Commerce
Home Page

Commerce
work in multinational
companies

This H&M store in Downtown Manhattan is now unionised in UFCW - RWDSU. Its workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the union negotiating a collective agreement and representing them towards the employer. The unionisation of H&M, which has now started, is a result of a close cooperation between UFCW and UNI Commerce. UFCW and H&M agreed on how the organising campaign and the card check based recognition procedure should be, on the basis of the Global Agreement concluded by UNI with the central managemennt of the Stockholm Sweden based company.

The US employees of Sweden's giant apparel retailer H&M have now began to join their union UFCW. The first block of nine stores was organised on Manhattan in New York last week, where over 90 per cent of those who participated in the union information meetings decided to join. This brought over 1,000 new members to the RWDSU, a New York based part of UFCW which focuses on non-food retailing.

The UFCW organising victory was the culmination of a long process where the union worked closely together with UNI Commerce and the H&M management to develop the rules and procedures for recruitment. The card check based agreement was signed earlier this year, and the first organising drive ended a week ago.

RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum was pleased with the overwhelming vote of confidence of the H&M employees. It shows that they want a voice through the union, he told delegates at the UNI-Europa Commerce Conference in Geneva on Friday. RWDSU and UFCW will now continue the organising campaign and collective agreement negotiations will start soon.

The recognition process builds on the Global Framework Agreement signed between UNI - UNI Commerce and H&M two years ago. This agreement confirms the company's full respect for freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. It also establishes a continuous social dialogue and cooperation between management and UNI Commerce, to ensure that the agreement is implemented in all countries.

Stuart Appelbaum came to the UNI-Europa Commerce Conference in Geneva last week to tell about the overwhelming vote of confidence that UFCW and his union received from the leading fashion retailer's personnel in New York. This proves how UNI's global agreements can be used, he told the delegates. New York based RWDSU, which is part of the UFCW, has been a frontrunner in organising US non-food retailing. This will now pick on added speed after the resounding vote of confidence by the H&M workers.

RWDSU and UFCW can be proud of the overwhelming support that they have among the H&M workers, said Jan Furstenborg of UNI Commerce at the European meeting. This shows that commerce workers need and want to be represented by trade unions and that RWDSU and UFCW have found the right approach to fill their needs.

H&M will clearly be only a beginning on the road to organise the leading fashion retail chains in the United States.

UFCW: United Food and Commercial Workers Union

RWDSU: Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union