|
|
Not a single word from
Lidl's owner: UNI demanded that Dieter Schwarz apologize to Czech and Polish women workers, raised company's behaviour with EU social partners Lidl, the German hard discounter still remains quiet about the recent scandal when management required women workers in Poland and the Czech Republic to wear special headbands during their monthly periods. This was to identify them, when they went to the toilet. Otherwise, Lidl workers in these countries are strictly forbidden to visit the toilet during working time. Rumours are that some Lidl cashiers have resorted to wearing nappies to work. In a letter to Lidl's owner and undisputable master Dieter Schwarz, UNI demanded that he stand up an apologize to the women, whom his company had subjected to this demeaning treatment. But nobody has yet heard anything from Neckarsulm, the town in southern Germany, where the hard discounter is based. UNI Commerce raised Lidl's behaviour also at the last session of the European Union social dialogue for commerce, in Brussels last Friday (23.09.). The appalling behaviour of the German trader gives added urgency to the discussions between the social partners about how their European agreements are implemented. In November 2003, UNI-Europa Commerce and EuroCommerce signed a joint statement on corporate social responsibility, which has been well received by companies, trade unions and employers' associations. Lidl is quite apparently trying to copy Wal-Mart's concept of pressing down wages and benefits, and squeezing out as much as possible from its personnel. Trade unions do not have a place in this approach, except where they have been able to force Lidl to accept it, such as in the Nordic countries. One could indeed say that this is walmartization in a European tapping, equally devastating for those workers who become victims of this brutal employer behaviour. But still, both UNI and the working women in the Czech Republic and Poland are waiting for Dieter Schwarz to take his moral responsibility, to stand up, and apologize.
|
