Exclusive-Unilever won't discuss blanket two-year global worker guarantee in McCormick deal, IUF says

By Richa Naidu

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Unilever "refuses to engage" with union body IUF over demands that a two-year employment guarantee agreed with European workers under its planned food business ​merger with McCormick be applied to all staff globally, the IUF said in a memo seen by Reuters.

Unilever has signalled it will engage with individual unions in specific countries and regions on the terms, the IUF said, but will not discuss an overarching agreement covering all workers.

The previously unreported memo comes less than two months after Unilever agreed to protect employment terms of workers in its European and British food businesses for two years.

"The company refuses to engage on this at an international level," the IUF said in the memo. "(Unilever) has indicated that, outside of Europe, unions should negotiate locally or regionally over the two years' protection."

A Unilever spokesperson said: "We continue to engage constructively with our works councils and other employee representatives and have made good progress."

"As a global company, we engage with a range of representatives around the world."

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) represents Unilever workers in about two dozen countries across five continents, including Indonesia, Brazil and the U.S.

As a union federation, it cannot stage strikes, but said in the memo it would take "further steps" to seek the two-year commitment. In the past, such steps have included campaigning and filing complaints with company stakeholders.

BIGGEST FOOD INDUSTRY MERGER SINCE 2015

Unilever and McCormick's $65 billion agreement is the largest food industry deal since Kraft merged with Heinz in 2015.

Food is a significant part of Unilever's 96,000-employee workforce, and the unit accounted for nearly €13 billion ($15 billion) of Unilever's total €50 billion revenues in 2025, led by its Knorr and Hellmann's brands.

The IUF said it was "appalled that Unilever is once again employing a double standard that denies the same rights and treatment to workers outside Europe", adding Unilever had informed the body of its position at a recent meeting.

The union federation covers workers in emerging markets, which accounted for 53% of Unilever's food sales last year. Overall, Europe only contributed 30% to the unit's turnover, with Asia and Africa accounting for nearly 40% and the Americas making up the rest.

($1 = 0.8668 euros)

(Reporting by Richa Naidu. Editing by Christoph Steitz and Jan Harvey)