European companies, including the UK retail giant Tesco, are facing criticism from a leading human rights organisation for allegedly exploiting weak labour laws in the US and bullying employees to prevent them from joining unions.
Human Rights Watch says European multinationals talk nicely about labour relations at home, but pay scant regard to them overseas. In a report published this morning, the New York-based campaign group says that managers at Tesco's new mini-market chain in the US, Fresh & Easy, have created an anti-union atmosphere, and that employees who want to organise union activities live in fear for their jobs. Another UK company, the security firm Group 4 Securicor (G4S), fired an employee for trying to persuade colleagues to join a union.
The pair are on a list of European companies singled out by Human Rights Watch for what the group says is hypocrisy and violation of international standards on freedom of association. T-Mobile and DHL of Germany and the French industrial giant Saint-Gobain are among the other multi-nationals criticised.
"Even self-proclaimed 'progressive' companies take full advantage of weak US laws to stifle freedom of association," said Arvind Ganesan, director of the business and human rights programme at Human Rights Watch. "The behaviour of these companies casts serious doubt on the value of voluntary commitments to human rights. Companies need to be held accountable to their own stated commitments and to strong legal standards."
European companies routinely trumpet their commitment to good labour relations in corporate and social responsibility reports designed to present a caring face to investors and the wider world. In its annual publication, for example, Tesco says: "Employees have the right to freedom of association. We recognise the right of our staff to join a recognised trade union where this is allowed within national law."
And yet when it was recruiting an employee relations director for Fresh & Easy before launching the chain in 2007, the job advert listed "maintaining non-union status and union avoidance activities" among the responsibilities. The company said the advertisement was a mistake by its recruitment agency, for which it has apologised.
Tesco employees told Human Rights Watch that managers clearly took an anti-union stance. "It was constantly driven home to us in team-lead meetings that we should tell employees they have no need for the union, that the company will take care of them so they don't need a union," said Shastina Furman, who worked for the company in San Diego. "When the union started passing out flyers outside our store, my manager told us 'You don't want to be part of it. These are not the right people for you.'"
Sometimes, the managerial messages allegedly came with menaces. A human resources manager from Tesco's headquarters came to San Diego and asked Shannon Hardin, a $10-an-hour customer assistant, why she supported the union. "This made me worried too, like they were targeting me. I thought this was my right and management shouldn't be getting into my personal thoughts."
Tesco said it aimed to have good relations with unions, but found that local unions in the US were "trying to damage our business from day one". It denied having an anti-union policy.
drive from www.independent.co.uk