REPORIG EUROPEANCOMPANIESANDLABOURRIGHTSINTHE US A Strange Case When cised equipment workers their right factory atRobert to strike in Bosch's Wisconsin against packaging compaexer equipmentfactory in Wisconsinexercisedtheir right to strike against company demands for wage and benefitcuts in December2004,management sentletters threateningto hirepermanent replacements to take theirjobs. Alone in the world, permanent replacements tobreakstrikes arelegalunderUS labourlaw.Facedwiththis'nuclear option'available to American bosses, workersreturned to their jobson management's terms. Based in Germany, Robert Bosch GmBhis a multinational firm with270,000 employees worldwide .Itiswidely regarded as a socially responsible company. Last year, the Robert Bosch Foundation donated$100 millionto non-profit organisations serving humanneeds aroundthe world.In keepingwithits sociallyresponsible profile, Boschhas publicly declareditscommitmentto ILO corelabourstandards. Butcontrary to itscommitment, Boschviolatedan important ILOstandard whichsaysthat threatening orusing permanent replacements to breakstrikes violates workers' freedom ofassociation. Thedisconnect reflected inBosch'saction atthe Wisconsin plantbetweenpromiseand performanceisthetheme ofa newHumanRights Watch report titled A Strange Case:Violations ofWorkers' FreedomofAssociation in the UnitedStatesby European Multinational Corporations. The report details waysinwhich European firms haveexploited weak US labourlaws to carry out aggressive campaigns againstworkers' organising and bargainingin the UnitedStates."A Strange Case" comesfrom Robert LouisStevenson's famousThe Strange CaseofDr.fekyll andMr.Hyde. Companies cited include Germany-based Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USAand Deutsche Post's DHL, UK-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets andG4SWackenhut security , France-based Sodexofoodservices andSaintGobain industrialequipment,Norway-based KongsbergAutomotive, and the Dutch firm Gamma Holding. Ineachcasethecompanies' tacticsand actionsviolatedinternational standards while remaining in compliancewithweak US laws.Overand above that, management actions violatedUS labourlaws, makingthe disparity between wordsanddeedsevenmoredramatic. TheHumanRights Watch report was based on workerinterviews and workers'testimony in legalproceedings, findings and decisionsof US labourlaw authorities, company documents, and written exchangeswithcompanymanagement. The reportnotedthatall the companiescited endorsesome combination of the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation, theindustrial relations guidelines of theOrganisation forEconomicCooperation and Development, and the freedomof association normsof the Universal Declarationof Human Rights and theUnitedNationsGlobalCompact, andother international humanrights instruments. Herearesomemoreexamplesfrom thereport: ■ DeutscheTelekomhas a SocialCharter based on ILO standards andtheOECD Guidelines statements on freedom ofassociation, butTMobileUSAmanagement spiedon workers engagedinorganising and defined 'employees engaging ingroupbehaviour' and 'talking aboutrights' as dangerous activity tobe immediately reported tomanagement. ■ Deutsche Posthasa code ofconduct basedon theUniversal Declaration ofHumanRights, ILO conventions, andtheUNGlobalCompact, but itsDHL management threatened anddiscriminatedagainst workers whosought toexercise therights setforth intheseinstruments. ■ Saint-Gobain proclaims 'Principles ofConduct respecting thephilosophy and spirit ofthe GlobalCompact', butUS management refused tobargain withworkers' chosenunionabout keyterms ofemployment. ■ Sodexosays,'Sinceitscreation, Sodexohas alwaysrecognised and respected trade unions', butitthreatened, interrogated, and fired workers who tried toform tradeunions intheUnitedStates. ■ Teseo saysit'is committed toupholding basic HumanRights and supports infulltheUnited Nations Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and theInternational Labour Organisation CoreConventions', butitsUS Fresh& Easymanagement seta priority of 'maintaining non-union status' and stifled workers' organisational activity. ■ Group4Securicor holdsup a 'Business Ethics Policy'committed totheUniversal Declaration ofHumanRights, butitsUS Wackenhut management threatened, spiedon,andfired workersexercising rights established intheUDHR. ■ Kongsberg Automotive citestheUN Global Compact, ILO corelabourstandards, and OECD guidelines initscorporate social responsibility pledges,butUS management in VanWert, Ohio offensively lockedoutunion members whilenegotiations werestill ongoingand brought inreplacement workers. ■ GammaHoldingsigneda code ofconduct thatembraces theright toorganise underILO Conventions 87 and 98,butitsmanagement atNational WireFabricinStarCity, Arkansas, hiredpermanent replacements, incontraventionofILO standards, totakethejobs of workers who exercised theright tostrike. ■ A Dutchfirm, GammaHolding, wentahead and hiredpermanent replacements forUnited Steelworkers unionmembers who exercised theright to strike atan Arkansas factory. The HRWreportconcludedwithrecommendationsforstronger 'due diligence'by European headquarters overAmerican managers to ensure application ofcompany commitments to international labour standards.It also called for a strengthened complaint mechanism underOECD guidelines and stronger oversight bygovernment and EuropeanUnionofficials ofEuropeanmultinationalsin theirUS and otherforeign operations .Finally, thereport recommended reforms in US labourlaw to come intocompliance with international labournorms. A new report details ways in which European firmshave carried out aggressive campaigns against workers' organisingand bargainingin the US LANCE C0MPA teaches labour law and International labour rights atCornell University's School off Industrial and Labor Relations In Ithaca, New York. He Isauthor off the Human Rights Watch report summarised here Page 5Volume 17Issue 3201 0 INTERNATIONAL union rights ...