News From USW: Steelworkers File Complaint with U.S. State Department over Breach of OECD Guidelines by German-based Continental Tire

PITTSBURGH--Aug. 7, 2006--News From USW: The United Steelworkers (USW) has filed a complaint with the U.S. State Department over breaches by Continental Tire, a German-headquartered company, of the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"The conduct of this German company and its apparent belief that it can violate U.S. laws and the Guidelines with impunity is shocking," said Leo W. Gerard, USW International President in an August 2, 2006 letter to Wesley Schotz, Director of the State Department's Office on Investment Affairs. "The full force of the U.S. Government should be brought to bear on this matter."

The letter outlines Continental's protracted and hostile labor practices since its 1987 acquisition of General Tire that include a forced one-year strike in 1998; use of paid union-busting consultants to prevent workers at its only U.S. nonunion plant from organizing; few investments in unionized plants in comparison to the major modernization of its only nonunion plant; and outsourcing North American tire production to plants in Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia for the purpose escaping unions in the U.S.

At the center of the complaint are Continental Tire's alleged unlawful actions taken at its Charlotte, North Carolina plant where it demanded $32 million in contract concession from USW members without providing sufficient information that permitted the USW to bargain. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a formal complaint against Continental Tire charging the company unlawfully implemented Draconian cuts in wages, health care and other benefits, and a layoff of most hourly workers. A trial is set for August 22, 2006.

The health care cuts will force hundreds of retirees who are not yet Medicare-eligible to use three-fourths or more of their pension income to pay for health care insurance or to drop health care coverage altogether and become dependent on taxpayer-funded health care. Supplemental health care for Continental retirees on Medicare will also become unaffordable for most.

"Continental Tire, which profited from slave labor camps during WWII, is finding new ways to make money off the backs of workers in the 21st Century and have U.S. taxpayers fund its health care obligations." stated Ron Hoover, USW Executive Vice President.

The OECD Guidelines are non-binding principles and standards for responsible business conduct, including industrial relations, by multinational enterprises that are agreed to by 30 OECD member countries plus 9 non-member countries. The U.S. is signatory to the Guidelines.

The U.S. State Department serves as the "national contact point" to help mediate disputes in the U.S. arising out of breaches of the Guidelines by companies headquartered in another country.