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6 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 68/2000
American unions yesterday succeeded in stopping the takeover of Crown Central Petroleum by company insiders.
The campaign against the bid was run by the US Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) in conjunction with the national labour federation, the AFL-CIO.
Crown has a long history of union-busting. On 5 February 1996, management ordered union members to leave Crown's refinery in Pasadena, Texas, and locked the gates behind them. By the next day, the company replaced all 252 union workers with inexperienced "temporary" workers. The lockout has continued ever since.
Various groups have also accused the company of racism, sexism and environmental pollution.
Yesterday, at its annual shareholders' meeting, Crown announced that the vote in favour of the takeover fell far short of the two-thirds of voting shares needed under Maryland law in order for the family of Crown CEO Henry Rosenberg to acquire all remaining shares in the company at 9.50 US dollars per share.
WORLD PRESSURE ON CROWN
ICEM's and NOPEF's Lars Myhre with locked-out workers in Texas last year.
Stopping the takeover was unprecedented, since the Rosenberg family already owned over half the stock. One unnamed source with close ties to Crown insiders told PACE that Crown board members were shocked that the takeover by Rosemore, the Rosenberg family holding company, did not pass.
American unions yesterday succeeded in stopping the takeover of Crown Central Petroleum by company insiders.
The campaign against the bid was run by the US Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) in conjunction with the national labour federation, the AFL-CIO.
Crown has a long history of union-busting. On 5 February 1996, management ordered union members to leave Crown's refinery in Pasadena, Texas, and locked the gates behind them. By the next day, the company replaced all 252 union workers with inexperienced "temporary" workers. The lockout has continued ever since.
Various groups have also accused the company of racism, sexism and environmental pollution.
Yesterday, at its annual shareholders' meeting, Crown announced that the vote in favour of the takeover fell far short of the two-thirds of voting shares needed under Maryland law in order for the family of Crown CEO Henry Rosenberg to acquire all remaining shares in the company at 9.50 US dollars per share.
Stopping the takeover was unprecedented, since the Rosenberg family already owned over half the stock. One unnamed source with close ties to Crown insiders told PACE that Crown board members were shocked that the takeover by Rosemore, the Rosenberg family holding company, did not pass.
At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The campaign to end Crown's union-busting has received strong support from the ICEM and its affiliated unions.
In Norway, the ICEM-affiliated oilworkers' union NOPEF is pressing the Norwegian-based multinational Statoil to suspend all commercial dealings with Crown until the US company reverses its anti-union policies.
"PACE's victory in the shareholder battle is important for American workers, but also for oilworkers everywhere," commented Lars Myhre in Norway today. Myhre is NOPEF's President, and he chairs the ICEM energy workers' section.
"Unless and until Crown Central Petroleum halts its union-busting and its other nefarious activities, no respectable oil company should have anything to do with Crown," Myhre insisted.
In the US, where Crown gasoline and other products are on direct sale to the consumer, PACE and other organisations have been running a boycott campaign.