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The company does not want to meet with the union but it has alleged without justification that it was the union that walked away from talks.



The strike was called because of Ripley management’s discriminatory practices in paying overtime, demand for excessively long work days and failure to respect work categories by putting workers in lower-paid categories than what they deserved.



The 48-hour strike was held from June 4-5 and workers held demonstrations in front of two of the chain’s biggest stores.



UNI Americas was represented by the Regional Secretary and President who marched with the strikers and joined in a traditional “olla popular,” or community meal. UNI Americas helped create the Ripley Peru Union, which in a short period of time has grown to 700 members after starting out with 200.



“We recognise the union’s courage and its ability to organise more and more workers,” said Adriana Rosenzvaig, Regional Secretary of UNI Americas. “Ripley is growing in the region and we see that the company is not acting in a socially responsable way in Peru. UNI would like to sign a Global Agreement with Ripley to prevent situations like this one from happening again.”



UNI Americas President Ruben Cortina said workers are the ones that provide real value to companies and the commerce sector will continue to support the Riply Peru Union.



“The company must respect workers’ rights and start talks with the union,” Cortina said.