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Conti Tyres Global Campaign: Australians Picket German Consulate Over US Dispute

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15 July, 2005ICEM News release No. 37/1999

Australian trade unionists picketed Germany's consulate in Sydney this morning as part of a growing worldwide campaign to secure justice for US employees of global tyremaker Continental.

The Australians called on the German government to press Continental to resolve the long-running dispute at its General Tire plant in Charlotte, USA. Continental is headquartered in Germany.



Today's demo in Sydney was organised by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

The CFMEU and the US tyreworkers' union, the USWA, are both affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

The ICEM is currently coordinating a worldwide action week in support of the US Continental workers.

Continental's Charlotte plant in the USA is the site of a strike, begun on September 20, 1998, by 1,450 members of USWA Local 850 over the company's unfair labour practices. Continental, which has already been indicted by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on five counts of violating US federal labour laws, contends it has hired 800 "permanent replacement" workers at the Charlotte facility.



In 1995, after Continental bought General Tire, the workers there bailed out the Charlotte plant by "giving back" about 90 million US dollars in pay and benefits cuts. Charlotte is now showing a healthy profit, but the company is still refusing to bring its pay and conditions up to standard. Continental has also been accused of trying to break the union local in Charlotte.

Yesterday, eight hundred South African Continental workers held a two-hour strike in solidarity with their US colleagues. The South Africans then marched to the office of Continental's local CEO. He immediately agreed to forward to the company's world headquarters in Hanover the South African workers' demand that Continental settle the Charlotte dispute.

Other activities this week include protests at Ford Motor Co. dealerships in 61 US cities. Ford fits General tyres as original equipment on several of its models in the US. Also scheduled are protests at German consulates in several US cities.

Protests have also been lodged in Belgium by ICEM affiliate the Centrale Générale/Algemene Centrale, the union representing Continental's Belgian workers, and in France by ICEM affiliate the FCE-CFDT, which organises Continental workers there.

The ICEM and the USWA recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte.



Leading the demonstrators in Sydney today was John Maitland, who is the CFMEU's National Secretary and Vice-President of the ICEM.

"Australian workers and the whole of the ICEM pledge our full support for the Charlotte workers and the USWA," Maitland declared. "A major multinational like Continental will not get away with applying different standards in different parts of the world. It must reach a fair and just settlement with its workers in Charlotte and cease its futile attempts to break union organisation there."

"Now is the time for Continental to show some sense and finally resolve the Charlotte dispute," agreed ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels. "Justice and Continental's own best interests demand no less. We will maintain our worldwide campaign until Continental reaches an equitable, lasting settlement with the Charlotte workers and their union, the USWA."

"We are extremely grateful for the acts of solidarity by our brothers and sisters worldwide," commented George Becker, USWA President and chairman of the ICEM's global rubber section. "They have given new meaning to the old union adage that 'an injury to one is an injury to all.'"