July 1999 - PACE makes decision in conjunction with union supporters at Imerys plant in Sylacauga, Alabama to organize the merged facility after Imerys illegally withdraws recognition.

September 1999 - PACE produces documentary video (in English and French) of Imerys' union busting and the courage or workers in fighting back against a hostile employer.

October 1999 - PACE and 20 million-strong ICEM announce joint campaign to win representation rights for union workers in Sylacauga; PACE meets with French union (FNCB - CFDT) which pledges to compel Imerys to "ease its clearly anti-union and clearly anti-democratic practices."

January 2000 - PACE and ICEM construct "global" web site for Imerys campaign in Sylacauga to educate workers worldwide about Imerys union busting; PACE and Keith Fulbright, an Imerys worker, travel to Europe to meet with British and Belgian unions representing workers at other Imerys plants; British T&G workers later write - "we were not prepared for the story they had to tell - having sat in stunned silence and watched the PACE video, we were initially dumbfounded and initially lost for words."

February 2000 - Union announces that a majority of workers at the combined plant in Sylacauga, despite a brutal anti-union campaign by Imerys, signed cards authorizing PACE to be their representative for the purpose of collective bargaining; National Labor Relations Board cites Imerys with major violations of labor law after PACE initiates charges.

March 2000 - The notorious Denis Redeker, former ECC CEO and head of Imerys Pigments Division, suddenly resigns; PACE holds major solidarity rally in Sylacauga -- rally features Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary; Higgs tells workers the crude industrial relations practices used by Imerys in Alabama would be illegal in Europe; Higgs leads workers in march on the plant at the end of the rally.

April 2000 - Walden Asset Management, a major investment company, sees the Imerys campaign web site and joins PACE in the campaign to stop Imerys union busting.

May 2000 - PACE takes campaign against Imerys union busting to the company's shareholders meeting in Paris and literally dominates the event; according to French newspaper, Liberation, "a shudder went through the investor ranks" as representatives from PACE, ICEM and Walden Asset Management spoke; Imerys CEO Patrick Kron, clearly shaken by the action, promises PACE at the meeting that Imerys "will not campaign against the union" if an election takes place; Imerys issues a statement in Sylacauga that no worker will be punished by the company for supporting the union.