Labor union representation and union activity at Alcoa in Mexico
Alcoa employs more than 20,000 workers at six different cities in Mexico and manufactures electrical wire harnesses for cars, trucks, and motorcycles. All of Alcoa Automotive's operations offer attractive pay and benefit packages. Alcoa’s compensation strategy is based on being competitive in the local market according to industry standards, exceeding or meeting legal minimums. Good employee attendance and strong retention rates at the Alcoa plants indicate that the compensation is strong relative to other opportunities in the region. Two-thirds of the plants are represented by unions and several different unions operate at different plants. Alcoa is widely recognized for its commitment to safety and the plants in Mexico are the safest in the entire Alcoa system by objective measures.
At Alcoa's Piedras Negras facility, production employees have been represented by the CTM labor union in Mexico since we began operations there 17 years ago. In March 2002, a local movement to replace the union steward in one of the three plants was successful, and a democratic election took place. The process took place in a peaceful manner and brought about a change in representation. The company stayed neutral throughout these events, and made very clear that we supported the Alcoa "Freedom of Association" principle.
On September 25th and 26th of 2002, several workers conducted an illegal work stoppage, demanding the immediate replacement of the existing CTM union committee in a different Piedras Negras plant. That disruption lasted approximately 24 hours and at one point involved approximately 200 workers out of the 4,800 that had worked in this location at the time. Alcoa managers along with Mexican labor officials communicated very clearly that the activities involved were illegal and must come to a halt. Each of the workers eventually returned to work. Days later, after very careful review of all evidence, including photos, videotapes and other workers’ testimony, Alcoa's local management concluded that they should terminate those employees who instigated and actively led the illegal work stoppage. Those 20 employees were terminated on October 3rd and 4th of 2002.
In February 2005, after several weeks of negotiation, the Piedras Negras union negotiation committee communicated the negotiation results. The process was monitored by a labor officer and a public notary. During the communication process, a group of workers initiated an illegal work stoppage that involved approximately 250 workers out of the 3,150 in the location. The workers were repeatedly requested to return to their workstations by location managers and the labor officer. The disruption lasted approximately four hours.
A team of external legal advisors analyzed all the evidence, including video tapes and documentation provided by the public notary and labor officer. Based on their report, 22 employees were terminated on February 25th and another 74 received disciplinary letters on March 2nd and 3rd of 2005.
Generally speaking, in both events, the terminated workers abandoned their tasks without permission and disrupted the discipline in the facilities by inciting co-workers to stop working. Additionally, when disrupting the discipline that prevailed in the facilities, the dismissed workers threatened the safety of the work place and intentionally provoked fights with the supporters of the different unions.
Throughout that time period, Alcoa communicated clearly that the company is neutral on union issues, and fully supports the Freedom of Association principle. We do not, however, support the use of violence and intimidation to drive change and cannot support actions that are illegal. The initiation of a work stoppage of this nature violated several clauses in the Mexican labor law and we determined that termination of those responsible was the correct course of action.
The claim that Alcoa terminated these workers to put an end to a labor movement is simply false. The terminations were solely the result of initiating an illegal work stoppage.
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Alcoa Fujikura partnership dissolved
On Feb 1, 2006, the partnership between Alcoa and Fujikura, Ltd. was dissolved. Two Piedras Niegras plants and approximately 1100 employees were transferred to Fujikura, Ltd. The one remaining plant and its employees are still owned by Alcoa's AFL Autmotive business.
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