Instant gate meeting follows banning of Indian member of the delegation to Quebecor India
Ben Richards
Duncan Brown
Michel Müller |  | What was meant to meant to be a straightforward fact finding visit to a Quebecor printing plant in India for members of the UNI World Executive and UNI Graphical quickly turned sour when the local management barred one of the visiting group.
The move was later condemned by the UNI World Executive during its meeting in New Delhi.
On clear solidarity principles the UNI group changed their plans and, instead of visiting the plant, held a gate meeting for workers and out came the UNI banners.
Inside the plant instant overtime - with no work - was offered to keep workers from joining the impromptu meeting.
“This was a form of discrimination - that’s why we refused to meet the management,” UNI Graphical President Michel Muller told the Executive.
It was only earlier this year that UNI Graphical and Quebecor signed a global agreement recognising union rights around the world.
The company took exception to Talwar Madan, who is a member of the UNI Graphical Executive and a leading member of the All Indian Newspaper Employees Federation that has launched a drive to step up union organising in multinational companies in India like Quebecor.
“UNI refuses to be dictated to by any multinational company on internal decisions on the make-up of delegations,” said the Executive. “It is with regret that despite the recent signing of a global agreement the management of Tej-Quebecor in India has seemingly chosen confrontation over dialogue.”
Talking to workers the UNI Graphical team discovered that they don’t have access to drinkable water in the plant, said Duncan Brown from Quebecor’s home country Canada, who promised an immediate approach to group management over the incident.
“Quebecor India is going to be organised,” said Ben Richards, Unite UK told the Executive.
UNI Graphical has made organising in the Asia Pacific region a priority.
“Many multinational printing and packaging companies are moving into the region,” said Michel. With the help of Graphical unions in Japan UNI Graphical has already visited printing plants in China - “now we need to help them organise from a trade union perspective”.
UNI Graphical is calling an Action Day in Thailand, New Zealand and Switzerland on 16 November in protest at the sacking of two union activists in a Thai printing plant jointly owned by SIG Switzerland and New Zealand company Rank.
The general secretary of the Thai print union was sacked after organising resistance to enforced changes in overtime arrangements and his colleague was sacked for speaking out about the case at the UNI-Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Kuala Lumpur at the end of August. |