An international delegation arrived in Sweden this week to deliver its verdict on the anti-union behaviour of IKEA Canada in the on-going dispute at Swedish retail giant IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia, store.
The delegation is in Sweden to highlight the findings of the report, How IKEA is hurting families: Report on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, (www.ikeahurtsfamilies.com/) which was compiled following a November fact-finding trip.
The delegation handed the report to Lars-Anders Häggström, president of Handelsanställdas Förbund (Handels) the trade union representing workers in IKEA Sweden, in Stockholm on Tuesday.
The report, which was featured on last night’s SVT Rapport programme, calls on IKEA Canada to end its lockout of workers and return to the bargaining table in good faith immediately.
Keith Austin, an IKEA employee for 27 years at its Richmond, BC store is part of the delegation. He said: "IKEA is holding us hostage. The company is refusing to let us return to work until we surrender many of our rights. It is unconscionable that this multi-billion dollar corporation has locked us out of our jobs. I came to Sweden to ask IKEA why it has hired lawyers to sit at the bargaining table in Canada and pretend to negotiate while our families starve at Christmas time."
The report also calls on IKEA Canada to end its support of anti-union organisation, Labour Watch, and ensure its legal counsel follows the global standards of IKEA. Around 2010, IKEA changed its outside legal counsel to anti-union law firm Fasken Martineau. IKEA workers and the local union identify this change in legal counsel as the key driver of the new, divisive, management approach to labour relations.
Finally, the report calls on IKEA to set a new voluntary standard for its employees in Canada and worldwide, by engaging with UNI Global toward a Global Framework Agreement, ensuring a common application of IKEA values.
"IKEA has clearly violated its own code of conduct, as well as international labour standards", said Peter Lovkvist, general secretary of the Nordic Transport Federation and chair of the international fact-finding commission on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. "Locking out and intimidating workers, and hiring lawyers with histories of attacking workers and unions - behavior I witnessed personally in Canada - none of this is acceptable. IKEA would never treat its workers in Sweden this way.”
More information
The delegation comprises:
• Keith Austin, a locked-out IKEA Richmond store worker;
• Grant Coleman, Teamsters Canada;
• Peter Lövkvist, NTF (Nordic Transport Federation);
• Erin van der Maas, ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation);
• Tim Beaty, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• Mathias Bolton, UNI Global
Members of the delegation are available to speak to press, please use contact details below:
Keith Austin, +1 778 835 4325
Grant Coleman +1 778 835 4325
Tim Beaty, Director of Global Strategies, International Brotherhood of Teamsters +1 202 957-7240
Peter Lövkvist, member of Fact-Finding Commission and Federation Secretary of the Nordic Transport Worker´s Federation +46 70 626 77 89
Erin van der Maas - member of Fact-Finding Commission, Strategic Industrial Project Coordinator, ITF +44 (0) 77150 74295
Richard Elliott - Director of Communications – UNI Global +41 79 794 9709
The relevant SVT Rapport was broadcast at 19:30 Stockholm time, 11 December: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwbbFRu3f4&feature=youtu.be
Please see 6 November 2013 press release - International fact-finding mission to probe IKEA’s behaviour in Canada - http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/9743/region/1/section/0/order/1 (existing link on ITF Global)
ENDS
For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260. Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk
International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871 Email: mail@itf.org.uk Web: www.itfglobal.org
