Cadbury Egypt, Kraft Foods Response Re Labour Rights Concerns

Cadbury Egypt, Kraft Foods response re labour rights concerns

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Cadbury Egypt & Kraft Foods to respond to t he following items:

- “Egypt Cadbury workers get backing of global food employees union”, Ahram Online, 29 Aug 2012: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/51552/Business/Economy/Egypt-Cadbury- workers-get-backing-of-global-food-e.aspx

- “ Kraft Tunisia: Union leader sacked. His crime? Meeting his members! ”, IUF, 6 Aug 2012: http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/1854

In response, Kraft Foods sent the following statement:

4 Sep 2012

“Thank you for your message addressed to Kraft Foods, as well as the opportunity to respond.

As with all operations around the world, Kraft Foods Egypt values its employees and takes pride in the consistent efforts made to provide a fair, safe, healthy and rewarding work environment for all our employees. We strive to enhance employee benefits, in ways that often far exceed local labor market requirements, in every respect.

In relation to the case which you mention by way of a media article, we provide here background and facts.

A small number of workers at one of our plants in Alexandria called for a strike to demand a 15% increase in wages (promised by the government), to be effective at the beginning of July 2012. Kraft Foods had already anticipated and implemented these increases, ahead of that date, to a level over and above 15%, beginning in April 2012. The Ahram Online article is therefore erroneous in stating that “management refused to grant a government-ordained 15 per cent raise in wages”.

In addition, the workers who were instigating the strike chose to ignore the normal legal route, which regulates work stoppages (requirement to notify the company, as well as the State Labor Department, ten days in advance of any strike). They further prevented their colleagues, who did not wish to participate in the strike, from going into work, causing significant impact and loss to our business. In accordance with Egyptian laws, we contested these actions in a case which is now being heard before the Labor Tribunal. We await the court’s decision, and cannot comment further on these ongoing court proceedings.

In the current Egyptian context, we understand that other companies, both local and international, are being subject to similar spontaneous behavior by employees. We have not spoken publicly in Egypt about this situation, preferring to let due process run its course.

Tunisia

The company referred to in the media article, Kraft Tunisia, or Kraft Foods Tunisia, does not exist. Kraft Foods does own a minority interest in the Societé Tunisienne de Biscuits (SOTUBI) and does not have management control. SOTUBI is a joint venture (JV) partner but is not a Kraft Foods entity (the IUF article erroneously refers to the company name as SAIDA, when in fact “Saida” is one of the brand names manufactured by SOTUBI). In this context, we cannot make statements on behalf of our JV partner, who retains sole management control over the Tunisian business. Hiring and dismissal of employees are routine management decisions that are made solely by our JV partner.

We hope and expect that the above clarification will serve to correct misconceptions and factual errors found in the above-mentioned articles. We remain fully at your disposal to respond to further questions.”