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23 August, 2005ICEM News Release No. 6/1999
As locked-out American employees of global tyremaker Continental rounded off their solidarity tour of Europe today, "Conti" workers in Scotland were balloting on possible strike action.
The US delegation represented some 1,450 strikers at the General Tire plant in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Earlier this week they held talks with unions in Scotland, where Continental's Newbridge plant could soon be hit by a strike over imposed workforce cuts and longer work times.
Continental's business strategy declaredly includes "relocation of production to low-cost countries".
On the company's own figures, its production of car tyres in "low-cost countries" has soared, by volume, from 0 percent in 1990 to about 35 percent today. So Continental is well on course to its target of making 40 percent of its car tyres in "low-cost countries".
This is creating pressure on pay and jobs at various older-established Continental plants, and serious prospects of closures. In some of the European countries visited by the US delegation, unions said the local Continental management had warned them not to meet the American strikers - for fear of compromising their own plants' chances of survival.
The US visitors quickly established a rapport and solidarity with their Scottish colleagues, John McAllister says. He is the Branch Secretary for the GMB union at Continental's Scottish plant.
"The American Continental workers' situation is very similar to ours," McAllister told ICEM UPDATE. "The company obviously wants low-cost operations everywhere except in its home country, Germany."
Management at Newbridge is trying to impose new shift patterns that would mean fewer workers and longer hours, McAllister says. The company plans to cut 135 jobs there by April, and a further 60 over the rest of this year.
McAllister saw Newbridge management today with proposals to salvage the situation. "But how do I know that if I give something now, they won't be back for more? We recognise the company's need for profits and productivity. But here at Newbridge, we need some hope for the future. We can't go on working 42-hour weeks."
Talks would be continuing, McAllister said. "Obviously, we are hoping that a solution can still be found that will avert strike action."
AMERICAN CONTI DISPUTE ENTERS SIXTH MONTH
Meanwhile, the workers at the Continental's Charlotte plant in the USA have been on strike since last September, and have been effectively locked out since November, when the company "permanently replaced" them with strikebreakers.
The core issue in the American dispute is that the company is refusing to pay the going rate among leading employers of US tyre workers, even though the plant is now profitable.
After Continental bought General Tire, the workers agreed to "give back" US$90 million in wages and benefit cuts, in order to get the plant back to financial health. These give-backs amounted to $30,000 per worker. The clear understanding was that the workers would be properly compensated when the plant returned to profitability. In the meantime, General Tire is showing a healthy profit, but there is no sign that the workers are about to be paid their due.
Due to a legal loophole, American employers can fire workers during a dispute, as long as the sackings are termed "permanent replacement". This curious right is not absolute, however. If the company can be shown to have engaged in "unfair labour practices", it could be obliged to take the strikers back and to foot a big bill for wage backlogs and compensation.
The Charlotte workers are confident they can prove that General Tire bargained in "bad faith" - in other words, that it was not trying to reach a settlement. This would constitute an "unfair labour practice", as would the company's withholding of information needed for collective bargaining. The only question is how long the legal proceedings will take. US labour law cases tend to be a slow business.
The Americans' tour of Europe has been coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), whose membership includes unions organising in Continental's operations worldwide. Affiliated to the ICEM is the US tyreworkers' union, the USWA, as well as the various unions visited during the European tour.
CONTI SACKS TURKS FOR UNIONISING
This afternoon, the Americans flew back home from their final stop - Turkey. There, they visited the city of Bursa, about 200km from Istanbul. Continental's ContiTech division has a plant in Bursa, making plastic parts for the car industry.
Last November, workers at the ContiTech plant decided to organise a branch of the Turkey's Lastik-Is union. 47 of the 79 Bursa workers signed up for union membership. As soon as it heard the news, the ContiTech management in Bursa sacked 45 workers. All 45 were among the 47 who had opted to join the union.
The Americans also had discussions with Lastik-Is General Secretary Halil Altunay at the union's headquarters in Istanbul yesterday. Comments by Altunay and the USWA's John Sellers were widely reported by the Turkish press and television.
Sellers is Executive Vice President of the USWA and head of the union's Rubber/Plastics Conference. He accompanied the US Continental strikers' representatives throughout the European tour, and his remarks to the Turkish press summarised the American workers' case.
Halil Altunay stressed the global aspects of the encounter between Turkish and American Conti workers. "This is a good example of international workers' solidarity, as put into practice by our International, the ICEM," he told the Turkish media. "It comes at a time when workers everywhere are having to face the consequences of the globalisation of capital. Instead of bargaining properly, Continental is trying to get rid of the union in a number of countries."
WHISTLESTOP TOUR
Over the past week and a half, the Americans also visited Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France and Belgium. In each country, they met with the unions and their leaders, explained their current dispute and received solidarity and support. The delegation also held discussions with the ICEM at its headquarters in Brussels.
Immediately before the tour, USWA and ICEM officers had met in Germany - where Continental is headquartered - with ICEM German affiliate the IG BCE, worker representatives from the Continental Supervisory Board and officials of Continental's German Works Council (see ICEM UPDATE 3/1999).
