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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 78/2001
Unions have launched an international campaign to end a five-month lock-out by Taiwanese-owned Continental Carbon at its Ponca City plant in the US state of Oklahoma.
The locked-out Ponca City workers are members of the American industrial union PACE, which is running the campaign in conjunction with the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions (ICEM). Major support is coming from Taiwan's Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions (CITU) and the Taiwan Petroleum Workers' Union (TPWU). PACE and the TPWU are both ICEM affiliates. The CITU groups 18 major Taiwanese industrial unions, including the TPWU.
The China Synthetic Rubber Company (CSRB) and the Taiwan Cement Corporation own Continental Carbon, which produces carbon black for the tyre industry. Both Taiwanese companies are controlled by the Koo Group, a global financial empire owned by the Koo family and valued at US$ 53 billion.
"We will not stand back and watch while Continental Carbon tramples on the internationally recognised rights of workers in the United States," stated Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. "We call upon Continental Carbon to adhere to International Labour Organisation conventions and bargain fairly with its employees."
The UN's International Labour Organisation is where the world's governments, employers and unions adopt global standards on trade union rights and other labour issues.
On 5 October, PACE met Huang Ching-Hsien, President of both the TPWU and the CITU.
"As you remain steadfast in your struggle to win a fair contract, you may do so knowing that you have the unwavering support of Taiwanese workers," Huang told PACE President Boyd Young. "We deplore the actions of the CSRB and the Koo family in permitting their American subsidiary to negotiate in bad faith and engage in union-busting."
Continental Carbon is seeking a rash of concessions from its American workers. These include wage cuts, increases of 300 - 500% in worker contributions to health care insurance, elimination of retiree health insurance, cuts in vacation pay and slashing of workers' overtime pay, as well as several changes in the workers' contract [collective agreement]. Taken together, these proposed concessions would cost each worker $15,000-20,000 per year.
DIRTY TRICK
One of the company's more egregious proposals is the elimination of pay for the time that workers spend in the bathhouse following each shift. Working in carbon black is a mucky, hazardous job and at the end of a shift workers are dirty from head to toe, much like coal miners. PACE estimates that cutting the bathhouse pay alone will cost workers about 4000 dollars a year.
Continental Carbon workers lost their health insurance as a result of the lock-out, which began without warning on 8 May. There is no universal health coverage in the US, and those workers who have suffered a heart attack, stroke and other illnesses since the lock-out began cannot afford to pay for much-needed medicine and health care. In addition, these workers lost their unemployment benefits in early October.
"Our members worked hard to make Continental Carbon successful and they were rewarded by being locked out of their jobs," said Boyd Young, "Continental Carbon's faithful employees do not deserve such treatment. We call upon the Koo family to end this unjust lockout."
The locked-out Ponca City workers are members of the American industrial union PACE, which is running the campaign in conjunction with the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions (ICEM). Major support is coming from Taiwan's Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions (CITU) and the Taiwan Petroleum Workers' Union (TPWU). PACE and the TPWU are both ICEM affiliates. The CITU groups 18 major Taiwanese industrial unions, including the TPWU.
The China Synthetic Rubber Company (CSRB) and the Taiwan Cement Corporation own Continental Carbon, which produces carbon black for the tyre industry. Both Taiwanese companies are controlled by the Koo Group, a global financial empire owned by the Koo family and valued at US$ 53 billion.
"We will not stand back and watch while Continental Carbon tramples on the internationally recognised rights of workers in the United States," stated Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. "We call upon Continental Carbon to adhere to International Labour Organisation conventions and bargain fairly with its employees."
The UN's International Labour Organisation is where the world's governments, employers and unions adopt global standards on trade union rights and other labour issues.
On 5 October, PACE met Huang Ching-Hsien, President of both the TPWU and the CITU.
"As you remain steadfast in your struggle to win a fair contract, you may do so knowing that you have the unwavering support of Taiwanese workers," Huang told PACE President Boyd Young. "We deplore the actions of the CSRB and the Koo family in permitting their American subsidiary to negotiate in bad faith and engage in union-busting."
Continental Carbon is seeking a rash of concessions from its American workers. These include wage cuts, increases of 300 - 500% in worker contributions to health care insurance, elimination of retiree health insurance, cuts in vacation pay and slashing of workers' overtime pay, as well as several changes in the workers' contract [collective agreement]. Taken together, these proposed concessions would cost each worker $15,000-20,000 per year.
DIRTY TRICK
One of the company's more egregious proposals is the elimination of pay for the time that workers spend in the bathhouse following each shift. Working in carbon black is a mucky, hazardous job and at the end of a shift workers are dirty from head to toe, much like coal miners. PACE estimates that cutting the bathhouse pay alone will cost workers about 4000 dollars a year.
Continental Carbon workers lost their health insurance as a result of the lock-out, which began without warning on 8 May. There is no universal health coverage in the US, and those workers who have suffered a heart attack, stroke and other illnesses since the lock-out began cannot afford to pay for much-needed medicine and health care. In addition, these workers lost their unemployment benefits in early October.
"Our members worked hard to make Continental Carbon successful and they were rewarded by being locked out of their jobs," said Boyd Young, "Continental Carbon's faithful employees do not deserve such treatment. We call upon the Koo family to end this unjust lockout."