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UK-based G4S, the world's biggest security employer, announced that it will purchase the world's largest facilities management provider, Denmark's ISS. The move, which requires regulatory approval, will create a combined workforce of some 1.2 million.



UNI Global Union’s General Secretary, Philip Jennings says, “G4S’s tie-up with ISS will create a global colossus with the responsibility to give a positive lead in a sector where companies compete on the price of labour. This is a sector where workers are generally low paid and at the mercy of unscrupulous smaller companies. We urge this new G4S to drive the race to top and higher standards and not to the bottom where the majority of the companies in the sector reside.”



Jennings warned, "1.2 million people and their families are impacted by this tie-up. We must not lose sight of the human dimension and people's concerns over jobs at a time of insecurity."



UNI is looking forward to beginning a constructive dialogue on the details of the buyout during the integration process which will run until the end of the year. The European Workers Council and the affiliate unions involved will have an important role to play in ensuring that the takeover is beneficial to workers directly affected and the sector as a whole.



UNI has a long track record of resolving problems in a constructive manner with G4S and ISS. Both companies have signed a global agreement with UNI in which they commit to fully respect workers' rights to organize unions. Both have worked with UNI to reduce obstacles to the full realization of the promise of freedom of association.