Ten months after Roquette Frères’ subsidiary, Roquette America, locked out 240 members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 48G at its corn milling facility in Keokuk, Iowa, a contract agreement has finally been reached. According to BCTGM Local 48G’s press release, while the contract is less than what they hoped for, one important achievement is the company’s recognition of their union.
Readers of Global Compact Critics will recall from a December 2010 post, “Union federations: Roquette's actions undermine the legitimacy of the Global Compact,” that Manfred Warda, Global Compact Board member and General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers (ICEM), wrote to the Global Compact Office about the company’s brazen violation of labor rights.
Mr. Warda, along with his counterparts at the AFL-CIO and the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF), urged the Global Compact Office to immediately contact Roquette Frères and discuss the company’s failure to uphold the Compact’s Principle 3 at its subsidiary in Iowa. Failing a positive outcome, the union leaders stated their letter should be considered a formal complaint under the Compact’s Integrity Measures.
In June, Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) also wrote to the Global Compact Office, echoing earlier calls from ICEM, AFL-CIO and IUF to address Roquette Frères and its U.S. subsidiary’s failure to uphold the Global Compact’s labor principles (letter available here).
An OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises’ complaint was also filed by ICEM, AFL-CIO and IUF with the U.S. National Contact Point.
