Unilever Pakistan refused to respond to a request, on 1 July 2021, for information from the Workers’ Union Unilever Pakistan (WUUP) about the terms and conditions of a transition to the new global tea company “ekaterra” that Unilever was preparing to launch on 1 October.
Management refused to respond, claiming that the union did not have collective- bargaining status. WUUP, a member of the Pakistan Food Workers Federation (PFWF), in fact represented the majority of workers at the Lipton Tea factory. Furthermore, it did not need collective-bargaining status to have the right to information about its members’ job security.
Management instead used an emergency safety meeting to give vague assurances to all employees. In a later meeting, no new information was provided and questions by worried union members were ignored.
The company claimed it was only obliged to meet with representatives of the Unilever Employees’ Federation (UEF) due to its national collective-bargaining status. In reality, there was no collective bargaining involved, as it was just an information request. In addition, the UEF had a poor record, having been charged with embezzlement of the workers’ welfare fund in 2013.
One major unresolved issue was the fate of 33 WUUP members arbitrarily designated as “surplus” at the Lipton factory. Management refused to discuss their fate with the union, raising fears they would be forced into redundancy on 1 October.
