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contact us: iuf@iuf.org |
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Nestle's Corporate Business Principles proclaim their commitment to "respect the right of employees to form representative organizations and to join – or not to join – trade unions" and "refrain from any action restricting the employee’s right to be, or not to be, affiliated to a union." At the Nescafe factory in Panjang, Indonesia, the union has been seeking since December 2007 to negotiate two key demands: that wage increases should be negotiated through collective bargaining, and that the wage scale should be included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Management says it is not company policy to negotiate wages and that wage scales are "confidential"!
Management created a fake union and tried to coerce workers into joining it. When union members resisted, management simply faked their signatures on union membership documents! The dispute is the subject of an IUF submission to the OECD for serious violations of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, which oblige companies to adhere to international Conventions on trade union rights. Nestlé claims to be in full compliance with these Guidelines. But at Panjang, new hires are told they are "free to join, or not to join" a union, and given two documents when they enter employment: the employment contract, and an application to join an organization called FKBNI, created and nurtured by the company to destroy the SBNIP, the union formed by workers. Nestlé's Corporate Business Principles state their commitment to establishing a "constructive dialogue" with unions. In India, in November 2008, the Federation of All India Nestlé Employees representing workers at 4 factories presented their collective bargaining demand for a wage increase in line with inflation. Nestlé told the union it would consider the request - and then told the court the demand was "totally unreasonable, unjustified and untenable" when it sought and obtained an injunction permanently banning workers from on "assembling at the gates of the factory" and "holding any meetings"! As for negotiating wages, Nestlé claimed there was no need - "the company had conducted a scientific survey last year" to determine appropriate pay! It took over one year of continuous mobilization involving strike action, protests and an IUF submission to the OECD documenting Nestlé's multiple violations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises for Nestlé to finally agree to recognize the unions and negotiate collective bargaining agreements - including negotiating the wages which management had previously declared "secret". The court order restricting freedom of assembly remains in force. After a July 2008 strike at Nestlé Hong Kong, Nestlé made a series of commitments to rectify abusive labour practices which have shocked public opinion. The company refused to recognize the union and instead attacked the union leaders, unfairly suspending the union president prompting another strike, which then led to his reinstatement. Through the union's continued organizing and campaigning, and ongoing IUF support, management has been forced to recognize the union, though the company still refuses to respect the right to collective bargaining. At Nestlé Korea, in February 2009, the union tried to verify press reports that the company's operations would be sold. Management refused to even discuss it with the union, claiming at first that the sale of the country's only factory was a "rumour" - and then alternately claiming that the deal had fallen through, or was still under discussion! Workers had no way of knowing if they would be working for Nestlé the next day - and, naturally, no way of negotiating their terms of employment under a potential new owner. After five months of daily protest actions, and another IUF OECD complaint, Nestle finally shelved its plans to sell the factory. The union was then able to successfully negotiate a new collective agreement. Nestlé, true to form, refused to acknowledge any obligation to act transparently and share information with the union, setting the stage for… The next round of deception, this time in Tunisia, where in November 2009 workers at the Nestlé ice cream factory in Carthage were informed by a bulletin board notice that their factory had been sold. "In conformity with its policy of social responsibility," the notice read, "Nestlé has expended all efforts to preserve jobs, the rights of the workers concerned, and maintain the production site." Despite two rounds of strike action and the intervention of the Labour Inspectorate, Nestlé stubbornly refuses to disclose the terms of the sale and its implications for employment. The workers are still fighting for Nestlé to disclose the facts behind the secret sale of their workplace. |
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