IUF affiliates are demanding details from Danone on its recently announced transformation plan which unions fear could lead to 450 job losses in Europe.
The transformation plan was announced on March 20 to trade unions representing Danone workers across Europe. The company also announced a new “Social Pact.”
At this meeting, Danone presented a project outlining its intention to “accelerate the technological revolution to make the business more fluid and more competitive, and to offer attractive, forward-looking career paths.” The plan also outlined the company’s intention to relocate jobs to four European service centers including two in Poland.
The IUF and its affiliates have called on Danone:
- To ensure there are no forced redundancies arising from roles disappearing or being transferred to these service centers
- To negotiate opportunities for all those whose positions are threatened so they can retain acceptable alternative employment within the company if they choose
- To provide more detail and information about its newly announced “Social Pact,” Danone’s new version of its “double economic and social strategy;” to date, the only concrete and visible part of a new “Social Pact” is the “DanSkills” project, recently announced by Danone, which aims to “upgrade” the skills of a large part of Danone’s international workforce in the face of changes that may affect employment in the future
IUF General Secretary Sue Longley stated, “We have heard references to Danone’s new “Social Pact” but to date it has been only through a series of short statements. It is now time for Danone to spell out clearly what the content, objectives and time frame are for this “Social Pact.” Any pact requires the negotiation of an agreement between all parties and in Danone’s case, this includes the thousands of Danone employees and their trade unions.”
