Thousands show up in hopes of landing jobs at new Nestle plant

Labor

The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) sued Nestle in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for its complicity in the torture and murder of Luciano Enrique Romero Molina. Romero was a Colombian trade unionist and former Nestle employee. According to the lawsuit, Colombia’s paramilitary murdered Romero in response to his role in exposing Nestle’s use of expired milk in its Milo brand drink. The suit claims that Nestlé and two of its subsidiaries “acted in concert with, conspired with, aided and abetted or otherwise retained as agents the individuals” who murdered Romero.

-- International Labor Rights Fund, 10/26/2006
Source URL: www.laborrights.org

Child Labor

Nestle purchases a portion of its cocoa from the Ivory Coast, where it has been found that children have been forced or tricked into leaving their homes to work as indentured servants on cocoa plantations. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 children work on these plantations, some as young as 11 years old. The Ivory Coast is said to provide 43 percent of the nation's cocoa.

-- Knight Ridder, 10/01/2001
Source URL: none available

Labor

Nestle has been criticized for supporting union busting activities in several countries including Colombia and the Philippines:

* Eight Nestle workers who were also members of SINALTRAINAL (the Food and Drink Union) have been murdered since 1982. No evidence has been presented directly connecting Nestlé to the murders, however Nestle in Colombia is known to be involved in union busting. In 2001, workers at Comestible La Rosa, a Nestle subsidiary, were presented with ultimatums to either end all union ties or face unemployment. Other cases in recent years illustrate Nestlé’s interest in removing SINALTRAINAL’s presence from its plants in Colombia.
* Nestlé Philippines Cubayo plant had to halt operations when workers decided to strike in 2002. Union members were protesting in order to get retirement benefits incorporated as a collective bargaining issue. The Philippines Court of Appeals sided with the union in March of 2003, stating that retirement benefits were indeed a “mandatory bargaining issue,” and ordered Nestle to work out a deal with Cubayo workers. In June of that year, still no action had been taken by Nestle or plant management, inciting a major clash between workers and security guards. Fifty people suffered injuries during the incident. In September of 2005 Diosdado Fortuna, union leader at Cubayo, was murdered and union members as well as international labor groups were calling on Nestle and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to investigate the crime and end harassment of workers.