Ray-Ban maker Luxottica charged with anti-union habits at US plant in Georgia

MILAN, July 15 (Reuters) – US and international unions have accused Ray-Ban maker Luxottica, the Italian arm of glasses giant EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA), of violating workers’ union rights at a US plant in Georgia to have to mediate French and US governments.

In a statement sent to Reuters, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) along with the AFL-CIO and two other worker groups claimed that the managers at the Luxottica plant in McDonough, near Atlanta, Georgia, had an “aggressive and timid” – inducing “campaign to discourage its 2,000 employees from seeking union membership.

The unions filed a complaint on Thursday under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational companies, which state that multinational companies should not encroach on workers’ organizing rights.

The application is an example of US non-union factory and warehouse workers seeking the intervention of international labor authorities rather than the national National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in an attempt to gain union representation. Last year, a group of international trade unions complained to the OECD about McDonald’s (MCD.N), saying the fast-food chain did not adequately address sexual harassment.

“The NLRB is really broken,” Tim Dubnau, deputy organization director at CWA, told Reuters. “We know exactly what’s going to happen. We go to the NLRB, the company stall and then we spend 80 days intimidating people, acting like thugs at work and forcing people to listen to anti-union nonsense.”

The NLRB said its regional staff across the country are determined to ensure that every case is thoroughly investigated. Reuters could not find any record of Luxottica filing a case with the NLRB.

The CWA said that Luxottica – which was founded 60 years ago by Leonardo Del Vecchio and made him one of Italy’s richest men – like other European companies, has good relations with domestic unions, but functions differently in the United States and the weaker ones Take advantage of labor laws there.

“I don’t think it’s going to fly when the Italians understand that this company, which prides itself on having a reputation for being pro-workers, treats people in America very, very differently,” said Dubnau.

A US spokesman for Luxottica told Reuters that the company has “strong and productive relationships with unions around the world wherever our employees are represented by them.

“In Atlanta, less than three years ago, our employees overwhelmingly voted to have a direct relationship with us rather than union representation,” added the spokesman.

The McDonough facility produces lenses for Luxottica’s subsidiaries Lenscrafters, Pearle Vision, Oakley and other proprietary brands.

“The climate in the United States is changing. Support for unions is growing and President (Joe) Biden has made it very clear that his administration believes that union membership is the best way for workers to improve their wages and conditions, ”said CWA spokeswoman Beth All.

Just over 6 percent of US private sector workers are union members.

‘A WHOLE DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT’

The unions say the Georgia plant managers used a company app called LiveSafe to warn employees about the alleged risks of union organization, including losing wages and benefits if they manage to join a union to found.

The unions said the app was originally intended to educate workers about COVID-19 issues. The Luxottica spokesman said the app was launched in 2018 and is a valuable platform for reaching employees without access to email.

The organizers also accuse Georgia operations managers of creating an anti-union website that the Labor Relations Institute, a U.S. consulting firm specializing in helping companies fight unionization, hired and required employees to comply Attend union bashing meetings.

“We don’t think a union is in your or our interest,” it says on the website https://luxfacts.com/.

“A US union would change the open culture at Luxottica. Your ability to make an individual contribution and to be successful based on your own earnings and hard work could be affected.”

The OECD requires each member state to have so-called “national contact points” – or government bodies – to investigate complaints about alleged violations of its guidelines for multinational corporations and to offer mediation. However, it cannot impose sanctions or force companies to resolve disputes.

The unions also accuse the global management of Luxottica in Milan and Paris for not addressing the situation in Georgia.

Luxottica’s US spokesman said that all company employee communications relating to trade unions are “in accordance with US labor laws and common practice for US companies.”

Georgia is a so-called state with the right to work, which means that private sector workers cannot be required to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment.

“These European companies, many of which are involved in trade unions in Europe, exist in a very different environment,” said former NLRB chair Wilma Liebman. “Call it Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, because these companies have two different operating philosophies, so to speak.”

Sonia Paoloni, a senior official with Italy’s largest union, CGIL, told Reuters the company has excellent relationships with unions in Italy and offers extensive benefits to its 14,000 local workers, including reimbursement of school books for employees’ children.

“I am certainly having trouble recognizing the behavior of Luxottica in Georgia as originating from the same company that I know in Italy. If Luxottica did the same in Italy, we would sue them under our labor laws for anti-union activity, ”she said.

Additional reporting from Richa Naidu in Chicago and Dan Wiessner; Editing by Dan Grebler and David Gregorio

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