26 July, 2010
Chemical workers employed by French-based Rhodia in University Park, Illinois, chose the United Steelworkers (USW) in a US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union certification election on 15-16 July. The vote for USW representation, by an overwhelming 62-11 count, came after the union enforced plant management neutrality through the ICEM’s Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Rhodia.
When University Park workers contacted the USW in spring 2010, they were seeking a voice at work and economic parity with other unionised Rhodia workers in the US. Rhodia bought the specialty surfactants, polymers, and cosmetic preservatives plant earlier in 2009 from privately-held McIntyre Group of US. Among seven Rhodia plants in the US that are organised by the USW, three are in the Chicago, Illinois, area, so University Park workers did not have far to go to do comparisons.
But their bosses had a different idea. They began traditional efforts to dissuade workers from joining the USW, including pay offers and work-time meetings in which anti-union messages were delivered.
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Rhodia CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu at the 25 March, 2008, signing
The USW responded by reaching out to corporate leadership in France through the ICEM in order to halt local management’s violation of the GFA neutrality commitment. With ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal Özkan working directly with senior leaders of Rhodia in Paris, a joint ICEM-Rhodia declaration was distributed in early July to University Park workers by both the USW and local managers.
It was signed by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Rhodia Group Vice President Pascal Jeury, with CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu endorsing the joint message. The declaration reminded that Rhodia’s “commitment to remain strictly neutral” in workers’ unionization campaigns is intact, and cited seven points in Article 3, Paragraph 7 of the GFA (found here), including the point: “Rhodia respects the right of employees to organise themselves collectively and will remain strictly neutral concerning their choices in this matter.”
Özkan also secured a pledge from the corporate office to stop the in-plant managers’ meetings.
With the government-supervised election nearing, workers became unconstrained by management rhetoric and harassment and voted for USW by 86%. Warda said the vote reflects a promising future for labour-management harmony at University Park, and thanked corporate Rhodia for its immediacy.
The USW effectively put the language of the agreement in motion, and won US government certification. “Rhodia has committed to strict neutrality under an ICEM agreement and pledge,” said USW Organising Director Mike Yoffee. “While the US managers did not fully live up to this, it still had somewhat of an impact on neutralizing the company’s campaign, and gave our organizers the opening to make an issue of whether the US managers could be trusted to live up to their commitments.”
The new bargaining unit at the 18-month-old Rhodia-owned plant numbers 83.
The USW also won union bargaining rights for miners in British Colombia, Canada, last week. Some 260 workers at molybdenum mines and operations owned by US-based Thompson Creek Metals had their union finally certified by the provincial labour board. They voted 26-28 May, but details prevented the BC labour board from opening the ballot box until 22 July. The miners work at the Endako Mines and now are proud members of USW Local 1-424 based in Prince George, BC.