Date: 24 June 2021 – ONLINE
Participants: (see end of document)
Summary of discussions
Welcome : Judith Kirton-Darling, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll European Trade Union (IAE), welcomed all members and set out the aims of the meeting.
Introduction and European overview
Elspeth Hathaway (IAE) gave a short overview of the company including the employment figures in Europe.
Situation in Hungary and BTUP
Ildiko Kren (IAE) informed participants that the Hungarian affiliate BDSZ has identified Coats as a non-organised MNC which they wish to target. IAE is providing assistance to BDSZ in the preparation of a BTUP campaign.
Global situation
Christina Hajagos-Clausen from IndustriALL Global (IAG) gave an update on the work at IAG on Coats which included the launch of two regional networks in 2019 (Asia Pacific and South America) and a global meeting in 2020. The global network supported the idea of establishing a regional network with the aim to identify non‒organised sites and establish the possibility to organise them.
IAG have been in touch with the company who although cooperative on national/regional issues, always respectfully declines to have a global discussion. IAG plan to organise a further global meeting in 2021 and will continue to work on the aim to collect and share all Collective Agreements possibility via a mobile app.
State of play at each site
IT: site operational since 1970s producing zips, however jobs have been cut of late and there are now around only 120 workers. Trade unions want to understand the company’s investment/strategic plan.
ES: acquired Gotex in 2020 which designs and manufactures specialised textiles such as optic fibres and glass fibre threads using high tech equipment. Currently, there are 27 workers with 5 TU representatives (3 CCOO and 2 UGT FICA). CCOO support the idea of creating a European/global network and is happy to share their CBAs.
DE: three sites in Germany (one now admin/sales) with around 160 manufacturing workers for zips (90% organised). Main clients include the automotive sector (40‒50%), tents, mattresses and general TCLF industry with a recent structural move in last few years from garments to technical applications. There was a small crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, but employees were covered by short time work and no dismissals took place and management have guaranteed employment till 2023. Work has picked up with extra shifts being offered and additional employees hired (6 months) and in general the situation is good with the company investing and a framework agreement being put in place. IGM remain in contact with sites in Italy and Poland (relocation of some work) and they proposed to set up small working group to share information but also with the aim to support sites struggling to organise.
PL: although the site is not currently organised, the trade unions welcome the coordination meeting as a good initiative, and they are willing to help organise the site.
RO: currently there are 379 workers (down from 411 in 2011), but they are not organised. The TU is keen to work with BSSZ (HU) especially with their engagement with the CEO in Romania. The lack of employment legislation in Romania remains an issue and the location of the site may mean that access to the site could be difficult.
BG: the site is responsible for colouring threads and employs less than 100 workers. There is a TU, however the conditions are unfavourable and there is continuous pressure on employees to leave their TU. Recently, some temporary work contracts expired, and workers were forced to find other jobs which led to the TU breaking down. Some labour contacts have been reduced from 8 to 4 hours and many workers have been forced to find additional jobs. In general, workers’ conditions are not good and although there is organised transport the salary is still very low (320 euros). The TUs are working on a campaign for more democracy at the workplace and as the Board reached an agreement this year reflecting on the UK’s Modern Slavery Act, and Californian equivalent, now could be a good time to approach the company on this issue.
TK: the COVID-19 crisis has caused issues, but the business is going well and there has been an increase in the number of shifts with the plan to hire new people. Currently, there are around 1000 employees making yarns and zippers for customer including the automotive sector (safety belts) and the textiles/garments industries. In general, workers are organised and there are no major issues.
UK: the HQ is based in the UK although the centre appears to focus on the software packages not manufacturing. Community Union have offered to contact the HQ for information and look at the supply chain.
EE: no representative due to a national holiday however the affiliate is considering joining the Network. Update as of 28/06: the site has 91 employees according to public data responsible for manufacturing and wholesale of apparel and accessories with production close to Tallinn. The Baltic Organising Alliance would support the Estonian affiliate IMTAL in organising the site.
HU: Coats Hungary has 199 employees according to a public source from 2020, working a minimum of two shifts. The site was unionised until around 2000, but union work stopped for unknown reasons. There seems to be a strong link between Coats Hungary and Coats Romania, as two members of the Supervisory Board have addresses in the same city where the Romanian sites is located (Odorheiu Secuiesc), which is around 700 km away from the site in Hungary.
