First Bus oppose Workers Rights Proposal
itf | 27.06.2006 11:39 | Workers' Movements
Worker shareholders at FirstGroup have a resolution the company should respect International Stadards for workers and human rights. The company are opposing it! Then this is a company that is opposing Union organisation and the freedom to association.
A British transport union last week condemned a multinational for opposing a resolution drafted by employee shareholders and investors, calling for the company to adopt a human rights policy.
The resolution by employee shareholders and other investors urges FirstGroup plc, an international passenger transport company, to introduce a policy based on International Labour Organization conventions. It also demands that the company report to shareholders on material risks that could arise from the company’s problematic labour practices. The Trades Union Congress Superannuation Society was among the investors backing the resolution. The company has so far opposed the resolution.
The British ITF-affiliated Transport and General Workers’ Union has criticised the company’s intransigence on the issue. Graham Stevenson, the union’s national organiser for transport, said: “Employee shareholders are attempting to do something no other UK employee shareholders have ever done before to reform their company from within. We had hoped that for the long-term good of the company, FirstGroup would listen to the growing chorus that is calling for reform. Realigning its labour policies with international standards would benefit not just workers but all company stakeholders.”
Stevenson cited further examples of FirstGroup in the US acting against trade unions. “Only recently, we’ve learned that bus drivers for the school district in Baltimore, Maryland were forced to seek the help of the city’s mayor to stop the company’s heavy-handed tactics designed to prevent them from uniting to join the union of their choice,” he said. “This is just the type of behaviour the resolution seeks to address. Why does FirstGroup interfere with workers exercising the right to freedom of association? This right is too precious. We will never stop fighting for it.”
The resolution will be put to the vote at the FirstGroup annual general meeting in July in Aberdeen, Scotland.
http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/826
The resolution by employee shareholders and other investors urges FirstGroup plc, an international passenger transport company, to introduce a policy based on International Labour Organization conventions. It also demands that the company report to shareholders on material risks that could arise from the company’s problematic labour practices. The Trades Union Congress Superannuation Society was among the investors backing the resolution. The company has so far opposed the resolution.
The British ITF-affiliated Transport and General Workers’ Union has criticised the company’s intransigence on the issue. Graham Stevenson, the union’s national organiser for transport, said: “Employee shareholders are attempting to do something no other UK employee shareholders have ever done before to reform their company from within. We had hoped that for the long-term good of the company, FirstGroup would listen to the growing chorus that is calling for reform. Realigning its labour policies with international standards would benefit not just workers but all company stakeholders.”
Stevenson cited further examples of FirstGroup in the US acting against trade unions. “Only recently, we’ve learned that bus drivers for the school district in Baltimore, Maryland were forced to seek the help of the city’s mayor to stop the company’s heavy-handed tactics designed to prevent them from uniting to join the union of their choice,” he said. “This is just the type of behaviour the resolution seeks to address. Why does FirstGroup interfere with workers exercising the right to freedom of association? This right is too precious. We will never stop fighting for it.”
The resolution will be put to the vote at the FirstGroup annual general meeting in July in Aberdeen, Scotland.
http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/826
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