Unilever employees not in favour of margarine division sale

Unilever’s European Works Council and the European labour union federation Effat are not in favour of the British-Dutch company’s intention to sell the margarine division. To that end, they have given CEO Paul Polman a list of demands related to the sale.

Not enough investments

“Unilever is to blame for the margarine issues it faces”, chairman for the European Works Council, Hermann Soggeberg, said. “It responded way too late to changes in consumer behaviour.”

He feels the company did not invest enough over the past few years, despite plenty of investments in other parts of the company. He is not at all satisfied about how the company has been in constant denial about its intentions to sell the division ever since it split it off in 2015.

To make sure the employees are not left behind in the acquisition talks, the Works Council and Effat have drafted a list of demands. For instance, they want to be closely involved in the negotiations.

“It cannot be the goal to negotiate the highest possible price, with complete disregard for the employees”, he said.

“The margarine division is the Uni in Unilever and the company is now selling one of its pillars”, Effat’s secretary-general, Harald Wiedenhofer, said. “This historic decision directly impacts more than 1,000 European employees.”