77-Day Sit-in by Hundreds of South Korean Car Workers Ends
A 77-day confrontation between hundreds of laid-off workers and police at  Ssangyong Motor plant came to an end Aug, 6, as protesters voluntarily ended their occupation of a paint shop at the factory. The conflict ended after  management announced that 48 percent of some 1,000 fired workers will be put on unpaid, long-term leave instead.

As the strikers left the plant, police officers checked their identifications to sort out the masterminds of the violent strike.  Police plan to detain at least 21 union leaders and question about 100 strikers who had attacked officers by firing  steel ammunition from slingshots or throwing Molotov cocktails at them.

The union accepted the company offer to place 48 percent of the 1,000-member wokforce on long-tem unpaid leave—a better deal than the 40 percent the company had originally offered. About 1,670 workers have left the company through voluntary retirement plans.
India’s Bank Unions Call 2-Day Strike in Behalf of 900,000 Workers
Bank unions, representing about 900,000 employees in state-run banks and old-generation private sector bsnks,  went on strike after talks with the Indian Banks’ Association, the top body representing bank management, failed on Aug. 4.  “The two-day strike, called to reinforce the workers’ demand for higher wages and pensions, affected cash transactions and foreign exchange trading volumes.

“The strike is total and has affected cash transactions,” said C.H. Venkatachatam, convenor of the United Forum of Bank Unions. “ATMs are full of cash, and I hope common people  who stayed mostly away. would not be affected for these two days,” said M.D. Maliya, chairman and director at   the state-owned Bank of Beroda.

India has 80 commercial banks, including 29 foreign banks and nearly 3,000 cooperative and rural banks. State-run banks, where the strikes have occurred, control 55 percent of all assets. Volumes in the stock market were average, but trading in the bond and currency markets was down, as state-owned banks, the biggest players in the market,  stayed mostly away.

German Employees Exchange Wage Cuts for Equity
German trade unionists are discovering part-ownership as a tool against the financial crisis. They hope tat in accepting wage cuts in return for a share of the profits will give their members more power and money in the future. A plan being promoted by Berthold Huber, president of the powerful union, I.G. Metall, is to enable the  more than 380,000 employees of the combined VW-Porsche to hold shares in Europe’s largest automaker.

Union officials concede that it is unrealistic to expect to achieve their goal of a 10 percent share of VW for employees but they believe that 2 or 3 percent is within the realm of possibility. In any case, the proposal signals that Germany’s most important trade union is re-thinking its former strategy on a core issue of the market economy.

Until now, the majority of I.G. Metall members  believed that shareholding was a ploy used by the class enemy to undermine class consciousness. But now that the financial crisis has forced some companies to  beg for help from the government and unions, I.G. Metall has  discovered that the issue could work in its favor, and not just at VW.

Panama’s Dockers on Hunger Strike, Fired for Trying to Form Union

Four port workers who were sacked for attempting to create two independent unions are on a hunger strike in the Panamanian city of Balboa. The workers, who are staging their protest at the entrance of the port, are part of a group of 70 workers who were dismissed by their employers after their attempt to create trade unions at two workplaces, with the support of the Central General Autonoma de Trabajadores de Panama

The companies are refusing to reinstate the workers, despite instructions from the Ministry of Labor to do so. They have replaced them with workers who are members of the company-controlled unions.

Luis Fruto of the CGTP said:  “The managers and business representatives don’t want any unions that genuinely represent the interests of the workers.  But workers will continue their fight for an independent union.” Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a multinational port company with operations in over 50 countries, also runs the Panamanian port of Cristobal.

Fired Workers Remain Defiant as Sit-In at Turbine Wind Factory Ends

Eighteen days after they barricaded themselves into the country’s only major wind turbine plant, six Vestas Wind Systems workers ended their sit-in  on Aug. 7, as they were escorted out of the plant by bailiffs with orders to remove them. Workers had occupied an office inside the plant since July 20 in protest at plans to eliminate 625 jobs, which the firm said was due to a fall in demand.

The  Rail, Maritime and Transport  Union (RMT), which has supported the protesters during the sit-in, accused the owners of “kicking the legs” from under a rescue package that could have saved it from closure. Bob Crow of the RMT union met with energy minister Joan Ruddock on Aug. 6 to discuss the future of the factory.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said  it would not comment on private meetings, but added that discussions had been held with Vestas  over the closure. But the company spokesman, Peter Kruse,  said the  subsidies were not the issue; the factory was closing for lack of orders.

Ghana’s Public Health Workers Are Denied 17% Pay  Increase

The Health Services Workers Union (HSWU) on Aug. 5 expressed dismay about the exclusion of  public sector health workers from the 17 percent salary adjustment agreed to between the government and organized labor in July.

A statement issued in Accra by Abu Kuntulo, HSWU’s general secretary, said since June 2006, members had not benefitted from any salary increment, the year when a 7 percent salary until May 13 of this year, when a 7 percent salary adjustment was offered them. The statement said the money was yet to be paid.

The Ministry of Health and the Ghsna Health Services were urged to implement the already negotiated 7 percent salary increment for 2008 to avoid any “unforeseen industrial disharmony.”  It called on the National Labor Commission to take note of the violation and ensure that the salary increment and arrears due to its members were paid without further delay.