Siemens: after Siemens US violated the international CSR agreement in North East, Maryland, the social partners involved are talking about the new path to take

Breach of the CSR IFA.  How can you launch a campaign against the creation of an employee representation structure in a plant in August and sign a global framework agreement on corporate social responsibility just a few weeks earlier (see our dispatch No.  120478)?  Siemens has the answer (see our dispatch No.  120500). At the end of July, the general management signed, with pump and circumstance, an agreement on corporate social responsibility with its central works council, the IG-Metall German union and the new international trade union, IndustriALL.  At the same time, the American United Steelworkers (USW) launched an organization campaign on the small North East site, MD, which employs 60 people.  The union wanted to organize an election which, if 50 percent of employees voted yes, would have allowed the USW to officially represent all workers in this production unit.  To stop the election, the company hired union busters Ken Cannon and Joe Brock to lobby the employees into rejecting the USW.  IndustriALL claims this wasn’t the first time Cannon worked with Siemens.  He describes himself as having “40 years’ experience supporting managements’ efforts to remain union free.”  In the end, the management’s “arguments” took over and a majority of the site’s staff voted against the arrival of the union.  The USW, the IG-Metall and IndustriALL immediately criticized the situation and called for an official explanation from Siemens’ general management.