following Greece’s path. The union’s officials held almost three hours of talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on May 13 to discuss his austerity plan under pressure from European Union partners and the United States.

Union leaders told Zapata they totally disagreed with his plan to cut public sector wages by an average 5 percent in 2010,  introduce a wage  freeze in 2011 and reduce public investment spending by six billion euros (US $7.45 billion). The strike would fall on the day before Madrid’s Corpus Cristi public holiday, ensuring maximum  take-up by public servants in  Spain’s capital, and leading to possible disruptions in the travel plans of many Spaniards over the long weekend.  But a full-scale general strike is not planned for now, union leaders say.

The Madrid bourse fell 1.3 percent  amid market concern over possible delay by the government in applying the proposed austerity measures. Analysts view Spain as  another weak link in the Eurozone and consider it at risk of succumbing to a debt crisis similar to that which has shaken Greece and the euro.

Tentative Settlement Reached in California Mine Lockout
Miners in Boron, Cal.  reached a tentative agreement to end  their 15-week lockout. The Longshore and Warehouse Union says the pact beats back most  of the demands made by Rio Tinto, the world’s fourth largest mining company.  Rio Tinto had demanded the right to convert full-time jobs to part-time jobs,  gut seniority, cut pay at any time and outsource.

The six-year agreement calls for annual 2.5 percent wage increases, but takes a step backward on pensions, with  new hires receiving 401(k)s. Workers credited the victory to the outpouring of support from their own small town in Southern California and ILWU members, as well as from labor activists throughout the labor movement. Tons of food were delivered from the  Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.  The local credit union—the only financial institution in Boron—let workers slide for three months on their house and car notes.

Rio Tinto spent many thousands of dollars attacking the ILWU and trying to convince thru residents of Boron that union members were greedy and hurting the company, but the union was able to show that this was a David v. Goliath struggle between workers and their families against a multinational conglomerate seeking to starve workers into submission to a workplace without rights.