Newsflash - United Auto Workers Organising Campaign Reveals Strategy of Global Union Cooperation
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United Auto Workers’ organizing campaign reveals strategy of global union cooperation February 2015 Labor organizations in the United States, desperate to reverse decades of diminishing membership and influence, are turning to their global brethren for help. We see this most recently at the Nissan auto plant in Canton, Mississippi, where the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been trying to organize workers since the plant opened more than 10 years ago. Over the past few years, the UAW has coordinated with industrial unions in Brazil, Germany, and other nations to put pressure on Nissan to provide the UAW a pathway to organize its Mississippi workforce. In January of this year, the U.S. National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises issued a final statement following a request for mediation by the UAW and the global union federation, IndustriALL, to address Nissan’s alleged failure to respect international labor standards at the Mississippi plant. UAW and its international ally, IndustriALL, tried to exert leverage on Nissan under the guise of promoting international labor standards. Nissan justifiably declined to participate in the mediation, noting correctly that U.S. labor laws provide a structure for employees to select union representation, and that Nissan respects the letter and the spirit of U.S. law. Nissan’s decision to decline mediation effectively closed the OECD matter. But this episode is another in an increasing set of reminders that the U.S. labor movement is aggressively tapping into the international labor movement to strengthen its domestic organizing efforts. International firms with U.S. operations should be prepared for their home country’s labor organizations to align with American unions that are seeking to organize their U.S. workforce. Brian Kurtz will be speaking at the 2015 Global Labor & Employment Symposium in Chicago, IL on May 7-8, 2015. Brian will participate in a panel focused on the ILO Declaration of Freedom of Association; he will be joined by Ius Laboris colleagues from France, Germany and Japan along with in-house counsel from a US based multinational company. Registration closes March 23. Author: Brian Kurtz, FordHarrison Join us for the 2015 Global Labor & Employment Symposium To learn more about the event, click here. Please contact [email protected] with any questions. CLICK HERE TO READ OTHER ARTICLES North America: Mexico - United States Central & South America: Argentina - Brazil - Colombia - Panama - Peru - Venezuela Western Europe: Austria - Belgium - Cyprus - Denmark - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Ireland - Italy - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Portugal - Spain - Sweden- United Kingdom Eastern Europe: Belarus - Czech Republic - Estonia - Hungary - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Romania - Russia - Slovakia - Turkey - Ukraine Middle East & Asia Pacific: China - India - Israel - Japan - Korea, Republic of - New Zealand - United Arab Emirates www.iuslaboris.com | [email protected] The Ius Laboris Newsflash is intended to provide you with ad hoc information regarding new regulatory and case law developments. The Newsflash does not contain any legal advice. Your personal data are stored in the database of Ius Laboris and are used for communication purposes. Your data will not be transferred to third parties. You have a right to object to your data being stored as well as a right to access and modify such data by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. If you no longer wish to receive Newsflashes please click here. Click here to view it online
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Transcript of Newsflash - United Auto Workers Organising Campaign Reveals Strategy of Global Union Cooperation
United Auto Workers’ organizing campaign revealsstrategy of global union cooperation
February 2015
Labor organizations in the United States, desperate to reverse decades ofdiminishing membership and influence, are turning to their global brethren forhelp. We see this most recently at the Nissan auto plant in Canton,Mississippi, where the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been trying toorganize workers since the plant opened more than 10 years ago. Over thepast few years, the UAW has coordinated with industrial unions in Brazil,Germany, and other nations to put pressure on Nissan to provide the UAW apathway to organize its Mississippi workforce.
In January of this year, the U.S. National Contact Point for the OECDGuidelines for Multinational Enterprises issued a final statement following arequest for mediation by the UAW and the global union federation,IndustriALL, to address Nissan’s alleged failure to respect international laborstandards at the Mississippi plant. UAW and its international ally, IndustriALL,tried to exert leverage on Nissan under the guise of promoting internationallabor standards. Nissan justifiably declined to participate in the mediation,noting correctly that U.S. labor laws provide a structure for employees toselect union representation, and that Nissan respects the letter and the spiritof U.S. law.
Nissan’s decision to decline mediation effectively closed the OECD matter.But this episode is another in an increasing set of reminders that the U.S.labor movement is aggressively tapping into the international labor movementto strengthen its domestic organizing efforts. International firms with U.S.operations should be prepared for their home country’s labor organizations toalign with American unions that are seeking to organize their U.S. workforce.
Brian Kurtz will be speaking at the 2015 Global Labor & EmploymentSymposium in Chicago, IL on May 7-8, 2015. Brian will participate in apanel focused on the ILO Declaration of Freedom of Association; he willbe joined by Ius Laboris colleagues from France, Germany and Japanalong with in-house counsel from a US based multinationalcompany. Registration closes March 23.
Author: Brian Kurtz, FordHarrison
Join us for the 2015 GlobalLabor & EmploymentSymposium
To learn more about the event,click here. Please [email protected] with anyquestions.
CLICK HERE TO READ OTHERARTICLES
North America: Mexico - United StatesCentral & South America: Argentina - Brazil - Colombia - Panama - Peru - VenezuelaWestern Europe: Austria - Belgium - Cyprus - Denmark - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Ireland - Italy - Luxembourg - Netherlands -Norway - Portugal - Spain - Sweden- United Kingdom Eastern Europe: Belarus - Czech Republic - Estonia - Hungary - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Romania - Russia - Slovakia - Turkey - UkraineMiddle East & Asia Pacific: China - India - Israel - Japan - Korea, Republic of - New Zealand - United Arab Emirates
www.iuslaboris.com | [email protected]
The Ius Laboris Newsflash is intended to provide you with ad hoc information regarding new regulatory and case law developments. TheNewsflash does not contain any legal advice. Your personal data are stored in the database of Ius Laboris and are used for communicationpurposes. Your data will not be transferred to third parties. You have a right to object to your data being stored as well as a right to access andmodify such data by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. If you no longer wish to receive Newsflashes please click here. Click here toview it online
