Read this article in:
12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 15/2003
S hareholders 5 June at the AGM of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in Paris heard about the firm's anti-labour practices in the U.S. from American shop-floor and national leaders of affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) and the ICEM.
The dispute centers on 17 months of futile bargaining the UAW has experienced in Worcester, Massachusetts, at Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc., a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The UAW won a representation election 406-386 in a vote conducted under U.S. labour code in August 2001. Following a failed appeal to overturn the vote, Saint-Gobain has engaged in "surface bargaining" utilizing a high-priced U.S. law firm to stall efforts toward a settlement.
Supporting the UAW's cause prior to and at the AGM were French affiliates Fédération Chimie Energie CFDT FCE-CFDT and Fédéchimie CGT FO. FCE-CFDT's Patrick Mazeau and Michel Decayeux, the ICEM's Materials Section chairman, traveled to Worcester in March as part of a French solidarity delegation.
UAW representatives in Paris were direct and forthright on the cause and effect of the dispute. "We're here to let shareholders and corporate officials alike know that the money they're spending to squash the legitimate voice of workers in Massachusetts can be much better spent," said UAW Region 9A Assistant Director Bob Madore. "We want them to realize that they supply parts and machinery to automakers, the UAW represents workers employed by automakers and that we will take our campaign for a labour contract to suppliers, to customers and, of course, to unions on a global level."
Madore was joined today at a press conference and inside the AGM by the ICEM's Jim Catterson, along with UAW Bargaining Representative Carol Knox and a 30-year mechanic at the Worcester plant, UAW Local 4069 bargaining committee member Tony Quitadamo. UAW supporters handbilled outside the AGM. Inside, the unionists were representing the proxies of Boston Common, an asset management firm holding 126,000 shares of Saint-Gobain stock.
"Why don't you try to improve the social conditions in Worcester like you strive to do in France?" questioned Quitadamo to top management. He said promises made by Saint-Gobain when they purchased the U.S. plant in 1990 have not been kept, and managers now are on a mission of harassing and intimidating workers.
Earlier, Quitadamo described the company's bargaining style. He said attorneys from Jackson Lewis, a law firm specializing in union avoidance, openly told the UAW's negotiating team that Saint-Gobain intends to use collective bargaining to invalidate existing work rules and past practices that benefits workers. Saint-Gobain has unilaterally reduced the level of health care benefits, a fact that the UAW is pressing before the U.S. government in a labour law charge.
The ICEM's Catterson, speaking at the AGM on behalf of Boston Common, read a declaration from the asset management firm. "We believe that if Saint-Gobain does not resolve this situation quickly and amicably, then Saint-Gobain's reputation and public image will be damaged, thus harming long-term shareholder value." The ICEM's director of Organization also infomed Saint-Gobain's managers that the ICEM, UAW and AFL-CIO on 5 June have formally written to the National Contact Point of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) asking for an inquiry into the firm's industrial behaviour in Worcester.
The request, penned to the U.S. Department of State's Office of Investment as OECD National Contact Point, alleges the firm has violated several Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as laid forth under the OECD's Employment and Industrial Relations Section.
The dispute centers on 17 months of futile bargaining the UAW has experienced in Worcester, Massachusetts, at Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc., a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The UAW won a representation election 406-386 in a vote conducted under U.S. labour code in August 2001. Following a failed appeal to overturn the vote, Saint-Gobain has engaged in "surface bargaining" utilizing a high-priced U.S. law firm to stall efforts toward a settlement.
Supporting the UAW's cause prior to and at the AGM were French affiliates Fédération Chimie Energie CFDT FCE-CFDT and Fédéchimie CGT FO. FCE-CFDT's Patrick Mazeau and Michel Decayeux, the ICEM's Materials Section chairman, traveled to Worcester in March as part of a French solidarity delegation.
UAW representatives in Paris were direct and forthright on the cause and effect of the dispute. "We're here to let shareholders and corporate officials alike know that the money they're spending to squash the legitimate voice of workers in Massachusetts can be much better spent," said UAW Region 9A Assistant Director Bob Madore. "We want them to realize that they supply parts and machinery to automakers, the UAW represents workers employed by automakers and that we will take our campaign for a labour contract to suppliers, to customers and, of course, to unions on a global level."
Madore was joined today at a press conference and inside the AGM by the ICEM's Jim Catterson, along with UAW Bargaining Representative Carol Knox and a 30-year mechanic at the Worcester plant, UAW Local 4069 bargaining committee member Tony Quitadamo. UAW supporters handbilled outside the AGM. Inside, the unionists were representing the proxies of Boston Common, an asset management firm holding 126,000 shares of Saint-Gobain stock.
"Why don't you try to improve the social conditions in Worcester like you strive to do in France?" questioned Quitadamo to top management. He said promises made by Saint-Gobain when they purchased the U.S. plant in 1990 have not been kept, and managers now are on a mission of harassing and intimidating workers.
Earlier, Quitadamo described the company's bargaining style. He said attorneys from Jackson Lewis, a law firm specializing in union avoidance, openly told the UAW's negotiating team that Saint-Gobain intends to use collective bargaining to invalidate existing work rules and past practices that benefits workers. Saint-Gobain has unilaterally reduced the level of health care benefits, a fact that the UAW is pressing before the U.S. government in a labour law charge.
The ICEM's Catterson, speaking at the AGM on behalf of Boston Common, read a declaration from the asset management firm. "We believe that if Saint-Gobain does not resolve this situation quickly and amicably, then Saint-Gobain's reputation and public image will be damaged, thus harming long-term shareholder value." The ICEM's director of Organization also infomed Saint-Gobain's managers that the ICEM, UAW and AFL-CIO on 5 June have formally written to the National Contact Point of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) asking for an inquiry into the firm's industrial behaviour in Worcester.
The request, penned to the U.S. Department of State's Office of Investment as OECD National Contact Point, alleges the firm has violated several Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as laid forth under the OECD's Employment and Industrial Relations Section.