Press release: January 18, 2007 Kaufland poised for another supermarket sweep of EBRD coffers
Concerns remain over abuse of workers Szczecin, Poland -- If the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approves next Tuesday (January 23) a EUR 100 million loan for the expansion of the Kaufland chain's operations in Romania it will condone the supermarket group's widespread abuse of labour laws and denigrate its own banking standards, according to campaigners from CEE Bankwatch Network. Bankwatch has campaigned against Kaufland's treatment of its employees since early 2005 when the first evidence of the company's disregard for Polish labour laws appeared, just after the EBRD agreed to support Kaufland's Polish expansion with a EUR 160 million loan. [1] In spite of EBRD assurances in July 2005 that the bank subsequently engaged with the company in efforts to remedy these abuses, over 30 further inspections carried out by the Polish National Labour Inspectorate from June 2005 to December 2006 revealed that illegal practices persist in Kaufland Polska shops. [2] Anna Roggenbuck, Bankwatch's National Coordinator in Poland, said: "The latest investigations from the Polish inspectors have unearthed fresh scandals in Kaufland Polska shops, such as the illegal employment of children and the company's unwillingness to provide properly for pregnant and disabled employees. Kaufland's track record of discriminating in the workplace and restricting its workers' right of freedom of association is no secret, so how can the EBRD now be preparing to help export bad business practices and workplace discrimination to Romania and, who knows, perhaps beyond?" In its Sustainability Report 2005, the EBRD is clear that when it comes to "addressing labour standards in a prospective project, the EBRD considers three of the International Labour Organization (ILO) core principles: no forced labour, no harmful child labour and no discrimination in the workplace", and that "clients are expected to comply with national labour laws and regulations as well as the standards incorporated in the [bank's environmental] policy." [3] Ionut Apostol, Bankwatch's National Coordinator in Romania and Executive Director of the Bucharest-based TERRA Mileniul III Foundation, said: "Along with a host of other Romanian groups we have written to the EBRD's directors urging them to decline public financial support for Kaufland Romania. One of our concerns is that the Romanian labour inspectors will not be able to ensure that Kaufland complies with national legislation on health, safety at work and child labour. When it comes to Kaufland, the EBRD seems to have slipped into everything must go mode, particularly when it comes to its own standards. Its ability to keep its client on the straight and narrow in Romania must be in serious doubt." The Romanian groups and Bankwatch are being joined by German trade union Ver.di which has also written to the EBRD asking it not to approve the Romanian loan because the Kaufland and Lidl chains, operated by German group Schwarz, are in breach of labour laws both in Germany and abroad as well as International Labour Organisation standards.[4] For more information, contact: Ionut Apostol Bucharest, Romania Tel: +4021 31 41 227 Mobile +407 261 55 022 Email: ionut at bankwatch.org Anna Roggenbuck Szczecin, Poland Tel: +48 509 970 424 Email: aniar at gajanet.pl Notes for editors: 1. See: www.bankwatch.org/project/kaufland 2. For more information on the Kaufland Polska controversies, see a two page background paper "Why is a worker-bashing supermarket chain in line for more public handouts?" available at: www.bankwatch.org/documents/Kaufland_IP_0107.pdf 3. EBRD Sustainability Report 2005 (June 2006) 4. See: www.bankwatch.org/project.shtml?apc=147579-236052c--1&x=1960057
