As Nestlé shareholders prepare for the annual shareholder meeting on April 19 Nestlé watchers should note that on April 6 a court in Kabirwala, Pakistan issued an arrest warrant for a manager named Jahangir at the labour contractor which has been supplying hundreds of contract workers under abusive conditions to Nestlé's milk factory in the town.
Abuses by the labour contractor - a crucial component of the Nestlé 'supply chain' - are part of a pattern of lawlessness and lies which have also seen the human resources manager at the plant cited for contempt by the Punjab High Court for repeatedly failing to comply with court orders to reinstate the unfairly terminated President of the Nestlé Kabirwala Workers Action Committee, Ashfaq Butt.
Throughout the ongoing struggle for employment rights at Nestlé Kabirwala, Nestlé has shown contempt for the courts and for the truth. Nestlé management in Vevey has gone through similar contortions in attempting to explain the arbitrary firing of 53 union members at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia, including alleging that the strike by the union was "illegal" (it was not). The handful of union members who survived the wave of arbitrary firings have come under enormous pressure to surrender their rights.
While the shareholders prepare for their celebration, click here to send a message to Nestlé calling on the company to reinstate unfairly dismissed union members in Indonesia and provide permanent employment to contract workers in Pakistan who have claimed their legal rights.
Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)
8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org
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