The IUF has signed a Joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on union rights and recognition with LIPTON Teas and Infusions. In the MoU, the company recognizes the IUF as the internationally representative body of unionized workers within LIPTON Teas and Infusions.
The MoU establishes a permanent platform for “ensuring that throughout LIPTON Teas and Infusions’ worldwide operations workers can freely exercise their internationally recognized workers’ rights and in particular their rights to union membership and collective bargaining without fear of retaliation, repression, or any other form of discrimination.”
- LIPTON Teas and Infusions was established as a result of Unilever’s sale of most of its tea operations; following the sale process, the IUF negotiated the transfer of the existing agreement with Unilever to the new company
- The company employs 17,000 people, including 13,500 on its three tea plantations in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, and has a portfolio of 36 brands
- In the MoU, the company “recognizes its obligation to reasonably act to ensure that these rights are similarly respected by enterprises with whom LIPTON Teas and Infusions has a business relationship…including those providing products, operations and/or services…”
- A new commitment, the first in any of the IUF’s global agreements, provides for a worksite visit as part of one of the regular biannual meetings each year
Click HERE to read the text of the MoU.
IUF General Secretary Sue Longley commented, “We welcome LIPTON Teas and Infusions’ commitment to this important sector which employs millions of people worldwide. We believe our agreement will help to improve working conditions and sets a target that others in the industry should aspire to.”
Nathalie Roos, CEO of LIPTON Teas and Infusions, stated, “I welcome the opportunity to work with the IUF to raise working protections for everyone throughout the tea industry by creating greater value for all, together.”
