French and U.S. labor fight plant closing in France

LISLE, Ill. —  In the pouring rain and blowing wind more than 50 union members from Workers United, United Electrical workers, United Steelworkers, Jobs with Justice and others joined four members of the French union federation, the CGT, on Oct. 30 to demonstrate against Molex Inc. here. Molex, based in Lisle, is a multinational electronics component manufacturer. Molex, in clear violation of French labor law, is closing a profitable plant in the southwest of France to offshore the work somewhere in Asia.

Three of the CGT workers came to Lisle with stock voting proxies so they could ask questions at a stockholders meeting scheduled for Oct. 30 morning. Despite holding legal voting rights that entitled them to participate in the meeting, Denis Parise, an officer in the CGT union, which represents the 300 workers in France, told the supporters that they were denied entry along with an American supporter who also had valid proxy credentials.

Noel Beasley, international vice president of Workers United, said his union was proud to stand in solidarity with the CGT union federation and the Molex workers. He said that years of mutual solidarity between the CGT and his union set the stage for the demonstration in Lisle, and pointed out that active international labor solidarity is vital in the globalized world of today.