12 August, 2010UAW President challenges business to respect workers' rights to organize unions globally and seeks agreement for fair union elections as a First Amendment right of workers in the U.S.
USA: In his speech to the annual management seminar of the Centre for Automotive Research, delivered on August 2, the new President of United Auto Workers (UAW), Bob King, challenged business to respect workers' rights and sign up on principles for fair union elections.
King said the UAW will not passively "sit and wait" for passage of Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which has stalled in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but instead will present to executives of auto and auto-related industries - now operating without unionization - a "Principles and Fair Union Election" protocol that guarantees workers will have their basic rights upheld in free and unencumbered union certification elections.
The UAW will make those principles public following an upcoming executive board meeting of the union, however King indicated they will include equal access to workers seeking to form a union by both the union and management, and the principles would ban derogatory, insulting and false statements by either party. The UAW principles will also ban any threats, coercion, or pressure by either management or the union in the run-up to or after elections.
King told the U.S. auto industry's leading management seminar that for those companies that sign on and abide by the principles, "we will respect the decision of their workers whether they vote to join the union or not." However King warns that if companies don't agree to these principles, "then the UAW will not tolerate the violation of workers' First Amendment rights."
King, who was newly-elected to head the 400,000-member union in June, told the industry that "the 21st century UAW" will be less adversarial and has already proven to the three major U.S. automakers to be a partner in flexibility, innovation, quality, teamwork, productivity, continuous cost-savings, and mutual respect. In this spirit King also welcomed the presence of transnational companies that have built factories in the U.S., appreciating their role in creating jobs and forming part of the country's manufacturing base.
"If companies choose not to respect the rights of American workers - whether those companies are American or foreign-owned - then the UAW will use every resource at our disposal to convince those companies to abide by our democracy. It is particularly disturbing and unacceptable for a corporation to allow unionization in other countries, but treat American workers as second-class citizens who are not entitled to unionize," added King.
Recalling the pioneering role in international solidarity of Walter Reuther, UAW President from 1946 to 1970, King said, "Our once-vibrant cities have felt the pain and dislocation of globalization, and the needs of our communities are legitimate and must be addressed."
"Globalization has improved the living standards of hundreds of millions of people in developing countries. As evidenced by the recent labor actions in China, Mexico, and Bangladesh, workers around the world want the same thing - a decent wage, good working conditions, and the right to organize free unions. The interests of American workers are intricately interwoven with the aspirations of the world's poor.
"Just as the 20th-century UAW helped build the American middle class, the 21st-century UAW must contribute to the goal of creating a global middle class. This is the essence of our heritage of fighting for social justice," said King.
You can see a full copy of King's speech here.