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14 July, 2005ICEM News Release No. 38/1999
The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 11, has announced that it will be issuing a second complaint against Continental General Tire, the US subsidiary of global tyremaker Continental.
The new complaint will allege that the company engaged in further unlawful conduct during negotiations which led to the strike at Continental's site in Charlotte, North Carolina. That strike is now in its tenth month.
Continental has faced worldwide trade union protests this week over its conduct of the Charlotte dispute. The action is being coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Charlotte workers' union, the USWA, is affiliated at the global level.
Action this week includes:
- A sympathy strike by Continental's South African workers yesterday
- Australian trade unionists' picket of the German consulate in Sydney today - Continental's world headquarters is in Germany
- 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
- Protests at German consulates in several US cities
- Protests by the ICEM-affiliated 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.
In the US, the NLRB had already issued a complaint against Continental General Tire this April, alleging that the company had violated the National Labor Relations Act by failing to provide five items of information necessary for the union to bargain on behalf of its members.
The NLRB will now issue a second complaint alleging that the Company further violated the Act by:
- failing to provide five additional items of information necessary to bargaining
- engaging in unlawful surveillance of the striking employees' lawful union activities.
The NLRB will also allege that all of these unfair labour practices were a motivating reason for the strike and that the strike has therefore been an unfair labour practice strike from its inception. As a result, the NLRB will also allege that the Company violated the Act by:
- threatening to permanently replace striking employees
- following through on this unlawful threat by "permanently replacing" striking employees (900 of them, on the company's estimation).
By this ruling, the NLRB has made it clear that the company's hiring of "permanent replacements" and its continued insistence on keeping these replacements after the end of the strike is unlawful. The Company will now have to choose between bringing back all striking employees at the end of the strike or being in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
The new complaint will allege that the company engaged in further unlawful conduct during negotiations which led to the strike at Continental's site in Charlotte, North Carolina. That strike is now in its tenth month.
Continental has faced worldwide trade union protests this week over its conduct of the Charlotte dispute. The action is being coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Charlotte workers' union, the USWA, is affiliated at the global level.
Action this week includes:
- A sympathy strike by Continental's South African workers yesterday
- Australian trade unionists' picket of the German consulate in Sydney today - Continental's world headquarters is in Germany
- 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
- Protests at German consulates in several US cities
- Protests by the ICEM-affiliated 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.
In the US, the NLRB had already issued a complaint against Continental General Tire this April, alleging that the company had violated the National Labor Relations Act by failing to provide five items of information necessary for the union to bargain on behalf of its members.
The NLRB will now issue a second complaint alleging that the Company further violated the Act by:
- failing to provide five additional items of information necessary to bargaining
- engaging in unlawful surveillance of the striking employees' lawful union activities.
The NLRB will also allege that all of these unfair labour practices were a motivating reason for the strike and that the strike has therefore been an unfair labour practice strike from its inception. As a result, the NLRB will also allege that the Company violated the Act by:
- threatening to permanently replace striking employees
- following through on this unlawful threat by "permanently replacing" striking employees (900 of them, on the company's estimation).
By this ruling, the NLRB has made it clear that the company's hiring of "permanent replacements" and its continued insistence on keeping these replacements after the end of the strike is unlawful. The Company will now have to choose between bringing back all striking employees at the end of the strike or being in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.