News from Unite and USW - Tesco, Vauxhall, Royal Mail, Meadwestvaco, Covington.

Tesco boss "rattled" by Unite protest at shareholders meeting in Glasgow.

Taking the fight to the bosses at shareholders meetings is a well tested tactic used by US unions - and is an idea that is now being used by Unite.

Last month Unite print worker members and NUJ members attend the Trinity Mirror shareholders meeting in London and gave the company a grilling on the imposed pay freeze. The normally sedate "half hour meeting" followed by lunch went on for an uncomfortably long-time - for the Directors that is! It certainly made then sit up and take notice.

This week it was Tesco's turn - with 50 Unite members protesting outside the meeting and calling for better conditions in UK meat supply chains with Unite members inside criticising the supermarket over its treatment of agency workers in UK meat factories and a US union criticising labour relations at Tesco's USA Fresh & Easy chain

The press referred to the shareholders meeting as featuring "bad-tempered exchanges". Oh dear! Unite and the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) of America used the meeting to attack Tesco's over labour standards within its supply chain and stores. The UFCW went as far as to accuse Tesco of union-busting tactics, a charge the company denied.

Unite deputy general secretary, Jack Dromey, urged shareholders to support a resolution demanding better conditions for agency workers in meat factories that supply Tesco. Jack said there was disturbing evidence of discrimination within the meat processing industry and said Tesco was the "biggest and slowest" in addressing it. As market leader, "they had a duty to lead on this issue to avoid creating a division within society that could fuel racism", Jack Dromey said.

Unite claimed that the temporary workers, often from overseas, were paid less and treated worse than permanent staff, who were typically indigenous.

Unite's resolution got 11% of votes in favour and with absentions (seen as tacit support of shareholders) on the motion, Unite pullled in 17% of the vote after Tesco said it was not an issue for them but " an industry issue".

UFCW director Michael Bride attacked Tesco over the way it entered the US market with its Fresh & Easy chain. "Fresh & Easy has refused to engage with our team," said Bride, claiming that attempts to unionise staff at the stores had been blocked.

Tesco boss Terry Leahy clearly who was "rattled" by these events said UFCW union was "agressive" and had tried to "undermine the business"
Referring to the company's relationship with the USDAW he said: "We do work with unions."

Shareholders also voted by 41.03% oagainst Tesco’s plan to extend the exercise period for share options from one to three years for existing and retiring executives. A further 1.74% of investors abstained, taking to 42.77 per cent those who refused to endorse the plan. This is seen as one of the biggest protest votes in the round AGMs at which investors have expressed concern (that's about as near as you can get!) over inflation-busting pay awards, bonuses and diluted performance targets in UK boardrooms.

Mandy says Government will underwrite Vauxhall deal
Lord Mandelson told Unite members at the Vauxhall Luton plant that the Government will underwrite a deal to buy out the group from General Motors (GM), its bankrupt parent, and that retaining production facilities in the UK remained a “top priority”.

Lord Mandelson pledged the Government’s support in underwriting a deal to buy out the group, whose future is in the balance following the collapse of GM and the sale of its European operations. “I want workers at both Luton and Ellesmere Port to know that we are doing everything possible to secure a long term commercial future for Vauxhall. "I and my officials are in constant contact with the US and German governments, GM US and GM Europe and others to ensure Britain’s interests are fully represented. We also continue to have detailed discussions with Magna and other interested parties," he said.
Lord Mandelson backed unions at the Luton plant, saying the workforce were now part of the solution. Vauxhall's Luton van plant employs 1,450 staff, provides work for a further 500 in-house contractors and supports another 4,000 jobs across the components and supply chain.

Rob Weir, a senior Unite shop steward at the Luton plant, said: "This plant is one of the most productive and efficient in Europe. We set the benchmark which other plants must follow and we are a brilliant advert for British manufacturing. So what we want to hear from Lord Mandelson today is that the UK Government is 100% behind us and 100% engaged in securing the Luton plant's future".

Unite's warns on Royal Mail pensions
Unite has welcomed the decision not to go ahead with part -privatisation of Royal Mail as announced by Lord Mandelson but the announcement has also left workers in a state of uncertainty as he has did not explain how the Government, is going to address the immediate problems of the pensions' deficit, regulation and future investment.
In a letter to Unite members who are managers at Royal Mail, CMA national officer, Paul Reuter said: “The biggest single issue that has prevented Royal Mail from investing in the future is the pensions' deficit. The deficit needs to be addressed urgently. We anticipate that the pensions' trustees will revise their estimate of the shortfall from the current figure of £3.3 billion to £10 billion and this in turn would require Royal Mail to more than double its annual payments. We call upon the government to spell out in clear and precise terms what actions it is going to take to plug the pensions' deficit and protect the business.”

USW wins groundbreaking deal with MeadWestvaco in Covington, USA
The United Steelworkers (USW) has said that the members of USW Local 8-675 in Covington, Virginia have voted in favor of a proposed new contract with MeadWestvaco. The overwhelming ratification vote took place on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009.

The new agreement includes $2,600 in cash bonuses and over 16% in general wage increases over the course of its six-year term. Improvements to the defined benefit pension plan raise the multiplier to $58 per month for each year of service, meaning that an employee who retires with 30 years of service would receive a monthly benefit of roughly $1,740 per month, a high-water mark in for workers in the paper industry.

USW International Vice President Jon Geenen, the union's official with responsibility paper, packaging and pulp (the USW's biggest sector), said that this groundbreaking new agreement will raise the bar for the entire industry. Further, Geenen pointed out that the ratification vote itself should end any speculation about which union is best suited to represent the hourly production and maintenance employees at the mill. (Some workers had previously joined a breakaway "company union" called Covington Paperworkers Union)
"After two years of strife and division, we believe that this contract, by virtue of the significant gains it establishes, will once again unite the members of Local 8-675," Geenen said. "We are scheduling a new local union officers' election in Covington that will create a structure inclusive of all views from every area of the mill to build an even stronger local union."

Finally, Jon Geenen said that the hard work of the local union negotiating team and the support and solidarity of the loyal USW members are what enabled the USW, which is still the only Board-recognised bargaining representative at the Covington mill, to conclude these negotiations so successfully.

"We have waited a long time for a new contract because of the disaffiliation attempt that only hurt the community and our members," said Glenn Allen Hinkle, a USW member who has worked at the mill for 22 years. "With the best contract I've ever seen, it's time to stop the infighting, quit looking backward and start moving forward. I've been working at the mill for 40 years, and this is an excellent contract by any standard," said Franklin Tucker, who works in the oiler department, "because everybody got something."