The US delegation represented some 1,450 strikers at the General Tire plant in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Earlier this week they held talks with unions in Scotland, where Continental's Newbridge plant could soon be hit by a strike over imposed workforce cuts and longer work times.
Continental's business strategy declaredly includes "relocation of production to low-cost countries".
On the company's own figures, its production of car tyres in "low-cost countries" has soared, by volume, from 0 percent in 1990 to about 35 percent today. So Continental is well on course to its target of making 40 percent of its car tyres in "low-cost countries".
This is creating pressure on pay and jobs at various older-established Continental plants, and serious prospects of closures. In some of the European countries visited by the US delegation, unions said the local Continental management had warned them not to meet the American strikers - for fear of compromising their own plants' chances of survival.
The US visitors quickly established a rapport and solidarity with their Scottish colleagues, John McAllister says. He is the Branch Secretary for the GMB union at Continental's Scottish plant.
"The American Continental workers' situation is very similar to ours," McAllister told ICEM UPDATE. "The company obviously wants low-cost operations everywhere except in its home country, Germany."
Management at Newbridge is trying to impose new shift patterns that would mean fewer workers and longer hours, McAllister says. The company plans to cut 135 jobs there by April, and a further 60 over the rest of this year.
McAllister saw Newbridge management today with proposals to salvage the situation. "But how do I know that if I give something now, they won't be back for more? We recognise the company's need for profits and productivity. But here at Newbridge, we need some hope for the future. We can't go on working 42-hour weeks."
Talks would be continuing, McAllister said. "Obviously, we are hoping that a solution can still be found that will avert strike action."
AMERICAN CONTI DISPUTE ENTERS SIXTH MONTH
Meanwhile, the workers at the Continental's Charlotte plant in the USA have been on strike since last September, and have been effectively locked out since November, when the company "permanently replaced" them with strikebreakers.
The core issue in the American dispute is that the company is refusing to pay the going rate among leading employers of US tyre workers, even though the plant is now profitable.
After Continental bought General Tire, the workers agreed to "give back" US$90 million in wages and benefit cuts, in order to get the plant back to financial health. These give-backs amounted to $30,000 per worker. The clear understanding was that the workers would be properly compensated when the plant returned to profitability. In the meantime, General Tire is showing a healthy profit, but there is no sign that the workers are about to be paid their due.
Due to a legal loophole, American employers can fire workers during a dispute, as long as the sackings are termed "permanent replacement". This curious right is not absolute, however. If the company can be shown to have engaged in "unfair labour practices", it could be obliged to take the strikers back and to foot a big bill for wage backlogs and compensation.
The Charlotte workers are confident they can prove that General Tire bargained in "bad faith" - in other words, that it was not trying to reach a settlement. This would constitute an "unfair labour practice", as would the company's withholding of information needed for collective bargaining. The only question is how long the legal proceedings will take. US labour law cases tend to be a slow business.
The Americans' tour of Europe has been coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), whose membership includes unions organising in Continental's operations worldwide. Affiliated to the ICEM is the US tyreworkers' union, the USWA, as well as the various unions visited during the European tour.
CONTI SACKS TURKS FOR UNIONISING
This afternoon, the Americans flew back home from their final stop - Turkey. There, they visited the city of Bursa, about 200km from Istanbul. Continental's ContiTech division has a plant in Bursa, making plastic parts for the car industry.
Last November, workers at the ContiTech plant decided to organise a branch of the Turkey's Lastik-Is union. 47 of the 79 Bursa workers signed up for union membership. As soon as it heard the news, the ContiTech management in Bursa sacked 45 workers. All 45 were among the 47 who had opted to join the union.
The Americans also had discussions with Lastik-Is General Secretary Halil Altunay at the union's headquarters in Istanbul yesterday. Comments by Altunay and the USWA's John Sellers were widely reported by the Turkish press and television.
Sellers is Executive Vice President of the USWA and head of the union's Rubber/Plastics Conference. He accompanied the US Continental strikers' representatives throughout the European tour, and his remarks to the Turkish press summarised the American workers' case.
Halil Altunay stressed the global aspects of the encounter between Turkish and American Conti workers. "This is a good example of international workers' solidarity, as put into practice by our International, the ICEM," he told the Turkish media. "It comes at a time when workers everywhere are having to face the consequences of the globalisation of capital. Instead of bargaining properly, Continental is trying to get rid of the union in a number of countries."
WHISTLESTOP TOUR
Over the past week and a half, the Americans also visited Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France and Belgium. In each country, they met with the unions and their leaders, explained their current dispute and received solidarity and support. The delegation also held discussions with the ICEM at its headquarters in Brussels.
Immediately before the tour, USWA and ICEM officers had met in Germany - where Continental is headquartered - with ICEM German affiliate the IG BCE, worker representatives from the Continental Supervisory Board and officials of Continental's German Works Council (see ICEM UPDATE 3/1999).