6 February, 2006
An ICEM intervention in a Thai glass factory dispute at Saint-Gobain Sekurit produced a victory for 700 workers last week.
The majority of the workers, members of a plant union affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers’ Unions, had been locked out since 6 January by hostile local managers. They conducted demonstrations in front of the factory in Thailand’s Rayong province and at the Labour Ministry in Bangkok, while the ICEM and French trade unions used a steady stream of facts and data in open-channelled dialogue with senior officials of Saint-Gobain in Paris.
The factual matter included the harsh treatment inflicted on trade unionists at the plant, including initiating a court case in order to sack four of them for leading plant-gate protests. The contract dispute was over many issues, including bonus payments for 2005 and management proposals to cut Sunday overtime pay by half.
After Saint-Gobain Sekurit imposed the lockout on half the workforce and sacked the four, bargaining became regressive as Thai managers dramatically reduced the bonus proposal and said it would be for two years instead of one.
With front-line information provided by the ICEM, French unions Fédération Chimie Energie CFDT, CGT Verre Céramique and Fédéchimie CGT-FO were in daily contact with Saint-Gobain in Paris, putting pressure on top-level decision makers who steered the dispute to a successful conclusion.
The result is that Thai glass managers reinstated the four and dropped the court cases. Union and local managers also agreed on all collective bargaining issues, including a bonus. The ICEM commends the French unions for delivering a fair and just labour agreement to workers at the productive and growth-filled glass factory.