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6 August, 2005ICEM news release No. 58/2000
Materials giant Imerys is using a self-proclaimed "goon squad" to oppose union recognition at one of its US plants.
This is shown by a photo taken yesterday morning at the multinational's Sylacauga site in Alabama.
An election is to be held at Sylacauga on 22 June to decide whether workers there should be represented by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers' Union (PACE).
But the US management's tactics are bringing French-based Imerys into serious disrepute.
The new photo features a man carrying the company's anti-union leaflets. He is wearing a teeshirt with "Goon Squad" printed on the back. "Goon" is a slang word for "thug".
So the teeshirt is an implied threat of physical attack. Goon squads often played a violently anti-union role in past US labour disputes.
PACE reports that some of the company's other leafleters were wearing the same shirts. The union believes that they were provided by Imerys.
This latest union-busting attempt at Sylacauga has been roundly condemned by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). PACE is one of the ICEM's American affiliates.
The goon squad photo coincides with the ICEM's receipt of a letter from Imerys CEO Patrick Kron, in which he admits that the company is allowing its Sylacauga management to pursue an anti-union line.
Dated 9 June, Kron's letter is in response to a recent protest from ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs.
"Local management," Kron replied, "has said from the beginning that a third party representation is not an advantage for the plant or our employees in Sylacauga and that a direct relationship between management and employees works well at Sylacauga. There is obviously no reason to prohibit the local management to express and explain this view to our employees and no commitment to refrain from doing so has been taken by anyone."
Kron's words will shock Imerys employees in Europe, where the company has emphasised "social partnership" with unions. But unions in Europe, too, are now questioning the company's two-faced approach to industrial relations. Can it really cuddle up to unions on one side of the Atlantic and use goons on the other?
Higgs had told Kron of three current anti-union activities by the Sylacauga local management:
(a) Supervisors at Sylacauga are wearing "Vote NO" stickers on their hardhats and posting the same stickers around the plant.
(b) The supervisors, sometimes two together, are also taking workers one at a time into offices, telling them that unionisation would mean a loss of wages and benefits, and urging them to vote against the union.
(c) The company is still using the union-busting lawyer Frank Parker to train its local managers.
In response, Kron wrote that the ICEM had been "misinformed" about points (b) and (c). He made no comment on point (a).
Higgs had also urged Kron to "confirm in writing to all workers in Sylacauga what you told your shareholders about the free choice of the workers." This was a reference to the commitment given by Kron, at last month's annual shareholder meeting in Paris, that the company would not campaign against the union. Both PACE and the ICEM asked questions during the Paris assembly, and discussed Sylacauga with Kron and his colleagues afterwards.
In his reply to Higgs' letter, Kron made no comment on the suggestion that he should write to the Sylacauga workers.
Today, Higgs again wrote to Kron.
Kron had argued that Imerys is "committed to respect the laws in all the countries where we operate and to conduct our industrial relations and business in an ethical manner."
Higgs' reply: "My experience tells me that a blind reliance on domestic legislation in many countries would certainly not deliver acceptable ethical business behaviour."
Imerys employees in Europe should view the company's anti-union preference in Sylacauga with concern, Higgs stated - "as I am sure they will when it is brought to their attention."
And he signed off with the hope that "even at this late stage, you will reflect on the inconsistency in the application of Imerys' declared corporate ethics, by ensuring your US management respect trade unions as legitimate social partners who, as in the European Union, should be welcomed rather than resisted."
This is shown by a photo taken yesterday morning at the multinational's Sylacauga site in Alabama.
An election is to be held at Sylacauga on 22 June to decide whether workers there should be represented by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers' Union (PACE).
But the US management's tactics are bringing French-based Imerys into serious disrepute.
The new photo features a man carrying the company's anti-union leaflets. He is wearing a teeshirt with "Goon Squad" printed on the back. "Goon" is a slang word for "thug".
So the teeshirt is an implied threat of physical attack. Goon squads often played a violently anti-union role in past US labour disputes.
PACE reports that some of the company's other leafleters were wearing the same shirts. The union believes that they were provided by Imerys.
This latest union-busting attempt at Sylacauga has been roundly condemned by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). PACE is one of the ICEM's American affiliates.
The goon squad photo coincides with the ICEM's receipt of a letter from Imerys CEO Patrick Kron, in which he admits that the company is allowing its Sylacauga management to pursue an anti-union line.
Dated 9 June, Kron's letter is in response to a recent protest from ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs.
"Local management," Kron replied, "has said from the beginning that a third party representation is not an advantage for the plant or our employees in Sylacauga and that a direct relationship between management and employees works well at Sylacauga. There is obviously no reason to prohibit the local management to express and explain this view to our employees and no commitment to refrain from doing so has been taken by anyone."
Kron's words will shock Imerys employees in Europe, where the company has emphasised "social partnership" with unions. But unions in Europe, too, are now questioning the company's two-faced approach to industrial relations. Can it really cuddle up to unions on one side of the Atlantic and use goons on the other?
Higgs had told Kron of three current anti-union activities by the Sylacauga local management:
(a) Supervisors at Sylacauga are wearing "Vote NO" stickers on their hardhats and posting the same stickers around the plant.
(b) The supervisors, sometimes two together, are also taking workers one at a time into offices, telling them that unionisation would mean a loss of wages and benefits, and urging them to vote against the union.
(c) The company is still using the union-busting lawyer Frank Parker to train its local managers.
In response, Kron wrote that the ICEM had been "misinformed" about points (b) and (c). He made no comment on point (a).
Higgs had also urged Kron to "confirm in writing to all workers in Sylacauga what you told your shareholders about the free choice of the workers." This was a reference to the commitment given by Kron, at last month's annual shareholder meeting in Paris, that the company would not campaign against the union. Both PACE and the ICEM asked questions during the Paris assembly, and discussed Sylacauga with Kron and his colleagues afterwards.
In his reply to Higgs' letter, Kron made no comment on the suggestion that he should write to the Sylacauga workers.
Today, Higgs again wrote to Kron.
Kron had argued that Imerys is "committed to respect the laws in all the countries where we operate and to conduct our industrial relations and business in an ethical manner."
Higgs' reply: "My experience tells me that a blind reliance on domestic legislation in many countries would certainly not deliver acceptable ethical business behaviour."
Imerys employees in Europe should view the company's anti-union preference in Sylacauga with concern, Higgs stated - "as I am sure they will when it is brought to their attention."
And he signed off with the hope that "even at this late stage, you will reflect on the inconsistency in the application of Imerys' declared corporate ethics, by ensuring your US management respect trade unions as legitimate social partners who, as in the European Union, should be welcomed rather than resisted."