YESTERDAY IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, representatives of Imerys management and representatives of the union federation, PACE (Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers) attempted to solve a local dispute that has taken on an international dimension.

The establishment of a trade union branch in Sylacauga, Alabama at a plant that is part of the Imerys Group, a world leader in the valorization of minerals, provides unions the occasion of a symbolic struggle to denounce what they consider to be the double talk of multinationals.

This problem is not new. Mercedes and BMW, just to cite two examples, set up production in Carolina [sic]. Leaders of joint management in Germany, the two companies - without much difficulty - fit into the legal mold of one of the 32 [sic] American so-called Right to Work states, which all have similar labor legislation designed to set up numerous obstacles to the existence of trade unions. Klaus Zwickef, the president of the German metallurgic union, FIG Metall, and a member of the oversight committee of BMW, found himself refusing the admission of the American plant into the Group.

Imerys, the result of the merger in 1999 of the French company, Imetal, and the English firm, China Clays, employs 10,000 people worldwide, nearly half of whom are in North America. Within the process of restructuring following the merger, Imerys informed the PACE trade union that its union branch at the Sylacauga plant, united with another plant, would no longer be recognized.

TWENTY-TWO[sic] AMERICAN STATES HAVE SIMILAR LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO IMPEDE THE EXISTENCE OF UNIONS.

In the United States, recognition of a union takes place following a vote of employees. If a majority votes to set up a union, the union becomes the contact for management to negotiate collective agreements with. In those states without repressive union laws, all employees automatically belong to the union. In Right to Work states, each employee is free either to join or not.

In the case of Imerys, one company had a union branch, while the other did not. Company management decided to provoke the anger of PACE, and announced that the restructured company no longer had union representation. In the aggressive tradition of a part of American business management, the administration of the company launched a propaganda campaign against the union in order to prevent the vote requested by PACE that would again permit a branch to be set up. This time, however, the Federation decided to respond. PACE is still a huge organization: it's affiliated with an international federation composed of 20 million workers. Last Tuesday, at the General Meeting of Imerys held in Paris, Jyrki Rainas, a representative of the union, spoke on behalf of Walden Asset Management Fund to attack the "anti-union practices of the company," and explained to the surprised shareholders that those practices could affect the stock share market value. A speech made by Penny Schantz, the coordinator of the campaign in Europe, who received assurances from Patrick Kron, the French chairman of Imerys, that Imerys hoped to establish a dialogue with the employees, but not "against the unions."

PACE, which received the support of CFUT and of the FCTB of Belgium since one of the shareholders is the Albert Frere Group intends to lodge a complaint if no agreement is reached in Sylacauga.

The organization of the Chateau de la Muette is currently getting its driving manuals for multinational companies by acting as the advocate of a more extensive dialogue between the business partners.

Under such conditions, "why does the company pursue anti-union practices in the United States when it seeks closer relationships with unions in Europe?" This is the question posed by representatives of PACE, who plan to carry on their struggle, which they consider particularly symbolic of the dangers of globalism.