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15 February, 2012
The ICEM – along with the European Mine, Chemical, Energy, Federation (EMCEF) – will march in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, tomorrow, 16 November, in support of 5,200 British workers who are seriously threatened by Unilever with closure of a final salary pension scheme. The ICEM and EMCEF will join European workers of the world’s third largest consumer goods company in protest at the company’s Rotterdam headquarters.
The message – Unilever, Don’t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits – will specifically target Unilever CEO Paul Polman for his 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out of €8 million. Unilever is out to slash between 20-40% of pension earnings to UK workers represented by trade unions Unite the Union, GMB and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers’ (USDAW).
Jennie Formby
“Executive greed and compensation must be challenged,” stated United National Officer Jennie Formby. Polman saw a 50% increase in his total earnings from 2010 to 2011, some 285 times that of the average Unilever worker.
The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.
The three British unions have engaged in two rounds of industrial actions against Unilever at 11 plants, the latest coming with 11 days of rolling strike actions that ended on 28 January. Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.
Unilever instead intends to implement a pension scheme based on career average earnings. Formby said Polman’s vision of doubling Unilever’s revenue stream over the next ten years and creating “sustainable living” is disingenuous in view of cutting workers’ pensions.
Tomorrow’s manifestation will begin at 12h00 at Unilever’s offices at Weena 455, Rotterdam. The ICEM also will raise concerns over the 5 February closure due to a labour dispute at Unilever’s Basamadi, Nepal, factory. The dispute at that facility, which produces Lux and Lifebuoy soaps and Pepsodent and Close-Up toothpastes, is close to a resolve this week after intervention from the Nepalese government.