News

The UNI Metro Global Union Alliance recently held its annual gathering in Istanbul, Turkey under the banner “Building Bridges for Global Union Power”

Metin Ebeturk, President of the host union Soysal-Is, welcomed trade union members and leaders representing 15 countries where Metro Group operates. In his opening remarks President Ebeturk stated:

“Last year Romanian colleagues welcomed us. Today, Turkey welcomes you to this meeting which is taking place just 100 meters from Taksim Square where just over 1 year ago 11 people died in protests against government policy. In these times where differences between people cause such dramatic situations, we gather in Istanbul, a city that is spread over two continents. Istanbul is a bridge between 2 continents and we hope that this meeting will also be a bridge for the workers of all continents”

Members of the Alliance discussed the continuing and disturbing trend of Metro Group divesting operations in different countries and the impact that such actions are having on workers and their unions. Participants at the meeting recognized the special economic situation Metro Group is faced with; unions from several several countries where divestments have taken place expressed that Metro Group has complied with all national laws and has been engaged in dialogue on the impact of their actions.

The Alliance has continued to monitor the takeover of Metro Group’s REAL stores in Romania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia by the French retailer Auchan. In Romania the takeover included limited social protections for former REAL workers but left their rights to union membership in doubt. Dialogue with Auchan for union recognition and access is ongoing and the unions of the UNI Metro Alliance pledged full support for their Romanian comrades.

In keeping with the Building Bridges theme of this year’s Alliance meeting, participants welcomed the Alliance’s newest members from Pakistan. Upon the signing of the Joint Statement between UNI Global Union and Metro Group in December 2013, workers in Pakistan under the leadership of the UNI Pakistan Liaison Council, organized all 9 Metro Group stores in that country.

Alliance members also heard updates on recent organizing activities in Russia and discussed how the Alliance could support both the efforts in Russia and Pakistan as well as launching initiatives in other countries where workers do not have an independent voice in Metro Group.

On the second day, the director of global labor relations for Metro Group along with management from Turkey, joined the meeting and gave a presentation on the current state of the company as well as an introduction to some of the training tools Metro has developed  to train their managers to be in compliance with Metro’s Fair Work initiatives and corporate social responsibility policies. After the presentation there was a lengthy discussion where Alliance members raised important trans-national labor issues and debated how issues raised at the previous year’s meeting have or have not been resolved. 

Participants concluded the 2 day meeting by calling for an in depth survey to be developed and distributed prior to the next Alliance meeting with a focus on outsourcing and wage levels. The Alliance re-elected the Steering Committee which will meet in the Spring of 2015 to discuss planning for the 2015 Global Alliance meeting as well as progress on resolving issues raised during this year’s Alliance gathering.