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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 92/2001
Global collective bargaining took a step forward today.
For the first time, a major industrial dispute has been resolved by union-employer negotiations over a phone hook-up spanning three continents. And a global trade union federation played a pivotal role in the settlement.
A first for global bargaining.
Tense faces in Bangkok as ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs reported back to the Thai Almond workers on Wednesday's stalled negotiations. But three days later, a phone hook-up across three continents brought a good settlement.
(photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM)
The agreement between multinational jewellery maker Almond and its Thai workers was negotiated over the past few days in a series of conference calls linking Bangkok, Brussels and New York. This morning, the Thai Almond workers unanimously voted to accept it.
The main points of the settlement:
- 40 Thai workers dismissed by Almond about a year ago, including union leaders, will get their jobs back and will receive full compensation.
- Their union will now have full bargaining rights at Almond. "Within 3 days of receiving a list of demands from the Union on behalf of its members, the Company will in good faith enter into meaningful negotiations with the Union."
- Almond will drop all lawsuits connected with the dispute.
- The ICEM, the Thai union and other labour organisations involved will publicly state that all issues related to the dispute have been satisfactorily settled and that the relationship between the company and the union has now been regularised.
Now, they can get their jobs back.
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM
The package was negotiated by the Almond workers' union in Bangkok, Almond's owner and President Jonathan Mandelbaum in New York and, in Brussels, Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
Signed copies of the agreement were exchanged by fax between Brussels and New York on Saturday night, Brussels time. Within hours, the settlement was unanimously approved by the union's members in Bangkok.
Almond is a leading international jewellery producer, based in New York. The Brussels-headquartered ICEM represents more than 20 million workers worldwide, including those in jewellery production.
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM
The dispute began in December 2000, when workers at the Almond Company (Thailand) Ltd. organised a labour union. The Thai Ministry of Labour granted the union recognition on 16 December 2000. However, Almond immediately dismissed 40 union members, including the leadership of the union.
But the union elected new leaders and actually increased its membership. This April, Thailand's Labour Relations Committee ruled that the 40 employees had been unlawfully dismissed and should be reinstated. The company lodged an appeal with the Central Labour Court. On 13 November, the court upheld the previous ruling that the 40 workers should be reinstated, with full back pay. But Almond management in Thailand still refused to take them back, and said it would take its appeal all the way up to Thailand's highest court.
The Almond workers' union, meanwhile, launched an international campaign on the issue and sought help from the ICEM.
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM
Negotiations began last Wednesday, with talks at the company's plant in Bangkok between Almond's Managing Director Somchai Sahachaiseree and Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
At Higgs' insistence, he was accompanied in these negotiations both by the current President of the Thai Almond Workers' Union and by the union's former President, who had been among the workers dismissed last December.
However, the talks collapsed when the Bangkok management refused to take back all of the 40 workers.
Fred Higgs reported back to the Thai Almond workers on this stalemate. They resolved to continue their action, and he pledged that the ICEM would launch a full-scale global campaign unless a last-minute settlement was reached with Almond.
Higgs then flew back to Brussels, where the ICEM is headquartered. On Thursday, he received a call from Jonathan Mandelbaum in New York. A series of negotiating sessions followed - by phone conference between the three continents.
On Saturday afternoon, Brussels time, a settlement was reached. Higgs and Mandelbaum immediately exchanged signed copies of the agreement by fax. Just a few hours later, the Thai union held a meeting on Sunday morning, Bangkok time. There, the union members unanimously approved the agreement.
To bring the agreement into legal force in Thailand, it will now be signed between the Thai union and the local management.
"This is, first and foremost, a great success for the Thai Almond workers and their new union," commented the ICEM's Fred Higgs today. "Their resolve and their endurance have been crucial to this outcome. I am very proud of our Thai Almond members, who this morning voted for the 'all back' option, rather than the 'buy-out' option proposed by the company. Now, they rightly deserve to return to work in dignity.
"This is also a significant advance for global industrial relations," Higgs added. "The ICEM is proud to be part of that process. Union-employer bargaining across three continents was a novel experience, and one that involved some unsocial hours for all concerned. I would like to thank our Thai trade union colleagues, the Thai Labour Campaign and Mr. Mandelbaum for the spirit in which they approached these negotiations.
"It is part of the agreement that the ICEM should publicly state that all issues related to the dispute have been satisfactorily settled and that the relationship between the company and the union has now been regularised," Higgs said. "I am happy to do so. We hope that this is the beginning of a fruitful new relationship between Almond and the trade union movement."