Read the final statement issued by the US NCP concluding the specific instance - 6 June 2014
In March 2014 the US NCP received a request for review from the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Works’ Associations (IUF) alleging that Mondelez International had breached the concepts and principles, general policies, and employment and industrial relations provisions of the Guidelines at a Cadbury factory in Pakistan. Specifically it was alleged that the decline in number of direct employment contracts (only 49 out of a total workforce of nearly 700 at the time of the request), constituted an abuse of worker rights.
Mondalez rejected these allegations, arguing that the IUF was inappropriately using the NCP process and interfering in legitimate local bargaining. It pointed to the successful negotiations that recently occurred between the local union and company representatives as proof of a pre-existing and robust national legal framework. In a subsequent update, Mondalez notified the NCP that a collective agreement, using the collective bargaining framework, was reached on 8 May 2014.
On the basis of this information and other evidence, the NCP determined that there to be no compelling evidence that Mondalez is not in compliance with Pakistani law. It did find, however, that the issue of causal/contract workers may merit further examination and may not be consistent with the spirit of the employment and industrial relations provisions of the Guidelines.
The NCP has deferred its offer of good offices, remains however it remains open to revisiting issues related to the collective bargaining agreement between Cadbury and Mondelez and full time employees if both parties are willing to engage. In its final statement, the NCP also recommended that IUF engage directly with the agencies of the contract workers as a more expedient method of addressing the alleged inconsistencies in fair labour practice.