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4 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 15/2000
A complaint just issued by the official US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the "first step toward possible prosecution" of Imerys, a leading materials, minerals and ceramics multinational.
So says America's Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers Union (PACE). The new NLRB complaint found merit in several charges lodged by the union.
Imerys is the target of a global trade union campaign launched by PACE and the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Organised labour worldwide is bolstering Imerys workers in Sylacauga, Alabama, as they fight to maintain union recognition there. The employer in Sylacauga is Imerys American subsidiary ECCA Calcium Carbonates, Inc.
"Let there be no doubt - the company's vigorous effort to de-unionise even includes disdainful violation of US laws protecting workers from harassment," said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. "Our union allies at the company's operations in England and France can now see the stark contrast with the high-road industrial relations it practises closer to home."
The NLRB complaint names ECCA Vice-President Ray Barker, Sylacauga Plant Manager Randy Sandrik and five other managers. The NLRB alleges that Barker instructed supervisors to maintain records of employees' union sentiments; that Sandrik threatened employees who supported union organising efforts; and that two supervisors interrogated employees about their union activities. All are violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the US National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employer interference, restraint or coercion of employees exercising their rights to organise.
ECCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys USA, Inc., formed by the 1999 merger of Imetal and English China Clays, Inc. Prior to the merger, Imetal and ECC operated neighbouring plants in Sylacauga, with the Imetal facility represented by PACE. On the effective date of the companies' merger, Imerys withdrew recognition from PACE and repudiated the labour contract (collective agreement) signed by Imetal and PACE.
"The issuance of this complaint by the Board puts the authority of the USA government behind the charges made by PACE and the Sylacauga employees beginning last September," said Attorney Robert Weaver, who filed the charges on behalf of PACE. "For months the company has said there was nothing to the charges, and more recently that the charges were 'insignificant.' The Board's investigation and this complaint show just how high up the corporate ladder the violations go."
PACE and the ICEM have highlighted the company's hiring of professional union-busters in an aggressive drive against PACE efforts to organise workers in Alabama and elsewhere in the southeastern USA.
The company drive includes obligatory meetings at which employees are shown anti-union videos, while not permitted to ask questions. In a recent trip to discuss the situation with European labour leaders, Sylacauga worker Keith Fulbright said the videos, the interrogation and company threats to cut wages and remove benefits have many workers "scared to death."
The global labour campaign on Imerys is receiving strong support, notably from unions in France, where the company is headquartered and has production sites; in England, another big Imerys production centre; and in Belgium, where financiers the Frere family are major investors in the company.
"Imerys is a chameleon corporation," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in Brussels today. "It is preaching social partnership on one side of the Atlantic and bashing unions on the other. That is simply not on, and we have made this very clear to Imerys corporate management in Paris. Ultimately, the company's world headquarters bears the responsibility for the actions of its American management. We call upon Imerys to end immediately its anti-union campaign in the USA and to embark on a new, constructive relationship with the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide."
So says America's Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers Union (PACE). The new NLRB complaint found merit in several charges lodged by the union.
Imerys is the target of a global trade union campaign launched by PACE and the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Organised labour worldwide is bolstering Imerys workers in Sylacauga, Alabama, as they fight to maintain union recognition there. The employer in Sylacauga is Imerys American subsidiary ECCA Calcium Carbonates, Inc.
"Let there be no doubt - the company's vigorous effort to de-unionise even includes disdainful violation of US laws protecting workers from harassment," said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. "Our union allies at the company's operations in England and France can now see the stark contrast with the high-road industrial relations it practises closer to home."
The NLRB complaint names ECCA Vice-President Ray Barker, Sylacauga Plant Manager Randy Sandrik and five other managers. The NLRB alleges that Barker instructed supervisors to maintain records of employees' union sentiments; that Sandrik threatened employees who supported union organising efforts; and that two supervisors interrogated employees about their union activities. All are violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the US National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employer interference, restraint or coercion of employees exercising their rights to organise.
ECCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys USA, Inc., formed by the 1999 merger of Imetal and English China Clays, Inc. Prior to the merger, Imetal and ECC operated neighbouring plants in Sylacauga, with the Imetal facility represented by PACE. On the effective date of the companies' merger, Imerys withdrew recognition from PACE and repudiated the labour contract (collective agreement) signed by Imetal and PACE.
"The issuance of this complaint by the Board puts the authority of the USA government behind the charges made by PACE and the Sylacauga employees beginning last September," said Attorney Robert Weaver, who filed the charges on behalf of PACE. "For months the company has said there was nothing to the charges, and more recently that the charges were 'insignificant.' The Board's investigation and this complaint show just how high up the corporate ladder the violations go."
PACE and the ICEM have highlighted the company's hiring of professional union-busters in an aggressive drive against PACE efforts to organise workers in Alabama and elsewhere in the southeastern USA.
The company drive includes obligatory meetings at which employees are shown anti-union videos, while not permitted to ask questions. In a recent trip to discuss the situation with European labour leaders, Sylacauga worker Keith Fulbright said the videos, the interrogation and company threats to cut wages and remove benefits have many workers "scared to death."
The global labour campaign on Imerys is receiving strong support, notably from unions in France, where the company is headquartered and has production sites; in England, another big Imerys production centre; and in Belgium, where financiers the Frere family are major investors in the company.
"Imerys is a chameleon corporation," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in Brussels today. "It is preaching social partnership on one side of the Atlantic and bashing unions on the other. That is simply not on, and we have made this very clear to Imerys corporate management in Paris. Ultimately, the company's world headquarters bears the responsibility for the actions of its American management. We call upon Imerys to end immediately its anti-union campaign in the USA and to embark on a new, constructive relationship with the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide."