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14 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 36/2003
A n eight-day strike by ICEM affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) of America sent a sharp message to French-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. that workers in Massachusetts are growing tired of the firm's stall tactics. The strike began on 5 November and ended 13 November.
The 800 UAW-represented workers at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester, Mass., voted the union in as bargaining representative in August 2001. But the company has consistently stalled and delayed efforts to reach a first collective agreement. The only company offers presented would radically reduce terms and conditions of employment.
In the process, Saint-Gobain has committed 15 separate unfair labour practice violations of US federal labour law, including unilaterally reducing workers' health care benefits and bypassing the UAW on workplace health and safety concerns. The strike came a day after workers overwhelmingly voted to reject a take-away contract proposal.
"We had no other choice," stated Tony Quitadama, a 30-year mechanic at the plant and UAW activist. "We've been bargaining with them for almost two years and just as they threatened they would in trying to defeat the union vote in 2001, they continue to violate the law and make contract proposals that would take us backward not forward."
"What this company is doing and has done is an absolute travesty and an affront to these hard working people," said UAW Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler.
The ICEM continues to coordinate international support for the struggle with French unions Fédéchimie CGT-FO and Fédération Chimie Energie FCE-CFDT, both of which represent workers at Saint-Gobain plants in France. The ICEM together with the UAW and US labour federation AFL-CIO has raised a case with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Saint-Gobain's clear violations of the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The labour organisations brought the case to the OECD's US National Contact Point, the US State Department's Office of Investment, detailing Saint-Gobain's anti-worker practices. The labour unions call for "a prompt and thorough response" by Saint-Gobain and the French National Contact Point to the charges; ask that a meeting be arranged by the French Contact Point with top officials from both Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and the UAW over OECD violations; and sought removal of all company "consultants, attorneys and other advisors responsible for the company's anti-union conduct that is in violation of the OECD Guidelines."
Saint-Gobain Abrasives, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, manufactures abrasion materials and products used in cutting, shaping and polishing at its Worcester facility.
The 800 UAW-represented workers at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester, Mass., voted the union in as bargaining representative in August 2001. But the company has consistently stalled and delayed efforts to reach a first collective agreement. The only company offers presented would radically reduce terms and conditions of employment.
In the process, Saint-Gobain has committed 15 separate unfair labour practice violations of US federal labour law, including unilaterally reducing workers' health care benefits and bypassing the UAW on workplace health and safety concerns. The strike came a day after workers overwhelmingly voted to reject a take-away contract proposal.
"We had no other choice," stated Tony Quitadama, a 30-year mechanic at the plant and UAW activist. "We've been bargaining with them for almost two years and just as they threatened they would in trying to defeat the union vote in 2001, they continue to violate the law and make contract proposals that would take us backward not forward."
"What this company is doing and has done is an absolute travesty and an affront to these hard working people," said UAW Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler.
The ICEM continues to coordinate international support for the struggle with French unions Fédéchimie CGT-FO and Fédération Chimie Energie FCE-CFDT, both of which represent workers at Saint-Gobain plants in France. The ICEM together with the UAW and US labour federation AFL-CIO has raised a case with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Saint-Gobain's clear violations of the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The labour organisations brought the case to the OECD's US National Contact Point, the US State Department's Office of Investment, detailing Saint-Gobain's anti-worker practices. The labour unions call for "a prompt and thorough response" by Saint-Gobain and the French National Contact Point to the charges; ask that a meeting be arranged by the French Contact Point with top officials from both Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and the UAW over OECD violations; and sought removal of all company "consultants, attorneys and other advisors responsible for the company's anti-union conduct that is in violation of the OECD Guidelines."
Saint-Gobain Abrasives, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, manufactures abrasion materials and products used in cutting, shaping and polishing at its Worcester facility.