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Perú

 

Nestlé breaks off direct

dealings with union

 

In stark contrast to its “Choose Wellness, Choose Nestlé” slogan boldly displayed in its web portal, Nestlé recently broke off direct dealings with the National Sole Union of Workers of Nestlé Peru S.A. (SUNTRANEP), refusing, among other things, to grant any wage increase during the whole of 2010, and attempting to take away social benefits already gained by workers.

 

Alexander Caballero, general secretary of the National Sole Union of Workers of Nestlé Peru S.A. (SUNTRANEP), notes that Nestlé has hindered negotiations from the start by taking 38 days to respond to the union’s list of demands, when article 57 of the Labor Collective Relations Act stipulates that negotiations must begin within 10 days of presentation of a list of demands.

 

“We had submitted the list of demands on Nov. 30, 2009, and management returned it on Jan. 6. We reported this to the Ministry of Labor, and it ordered the company to immediately resume discussion of the list of demands,” Caballero said.

 

SUNTRANEP’s demands include a wage increase, the implementation of a dependency allowance and the leveling of workers’ wages, as Caballero notes, “there are significant wage differences between workers hired in 2000 by Nestlé and those hired in 2001, in 2007, or in 2009.”

 

“Many workers with the same number of years in the company and performing the same tasks in the same category but are placed in different wage levels,” he explained.

 

The company is asking the union to sign a Bargaining Agreement with a three-year term and zero wage increase for the year 2010, “offering a one-time-only ‘bonus’ of less than 250 dollars for this year, and monthly wage increases of 25 dollars, in average, for 2011 and 2012,” he added.

 

According to Caballero, the company also seeks to eliminate sports activities (clause 37), which are usually held in the month of March with the participation mostly of “our members, but with non-members invited to participate as well. It also wants to take away school prizes, which are a benefit that applies even to high-ranking officers of the company,” he said.

 

On March 31, the members of the Bargaining Committee representing the workers were convened by management to a new meeting to discuss the list of demands. At that meeting the workers presented two proposals, to which Nestlé merely responded by suspending direct dealings,” Caballero said.

 

Among the reasons given by the transnational corporation to deny a wage increase for the current year is the fact that inflation last year was 0.25 percent.

 

What management forgot to take into consideration in the negotiation is that in 2009 Nestlé, the world’s largest food group, reported a net profit of 10.4 billion CHF (some 10 billion US dollars) exceeding forecasts, with a 4.1 percent rise in underlying sales for last year, ahead of rivals Unilever and Danone.

 

For 2010, Nestlé projects greater growth in its core food and beverage business, as it is focusing on these products, following its sale of the Alcon ophthalmology business.

 

    

In Lima, Julia Vicuña Yacarine

Rel-UITA

April 20, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

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