News

In a global survey of UNI affiliates, 80% of respondents report that various forms of precarious labor have increased in the retail sector over the last five years, leaving workers with little job security, low wages and reduced hours of employment.



The Global Retail Report finds that the top 250 firms accounted for approximately 40 percent of retail revenue in 2011. The average top retailer had revenue of $17 billion in 2011. Top 10 retailers led by Walmart account for 29 percent of total retail revenue.



UNI General Secretary, Philip Jennings, speaking during the report’s launch at the UNI Commerce Global Conference in Buenos Aires said, “Global retailers may be in competition with each other yet they share a common trait, squeezing costs from the supply chain to retail workplaces. Precarious work has exploded in the last decade which has made it increasingly difficult for retail workers to make ends meet. Shoppers flock to New York not knowing that 56% of retail workers are earning less than $10 an hour.



“Unions gathered here in Buenos Aires from around the world, particularly from Asia, said precarious work has reached epidemic proportions all along the supply chain and that is why the Bangladesh Safety Accord is so important. This should be the new norm throughout Asia.



“We’re living in a highly connected economy but it’s not working for the 99% and it’s not working for those in precarious work. They deserve a pay rise in retail and in every sector.”





The majority of respondents in the Global Retail Report say that retail employers in their country often or frequently change shift patterns from week to week, employ workers through agencies or brokers and hire part-time staff. More than four in ten respond that employers frequently take on part-time workers on temporary contracts, employ workers through individual contracts and use training or probation as excuses to deny workers full-time employment.



The decline in working conditions is the result of widespread deregulation in the retail, financial and consumer sectors and changes to land use policy and monopoly laws. In addition, because retailers believe they cannot raise prices for consumers in many markets, they seek other ways to cut costs.



Union leaders at the meeting in Buenos Aires said the alarm was spreading on zero hour contacts which gave flexibility to employers at the expense of workers.



Workers have also been affected by growing consolidation in the retail sector. Increasing industry concentration has resulted in a few companies controlling a large market share in many countries. For example, the top five retailers dominate 88% of food sales in Sweden, 85% in Denmark and 84% in Finland. In the UK, the top four supermarket chains control two thirds of grocery retail and the four largest discount stores have 86% of the market in South Korea.



As companies reach saturation point in their domestic markets, the biggest retailers have made major investments to fuel global expansion. Global commerce necessitates increased global union cooperation and the negotiation of global framework agreements

for an ethical and socially responsible commerce sector.



The author of the report, Stephanie Luce concluded, “It will take a large, comprehensive and coordinated effort on the part of the unions to reverse these trends in the retail industry that have placed workers in an increasingly vulnerable position.”



Download pdf version of report from "related files" above.



Contact information for media:







Richard Elliott

Mobile: +41 79 794 97 09

richard.elliott@uniglobalunion.org