File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9712, message 106


Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 20:13:22 -0500 (EST)
From: "Liam R.Flynn" <trinity-AT-hot-shot.com>
Subject: M-G: Unions across boarders.


> =======================================================> Stop reading the Boss Press! Read the INDUSTRIAL WORKER.
> =======================================================> Monthly newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World
> =======================================================> 
> Online at: http://parsons.iww.org/~iw
> 
> >From the December, 1997 issue of the INDUSTRIAL WORKER:
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> URL: http://parsons.iww.org/~iw/dec1997/stories/hyund2.html
> 
> Hyundai union-busting
> 
> A Nov. 10 decision by the Tijuana Labor Board has overturned the results of
> an election in which workers at the Han Young maquiladora factory, which
> manufactures parts for Hyundai, voted for union representation. Enrique
> Hernandez, coordinator of Union de Defensa Laboral Comunitaria, which has
> been assisting the workers, termed the board's ruling a "ridiculous
> explanation for a travesty of justice."
> 
> The decision claims that the independent Union of Metal, Steel, Iron and
> Allied Workers (STIMAHCS, affiliated to the independent FAT federation) can
> not legally represent the workers because they make auto parts and
> therefore cannot be represented by a union of metal workers. Further, while
> STIMAHCS has been registered as a national industrial union for many years,
> the labor board says that it is not.
> 
> The board also suggests that a wave of firings of union supporters since
> the election (Mexican law requires workers to declare their vote in front
> of management - see report last issue) may have overcome the union's
> majority support.
> 
> Despite seemingly strong labor laws, Mexico's labor boards routinely uphold
> management actions and protect government-affiliated unions' sweetheart
> deals with the bosses. Indeed, the first time Han Young workers learned
> they were in a "union" was when a stranger appeared in the midst of a
> wildcat strike, identifying himself to workers as their union
> representative and saying workers were lucky to be earning twice Mexico's
> minimum wage, which is about 41 cents an hour. Infuriated, the workers
> began pelting the man with their leather welders' gloves, driving him from
> the plant.
> 
> The Support Committee for Maquila-dora Workers in cooperation with Campaign
> for Labor Rights is coordinating a boycott of Hyundai Motors that has
> involved demonstrations in over 25 cities nationwide. Members and friends
> of the Chicago General Membership Branch of the IWW picketed a Hyundai
> dealer last month in support of the Tijuana workers.
> 
> Boycott Hyundai bumper stickers are available for $1 each or $6 for 10 (add
> $2.50 per order shipping) from: Labor/Community Alliance, POB 5077, Fresno
> CA 93755
> 
> Thugs Hired to Smash Union
> 
> Workers at a Hyndai contractor in South Korea are engaged in a desparate
> struggle to maintain their union in the face of continual attacks by
> gangsters hired by Korea-Fukoku management. Korea-Fukoku produces damper
> pulleys and windshield wipers for Hyundai Motors. It is located in Banwol
> Industrial Complex of Ansan City. The company is controlled by Fukoku
> Japan, which in turn is controlled by a Mr. Kawamato.
> 
> The Fukoku Trade Union, established in 1988, represents most of the plant's
> 200 production workers. The union has been one of the most active members
> of the Korean Metalworkers Federation in southern Kyonggi region, the home
> to many small to medium metal industry enterprises.
> 
> In July 1996 management began a campaign to destroy the union, refusing to
> negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and stepping up repression
> of the union. Various welfare facilities and benefits were withdrawn,
> including the sudden closure of the workers' dormitory.
> 
> Management has increased work speed. Workers are prohibited from speaking
> to other workers during work. Workers going to toilet during work are
> closely monitored in order to control the free movement and `waste' of
> production time.
> 
> In flagrant violation of the contract and the labour law, management
> arbitrarily transferred active unionists to other sections, changed the pay
> rate for mandatory night shifts, and shuffled around the weekly days off.
> 
> The union conducted sit-in protests, rallies, picketing, and every kind of
> means to pressure management to refrain from its anti-union actions and to
> return to the negotiating table. In response, management began to mobilise
> hired thugs to physically crack down on union activists and to terrorize
> ordinary members.
> 
> Physical violence against unionists has become Fukoku management's standard
> means of responding to industrial disputes. Known criminals and thugs have
> been hired to attack the union and unionists. These thugs raided union
> meetings, protest rallies and picket lines and physically brutalized active
> unionists to terrorize the ordinary union members.
> 
> These thugs were later hired permanently as `security guards' to engage in
> constant surveillance and harassment of unionists. They have physically
> stopped union leaders and rank-and-file members from entering the union
> office. Many union members have been taken off production, and upon
> reporting for work are herded into a separate room where they are confined
> under constant watch. These attacks have driven some 70 unionists from the
> plant, creating vacancies that were filled by the thugs, their coterie and
> other temporary workers.
> 
> In April 1997, the Ministry of Labor placed the company under special
> supervision. The company was ordered to withdraw the "security guards," pay
> up unpaid backwages and to comply with a total of 17 orders. However,
> Fukoku management continues to refuse compliance. Instead, they issued
> notice of dismissal against 15 key union leaders, and dealt out
> disciplinary measures against some 100 workers, ranging from pay cuts to
> exclusion from work.
> 
> The company-hired corps of ex-convicts work as both "security guards" and
> production workers. These thugs are organised as the "Seung Hwa Company."
> When the nature of Seung Hwa Company was exposed in August 1997, the thugs
> simply registered under a new name, "Ace Personnel Management Company."
> 
> The thugs are working as line workers in damper pulley production and have
> been given the authority to hire daily contract workers. This is a
> systematic effort to isolate the union by keeping new employees under the
> thugs' strict control.
> 
> The union is demanding that Fukoku recognize its right to exist and
> represent its members. It calls on management to comply with Korean labor
> laws, to remove its thugs from the plant, to pay overdue backwages, and to
> reinstate unjustly dismissed workers. Finally, the union is calling for
> opening negotiations for a new contract.
> 
> Letters supporting the union can be faxed to Fukoku headquarter in Japan
> (+81-48-776-0609), support message can be sent to the union
> (+82-331-45-0144).



                                       Liam R.Flynn
                                  liam-AT-stones.com
                                       ICQ*5031073
                  
                 


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