Quebecor Workers, Teamsters Unite to Shut Down Plant in Brazil
30 Enero 2006 - 3:07PM
PR Newswire (US)
Shift Stoppage on Global Day of Action Wins Concessions From
Quebecor World WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers at the
Quebecor World (QW), Inc. (NYSE:IQW) facility in Recife, Brazil,
shut down the plant's morning shift today, winning an agreement by
the company to negotiate on the union's demands by Feb. 21,
including recognizing the workers' union and addressing
longstanding health and safety problems that resulted in severe
injuries to three workers this month and left one hospitalized. The
second-largest commercial printing company in the world, QW prints
one of Brazil's highest-circulation magazines, Veja, at the Recife
site. As a result of the strike, plant management agreed to
recognize the graphical workers' union, Sindicato dos Trabalhadores
nas Industrias Graficas do Estado de Pernambuco (SINDGRAF), and to
release union dues the company had been illegally withholding for
months. Managers agreed to meet with SINDGRAF regarding the
reinstatement of two union leaders fired by plant management last
fall. Nearly 100 protesting union workers at the Recife plant were
supported by a 20-member international delegation of union leaders,
including a high-level Teamster official and staff. The delegation
also was comprised of graphical union leaders from Brazil, Chile,
Argentina, Canada and the Union Network International (UNI), the
global labor federation that represents QW workers in 16 countries.
Also in the delegation were officials and workers from union locals
at QW plants in the United States and Chile, and at Quebecor
World's plant in Montreal, the company's headquarters city.
"Today's overwhelmingly successful protest showed that worker
solidarity is priceless," said Iraquitan da Silva, General
Secretary of SINDGRAF's Pernambuco union local, which represents
the Recife QW workers. "When we travel together, we're on the road
to victory." "We've been deeply concerned about workers at the
Recife plant," said Celia Petty, Teamsters Deputy Director of
Organizing and delegation member. "We've received reports of
dangerous conditions here, including workers losing limbs and
fingers due to outdated machinery, lack of adequate training, and
management's forcing workers to run machines at a faster pace than
they're designed for." On January 14, a cleaning worker who was
assigned to operate a sophisticated machine for which he was not
trained suffered severe facial fractures when his head was sucked
into the machine's iron fittings. Other workers' injuries came from
repeated lifting of thousands of pounds. "Today was a first step,
and a powerful one, because the pressure from workers acting
together has forced the company to recognize and negotiate with the
union," said Denis Fournier, president of GCC/Teamsters' Local at
QW's plant in Montreal. "I've talked with workers on the picket
line here and heard of how they're working long hours without
breaks and suffering injuries." "Union locals at Quebecor World's
Canadian plants have always enjoyed a mutually respectful
relationship with the company and have been able to negotiate
decent contracts with good health and safety conditions for our
members. We urge Quebecor World to create similar working
conditions, not just in Canada but in its plants around the world,"
Fournier said. Eight of QW's nine Quebec plants are organized and
the province has some of the strongest labor laws in North America.
"International companies are choosing to operate in Central and
South America because they think they can get away with forcing
employees to work in unsafe conditions and lose fingers and limbs,
or suffer lost-time accidents due to repetitive strain," said Barry
Bryant, president of GCC/Teamsters Local 527M at the Quebecor World
plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas. "Conditions here in Recife are among
the worst I've ever heard workers describe. Workers here showed
today that they're willing to stand up for what they believe in.
We're here to tell our union brothers and sisters in Recife that we
support them in this fight. There should not be one standard for
how a company treats organized workers in the United States or
Canada, and another for Brazil." Today's protest at the QW Recife
plant was part of a Global Day of Action at Quebecor World plants
in 14 countries. Workers in France, Canada, and the United States
participated in solidarity actions to protest Quebecor World's
anti-union tactics, job cuts, outsourcing, "scorched-earth"
concessionary bargaining, unsafe working conditions and the
corporation's refusal to sign a global labor standards agreement
that graphical unions worldwide are pressing for. The Global Day of
Action is part of a campaign that began in 2002 to improve working
conditions and human rights at Quebecor World's plants across the
globe, spearheaded by the Union International Network (UNI) and the
Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) of the Teamsters. Founded
in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million
hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada. First
Call Analyst: FCMN Contact: DATASOURCE: International Brotherhood
of Teamsters CONTACT: Galen Munroe of the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, +1-202-624-6904 Web site: http://www.teamster.org/
Copyright
Quebecor World (NYSE:IQW)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De May 2024 a Jun 2024
Quebecor World (NYSE:IQW)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Jun 2023 a Jun 2024