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French retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) is using union busting consultants to stop a largely immigrant workforce at two distribution centres from organising. British retailer Sainsbury's has top union leaders arrested, to stop them from telling workers about the benefits of membership.

These are but two recent - although extreme - examples of how well behaved European retailers can turn into beasts when given a chance outside their home markets. This Dr Jekyll - Mr Hyde act raises both eyebrows and questions. It is particularly interesting to take a look at the motives behind their action.

PPR Brylane workers want better conditions through union membership

In the PPR case, its subsidiary Brylane pays low wages and provides poor working conditions to its distribution centre workers in Indiana. This is of course a reason for the workers to want a union to negotiate a better deal for them. To join a trade union and to negotiate a collective agreement is also a legitimate aim and right for the workers.

Instead of accepting this and adapting itself to the normal rules of social dialogue and collective bargaining, the French multinational clamped down on its workers. They employed the notorious union busting consultancy Ice Miller Attorneys to break up the majority, who had already signed up for UNITE, the US textile workers' union. 

Contacted by UNI and textile workers international ITGLWF, the PPR management refused discussions to try to resolve the problem in Indiana. Ice Miller continued its operations, working with the local management. Finally, when the French multinational felt that their Indiana workers were scared enough not to ask for union representation anymore, they asked the National Labor Relations Board to take a vote at the distribution centres. 

It is quite obvious that the whole Brylane operation in Indiana has been a well planned and systematic process to stop the low-paid workers from organising. Brylane is an important milking cow for PPR and its main owner Francois Pinault, who wants to remain the richest man in France. Another thing is how enjoyable this money is, which is torn out of the skin of poor workers, who don't earn enough to provide for a decent life for themselves and their children.

Shackles and handcuffs are Sainsbury's weapons against unions

The Sainsbury's - Shaw's operation in Massachusetts shows many similarities to what PPR is doing in Indiana. Here, management wanted to get rid of a union presence, which was already established in its supermarkets. The motive of the British Lords was the same as the one of their French billionaire colleagues - that is to cut costs and increase profits. 

In the Sainsbury's case, management thought that the benefits negotiated by UFCW for its members at Shaw's were too good. Particularly, they wanted to get rid of a favourable medical insurance plan for the workers' children. They also wanted to cut down annual holidays, which had been earned by workers who often had been with the company for a long time.

Also this was apparently a well planned union busting operation. Not even the strong resistance from workers, from the trade unions and from community and religious groups made the British multinational budge. They needed more profits and were prepared to take this from their own shop workers.

The pictures of UFCW president Doug Dority and AFL-CIO president John Sweeney being taken out in leg shackles and handcuffs from a Sainsbury's - Shaw's supermarket has etched itself in the history of trade union organising in commerce. And beware - not much later, a female religious leader suffered the same fate when she tried to discuss with Sainsbury's - Shaw's supermarket cashiers about their rights.

Union busting driven by greed and management bonuses

So how does top management react, in the plush offices in Paris and London. They don't, actually. They refer to their US managers, apparently because they know that the methods which they have approved of in their hunt for more profits would never be accepted in a European context. Apparently, they think that the problem will just go away once they have reached their goal and got rid of the union. 

Management arguments that they only want to show that workers have an alternative to stay outside the union are of course ridiculous. The driving force behind employing these brutal means to stop the workers from unionising is pure greed - to milk even more money out of very profitable retail operations, to raise share prices and thus to secure enormous bonus payments for top managers.

The long term effects of this approach are not that interesting. What counts is how profits and share prices develop from month to month and how bonuses keep coming in to management bank accounts.

PPR and Sainsbury's should know that union campaign will not go away

Perhaps PPR and Sainsbury's - Shaw's do not know that years back, another large European retailer tried to do the same. This retailer had to leave the US market, badly bruised by a long conflict with workers and their trade union, UFCW.

The fight for trade union rights in PPR - Brylane and Sainsbury's - Shaw's is not only a struggle for the American workers and their trade unions. This is a fight for workers' rights, for their right to aspire for fair wages and good working conditions through trade union membership, social dialogue and collective agreements. These are fundamental rights, which no employers and no governments can deny workers. These rights are embodied in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, in the fundamental international labour conventions, in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and in many other rules and agreements.

PPR and Sainsbury's are part of the European social dialogue for commerce, between UNI-Europa Commerce and EuroCommerce. In this social dialogue, an agreement has been concluded which expressly confirms that the ILO Declaration on Fundamental principles and Rights at Work has to be applied also by European retailers. The behaviour of these British and French companies raises questions about how this agreement is implemented. This issue must be discussed by the social partners and the European Commission in the near future.