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A committee reporting to the Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs announced its recommendation to allow giant retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour to purchase a 51 percent stake in Indian retail companies, subject to a number of important conditions. These include a requirement that 30 percent of sales are sourced from small and medium-sized local enterprises.



UNI Global Union views this step positively and looks forward to a consultative mechanism on the measure that allows input from all stakeholders.



“It is important to take into account the global track record of these companies in order to make a decision as to whether these conditions are sufficient to guarantee that communities, workers and the broader Indian economy will benefit from the entry of these multinational giants into the Indian market,” said UNI Deputy General Secretary Christy Hoffman.



Some retailers, like Carrefour, have signed Global Agreements with UNI to guarantee fundamental worker rights around the world. Walmart has taken an extreme position against allowing unions in its home country, the United States, where not a single worker is represented by a union among its 1.6 million employees.



In South Africa, the country’s Competition Tribunal has ruled Walmart can buy a controlling interest in a local retailer with no requirement of local procurement and a guarantee that union recognition will be respected for only 3 years. UNI's affiliate the South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) and three agencies of the South African government have appealed the decision UNI and many of its affiliates from around the world continue to support SACCAWU's efforts at the Tribunal.