News

Through store visits and cross border solidarity action, commerce unions in several European countries have drawn attention to German hard discounter Lidl's harsh employer policies. The company is repeatedly violating fundamental workers' and trade union rights, both at its home market in Germany and in other European countries, the unions say. This includes an active resistance against establishing representation structures for the German workers.

In Germany, commerce trade union ver.di has written to the government, asking for an intervention. In a letter to the minister for family and women's affair Ursula von der Leyen on the occasion of the International Women's Day on 8 March, the union demands that works councils must be established in Lidl. The company has been notorious for its union busting measures which have been applied as soon as the predominantly female workforce has tried to get a voice through a works council.

The German commercial workers were joined by colleagues in other European countries, who have also experienced the rough employer policies of the Neckarsulm-based south German multinational.

Trade unionists in CGIL took action in several towns of north Italian province Emilia Romagna, including Bologna, in cooperation with ver.di unionists from the German State of Hessen. In France, trade union confederation CGT and its commerce union were active in Clichy north of Paris, where they have encountered numerous labour relations problems. A ver.di delegation visited the French manifestations, and invited the union to visit Germany.

In Romania and in Croatia, joint activities with ver.di took place as well. In Croatian capital Zagreb, they took the form of a demonstration outside the country's parliament.

A particular feature of the Lidl manifestations was the cross-border cooperation between trade unionists from neighbour countries. This included events on the borders between Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as in border regions in France and Romania.

Lidl has recently joined BSCI, the Business Social Compliance Initiative, which brings together major retailers from a large number of European countries. As part of the BSCI code, the retailers require full compliance with the rules on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. UNI Commerce is cooperating closely with BSCI also through its engagement in Social Accountability International and its SA8000 Social Code. As part of its cooperation with ver.di on the Lidl issues, the incompatibility of Lidl's own employer approach with its much publicised 'corporate social responsibility' in its supply chain will be raised shortly.

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