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13 July, 2005ICEM News Release No. 32/1999
Shareholders' investment in tyre multinational Continental "is now being put at risk because of the irresponsible handling of labour relations in the United States."
That was the disturbing message to shareholders attending Conti's annual meeting in Hanover, Germany, yesterday.
Making the point was US tyreworkers' leader John Sellers. He was supporting a shareholder counterproposal to withhold indemnification of Continental's board until the company falls into line with the worldwide basic labour standards set by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) - "including the right to form unions, collectively bargain and strike." The counterproposal would also have required Continental to renounce the use of strikebreakers.
Sellers is Executive Vice-President of the Rubber and Plastics Conference of the American tyreworkers' union, the USWA.
Behind his robust remarks in Hanover yesterday is a long-running industrial dispute between US tyreworkers and Continental's American subsidiary, General Tire.
The core issue is that General Tire is refusing to pay workers at its Charlotte plant 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.
As Sellers told the shareholders in Hanover, Continental now faces potentially massive costs for violations of US law. The USWA had experience of winning such "wars" which "inevitably end up costing renegade employers millions of dollars." And to fight the union's "massive evidence" of violations by the company, Sellers said, Conti also faces "additional costs - estimated to be over ten million dollars - for legal fees."
Also speaking in Hanover yesterday were Earl Probst, President of the USWA local at Charlotte, and the union's corporate campaigner Jerry Fernandez. They were accompanied by General Tire workers Mark Cieslikowski and Charles Hill.
The shareholder counterproposal was voted down - but with enough votes in favour to show that a fair number of investors had sided with the American trade unionists.
Sellers also took the opportunity to warn that Continental will "soon be the subject of demonstrations and solidarity actions in all parts of the world."
At the global level, the USWA is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has launched a strong worldwide campaign in support of the Charlotte workers.
In Brussels today, Sellers told the ICEM Executive Committee about the latest developments in the dispute. He also thanked the ICEM and its affiliated unions for their support - in particular, the German union IG BCE for its assistance in getting the American workers' voice heard at the Hanover meeting..
That was the disturbing message to shareholders attending Conti's annual meeting in Hanover, Germany, yesterday.
Making the point was US tyreworkers' leader John Sellers. He was supporting a shareholder counterproposal to withhold indemnification of Continental's board until the company falls into line with the worldwide basic labour standards set by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) - "including the right to form unions, collectively bargain and strike." The counterproposal would also have required Continental to renounce the use of strikebreakers.
Sellers is Executive Vice-President of the Rubber and Plastics Conference of the American tyreworkers' union, the USWA.
Behind his robust remarks in Hanover yesterday is a long-running industrial dispute between US tyreworkers and Continental's American subsidiary, General Tire.
The core issue is that General Tire is refusing to pay workers at its Charlotte plant 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.
As Sellers told the shareholders in Hanover, Continental now faces potentially massive costs for violations of US law. The USWA had experience of winning such "wars" which "inevitably end up costing renegade employers millions of dollars." And to fight the union's "massive evidence" of violations by the company, Sellers said, Conti also faces "additional costs - estimated to be over ten million dollars - for legal fees."
Also speaking in Hanover yesterday were Earl Probst, President of the USWA local at Charlotte, and the union's corporate campaigner Jerry Fernandez. They were accompanied by General Tire workers Mark Cieslikowski and Charles Hill.
The shareholder counterproposal was voted down - but with enough votes in favour to show that a fair number of investors had sided with the American trade unionists.
Sellers also took the opportunity to warn that Continental will "soon be the subject of demonstrations and solidarity actions in all parts of the world."
At the global level, the USWA is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has launched a strong worldwide campaign in support of the Charlotte workers.
In Brussels today, Sellers told the ICEM Executive Committee about the latest developments in the dispute. He also thanked the ICEM and its affiliated unions for their support - in particular, the German union IG BCE for its assistance in getting the American workers' voice heard at the Hanover meeting..