Unions unite against the multinational Caterpillar
AN INTERNATIONAL committee has been formed by trade unions organized in the multinational firm of Caterpillar-Europe. The move was precipitated by the recent occupation at Caterpillar in Scotland, aiming to stop the closure of the Glasgow factory.
WESTERN EUROPE It wants the directive of the Vredeling Commission to be brought back to the light of day. The directive concerns the right to information about multinationals, control over public subsidies and a veto over closures.
The setting up of the inter-factory Caterpillar committee directly at the shop steward level is exemplary and opens up some good possibilities. Because the bosses' words cannot be taken at face value, they must be judged on results. To ascertain the truth, workers have a tool: workers' control on the job, in the company and in the workplace. Production low and orders dropping? Find out the truth on the job! Control, note and assemble our own information.
The inter-factory committee can have at its disposition an effective tool for exposing the multinational's manoeuvres in time by organizing inside each plant with the workers and militants; with control over production, employment, the work pace, flexibility; and by centralizing information on an all-European level.
In terms of solidarity with the Glasgow occupation, workers at Grenoble have had a work stoppage, and a collection has been organized at Gosselies. The inter-factory commitee, which is insisting on recognition from Caterpillar, has demanded that the multinational suspends the closure decision and starts negotiations with the workers.
"Defending the jobs of our Glasgow comrades is defending our employment at Gosselies," Michel Daffe concluded. [From La Gauche, the newspaper of the POS/SAP - Belgian section of the Fourth International.]
POT SUPPORT
CATERPILLAR WORKERS 5
The agreement was signed at Charleroi in Belgium on March 10. Delegates participated from the CGT and the CFDT unions from the Grenoble factory in France, from the Scottish unions at the Caterpillar plant in Glasgow and from the Belgium union, the FGTB, representing workers at the Gosselies factory.
The trade unionists at the French and Belgium factories have had some contact for three years. Previous closures of Caterpillar plants in Britain and the United States had already led to two international meetings attended by Members of the European Parliament. But it is the threat to close the Glasgow factory which has given a new boost to international cooperation.
The closures of Caterpillar's factories at Newcastle in the north of England, and at Davenport and Dallas in the US only created a small stir. For the first time, at Glasgow, Caterpillar workers said "no" to closure, and occupied the factory. The 1,250 Scottish workers at Glasgow have been fighting since January 14 to save their jobs.
The Glasgow workers are disgusted and revolted. They have good reason to be. Last December, just one month before the closure announcement, the multinational even announced -to a big fanfare of publicity - an investment of 62.5 million pounds and a guarantee of employment until 1990! Then the axe fell. A terrible blow for the local population where unemployment is already 20 per cent, and for a region where the possibilities of finding another job are almost nil.
For the management, there is no question of rescinding the decision. The parent company has announced that they can move 98 per cent of the Glasgow factory's production elsewhere.
"One experiences a feeling of disgust and revulsion, a chill in the spine." So Jean-Marie Vanderputten, a union representative from Gosselies, summarized the feelings of his work-
International Viewpoint 4 May 1987 mates. Michel Daffe, who led a solidarity delegation to Glasgow, continued: "Two weeks before the closure, they were still hiring young workers. Over there I saw new technology that we don't have here at the factory." "We can't fight with stone-age weapons"
The creation of the European committee appeared to be a necessity, an obvious thing to do:
"We can't fight a multinational with stone-age weapons," continued Michel. "It is no longer possible, at Caterpillar, to demand guarantees for jobs only at the factory level. Evidence of this is that the international management told the Americans in the group that the D6 built at Glasgow would go to them. They told the Grenoble plant that they would inherit the Scottish production, since their work is in the same range. They also promised us some of the fallout. They told our comrades in Glasgow that the production would be transferred either to Korea, Indonesia or Japan. A good manoeuver to divide us, to dump the Glasgow workers! What a con! The previous closures in the US did not mean a single extra job for Gosselies or Grenoble!"
The European committee has set itself a number of tasks. It will present a unified front to demand regular information on the economic and financial strategy of the multinational, its employment policy and producion transfers. Michel Daffe believes that the committee must also put on its agenda the question of control over the new technologies, and adopt a common strategy in the face of their introduction. "We don't oppose new technologies," he said, "but in return we must demand job and wage guarantees."
The committee also decided to approach the European Parliament.