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Article

27 Sep 2017

Author:
Sarah Butler, Guardian (UK)

Premier Inn owner quits ethical trade body after union row

"Premier Inn owner quits ethical trade body after union row," 15 September 2017

...[Whitbread] the owner of Costa Coffee, Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre has pulled out of the UK’s ethical trade body after a spat with the Unite union over recognition of British workers.

The union said attempts to gain access to workers at Whitbread’s Premier Inn chain, in line with core principles of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), which is backed by unions, human rights charities such as Oxfam and companies including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and WH Smith, were at first ignored. It said Whitbread then argued that the ETI’s code on freedom of association did not apply to its direct employees in the UK.

A spokesperson for Whitbread would not give a reason for its withdrawal from the ETI, just over a year after joining, but said it had “an open policy towards our employees belonging to a union. Our employees are completely free to talk to a union, to discuss trade unions in the workplace and to invite a union representative to join them at formal meetings. We have a number of unionised team members who are affiliated with a range of different unions"...

In a letter to Whitbread’s chief executive, Alison Brittain, Unite [the union] said that the company’s “commitments and obligations” on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining “are not currently being met in any practical sense”...

Whitbread said it...remained “100% committed to ensuring ethical and sustainable practice across our global supply chain”...