Update from company policy team
Bruno Demaître (IAE) set out IAE’s approach to company work. Although IAE only organises company meetings on an ad‒hoc basis when needed (e.g. in case of major restructuring), communication between members and bilateral contacts are strongly encouraged. IAE remains available to provide contacts within European trade unions and can assist in setting up an EWC, but it was stressed that there must be an adequate TU presence with employee numbers meeting the 1000 employee threshold (note: UK and Turkey would not be included). As such, it was stressed that the first priority would be to increase trade union basis.
Conclusions
- Affiliates welcome the positive first step in sharing information and agreed to investigate and share missing information needed for the mapping exercise.
- Not all sites are equal and there is a large difference in workers’ rights and trade union organisation across the locations. Many sites remain unorganised, and affiliates agreed that a group effort is need to change this.
- Affiliates keen to cooperate at European and international level, with bilateral discussions taking place as needed (e.g. Romania/Hungary).
- National strategies needed to organise relevant sites with support from IAE requested.
- Setting up a EWC is not possible at this stage and BTUP remains the first priority.
- There is potential to set up global day of action organised by IAG with relevant campaign materials (e.g. video and leaflets).
Next steps
It was agreed that:
- Affiliates will continue to share information including the missing data with IAE/IAG.
- Affiliates will send copies of their collective bargaining agreement to IAE/IAG.
- Affiliates are invited to set up a European Network (participants’ contact details below).
- Affiliates will draft a European workplan with BTUP work supported by IAE (Ildiko).
- IAE/IAG will organise a follow-up European meeting before the next global meeting at which the work plan can be adopted.
List of participants/ Contact list
| BE | Judith | Kirton-Darling | industriAll Europe | Judith.kirton-darling@industriall-europe.eu |
| BE | Elspeth | Hathaway | industriAll Europe | Elspeth.Hathaway@industriall-europe.eu |
| BE | Ildikó | Kren | industriAll Europe | ildiko.kren@industriall-europe.eu |
| BE | Patrizia | Pitronaci | industriAll Europe | Patrizia.Pitronaci@industriall-europe.eu |
| BE | Bruno | Demaitre | industriAll Europe | Bruno.Demaitre@industriall-europe.eu |
| BG | Valentina | Katsarska | CITUB FOSIL (TCL) | fnsolp@abv.bg |
| BG | Rosita | Nikolova Marinova – Ivanova | Podkrepa FLI Light Industry | r.marinova_podkrepa@abv.bg |
| CH | Christina | Hajagos-Clausen | IndustriALL Global Union | chajagos-clausen@industriALL-union.org |
| CH | Raisul | Islam Kahn | IndustriALL Global Union | mrik1986@gmail.com |
| DE | Manfred | Bußmann | IG Metall | manfred.bussmann@freenet.de |
| DE | Gabriele | Ibrom | IG Metall | gabriele.ibrom@igmetall.de |
| DE | Romy | Siegert | IG Metall | Romy.Siegert@igmetall.de |
| EE | Veiko | Molder | Baltic organising Alliance | Veiko.molder@gmail.com |
| ES | Victor | Garrido Sotomayor | CC.OO industria | vgarrido@industria.ccoo.es |
| GB | Paul | McKenna | Community Union | pmckenna@community-tu.org |
| HU | Szabolcs | Beőthy-Fehér | BDSZ (ME-Ind) | bdsz.beothy@gmail.com |
| HU | Rozália | Sulyokné Kruspán | BDSZ (ME-Ind) | bdsz.sulyokne@gmail.com |
| IT | Riccardo | Colletti | CGIL FILCTEM | r.colletti@filctemcgil.it |
| IT | Letterio | Oceano | CGIL FILCTEM | l.oceano@filctemcgil.it |
| PL | Przemysław | Gręda | NSZZ Solidarnosc Metalowców | czlonprez1.lodz@solidarnosc.org.pl |
| RO | Daniel | Nastase | Cartel Alfa Uniconf (TCL) | cjnastase@gmail.com |
| TR | Haluk Deniz | Medet | DISK TEKSTIL | deniz.medet@disktekstil.org |
| TR | Saffet | Unal | DISK TEKSTIL | saffet.unal1616@gmail.com |
| TR | Mustafa Ozal | Percin | Türk-Is TEKSIF | international@teksif.org.tr |