Teamster solidarity with Dutch dock workers helps win back their pensions

Transamerica protest in 2008

A global insurance giant, Aegon, agreed to give back Dutch dockworkers their pension money after a long hard fight that involved the Teamsters and the longshoremen.

The dispute goes back to 2007, when the Dutch Dockworkers Union pension fund was transformed into an insurance company that was bought by Aegon. Aegon decided to steal the dockworkers' money.

The Teamsters were able to pressure Aegon into doing the right thing because many Teamster pension and benefit funds do business with an Aegon subsidiary -- Transamerica, a holding company for investment firms and life insurance companies.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wrote a stinging letter in 2008 to Aegon's lawyers:

As a result of Aegon's deplorable mismanagement, the dockworkers' hard-earned pension funds are serving as backing for Aegon's own insurance obligations. 

The Teamsters Union condemns Aegon's violation of workers' pension rights and retirement security and stands in solidarity with Dutch dockworkers and the Union, FNV Bondgenoten, in the continuing struggle for justice with Aegon.

Hoffa noted that many Teamsters funds do business with Transamerica, and he pledged to tell all the funds about Aegon's actions. "I urge you to advise Aegon to halt its misappropriation of the funds relegated for the pension benefits of the dockworkers. Such resolution would align Aegon with the values of many of its clients," he wrote.

When nothing happened, Teamsters International Vice President Rome Aloise hosted representatives of the Dutch Dockworkers Union in San Francisco and joined them in a protest outside the Transamerica building. Aloise also sent a letter to the CEO of Aegon.

Aegon finally reached an agreement with the dockworkers, which was announced yesterday.  RTT News reported they would ask a Dutch court to unfreeze the dockworkers' assets. Aegon agreed to pay 80 million euros to the foundation representing the dockworkers and offer more favorable pension terms. Aegon also agreed to contribute up to 20 million euros to the pension fund.

Niek Stam, head of the dockworkers' union, said it was a long and hard fight, but he was deeply grateful to the Teamsters and other unions that pressured Transamerica.

It has been the global character of our campaign that could finally prompt a global insurance giant to settle its conflict about the pension money of dockworkers.

When you fight, you can win.

Locked-out IKEA Teamsters get help from European labor leaders

An international fact-finding coalition of labor leaders pledged to help locked-out IKEA Teamsters in Richmond, British Columbia, after visiting workers and local leaders last Thursday.

For over 180 days, more than 350 of our brothers and sisters from Teamsters Local 213 in Richmond, British Colombia, have been locked out by management at their warehouse after they refused to accept draconian wage and benefit cuts.

The IKEA workers were locked out after they twice refused to accept the furniture store's wage cuts by over 80 percent and voted for a strike mandate.  Instead of actually negotiating, the store locked workers out.  Local 213 business agent Anita Dawson, a former IKEA employee says the company just isn't interested in working to a solution:

The company has showed little interest in dealing with our issues at the bargaining table.  They seem intent on following their agenda, which involve cutbacks.  Our members are not interested  in going backwards.

The international panel, headed by Peter Lövkvist of Sweden, visited Vancouver and Richmond to determine whether IKEA's confrontational approach in Canada indicates a change for the entire company. B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair explained:

Whether legitimate or not, IKEA has developed and nurtured a reputation worldwide as being a good employer. There is growing concern globally, however, that IKEA’s confrontational approach to labour relations at its Richmond store is a testing ground for the entire chain. This is what the panel will examine. 

The Tyree reported the fact-finders were troubled by what they found:

The increasingly-fractious, six month labour dispute at IKEA's big box store in Richmond may be on the verge of a dramatic escalation -- all the way to Europe. 

After listening to a wealth of emotional testimony from embittered IKEA employees during a hearing in Vancouver, international trade union representatives are pledging overseas action on behalf of the Richmond store workers, if the prolonged conflict continues. 

"We will do everything we can that's in our power," declared Peter Lövkvist, secretary of the Nordic Transport Workers' Federation, which represents 400,000 union members across all five Nordic countries, including IKEA's home base of Sweden. "We're not ruling anything out." 

Asked for specifics, Lövkvist mentioned measures such as publicizing the dispute in Scandinavia, demanding a "friendly" meeting with the worldwide company's top brass at its Swedish headquarters, and union members refusing to handle IKEA products. "That could include seafarers, dockworkers, longshoremen, truck drivers, warehouse workers," he said in an interview. "It depends. We could do a lot."

IKEA has been illegally replacing workers and is still trying to cut wages.  Although workers have said that they would reauthorize their current contract with a few small tweaks, IKEA refuses to listen.

Though the fight has dragged on for over six months, the locked-out workers remain strong.  One member of the fact-finding team, Erin Van Der Maas from the International Transport Workers’ Federation, wrote to Local 213 after the visit:

Your togetherness and support for each other has left a massive impression on me. It was a real honour to meet so many great brothers and sisters facing this lockout together with dignity and respect. I hope you all get the outcome you deserve - and we will be following up on this as soon as we get back to Europe.

Show some solidarity!  Let Local 213 know you stand with them as well on their Facebook page.