Read this article in:
21 June, 2000Over 300 delegates of 195 IMF affiliates from 101 countries, representing 23 million metalworkers worldwide, assure Indonesian and Malaysian unions of full support.
BIRMINGHAM: Delegates of the Central Committee of the International Metalworkers' Federation, currently meeting in Birmingham, have unanimously adopted a resolution regarding conflicts in two transnational corporations, namely Sony and Ericsson.
At Sony Indonesia, 900 mostly female workers who are members of the SPMI trade union have been on strike for over 50 days. They are resisting attempts by management to change the organisation of production, but all mediation has failed due to the inflexible, arrogant attitude of the management of P.T. Sony Electronics, Indonesia.
Concerning the conflict at Ericsson in Malaysia, after more than 25 years of unionisation of its plants, negotiating and concluding eight collective agreements, the local management now wants to get rid of the union, which has served claim for the ninth collective agreement. The artificial government-imposed division between the electrical and electronics industries has deprived thousands of Malaysian electronics workers of the right to join or form a national union of their choice. Ericsson is attempting to use the provision of this repressive legislation to deprive the Electrical Industry Workers' Union, an IMF affiliate, of its representative status in this company.
The delegates of the IMF Central Committee are demanding that management of the two companies solve the conflicts immediately through negotiations with the respective unions. They urge management of Sony Indonesia to give up its inflexible position and demand that Ericsson withdraw the application to the Malaysian Registrar of Trade Unions to reconsider the branch classification of the company and to immediately start collective bargaining with the Malaysian union in good faith.
The head office of Ericsson, in Sweden, sent a message to the CC delegates stating that they will attempt to find a solution agreeable to all parties as their goal is good labour relations with all Ericsson workers.
If the conflicts with the subsidiaries of the two transnational companies are not resolved in a short time, the IMF Secretariat is directed to discuss further actions with the unions concerned both in the mother country of these companies as well as with the unions being represented in the subsidiaries.
At Sony Indonesia, 900 mostly female workers who are members of the SPMI trade union have been on strike for over 50 days. They are resisting attempts by management to change the organisation of production, but all mediation has failed due to the inflexible, arrogant attitude of the management of P.T. Sony Electronics, Indonesia.
Concerning the conflict at Ericsson in Malaysia, after more than 25 years of unionisation of its plants, negotiating and concluding eight collective agreements, the local management now wants to get rid of the union, which has served claim for the ninth collective agreement. The artificial government-imposed division between the electrical and electronics industries has deprived thousands of Malaysian electronics workers of the right to join or form a national union of their choice. Ericsson is attempting to use the provision of this repressive legislation to deprive the Electrical Industry Workers' Union, an IMF affiliate, of its representative status in this company.
The delegates of the IMF Central Committee are demanding that management of the two companies solve the conflicts immediately through negotiations with the respective unions. They urge management of Sony Indonesia to give up its inflexible position and demand that Ericsson withdraw the application to the Malaysian Registrar of Trade Unions to reconsider the branch classification of the company and to immediately start collective bargaining with the Malaysian union in good faith.
The head office of Ericsson, in Sweden, sent a message to the CC delegates stating that they will attempt to find a solution agreeable to all parties as their goal is good labour relations with all Ericsson workers.
If the conflicts with the subsidiaries of the two transnational companies are not resolved in a short time, the IMF Secretariat is directed to discuss further actions with the unions concerned both in the mother country of these companies as well as with the unions being represented in the subsidiaries.