Since the days of Nestlé’s take over of Rowntree Chocolate based in York in England, I guess I’ve known they had a reputation as a bit of a serial abuser of workers rights, though very little of it seems to have been directly in my face. And I guess they might say they didn’t become the worlds largest food company without seeming to break a few eggs. And yes we do live in an economic climate where competition is fierce; and successive Irish, UK and other EU governments have sought to pursue “cheap food” policies for their home markets.

And Nestlé certainly promote a reputation as a socially conscious company.  You only need to glance and the bright and shiny red foil wrapper of a Kit Kat to see the company extolling the virtues of The Cocoa Plan, alongside a picture of a smiling Mr Fasseri Kouamé Alphonse a cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).  Nestlé it seems is working with Fairtrade to ensure a better deal for the cocoa farmers like Mr Alphonse.

This is great. Fairness at work has always interested me, and back in 1984 I wrote the Scrutineers’ Handbook, approved by the UK government’s Trade Union Certification Officer, which provided the rules for conducting ballots at the workplace.  Which is probably why I noticed there were few smiles at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia, where union members found the company unwilling to discuss a better deal, of any description.  And confirmed as much, by dismissing them when staff took industrial action in response to the Nestlé imposed collective bargaining deadlock. The company has  failed to show up for mediation and refused admittance to the occupied factory with a committee from the local parliament, preferring mass dismissals to good faith negotiations.

Whilst in Pakistan, since the company expanded its Kabirwala plant, management has attempted to interfere in trade union elections and seems unembarrassed by evidence that it is harassing the union president.  The core of the problem here is the refusal by the company to treat workers with faretrade like fairness, by engaging them as permanent fulltime staff, preferring to employ them as contract workers making it easier to ignore fundamental employment rights; ( a practice we are not entirely averse to in Ireland – talk to a teacher or two).

I’m not offering any judgement about the rights and wrongs of these trade union activites, or the company response, but I am asking if there is  contradiction here.  And on the basis of evidence in Indonesia and Pakistan, I’m wondering if The Cocoa Plan is just a tad disingenuous?

I might think twice before I buy my next Kit Kat or jar of  Nescafé.