Steelworkers Escalate World-Wide Campaign Against Continental General Tire
11 March 1999
Steelworkers Escalate World-Wide Campaign Against Continental General Tire
LONDON, March 10 -- The United Steelworkers of America (USWA)
is escalating its corporate campaign against the lawlessness of German tire
company, Continental AG, according to Earl Propst, President of Steelworkers
Local 850, representing 1,450 striking workers at General Tire's plant in
Charlotte, N.C.
Propst was joined by union members from the company's plant in Scotland at
the London Tyre Expo distributing handbills calling attention to the ruthless
tactics used by Continental General Tire Company against his members since
they went on strike last September.
Meanwhile, John Sellers, Vice-President of the union's Rubber and Plastic
Industry Conference, was leading a demonstration and distributing pamphlets
outside a General Tire Dealer in Akron, Ohio. It was part of a coordinated
effort appealing to the public to purchase tires made by companies that
respect their workers, not one that savages them.
Propst said, "Continental AG has taken corporate greed to a new level by
firing 1,450 loyal American employees at its Charlotte tire plant and hiring
permanent replacement workers, after we'd sacrificed $90 million in givebacks
to get the company back on its feet.
"The company has violated American Labor Law by its refusal to bargain in
good faith to reach a settlement. It has also committed many other unfair
labor practices that are violations of the law governing collective bargaining
in the United States.
"Continental AG thrives from its good reputation in its German homeland,"
he said. "We intend to change that. We will expose Continental AG's lawless
strike-breaking in the U.S., a union-busting tactic that it would and should
be condemned for in Germany. Why did Continental AG fire its workers and
replace them on American soil when it is illegal to do that to its workers in
Germany?
"We will be asking that question in Europe. We will travel to the
continent. We will go to Germany. What will German citizens say about the
company that goes off to a distant land and destroys working people and their
families?
"How long will Continental AG keep its good name in its homeland?" Propst
asked. "How long will it keep a good name with its General Tire dealers in
the U.S. or as an original equipment manufacturer for Ford or GM?"
"Not long," he said emphatically, "not very long."
Sellers said that the union has been trying to reach an agreement that
would bring the Charlotte tire makers up to the pattern established by the
other major tire companies. The workers accepted a concessionary contract in
1995 when the company needed help. "Management has given the workers credit
for turning this company around and making them one of the most profitable
companies in the industry," he said.
"Rather than reward its faithful employees, Continental General Tire has
wasted millions of dollars fighting the union. They are out to break the
union, and that is never going to happen," Sellers said. "We are engaging in
a world-wide campaign to educate the public about the tyrannical methods used
by Continental General against its employees. Their union-busting is going to
cost them."
"We are going to get a labor agreement that restores dignity to our
Charlotte members and brings them to the level of pay, pensions and benefits
at the other tire producers in the United States," Sellers concluded.
The following was released today out of Akron, Ohio by the International
Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions and the
United Steelworkers of America:
Global Tire Union Leaders Affiliated with International Federation of
Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions
Lead Protest Against Continental AG
Rubber and tire union leaders from sixteen countries demonstrated here
today against Continental General Tire Co. in solidarity with an on-going
strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Charlotte, NC. The
protest took place at a Sam's Club retail outlet here, which markets General
tires.
The union leaders came from the United States, Canada, Guatemala,
Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, the United Kingdom, France, Germany,
Slovenia, Turkey, Morocco, South Africa, Malaysia and Japan. The unions are
affiliated internationally with the 20 million International Federation of
Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The action represented an escalation of the campaign to win a just
settlement with the German-based company and the return to work of all the
USWA striking workers. The USWA began the unfair labor practice strike on
Sept. 20, 1998 affecting 1,450 workers.
"We will take our campaign against Continental to wherever they do
business, here or abroad," said John Sellers, Executive Vice President of the
USWA's Rubber & Plastics Industries Conference. "German multinational
corporations would not be allowed to abuse workers this way in Germany and
we're not going to tolerate such behavior in the United States, either."
The demonstration follows on the heels of a similar action in Hilton Head,
SC last week by the striking workers to protest the appearance of Continental
official Bernd Frangenberg at a national tire industry conference.
"We are proud to join forces with our American brothers and sisters in
protesting against Continental's actions in Charlotte," said Bert Hill of the
GMB union in the United Kingdom, which represents workers at a Continental
tire plant in Scotland. "Continental has been systematically trying to wrest
concessions from our members in Scotland and we know we have to stand together
in solidarity with other Continental workers in other countries against our
common employer."
Hill and union leaders from Germany, France, Turkey, South Africa, and the
U.S., all of whom represent Continental workers, met this morning to plan a
common strategy to support the Charlotte strikers.
"Continental's actions in the United States are a disgrace," said Jacques
Caltot, who heads the rubber division of the Federation Chimie Energie CFDT
union in France. "We will continue to press Continental to adhere to
international labor standards wherever it does business, and to support the
USWA strike in Charlotte until a fair and just agreement can be reached."
"Our affiliated unions around the world are united behind the
Steelworkers," said ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. "We will show
Continental there are serious consequences for its violation of workers'
rights."