The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), many of whose members are employed in transporting and delivering Nestlé products, has called on Nestlé to stop violating trade union rights in Indonesia and Pakistan. In a letter to Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke of February 7, ITF General Secretary David Cockcroft expresses the organizations's deep concerns over the two conflicts.
"Our members are following these conflicts", writes Cockcroft, "and are angered that management at the Panjang factory has arbitrarily and vindictively dismissed 53 members of the SBNIP at a moment when mediation was in principle taking place. They understandably ask if they, too, could fall victim to similar violations of their rights.
"They are also angered by ongoing actions by management at the Kabirwala factory in Pakistan to undermine the rights of the union and its president in response to their efforts on behalf of the factory’s numerous contract workers. They are alarmed to learn to management has consistently refused to comply with court orders, dismissed over a hundred contract workers, fabricated legal charges against many of them and has now created permanent positions for workers who did not join the union or support their efforts to obtain permanent employment for long-serving contract workers."
The ITF calls on Nestlé "To take concrete and immediate action to resolve these long-running conflicts. We would expect all dismissed SBNIP members to be unconditionally reinstated and local management to return to good faith negotiations for the long-delayed collective bargaining negotiation... Pakistan management must drop all charges against the Kabirwala contract workers, reinstate all dismissed workers and enter into good faith negotiations with the Kabirwala union on the employment status of the contract workers."
The ITF [1] represents over 4.5 million transport workers organized in 690 unions in 153 countries.