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1 August, 2011
A two-year campaign by the Building & Wood Workers’ International (BWI), it’s North American affiliate, the International Association of Machinists (IAM), and BWI affiliate GS of Sweden paid off on 27 July when union representation was won at IKEA’s only Swedwood manufacturing plant in the US.
Workers at the three-year-old plant in Danville, Virginia, voted by an astonishing 76% affirmation, 221-69, to have IAM represent them in a US government-supervised election. The vote brings relief to an agonising and frustrating period for BWI, IAM and GS, which sought to make IKEA live up to commitments in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) that calls for voluntary recognition and good faith-dialogue when workers indicate a desire for a union.
Swedwood is 100% owned by IKEA and exclusively provides home furnishings to the retailer. The Danville factory provides many of the furnishings to IKEA’s 37 US stores.
Senior managers at IKEA rebuffed BWI at several junctures in the Global union Federation’s efforts to get the company to acknowledge and correct anti-social practices at Swedwood in Danville. That included health and safety deficiencies, mandatory overtime at risk of punishment – something that is contrary to IKEA’s written code of conduct – and failure to allow shop-flow freedom of association as outlined in the GFA. The only choice left was the government-mandated union certification process through the US National Labor Relations Board.
Swedwood workers at Danville, to their credit, responded resoundingly last week.
“Despite the ‘persuasive’ tactics and intervention strategies that the Swedwood management installed throughout the entire union election process, and to be frank, prior to that, the workers at Swedwood have emphatically said yes to the union,” stated BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson.
BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson
Swedwood must now reach a first collective labour agreement in Danville, one that must come without stalling and through honest negotiating that meets the social needs of workers.
The Director of IAM’s Woodworking Department, Bill Street, said it best: “IKEA, you have a choice to make. You can recognise what we’ve been saying over the past is in fact true and then begin bargaining with us in good faith, or you can continue this fight.”
The ICEM congratulates BWI, IAM, and GS for actively working with Swedwood workers in America to ensure they have a voice at work.