Read this article in:
17 December, 2007
On 4 December, 500 European trade unionists from 17 countries gathered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for a European Day of Action against consumer products maker Unilever’s harsh restructuring course.
The event, sponsored by the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Works Council of Unilever, included a mass meeting, followed by a march to Unilever’s Rotterdam headquarters, where a formal declaration was presented to senior executives.
Globally, trade unions in a number of countries expressed solidarity with the European Action Day. In Mumbai, India, some 150 unionists, organised by the All India Council of Unilever Unions, held a mass rally on that day to protest the cuts. And in South Africa, Unilever workers from two plants conducted plant-gate pickets during the noon hour.
The six-point Rotterdam declaration presented to Unilever includes: clarity and perspectives from Unilever to European workers of the company; a halt to the current restructuring plan; an end to job dismissals and plant closures; respectful treatment to Unilever’s No. 1 asset – its workers; and a call for full social dialogue with workers’ representatives to find alternative solutions to job cuts.
In early August 2007, the Anglo-Dutch company announced a global reorganisation plan that would make redundant one-tenth of its 180,000 employees. Of those 20,000 job cuts, 10,000 to 12,000 were from European operations, with 20 to 25 plants endangered over the next 3 years.