FROM
THE MIDDLE OF RUSSIA COMES NEWS OF an independent trade union’s hard
fight with a multi-national company. Switzerland-based Nestlé,
own the Kitkat candy and confectionery plant in the Russian city of
Perm, where the Nestlé Perm Workers Union have been trying to
negotiate a wage rise in the face of rampant inflation. They were
amazed to learn from local management that company policy was to
exclude wage levels from negotiations. Following further union
pressure, management imposed a 15% rise, less than the 16% official
inflation rate. However at a well-attended protest meeting in March
speakers declared ‘We need a real wage increase now!’ citing the common
practice of Nestlé workers selling blood to supplement their
income. Now the Agricultural Workers Union of Russia and the Federation
of Independent Trade Unions plan to take the fight to Moscow with a
demonstration outside Nestlé Russia headquarters.
Nestlé workers brave
the Russian winter to demand higher wages
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UK
SUPERMARKET CHAIN TESCO HAVE ESTABLISHED a large foothold in Eastern
Europe in recent years but, while consumers may have been originally
delighted with the range of products available, workers have not always
been so happy. In Poland, where Tesco increased revenue by 17% to
£1.35 billion in 2007, the first few months of 2008 saw the
formation of union branches at several stores. Complaints about
pay and conditions led to strikes at Tychy and recruitment at Lublin
led by the ‘August 80’ union, and protests at Czestochowa organised by
the Work Confederation. Iwona Mandat from Czestochowa said, ‘We want to
be proud to work for Tesco, like we were at the beginning. For that, we
want to be treated with respect and we need a pay rise’. In March the
company concluded an agreement with NSZZ Solidarnosc to raise wages by
30% nationally, ‘because they represented 80% of the staff.’ according
to a Tesco Polska spokesman ‘However, we will still be liaising with
the other unions’.
Meanwhile, a UK campaign on behalf of migrant workers in another
British food retailer has gained support from trade unionists in both
Poland and Romania. The Unite trade union, concerned about the two-tier
workforce at Marks and Spencer meat suppliers where mainly migrant
agency workers are employed on inferior terms and conditions to those
of directly employed staff, enlisted support in countries from where
migrant workers often come to Britain. In this way the union hopes to
put pressure on M & S who urge consumers to ‘Look behind the label’
for proof of their high ethical and social standards.
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