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Update on commerce multinationals: Carrefour
and Sears Roebuck open the game: Carrefour and Sears Roebuck have joined forces in creating a new company, which will do their purchasing in an electronic way. Together with the software provider Oracle, they will develop a fully functional business to business e-commerce application very fast. With 80 Billion U.S. Dollars worth of annual purchases for the two companies, the new initiative will have major effects on the way that commerce enterprises buy in their products. Carrefour and Sears Roebuck say that the doors of the new company will be open also to other retailers. It is obvious that much of the savings involved will be gained at the expense of jobs. This is a serious new development, particularly for wholesale trade workers but also for those in retail enterprises or in industry. Wal-Mart shares tumble in New York Wal-Mart is perhaps not so invincible after all. Just a week after they had to accept the first trade union presence at its U.S. home market, the world's largest retailer saw its share prices tumble to a one year low last Friday. With a 7.6 slump, the company was the largest looser on the Dow Jones. Since the end of 1999, Wal-Marts share prices have fallen 35 per cent. With more than 3,500 stores and well over a million workers, Wal-Mart is still in its own category among the commerce multinationals. It has established a strong foothold in Europe, through investments in Germany and the United Kingdom. Aggressively anti-union at home, Wal-Mart is closely watched by Uni Commerce and its affiliates. Speculations continue in Europe about the next objects for Wal-Mart's take-over ambitions. With share prices down and with not so good returns from the German operations so far, perhaps the speed of expansion will not be as fast as before. Ahold becomes majority owner of Sweden's ICA The board of ICA, Sweden's large wholesale and retail chain, has approved Ahold's entry as a majority owner. The Dutch commerce giant will take over 50 per cent of ICA's stock, which is today owned mainly by the formally independent ICA shop keepers. The Norwegian retail enterprise Hakon Gruppen is the third company involved in this deal, which considerably expands Ahold's presence in Europe. Outside the European Union, Uni Commerce affiliates UFCW in North America and OSPO in the Czech Republic have an important membership in Ahold. Both European and world-wide trade union co-operation in the company will be discussed at a Uni Commerce meeting on certain multinationals, in Berlin on 20 - 21 March. Rewe and Tengelmann swap stores in Spain and Italy The two German commerce multinationals Rewe and Tengelmann have decided to exchange stores with each other, in Tuscany in Italy and Catalonia in Spain. In Italy, Rewe takes over 54 Plus markets from Tengelmann. In exchange, Rewe hands over 40 Penny markets in Spain to Tengelmann. The markets will then change names accordingly. In the Rome region, there are still 38 Plus stores not included in the deal with Rewe, which Tengelmann is now expected to sell. Together with Billa, its Austrian subsidiary, Rewe counts on having over 2,000 stores in Italy by the end of year 2000, with a turnover of more than one billion German marks. Italy will be a focal point also for the future expansion of Rewe. Uni Commerce is in contact with its German and Italian affiliates to find out more details about any employment effects of this deal between the two companies. Delhaize buys Romanian retailer Like most of its largest competitors, Belgian commerce multinational Delhaize continues to expand in Central and Eastern Europe. It has now bought a 51 per cent share in the Romanian retailer Mega-Image. Mega-Image has eight supermarkets with a total of 500 workers in the capital Bucharest. Romania, with 23 million inhabitants, is one of the largest of the countries now applying for membership in the European Union. The statements of Delhaize in connection with the purchase give a clear indication of the company's resolve to invest heavily in Central and Eastern Europe. For the workers in Romania and the other countries of the region, it is essential to organise in strong trade unions. If this is not done, they will continue to suffer from insecure employment, low wages, poor working conditions and a lack of social security. For the commerce trade unions and their members in the established European Union countries, it is equally important that commerce is well organised in the new member states when the community is enlarged. Uni Commerce meeting on organising in multinationals A Uni Commerce work meeting on organising in leading multinationals in Central and Eastern Europe will be held in Berlin, Germany on 20 to 21 March. Focusing on Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, the meeting will discuss concrete action to consolidate trade union positions in companies such as Metro, Rewe-Billa and Tesco. In addition to the countries that are targeted for the organising campaign, commerce unions from the home countries of these companies, in Western Europe will participate, as well as our North American affiliate UFCW. The agenda will therefore comprise also a discussion about those leading commerce multinationals, which have an important North Atlantic dimension in their work. This includes Wal-Mart, Ahold and Ikea. |
