Unions Aim to Push Nestle Out of Russia

Nestlé has increased wages in Perm three times over the past year, by 9, 10 and then 15 percent. However, these hikes have not been enough to keep up with the high rate of inflation in the region—which is officially 16.5 percent, says union secretary Larisa Selivanova. There hasn’t been a real wage increase in years—particularly as the real rate of inflation is actually much higher than the official one, she claims. Many of the factory workers donate blood to boost their incomes. Selivanova says that most can no longer afford to buy meat for their families.

But workers in Nestle’s Russian factories are in revolt – albeit at an early stage. With support from German unionists and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, unionists are demanding a living wage from the Swiss giant. This is a particularly courageous stand to make in an environment where alternative employment is scarce and the state gives no support to union struggles, so it deserves our support.

Nestlé in Russia is involved in a bitter industrial dispute with its workers. The food giant is refusing to negotiate on the issue of increasing real wages. Russia’s labor union federation is now threatening to strike and says the “anti-worker” company shouldn’t be allowed to operate in Russia.

A two-meter-tall blue rat runs up and down outside Nestlé‘s Moscow headquarters. It’s holding up a green Nestlé logo with the word “shameless” written on it. Workers at the Swiss firm’s factory in the Ural city of Perm have come all the way to the capital to stage the protest. They are complaining about what they call a refusal on the part of factory management to engage in negations to increase real wages. The workers hold up placards with slogans like “no shame—no conscience,” or, “We give the country KitKat, but we don’t get a decent wage….

Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.