How many times can a company lie in the course of attempting to undermine a union? It is difficult to say if Nestlé, the world's largest food company, holds the record (the competition is stiff), but it is certainly an over-achiever…

An international IUF fact-finding team has been denied access to an Assam plantation to investigate the recent deaths of three workers. The plantation is owned by Amalgamated Plantations in which Tata Global Beverages is the major shareholder. The 930 hectare Powai estate has one of the world's largest tea-processing factories and employs some 1,800 permanent and 1,200 temporary workers.

At least two banana workers were killed on July 8 as police opened fire on striking workers in the province of Bocas del Toro. Four thousand workers at the Bocas Fruit Company struck over wages at the beginning of the month, and were joined by thousands of independent producers in the cooperatives with their own grievances.

Management of Nestlé Waters Russia has declined to appeal the court-ordered reinstatement of Sergei Strykov, Vice-Chair of the union formed last year who was fired on January 27. Strykov has also been compensated for wages lost from January through May, while the union was fighting his illegal dismissal.

The latest video interview with Nestlé Chair Peter Brabeck takes place on the balcony at company headquarters in Vevey Switzerland, with Lake Geneva and the snow-capped Alps shining in the background. Brabeck relates his rise from ice cream salesman to head of the world's largest food company, with the reporter smiling approvingly: "You've come a long way." You cannot escape promotion, explains Brabeck, if you're just a bit better (expressed with mathematical precision as 5% better).

Reynolds American Incorporated (RAI) is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States (after Philip Morris) with annual profits of over USD 2 billion. Its shareholders have enjoyed an over 80% rate of return over the past 5 years. British American Tobacco (BAT) holds a 42% share, making it the largest shareholder.

Housekeeping staff at the Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland are back at work today, having ratified an agreement won after 13 days locked out by their employer without pay.
 
Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota Members members won a pay increase of up to 2% for a one-year term, and kept their sick leave, after an 11-hour mediation to reach a settlement.
 

Members of Unite Here! walked off the job early on the morning of June 24 just as members of the G20 French delegation arrived at Canada's Novotel Toronto Centre hotel, part of the French-based Accor Group. Troubles have been brewing at Accor across Canada, where union organizing for union recognition and collective bargaining rights has met with fierce opposition from management, and more widely through the Group's operations.