The European Regional Office of WFTU express its support and solidarity with USB Italy and the struggles for the defense of workers employed in Leroy Merlin.
The large French multinational Leroy Merlin uses the method of outsourcing for the recruitment of employees in the warehouse of the logistic pole of Castel San Giovanni in the province of Piacenza in Italy by “cooperatives" companies operating as real intermediaries.
The cooperatives that provide manpower to Leroy Merlin do not guarantee the respect of the contract and the minimum rights -layoffs are daily and the replacement is very high, just workers try to raise the head - but they change continuously name and fiscal code to escape the labour inspectors in order to continue undisturbed to violate the rules governing wages, regular contributions, and the protection of health in plants.
The workers, the majority of them migrant workers, suffer the exploitation and subtracting of their wages and rights, while the companies make huge profits.
Behind the discounts and the low price of the goods displayed on the shelves of its shops hides the exploitation and slavery of thousands of workers who work day and night to ensure the handling and transport of the products.
Capital and multinationals are using anti-peoples policies to attack workers’ rights and to attack the workers movement.
We condemn these policies and we demand that multinationals such as Leroy Merlin to immediately stop any relationship with the system of cooperatives, hire their own employees, apply the contract of reference without discounts, they pay taxes and contributions in the countries that host them.
It is obvious that under these conditions the resistance of the working people and solidarity is the most decisive factor for the defense of workers’ rights against the multinational policies.
