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19 September, 2005ICEM News Release 28/1999
Global tyremaker Continental today came under growing pressure in its headquarters country, Germany, to settle a nine-month dispute at one of its US plants. It also faces the threat of worldwide union protests to coincide with its annual shareholder assembly on 1 June.
At a press conference in Hannover this morning, the German mining, chemical and energy workers' union IG BCE pledged support for US tyreworkers and their union, the USWA. The IG BCE, which represents Continental's workforce in Germany, hosted the press briefing.
At the global level, both unions are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which is coordinating worldwide support for the US workers. ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe was among the speakers at this morning's briefing in Hannover.
At issue is Continental's treatment of striking (and locked-out) workers at its General Tire plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. But union leaders have also voiced concern over the company's declared worldwide strategy of shifting production to "low-cost" areas.
Explaining the US dispute to the German media in Hannover today were USWA Executive Vice-President John Sellers and the union's international corporate campaigner Jerry Fernandez. Also in Germany for the event were Larry Murray, Vice-President of the USWA local at General Tire's Charlotte plant, and Charlotte workers Andy Hodges, Kay Maree and Linda Hatchell.
The core issue is that "Conti" is refusing to pay its Charlotte employees the going rate among leading employers of US tyre workers, even though the plant is now profitable. The American workers accuse Conti of failing to bargain in good faith and of trying to break the Charlotte local of the USWA. After provoking a strike, the company drafted in "permanent replacement" workers last September, thus effectively locking out and dismissing the strikers.
In 1995, after Continental bought General Tire, the workers 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.
Sellers said that Continental's conduct of the dispute breached US law. It also violated internationally recognised standards of corporate behaviour, and his union would therefore be lodging complaints with the UN's International Labour Organisation and with the OECD.
The USWA would also put a resolution before Continental shareholders at their annual assembly on 1 June, urging the company to abide by ILO and OECD standards. And if there were no progress in resolving the US dispute, he said, international union action was planned to coincide with the shareholder meeting.
For Germany's IG BCE union, Hannover regional secretary and Continental supervisory board member Dirk Sumpf urged the company to develop the same "partnership" relations with the USWA as it maintained with the German union. "It's not a matter of what is possible under American law. It's a matter of what makes sense."
And Manfred Warda, who heads IG BCE's international department, added that it was now "mainly the company's responsibility to show ways of constructively resolving a conflict whose continuation cannot be in the company's own interests." IG BCE remained ready to support such efforts, he said. Continental's relations with the German union were on the basis of "cooperatively and fairly reconciling interests". It would, Warda emphasised, "be desirable to use these experiences so as to also make an innovative contribution in the USA to the improvement of employee-employer relations. In that regard, "respect for ILO standards and for the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises is a plausible minimum demand."
In Charlotte, "Continental is violating the right to organise, as recognised internationally by governments, employers and unions within the ILO," ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe told the press conference. "The American Continental workers have the unhesitating support of the ICEM and its more than 20 million members in 117 countries."
In particular, Thorpe said, rubber workers worldwide were watching the Continental dispute very closely to see if the company would "show some social responsibility." This was a "test case", Thorpe emphasised, because "the behaviour which Continental and other companies espouse at home in Europe must be mirrored in their operations elsewhere."
Such companies should also be setting an example of good industrial relations to the new market economies of Central and Eastern Europe, Thorpe said. Instead, Continental's behaviour in the US had shocked and disturbed trade unionists as far away as Russia. To prove the point, he read out a message sent today by Russian trade unionists currently attending a conference in Moscow on unions and globalisation.
The Russians, including ICEM-affiliated unions there, "strongly support the just demands of the USWA workers and call upon Continental/General Tire to put an end to its anti-worker policy." They "insist that the company adhere to the highest possible labour standards wherever it does business, including respecting the right of workers to join trade unions without employer interference, the right of workers to engage in collective bargaining, and the right of workers to strike without losing their jobs." So the Russians "urge Continental Tire to return immediately to the bargaining table and to negotiate a reasonable and just contract with the USWA."
Several speakers at the press conference emphasised that Continental's use of "replacement workers" during the dispute would be illegal in Germany and most other European countries. Also taking part in the Hannover briefing was Jacques Caltot, who heads the rubber division of the ICEM-affiliated French union FCE-CFDT.
Further international support for the US workers came from the International Metalworkers' Federation, whose Organisation and Solidarity Coordinator Brian Fredricks spoke at today's press conference.
In the US, meanwhile, a "public awareness" campaign launched by the Charlotte workers is bearing fruit. Consumers and trade unionists are calling tyre retailers all over the country and urging them to enquire into the safety of tyres built by unskilled "replacement workers" in Continental's Charlotte plant. The callers are also voicing safety concerns about the company's alleged plans to import tyres from Mexico.
