Chicago unions join French in protesting Lisle company

(UPDATED: 11/4/09) A Chicago-area front was opened this week in the battle over a plant closing in France.
Several members of a French union joined dozens of union activists from the Chicago region on Friday to protest outside the Lisle headquarters of Molex, an electronics parts manufacturer that a year ago announced plans to shutter the French factory.
The protest was pegged to a shareholder meeting at Molex, which supplies materials to, among others, makers of cars, appliances and computers.
The French union folks also met with some of those involved in the Hartmarx and Republic Windows & Doors labor actions, officials said. (The above photo shows French and Chicago-area union members after demonstration.)
The overall goal: bring more pressure on Molex to reopen the plant or, at the very least, follow the rules governing things like notification and severance, according to one of the American point people, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Tim Beaty.

"The French union folks have been protesting a lot in France (as shown in photo at left) . . . when they found out this shareholder meeting was taking place they wanted to come, and they reached out to us and a number of unions in the United States and asked for support," Beaty said. "We arranged for them to get proxies to get inside the meeting and set up a protest for them this morning, in support of them."
Those with proxies ended up being denied entrance, Beaty said, adding that two of the French visitors also were temporarily detained at O'Hare Airport on Thursday and questioned. (Click here to read about the detention.)
Customs officials did not immediately return phone calls to confirm this.
A Molex spokeswoman released the following statement on Friday:
"Molex recently finalized the plan to close its plant in Villemur-sur-Tarn, France as part of a global restructuring initiative to streamline our cost structure so that we can be competitive in a challenging global economic environment. We had to make the difficult decision to close many of our locations, including plants in Germany, Slovakia, China, and Japan. While there are many considerations that go into the decision to close a plant, two important considerations are a plant's profitability and viability -- the Villemur plant was not economically viable and was not operationally profitable during the five years that we owned it.
"We recognize how difficult it is when a plant is closed and Molex is committed to acting responsibly and treating employees with respect. In all instances involving a plant closure, we have complied with legal requirements and have provided a fair social plan, including severance and outplacement assistance. We believe we have met all of our commitments and obligations in France.
"We know not everyone may agree with our business decisions but we make them because we have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and other stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and the communities in which we do business.
"Today we had our annual meeting of shareholders. In accordance with our bylaws and legal requirements, which are described in our proxy statement, attendance at the meeting was limited to shareholders."
In addition to the Teamsters, the Chicago-area labor groups that participated in Friday's demonstration included Workers United, the Service Employees International Union, the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice.
By ChicagoUnionNews
Contact: info@chicagounionnews.com
Photo credit: Top picture by Heather Stone. Second photo provided by union.
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