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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 09/2003
T he Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union (PACE) of the U.S. reported late in April that further contract talks failed to end a lockout of 86 employees of Continental Carbon Co. (CCC) in Ponca City, Oklahoma, that began 7 May 2001. An earlier round of talks in March, the first bargaining since last year, set the stage for the failed 28-29 April bargaining.
The lockout represents the longest running labour dispute in the history of the state of Oklahoma.
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). In November 2002, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs wrote to Leslie Koo, chairman of China Synthetic Rubber Corp. in Taiwan, the parent firm of CCC. There was no response. After April's failed bargaining, Higgs wrote again.
The ICEM, he said, "finds it deplorable that managers of Continental Carbon, in recent negotiations, are continuing their regressive bargaining posture, and are concerned not in the least with reaching a compromise." He again asked Koo to meet with the global trade federation "to explore possible solutions to end this labour dispute so that the livelihoods of 86 families can be restored."
CCC is a producer of carbon black, a bonding and filler agent used in the manufacture of tires and other rubber products. Houston, Texas-based CCC has three U.S. plants, all unionized, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Synthetic Rubber Corp. and China Cement Corp., part of the US$36 billion Koo family empire that also includes Chinatrust Bank.
Following April's negotiations, PACE Representative Ernie Anderson, the lead negotiator for Local 5-857 in Ponca City, said, "The company has continued to insist on proposals that no union in the U.S. would ever accept, which demonstrates the company's lack of interest in a settlement."
Anderson said CCC wants union members to serve as contractors in the plant and to bid against non-union firms for routine maintenance. "The company even insists that union bids be 30% lower than other bids for union workers to perform the maintenance work."
CCC has been cited by the U.S. government's National Labor Relations Board for labour law violations, and the Ponca City plant is the target of environmental lawsuits. The plant has been operated since the onset of the lockout by replacement workers and management staff, and PACE has called into question the quality of carbon black produced. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., one of CCC's largest customers, no longer purchases carbon black from the firm.
More information on the lockout can be obtained at www.fightbackonline.org.
The lockout represents the longest running labour dispute in the history of the state of Oklahoma.
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). In November 2002, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs wrote to Leslie Koo, chairman of China Synthetic Rubber Corp. in Taiwan, the parent firm of CCC. There was no response. After April's failed bargaining, Higgs wrote again.
The ICEM, he said, "finds it deplorable that managers of Continental Carbon, in recent negotiations, are continuing their regressive bargaining posture, and are concerned not in the least with reaching a compromise." He again asked Koo to meet with the global trade federation "to explore possible solutions to end this labour dispute so that the livelihoods of 86 families can be restored."
CCC is a producer of carbon black, a bonding and filler agent used in the manufacture of tires and other rubber products. Houston, Texas-based CCC has three U.S. plants, all unionized, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Synthetic Rubber Corp. and China Cement Corp., part of the US$36 billion Koo family empire that also includes Chinatrust Bank.
Following April's negotiations, PACE Representative Ernie Anderson, the lead negotiator for Local 5-857 in Ponca City, said, "The company has continued to insist on proposals that no union in the U.S. would ever accept, which demonstrates the company's lack of interest in a settlement."
Anderson said CCC wants union members to serve as contractors in the plant and to bid against non-union firms for routine maintenance. "The company even insists that union bids be 30% lower than other bids for union workers to perform the maintenance work."
CCC has been cited by the U.S. government's National Labor Relations Board for labour law violations, and the Ponca City plant is the target of environmental lawsuits. The plant has been operated since the onset of the lockout by replacement workers and management staff, and PACE has called into question the quality of carbon black produced. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., one of CCC's largest customers, no longer purchases carbon black from the firm.
More information on the lockout can be obtained at www.fightbackonline.org.