At a press conference in Hannover this morning, the German mining, chemical and energy workers' union IG BCE pledged support for US tyreworkers and their union, the USWA. The IG BCE, which represents Continental's workforce in Germany, hosted the press briefing.
At the global level, both unions are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which is coordinating worldwide support for the US workers. ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe was among the speakers at this morning's briefing in Hannover.
At issue is Continental's treatment of striking (and locked-out) workers at its General Tire plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. But union leaders have also voiced concern over the company's declared worldwide strategy of shifting production to "low-cost" areas.
Explaining the US dispute to the German media in Hannover today were USWA Executive Vice-President John Sellers and the union's international corporate campaigner Jerry Fernandez. Also in Germany for the event were Larry Murray, Vice-President of the USWA local at General Tire's Charlotte plant, and Charlotte workers Andy Hodges, Kay Maree and Linda Hatchell.
The core issue is that "Conti" is refusing to pay its Charlotte employees the going rate among leading employers of US tyre workers, even though the plant is now profitable. The American workers accuse Conti of failing to bargain in good faith and of trying to break the Charlotte local of the USWA. After provoking a strike, the company drafted in "permanent replacement" workers last September, thus effectively locking out and dismissing the strikers.
In 1995, after Continental bought General Tire, the workers 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.
Sellers said that Continental's conduct of the dispute breached US law. It also violated internationally recognised standards of corporate behaviour, and his union would therefore be lodging complaints with the UN's International Labour Organisation and with the OECD.
The USWA would also put a resolution before Continental shareholders at their annual assembly on 1 June, urging the company to abide by ILO and OECD standards. And if there were no progress in resolving the US dispute, he said, international union action was planned to coincide with the shareholder meeting.
For Germany's IG BCE union, Hannover regional secretary and Continental supervisory board member Dirk Sumpf urged the company to develop the same "partnership" relations with the USWA as it maintained with the German union. "It's not a matter of what is possible under American law. It's a matter of what makes sense."
And Manfred Warda, who heads IG BCE's international department, added that it was now "mainly the company's responsibility to show ways of constructively resolving a conflict whose continuation cannot be in the company's own interests." IG BCE remained ready to support such efforts, he said. Continental's relations with the German union were on the basis of "cooperatively and fairly reconciling interests". It would, Warda emphasised, "be desirable to use these experiences so as to also make an innovative contribution in the USA to the improvement of employee-employer relations. In that regard, "respect for ILO standards and for the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises is a plausible minimum demand."
In Charlotte, "Continental is violating the right to organise, as recognised internationally by governments, employers and unions within the ILO," ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe told the press conference. "The American Continental workers have the unhesitating support of the ICEM and its more than 20 million members in 117 countries."
In particular, Thorpe said, rubber workers worldwide were watching the Continental dispute very closely to see if the company would "show some social responsibility." This was a "test case", Thorpe emphasised, because "the behaviour which Continental and other companies espouse at home in Europe must be mirrored in their operations elsewhere."
Such companies should also be setting an example of good industrial relations to the new market economies of Central and Eastern Europe, Thorpe said. Instead, Continental's behaviour in the US had shocked and disturbed trade unionists as far away as Russia. To prove the point, he read out a message sent today by Russian trade unionists currently attending a conference in Moscow on unions and globalisation.
The Russians, including ICEM-affiliated unions there, "strongly support the just demands of the USWA workers and call upon Continental/General Tire to put an end to its anti-worker policy." They "insist that the company adhere to the highest possible labour standards wherever it does business, including respecting the right of workers to join trade unions without employer interference, the right of workers to engage in collective bargaining, and the right of workers to strike without losing their jobs." So the Russians "urge Continental Tire to return immediately to the bargaining table and to negotiate a reasonable and just contract with the USWA."
Several speakers at the press conference emphasised that Continental's use of "replacement workers" during the dispute would be illegal in Germany and most other European countries. Also taking part in the Hannover briefing was Jacques Caltot, who heads the rubber division of the ICEM-affiliated French union FCE-CFDT.
Further international support for the US workers came from the International Metalworkers' Federation, whose Organisation and Solidarity Coordinator Brian Fredricks spoke at today's press conference.
In the US, meanwhile, a "public awareness" campaign launched by the Charlotte workers is bearing fruit. Consumers and trade unionists are calling tyre retailers all over the country and urging them to enquire into the safety of tyres built by unskilled "replacement workers" in Continental's Charlotte plant. The callers are also voicing safety concerns about the company's alleged plans to import tyres from Mexico.