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Higgs Vows at US Rally: 'We'll Make it Hot for Imerys!'

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4 August, 2005ICEM news release No. 24/2000

Imerys, the ceramics, minerals and construction materials multinational, must recognise the trade union rights of its American workers without further delay.

That was the message from Fred Higgs when he addressed cheering Imerys workers at a rally in Sylacauga, Alabama, on Saturday.

Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has been campaigning against the anti-union stance adopted by Imerys at its US sites. The US Imerys workers' union, PACE, is an ICEM affiliate.

PACE and the ICEM will "make it so hot for Imerys that they will be looking for a solution," Higgs promised more than 250 workers attending the rally. They responded by taunting Imerys with chants of "ICEM" and "PACE Will Be In Your Face".

The restructuring that led to the formation of Imerys last year included the merger of unionised and non-unionised production plants in the USA. PACE now wants the chance to represent workers throughout the newly merged Imerys operation there, but the company has hired professional "union-busters" to discourage union organising and is blocking all attempts to let its workers decide if they want to be represented by the union.

Imerys is based in France, where unions are backing the American workers' campaign. Support is also coming from unions in England, where Imerys has major production sites and Belgium, where financiers the Frere family hold a substantial interest in Imerys.

In Europe, Imerys recognises trade unions and has taken a "social partnership" approach to industrial relations. Higgs has dubbed Imerys a "chameleon corporation," accusing it of trying in America what it would not dare to attempt in Europe.

Company tactics in the US so far have included compulsory meetings at which workers are shown videos that equate trade unions with the mafia. At Saturday's rally, Higgs told the American workers that Imerys was using in the States industrial relations methods that would be illegal in Europe.

Higgs also noted the abrupt departure last week of Dennis Rediker. Prior to the sale of English China Clays to Imerys forerunner Imetal, ECC was run by Rediker, who was its chief executive officer and major shareholder. After Imetal acquired ECC, Rediker was made a Vice-President of Imerys-owned Georgia Marble and was put in charge of its Pigment Division.

Rediker has a long history of anti-unionism and PACE believes that he was the main reason why Imerys' attitude to trade unions in America has clashed so markedly with its policies in Europe.

Little is known about the circumstances of Rediker's sudden departure, but he is understood to have been replaced by Imerys executives from France.

"The fact that Rediker has moved on just now is not coincidental," Higgs said. "It is symptomatic of the ideological rift between the US management and the centre."

Speakers at Saturday's rally included Don Langham, PACE Vice-President and ICEM Executive member; Stuart Burkhalter, President of the Alabama State branch of the US labour federation AFL-CIO; Jimmy Colston, the PACE officer who organised the Georgia Marble plant 29 years ago (the Sylacauga plant at which Imerys has withdrawn recognition of the union); and ICEM North American Regional Coordinator Ken Zinn.

All emphasised the need to rid Imerys' American operations of anti-unionism.

A strange little incident shows just how urgent that task has become.

Prior to Saturday's event, management told a number of union members that if they brought in food from the rally, they would be fired.

So Imerys American management is even frightened of union-bought snacks.

Food for thought in Paris.