The Corleone Family don’t even have that kind of muscle anymore.
— Moe Green to Michael Corelone, The Godfather
A recap of recent events: First you had a French company, Roquette Freres, announcing to its Keokuk, Iowa employees that management had decided to unilaterally cut benefits (pensions, health coverage, holidays) and slash wages by $4 per hours, despite the fact that its Keokuk corn milling plant was profitable and its workers loyal and efficient.
And when the BCTGM (Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers) Local 48G’s 240 members predictably balked at what they saw as a case of plain, old-fashioned extortion, the company immediately locked them out. No talking, no compromising, no second thoughts. They locked the doors on them.
I’ve corresponded by telephone and e-mail with Local 48G’s president, Steve Underwood, and while the stress level in Keokuk is understandably sky-high, Steve and his fellow members are still, somehow, hanging in there — which is remarkable when you consider that these good people have been on the street since September 28, 2010.
Unfortunately, the scabs that Roquette Freres hired as replacement workers are now doing the very jobs that these union members developed and had been competently performing since the plant opened its doors, some 20 years ago.
Summarizing: A French company moves to the Great Midwest — to Iowa of all places, right smack in the middle of America’s heartland — and after setting up shop and getting the lay of the land, proceeds to assault the workers by putting a gun to their heads and issuing an ultimatum: Accept this contract or be prepared to lose your jobs. It doesn’t get much more basic than that.
So much for France. Now let’s do Germany. A German-based company (Jamestown Properties, with headquarters in Cologne) purchases the landmark Madison Hotel in Washington D.C. — right smack in the middle of the nation’s capital, home to its monuments and hallowed institutions, and the seat America’s government — and after taking over on January 19, 2011, proceeds to assault its workforce.
The company announces, on January 31, that it has decided not only to refuse to recognize the existing contract between the previous owners and UNITE-HERE, the union representing 150 workers, but to more or less “fire” everybody and require them to re-apply for their jobs. Simple as that. No talking, no compromising, no second thoughts. The decision was unilateral and final. And it was done in the shadow of the Capitol Dome.
Of course. the irony is staggering. It’s suffocating. Indeed, if it weren’t so tragic, it would be comical. As U.S. companies continue to scan the globe for Third World workers willing to assemble its products for near slave labor wages, European companies continue to move to the U.S. knowing that they can pull stunts here that they could never get away with at home.
Question: Why couldn’t they get away with this stuff at home? Answer: Because there is too much muscle resisting them — muscle in the form of federal labor laws and muscle in the form of union credibility.
No one is suggesting that Europe is a workers’ paradise or that European labor doesn’t have its own set of problems, but let’s be clear: European unions are perceived differently. Not only do France and Germany have stronger labor laws than ours, they have a larger proportion of unionized workers, and these workers are, by and large, more militant and more respected by the public.
Oddly, the U.S. and Europe are now engaged in a sort of economic danse macabre. While we continue to be lured by the Third World, whose weak labor laws make it enticing, Europe continues to be lured by us for the exact same reasons. Ain’t that a kick in the head? Welcome to America, folks, where a workers’ dignity is sold to the lowest bidder.
David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and author (It’s Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor), was a former union rep. He can be reached at: dmacaray@earthlink.net. Read other articles by David.
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