With Harald Wiedenhoffer

 

The Dairy Sector: 

many problems and many challenges

 

Harald Wiedenhoffer, General Secretary of the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), regional organization of the IUF in Europe and a member of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) was interviewed by Sirel about the upcoming IUF Global Dairy Conference.

 

-What is your analysis of the diary sector?

-As far as transnational companies are concerned, we have all the big players in Europe: Campina, Nestlé, Unilever, Fonterra, and so on.  We have European Works Councils in these companies, where we push for their recognition of unions at the local, national, regional and global level.  We try to negotiate the best collective agreements with these transnational companies.

 

-It is a key sector...

-Dairy is an important sector in Europe where there are more than 400,000 jobs and more than 12,000 dairy enterprises.

 

Some countries are particularly relevant as far as dairy is concerned such as Germany, France, Italy and Poland.

 

-And what are the problems in this industry?

-There are several problems; the first one is the consolidation process and the restructuring of this sector, which has been taking place for many years.  A lot of jobs have been lost and our aim is to steer and manage this restructuring process in a socially responsible way.

 

A second problem is the retail sector where the dairy products are sold, and its purchasing policy. In the retail sector, with a big purchasing power, the concentration and restructuring process is even bigger than in the dairy sector, it is very powerful and they obtain massive reductions in the price of milk and dairy products.  Their purchasing power has led to a situation where the prices for milk and dairy products --particularly for milk-- went down and the pressure on working conditions, wages and collective bargaining is increasing.

 

So we have a big gap between producers' prices and the prices in the retail sector. This is why even the European Commission is intervening and checking how prices are built in the retail sector. Our concern is that milk is sold below producer prices.

 

This phenomenon is taking place. Tthe prices are some times so low that the farmers cannot cover their own production costs. This is why we particularly ask and demand that there is a ban for milk to be sold below producer prices.

 

A third problem is that this sector produces a lot of jobs and we need to strengthen the rural areas, we need stronger support for grassland management, also to protect the environment and combat the climate change.

 

Also, in EFFAT's list there is a fourth problem: the future market for dairy products in Europe.  As we all know, there are European market regimes but the milk market was not touched by the reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. This is on the agenda for the years to come and we have to ensure that Europe remains an important and relevant producer of milk, for which we expect that all stakeholders, particularly we as trade unions, the workers, are much more involved in the discussions and the process.

 

We also have big problems in Europe with milk substitutes. There is a sector developing innovators' products which look and taste like milk products; however, their raw material is not milk because producers are looking for cheaper raw materials.  Here we need a clear labelling for the consumers to decide what products they really want to purchase.

 

-The conference will have a large European delegation with many participants…

-The delegates from European unions will join this conference with big expectations. This is the first dairy conference in a long time. I think the last one was in New Zealand several years ago and it is an urgent matter to discuss all the global challenges of this industry.

 

I can assure that the European participants will really contribute to the discussions and to a genuinely international response to these challenges.