News

Stockholm, Sweden 11 December 2013 - An international delegation, including UNI Global Union and IKEA workers from Canada is demanding IKEA put a stop to a lock-out at IKEA Canada which is hurting families and putting them on the breadline as Christmas approaches.

More than 300 employees and their families face a desperate holiday period having been locked out from their jobs without pay at the Swedish retail giant IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia store since May 13, 2013.

The delegation is in Sweden to highlight the report, How IKEA is hurting families: Report on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The report outlines the findings of an International Fact-Finding Commission formed by UNI Global Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) at the request of Teamsters Canada.

Alke Boessiger, Head of UNI Commerce Global Union said, "IKEA acts as a responsible company in Sweden and has given itself high standards and principles for respect for worker rights. But once again the company has been caught in serious allegations of union busting and bargaining in bad faith. IKEA has to get a grip on what is happening in Canada. These allegations are serious and IKEA which promotes itself as good employer must take action."

The report, handed to Lars-Anders Häggström, president of Handelsanställdas Förbund (Handels) the trade union representing workers in IKEA Sweden, calls on IKEA Canada to end its lockout of workers and return to the bargaining table in good faith immediately.

Keith Austin, an IKEA employee for 27 years at its Richmond, BC store is part of the delegation. He said,"IKEA is holding us hostage. The company is refusing to let us return to work until we surrender many of our rights. It is unconscionable that this multi-billion dollar corporation has locked us out of our jobs. I came to Sweden to ask IKEA why it has hired lawyers to sit at the bargaining table in Canada and pretend to negotiate while our families starve at Christmas time."

Boessiger remarked that the conflict presented a serious reputational risk for the company which may turn shoppers off.  "We want a good global standard for all IKEA workplaces, including Canada. We demand that IKEA management promote best practices globally and to eradicate bad practices that still exist,” she added.

The report calls on IKEA Canada to end its support of anti-union organisation, Labour Watch, and ensure its legal counsel follows the global standards of IKEA. Around 2010, IKEA changed its outside legal counsel to anti-union law firm Fasken Martineau. IKEA workers and the local union identify this change in legal counsel as the key driver of the new, divisive, management approach to labour relations.

Finally, the report calls on IKEA to set a new voluntary standard for its employees in Canada and worldwide, by engaging with UNI Global Union toward a Global Framework Agreement, ensuring a common application of IKEA values.

"IKEA has clearly violated its own code of conduct, as well as international labour standards", said Peter Lovkvist, general secretary of the Nordic Transport Federation and chair of the international fact-finding commission on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. "Locking out and intimidating workers, and hiring lawyers with histories of attacking workers and unions - behavior I witnessed personally in  Canada - none of this is acceptable. IKEA would never treat its workers in Sweden this way.”

Contacts

§    Keith Austin, locked out IKEA Richmond store worker, +1 778 835 4325

§    Grant Coleman, Teamsters Canada  +1 778 835 4325

§    Tim Beaty, Director of Global Strategies, International Brotherhood of Teamsters +1 202 957-7240

§    Peter Lövkvist, member of Fact-Finding Commission and Federation Secretary of the Nordic Transport Worker´s Federation +46 70 626 77 89

§    Erin van der Maas,member of Fact-Finding Commission, Strategic Industrial Project Coordinator, ITF  +44 (0) 77150 74295

§    Richard Elliott, UNI Global Union Director of Communications
Mobile: +41 79 794 9709, richard.elliott@uniglobalunion.org

§    Sam Dawson, ITF Press Officer, Direct line +44 (0)20 7940 9260, dawson.sam@itf.org.uk

Please also see:

6 November 2013 press release - International fact-finding mission to probe IKEA’s behaviour in Canada for background - http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/9743/region/1/...

Link to the Swedish press coverage of IKEA lockout - http://ikeahurtsfamilies.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/swedish-national-tv-co...