PACE International Union vs. Imerys Groupe: An Organizing Campaign Case Study

Abstract

This paper analyzes a case study of a campaign in rural Alabama in 2000, when the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) organized against the French-based Imerys Groupe (the product of the 1999 merger of English China Clays and Imetal). Within days of the merger, Imerys withdrew recognition and implemented new terms and conditions of employment at the former Imetal plant where PACE had repre sented the workforce. PACE at once developed a systematic three- part plan of action to counter the company's strategy. The three interdependent parts included: a) the traditional, local campaign in Alabama; b) regulatory challenges through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Europe; and c) the international campaign coordinated through the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and Gen eral Workers Union (ICEM) in Washington, D.C., Brussels, Bel gium, Paris, and London. We discuss the tactics and strategy that led to PACE's winning campaign against the multinational corpo rate behavior that U.S.-based unions increasingly face.