UAW creates Global Organizing Institute to organize transplants

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, UAW/Unions

United Auto Workers president Bob King

It sounds ominous. The United Auto Workers union has imported interns from other automaking countries like China, Germany, South Korea and India to teach them the organizing techniques the union uses in the United States. The UAW’s Global Organizing Institute will give interns from other car building countries an indoctrination into the practices the union uses for collective bargaining, which they will then take back to their home countries and act as homegrown advocates for the UAW’s organizing efforts at non-unionized transplant facilities in the United States.

Bob King, UAW president, has a goal of bringing his union to one of the currently non-unionized transplant auto factories in the American south. With agents arguing for the UAW on the homefront and the union doing its best to get a transplant automaker on board, the union hopes it can not only help workers organize in other countries, but also help its own causes.

The UAW has asked for no interference from the leaders of those car companies and has threatened to use protests and other attention-grabbing practices should any automaker try to strongarm its workers into staying non-union. The interns will be given six weeks of training and field experience before they’re sent back to their home countries packing a new arsenal of skills.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

UAW creates Global Organizing Institute to organize transplants originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Most in Iraq drive without licenses as gov’t. works to institute new permits

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Middle East

Iraqi licensing procedure

Judging by what we’ve seen on the web, driving through Iraq is a few notches tougher than dealing with Southern California during rush hour. It appears to be the old “Anything Goes” method when moving from Point A to Point B. Iraqi authorities are looking to change that by introducing a licensing system that aims to instruct drivers on correct procedures while hoping to also cut down the madness seen on the roads around the nation.

According to an AFP report, the number of cars on the Iraq’s streets has doubled since Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed. Prior to the 2003 US.. invasion, there were 1.25 million registered vehicles, and now an additional 1.5 million have been imported into the country. With that many new vehicles hitting the road, authorities are working to implement a system to ensure that motorists understand how to legally operate their own vehicle.

Since the program was launched on October 21, some 8,000 drivers licenses have been issued. As the officials get more familiar with the procedures and computer systems, that pace is expected to pick up. The ultimate goal is that in just two years time every driver on the road will be one carrying a legal license to do so.

[Source: AFP via Yahoo! | Image: AFP/Getty]

Report: Most in Iraq drive without licenses as gov’t. works to institute new permits originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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